According to consumer insights from Think with Google, 95 percent of vehicle buyers turn to the digital world to find information to help them with the buying process. Having an active blog on your website should be one of the pillars of your marketing strategy.
Consider some of these highlights from Google’s research on how the modern consumer interacts with brands and dealerships in the automotive industry.
- 25 percent of automotive searches pertain to maintenance, service, and vehicle parts
- 40 percent of online shoppers view videos about cars or trucks before ever stepping foot on a dealership lot
- 60 percent of consumers completing automotive searches online use mobile devices
With so many consumers doing automotive searches online, this is the perfect opportunity for your dealership to stand out from your competition. Write high-quality content that appeals to your readership base and get started with these great topics.
Important Reasons to Maintain a Dealership Blog
If your dealership doesn’t have a blog yet, now is the time to start one. An active blog can help to increase the online ranking for your website and improve your visibility to consumers.
- Solid Foundation – Writing consistent blogs each month helps to build your brand authority and enhance the reputation of your dealership.
- Improved Visibility – Daily or weekly blog posts allow you to promote original content and get noticed by new readers and leads.
- Online Ranking – The Google algorithm rewards quality, original content that educates readers, increasing ranking for your blog.
- Easy Promotion – Writing blog posts provides you with a simple way to promote your dealership when you publish and then share them on social media and with your email list.
- Stand Out – You can use this blogging opportunity to distinguish yourself from other dealerships by writing educational content that engages readers.
Build a loyal following and convert readers into customers at your dealership by starting a blog or continuing to work on the one you’ve started.
Tips on Improving Reader Engagement on Your Blog
Reader engagement is the most important goal when writing a blog for your dealership. If readers are not following your blog and consistently commenting on posts, your reader engagement is low, and leads are not converting.
You can improve the reader engagement by integrating the following practices in your blogging efforts:
- Blog content should remain consistent with your brand image
- Create a superior user experience (UX) that brings return visitors
- Write stellar educational content that people value and want to share
- Use dynamic headlines that immediately draw the reader in
- Make sure your intro paragraph compels the reader to keep reading
- Solve a problem for your readers and think outside the box
- Use statistics and include quotes from industry experts
- Stay relevant with current industry trends and news
- Find the perfect balance of publishing consumable content
- Offer auto guides or educational PDFs as a lead magnet
- Ask a question at the end of the post to engage with readers
- Consistently respond to blog post comments
- Write guest posts for other industry blogs with similar reader bases
- Stay active in promoting blog posts on social media platforms
It takes time to develop a thriving blog with many followers and excellent reader engagement. However, consistent hard work will pay off with dedicated readers who can’t wait for your next post.
Cultivate Reader Engagement with These Blog Topics
Now that you know the reasons why to start a blog and how to increase reader engagement, you need to decide what to write about that will interest online consumers. Remember to follow the 80/20 rule and write content that primarily educates and engages the reader rather than selling to your audience. Only “sell” to them 20 percent (or less) of the time. You want readers to keep visiting your blog because they know they can get reliable information without being sold to all the time.
Consider using the following blog topics that can cultivate reader engagement.
1. Vehicle of the Week
Use this weekly blog post to share features and performance value of a new vehicle that is being released by the manufacturer. Get your readers excited about this new model and share reasons why they should come down to the dealership to see it and take it for a test drive.
You can also showcase older vehicles and rotate a different make and model each week. Highlight what makes each unique and any specials your dealership is offering for more affordably priced vehicles. Remember that this is a feature article about a specific vehicle, and you want to get the customer excited to see it.
2. Share Vehicle Care Tips
It’s important to educate the reader with each blog post. What better way to do that than to share vehicle care tips like how often to bring their car in for an oil change or tire rotation. The Google algorithm places higher value on how-to content because it educates the reader and is highly searched online.
By sharing educational how-to articles, you are demonstrating to your readers—both current and possible future customers—that you want to provide them with useful information. This helps to build brand awareness about your dealership and cultivates the idea that customers will be valued.
How-to articles can help to increase the online ranking of your blog and help your dealership to increase visibility. Educational articles are more likely to be shared on social media, through text and email. This is a valuable free promotional tool.
3. Provide Helpful Seasonal Content
These seasonal topics are geared more for dealerships located in areas that experience the four seasons and who can provide invaluable tips for readers. Consider some of the following seasonal content to write about:
- How to drive in the winter months during snowy and icy weather
- Maintenance tips for vehicles in the winter season
- The Top 5 SUVs that handle well during inclement weather
- Top 10 things to keep in your vehicle in the winter season
- How to get your vehicle ready for the winter driving months
- How to brake properly when driving on ice or snow
Your readers are likely searching for winter content online, so make sure you have great educational blog posts ready for them to find and share online.
4. Showcase Sales and Service Team Members
Many dealerships list photos and contact information for various members of their sales or service team. However, you can help readers get to know team members by featuring a different employee each month.
Get creative and have someone from your marketing team interview a different team member each month and share that in a blog post. Change it up and do video interviews as well since those are generally well-received by people in our digital age.
Make the interview interesting and don’t solely focus on work-related topics. Let the readers get to know team members by asking questions about their favorite hobbies or the latest movie they saw. Make them relatable to readers.
5. Optimize for Localized Searches
Write blog posts mentioning the location of your dealership so that you can increase your visibility and ranking for local “dealerships near me” searches. Many customers complete local searches and if your dealership is not optimized for localized ranking, you can lose potential people walking onto your lot or visiting your website.
Of course, you want to optimize SEO for global reach, but don’t exclude your local reach in your online content writing strategy. Consider some of the following examples of blog posts you could write that are optimized for localized searches:
- Sharing details on a local sales event at your dealership
- Host a free car wash at your dealership
- Host a car wash fundraiser that benefits a local charity
- Provide incentives or gifts for anyone who test drives a new vehicle
Write a blog post for any such event you host or sponsor to let readers know the details and encourage them to attend. Remember to use keywords such as “dealership name in [city]”.
6. Feature Local Car Shows
Have one of your team members attend a local car show and share their experience with a review of the event. If one of your service team members attend and they don’t have experience writing a review, have someone from your marketing team interview them or write up their review.
Featuring a local car show can expand the reach of your customer base and reach local car enthusiasts who frequent these events. They may then consider purchasing their next vehicle from your dealership.
7. Create Printable Checklists
Provide value to your readers by creating printable checklists. Make it easy for them to be able to print the checklist directly from your blog post or provide a PDF download. Whichever process you choose, keep it simple. Some checklist ideas:
- Seasonal Vehicle Care Checklists
- Car Accident Checklists
- Vehicle Maintenance Checklists
When you provide helpful checklists, readers are more likely to print them and share with family and friends. Remember to add your dealership logo and contact information to every checklist so the reader will be cognizant of your dealership each time they use it.
8. Vehicle Comparison Blog Posts
The vehicle buying process can be tedious and overwhelming. Make things easier for your customers by writing blog posts comparing differences in features between two different model vehicles. Compare the following features:
- Power and Performance
- Design and Interior
- Mechanical Considerations
- Ergonomic Features
- Fuel Capacity and MPG
- Technology Features
- Safety Features
- Ride Quality and Handling
Write the blog post in both paragraph format and include a short 7 feature comparison chart, in the beginning, to help the reader get a cursory view of which vehicle is better.
9. Create a Customer Corner Weekly Blog
It is so important for your customers to feel valued by everyone on your team. You’ll likely receive questions from customers and readers both in-person and on your website.
Choose a few questions to respond to each week in a Customer Corner weekly blog post. Answering such questions will help to build your brand authority—which the Google algorithm will pick up on. That means more traffic to your site!
10. Write Blog Posts on Financial and Warranty Topics
Some customers may be hesitant to visit your car dealership because they are a first-time buyer, they have bad credit, or are unsure of the current vehicle buying process. Some topics to consider writing about:
- Is it better to lease or finance my next vehicle?
- What features are covered under the manufacturer’s warranty?
- Can I trust the security of completing a credit application on a dealer website?
- Which is better – trading in my car or selling it privately?
11. Road Trip Tips and Destinations
Many people like to take road trips with their vehicles. Write a Top 10 list for great road trip destinations across the United States.
Don’t forget to focus on local destinations to enhance your localized search rank. Provide tips on taking road trips.
Start Connecting with Readers of Your Dealership Blog Today
Humanize your dealership website by writing blog posts that are useful to your readers and optimize your strategy for cultivating new and current customers. Start working with J&L Marketing today to help you differentiate your dealership.
