Evaluate Equipment Dealer Website Platforms with This Checklist
To help heavy equipment dealers find the website solution that’s right for their business, we’ve designed a checklist to help you evaluate your options and assess website providers from a digital marketing perspective.
WEBSITE FUNCTIONALITY
One of the main reasons why customers leave your site instead of converting is because it doesn’t function the way they expect it to. Regardless of the device or browser they’re using, your website should rank highly in search results, load quickly, and be easy to navigate. Start with these essential questions to assess the basic functionality of the CMS.
1. How does your solution work on mobile?
2. Is your solution specific to heavy equipment?
3. What platform is your website built on?
4. Can you make edits?
5. What are your options for customization?
6. How does your system integrate with other technology?
WEBSITE PROCESS & LAUNCH
Equipment sites are complex. Your website provider should have a clear process and plan for handling inventory, different business segments, and multiple locations—before, during, and after launch.
7. Who is your point of contact during the build?
8. What is the lead time to actually start building a new website?
9. How long will a new build take, from start to finish?
10. What amount of work will be on your team? How will your team be supported?
11. What does support look like after launch?
WEBSITE COST
The starting price of a website may seem affordable, but be sure to ask additional questions to get the complete picture. From advanced features, add-ons, IT costs, maintenance, and ongoing requests, it’s important to understand what you’re committing to for the coming years. Keep in mind no answer here is necessarily right or wrong, but these are the types of pricing questions you should ask before making a decision.
12. How is your equipment dealer website priced?
13. Do you own or rent the site?
14. What ongoing or recurring costs should you anticipate?
15. How are future changes and updates priced?
16. Are there opportunities to lower the overall cost?
WEBSITE DESIGN
By design, each landing page on your website should be on-brand, clearly organized, and encourage visitors to take a specific action that directly correlates with your business goals. Learn more about the design process and what elements are included with these questions.
17. What custom design elements or graphics are included?
18. How is the site designed for mobile?
19. How is the site designed for conversions?
INVENTORY MANAGEMENT
Clear organization of your showroom—complete with filters, reviews, and multiple images—will make it easy for buyers to find exactly what they're looking for on your website. Make sure new, used, and rental inventory can be seamlessly supported by your equipment dealer website provider.
20. What manufacturers does the site support?
21. What integrations does the site support?
22. What is the user experience for inventory?
23. Will the site include a new equipment showroom?
24. Will the site include category-level landing pages?
25. How is inventory information uploaded for site launch?
26. How is equipment managed on an ongoing basis to ensure inventory details stay up-to-date?
27. What inventory updates are manual and what is integrated?
28. How is used equipment treated differently than new?
29. Can you choose the features that show on used equipment pages?
WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION
Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential part of ongoing website management. To do this well, your website needs to provide clear information and cues that work for both people and search engine bots. Use these questions to assess the search-friendliness of the website platform and understand what SEO efforts will look like long-term.
30. Can you access and edit meta descriptions, title tags, and 301 redirects?
31. Is a sitemap included? Is it dynamic?
32. How are URLs structured? Can you edit them?
33. How does the site account for multiple locations?
34. Does the site integrate with Google Analytics?
CONVERSION ELEMENTS
First and foremost, your equipment website is a tool for sales. If salespeople are focused on creating and closing leads, then your website should help facilitate. Strong support for lead generation and conversions should be a focus for any equipment dealer website provider. Use the following questions to make sure click-to-call buttons, efficient contact forms, and other conversion elements can be naturally woven into the architecture of your site.
35. Are onsite forms supported? Can they be added to any page?
36. Can you customize form fields by page?
37. Does the website platform integrate with your CRM?
38. Will your phone number(s) be click-to-call for mobile?
39. Can you launch landing pages yourself? If so, do they start blank or can you use templates?
40. Can new landing pages include inventory? Will they auto-update or require manual editing?
Equipment Dealer Websites
With more than a decade of experience building websites for equipment dealers, we’ve taken our experience across different manufacturers and dealerships to build a website process specific to the needs of construction, agriculture, material handling, and commercial trucking businesses.
Interested in reviewing these questions and learning more about Adpearance websites? Contact us for a free digital analysis.
About the Author
Adpearance is the digital marketing company obsessed with generating quality leads. Our solutions combine cutting-edge technology, premium tracking, and an expert team to transform business results.
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