What To Do When a New Model Arrives

New car announcements can create lots of buzz and search volume. Even if you are waiting to have the new car in stock, you can take advantage of the announcement of a new model to generate traffic and leads.

The first thing you need to do to generate traffic to your site for a new car is to create a dedicated landing page for the vehicle. A well-built landing page benefits both organic and paid traffic, and improves your conversion rate. Here are the five steps to take next.

Prioritize the Right Keywords

Research what new keywords you should include in the landing page, in addition to the existing priority keywords you should optimize for. For example, users may not know the new model name just yet, so segment keywords like “new Volkswagen SUV” or “new electric Ford” may be more valuable than the new model name itself. With your new insights, start incorporating your keywords throughout the landing page along with the visuals provided by your OEM. Make sure that your main keywords are included in the heading, body text, anchor links, image alt text, metadata, and content management system (CMS) generated social media previews.

Set Your Call to Action

Make the most of the new traffic this landing page is bringing to your site with a clear call to action (CTA). If your dealership has the new car in stock, your CTA should direct visitors to view inventory or submit a request for a test drive. If you are waiting for the new model to arrive, there is still an opportunity to generate leads through a form on the landing page. This form should let users know that they’ll be the first to know as soon as you have the inventory on the dealership floor.

Check Your Site Speed

You don’t want to lose out on customers who bounce because of poor user experience. The faster your site loads, the better. Aim for a site speed of four seconds or less. Things like hosting or server issues, poorly optimized images and too many plug-ins can slow down your site. We recommend Pingdom, which breaks down the technical side of its report, allowing developers to pinpoint specific pain points that can be addressed.

Optimize for Mobile Friendliness

Having a mobile-friendly site is an absolute must with nearly 60% of online searches happening on mobile devices. Make sure that your site is responsive to different device dimensions. Keep landing pages simple and to-the-point. Prioritize key details like contact information above the fold to reduce scrolling. Add mobile-friendly features such as click-to-call phone numbers and integration with Google Maps to easily pull up directions.

Build Brand Awareness

Once you have a landing page that will serve customers well, you should start seeing incremental organic traffic. Pairing this with paid advertising will drive even more. Start by advertising on key model terms through paid search advertising and supplement those efforts with display, Facebook, and Youtube ads that focus specifically on reaching customers who may be interested in the new model, but aren’t aware of its existence or release.

If you’re interested in a coordinated website and digital advertising strategy that showcases your business and converts more leads, we’d love to talk. Reach out or schedule a free digital analysis to get started.