As a new generation of car lovers gain more spending power in the industry, any company hoping to stay relevant and profitable needs to tailor to their shopping habits.

The world of online shopping for high performance auto parts and accessories has completely revolutionized in the last five years. 

There are so many opportunities available to sell more online and many of these can be easily done on your own, if you have the time. Others are better left to experts who have the savvy and the tools. 

We’ve put together a quick checklist for online high performance auto shops to help optimize their website with the most cost-effective solutions and the must do’s of online trading.

1. Get Mobile Friendly & Keep Up With Clients On The Move

With over 75% of people now using mobile devices to shop online, your website needs to work correctly on all devices. 

If your website doesn't work when viewed on mobile devices any money you pump into marketing could be wasted. 

Your site should not only look perfect on any device, it also needs to function properly too. 

If your website isn't mobile friendly, search engines will penalize your search rank and visitors may be put off buying from a company that looks so outdated.

2. Harness The Power of Video & Show Them Why You’re The Best

Original, engaging images and video are more effective than words alone. Earn the trust and awareness of potential customers by posting behind the scenes images and videos on your social media. 

On platforms like Instagram and YouTube for example, you can show your business is clean, knowledgeable, organized and well run. 

Including this in your digital strategy is really essential with social media. Show off your latest awesome custom tuning gig and get viewers’ imaginations running wild with what you could do with their muscle car too. 

3. Get Local & Get Found

Local SEO (search engine optimization) is the most value-packed form of high quality traffic online. 

Especially useful if you’re in an industrial or out-of-the-way area, local SEO practices ensure your website ranks well in relevant geographically-based search results. 

For example, someone looking for a fuel injection service may search for “Fuel injection services near me” and their device will pass location information to the search engine to find nearby locations. 

Making sure you’ve claimed and updated your Google My Business and Bing Places listings is a must do. Local SEO is now really important to help customers learn where you are.

4. Stay In Touch With Current Customers & Sell Again

It takes less energy to retain a customer than it does to find a new one. 

Use Facebook and Twitter to maintain and build customer relations. Take advantage of these communication channels to interact, engage, thank and troubleshoot complaints. 

Redirect problem conversations into private discussions on Facebook Messenger, direct messages on Twitter, emails or phone calls. 

For added value, encourage reviews on your Google My Business page and on Facebook. Provide quick follow up to any issues, which is important in this age of instant gratification.  A quick “Thank You” post can go a long way.

5. Get In Their Inbox & Open A Direct Line of Communication

Email marketing has the best ROI of any marketing channel! Reach your customers directly and keep reminding them why you’re the best around. 

Involve them in your story, share your expertise, update them on new items, services and promotions. 

Offer loyal customers rewards to maintain and grow your fanbase with exclusive email offers. When you’re building your email list, encourage subscriptions by offering an exclusive discount for signing up. 

You’ve already converted them to subscribers, now you can sell to them directly too. 

6. Create Excitement With Giveaways & Engage Your Customers

Use online contests for your customers and fans to share relevant images and other content which bring awareness to your brand. 

If you know the time it takes to pull together great content, you’ll appreciate what a great source of user-generated content this can create. 

Social media is for sharing, it creates a buzz and people love to share their excitement for products, brands or new services.

7. Get Writing & Share Your Knowledge

Be the expert in your field and share your knowledge and enthusiasm in blog posts and articles. 

This is great for search engine optimization (SEO) which helps you appear on search engines as the answer people are looking for and then driving traffic to your website. 

Potential customers are out there using Google to look for answers to their questions. By supplying the best answers in specialized areas, you’re seriously improving your chances of being discovered and trusted by buyers.

8. Get Trusted Citations & Get More Traffic

Get your business mentioned in high quality articles, blogs, high performance associations and directories online as much as possible. These sites are called citations (Manta, Yellow Book and Yelp to name a few) and search engines use them to measure your profile and credibility which can improve your rank in search results. 

Citations not only boost your online credentials, they drive more traffic to your website or function as secondary listings if your website doesn’t come up in a search. 

This is a high-conversion tactic matching your business with customers that are already looking for what you do.

9. Boost Your Marketing with Digital Ads & Get Seen

Whether you want to highlight a special event or promote your website, placing strategic digital ads that target specific client types is an effective way to reach a specific market. 

Digital ads can be based on demographics, geographics or psychographics (special interests) and enable you to target people most likely to become customers. This effective marketing doesn’t go to everyone in town, only those who meet the criteria and have expressed related interests.

10. Enable Retargeting & Don’t Let Interested Shoppers Get Away

The average customer interacts with a company 7 times before actually buying from them. Stay present in the minds of your visitors by showing multiple adverts to them online for key products, services and events they’ve expressed interest in.

Retargeting involves taking the information you already have about your site's visitors and directing an advertising campaign back to them based on their activities. If you're advertising online, retargeting is essential.

Pulling It All Together - Combined Digital Strategies Are More Effective

The secret to online success is running strategic multifaceted campaigns to retain and build your customer base. 

You’ve got all the parts, now build an engine! 

In this day and age your prospects are bombarded from multiple angles everyday, so you need to be front and center as well. 

Imagine your customers on a road passing billboards and signs. Make all of your online billboards work together to make a lasting impression of your business.

About the author

With over 20 years of experience, Barry Alt combines his passion for cars with his unrivalled expertise in the digital world to bring you a full service digital agency just for automotive professionals: Motorhead Digital. 

If you're ready for a higher level of performance in your digital marketing efforts, Barry Alt and the Motorhead Digital team have proven processes that will help you stay savvy and at the top of your game - going way beyond a simple website.

You can contact Barry on 585-766-9785 or Balt@motorheaddigital.com