Apparently bad websites are a truly international phenomenon. Google “Bad Websites” and the image at the left is the very first image you’ll find.

So let’s start by defining, “bad”. A bad website is a brochure, it speaks AT the visitor without engaging them. It’s design is outdated and it doesn’t balance functionality, usability and aesthetics in any meaningful way.

I look at a lot of auto dealer websites. There are a handful of dealerships out there who have inspirational websites. Websites that even manage to get most things right. What astounds me is the number of websites that are just complete and utter crap.

I simply cannot fathom why any reputable dealership would want their business represented by a crude, poorly thrown together website. I’m even more mystified by the number of dealers that are paying through the nose for generic, templated sites that do absolutely nothing to establish or distinguish their individual brand.

Your website is not.

• It is not a brochure or newspaper ad.
• It is not a TV Spot (although video should be a component of a great website).
• It isn’t a radio spot.
• It isn’t static. It should be changing and evolving constantly.
• It isn’t a speech, it’s a conversation.

Since I came on board at Express Auto, internet leads have gone from producing less than 5% of our sales, to almost 20%. While I’d love to take all the credit for that (and in sales meetings, I do), the truth is I’m also riding the trend of people making the company’s website one of their first stops when deciding to do business with us.

Take a look at this infographic on the Automotive ZMOT from Brian Pasch. This is important stuff. A bad website in many ways is worse than none at all. A recent Canadian study says people judge your wesbite in the litteral blink of an eye — a fraction of a second. They apply that judgment, not just to your site, but to your business as a whole. Outdated, unfriendly websites tell people you are an outdated and unfriendly business. It’s as simple as that.

As more and more of your customers turn first to the web you’re actively hurting your business by presenting a bad image.

So what do you think? Why are so many, so bad? Complacency? Ignorance? Cheapness? Just a general resistance to change?

I’ve heard it said that sales is easy, you just have to convince someone that what you are selling is worth more to them than that big stack of money they are holding. Simple, right? One way you do that is through exerting influence. According to Cialdini’s research (as well as a number of other cited studies), there are six basic types of influence:

1. Reciprocity
2. Consistency
3. Social Proof
4. Liking
5. Authority
6. Scarcity

The influence you exert on someone else is entirely based on some combination of these factors. The recent lead nurturing campaign I designed is a good example. We use what’s called a squeeze page on our website’s (ExpressAuto.com) inventory page. We ask for some contact information before allowing people to see our online inventory. This results in a significant number of “Inventory Leads” as we call them. 400-500 per month.

These are, for the most part, browsers not buyers. Recognizing that, we need to structure our approach to these leads differently than we would someone who submitted a credit app on the website. The credit app leads are “prospects”, people who are ready to make a buying decision, the inventory leads are much earlier in the process. Weeks or even months away from making a buying decision.

So inventory leads need nurturing and influencing that lead toward making a buying decision. We must use one or more of the rules above to influence them to making a decision in our favor.

We start by recognizing that the goal of our lead nurturing campaign is not to sell a car, but to set an appointment. We aren’t going to sell a car via email; we’re not going to sell a car over the internet. At some point we have to bring them to the door, and that is the purpose of lead nurturing.  Set the appointment.

We start the process by employing Reciprocity. By giving them something now, they are more likely to respond positively when we ask for something in return at a later date. We have created a checklist of Federal Trade Commission guidelines for choosing a reputable dealership. This checklist basically gives simple, common-sense tips for what to look for before choosing to do business with a dealership. As a reputable dealer, we meet all these criteria. So in our first contact, we send them a link to download the checklist, as well as a link to bypass the squeeze page on future visits. Reciprocity; we give them something (access and authoritative advice), without a sales pitch.

The second contact invites them to bring in their current vehicle for a free trade-in evaluation during a specific week when our buyers will be on hand. Here we are creating scarcity. The buyers are on-hand for a limited time, so it they want the best evaluation they should call and make an appointment.

In both the above cases, we are also using the Authority influencer. In the first the authority is the federal government’s consumer watchdog agency. In the second, it is our own expert buyers who have the years of experience necessary to properly evaluate the trade-in value.

On the third contact (several weeks out), we do include our first sales pitch. Again, using scarcity as an influencer, we tell them that our $49 down delivers programming is continuing, but we’re not sure for how much longer. Hopefully creating the sense of urgency necessary to get them to call… or at least be receptive to our calls. Also, by the time of the third contact, the salesperson should have had enough interaction with that person to have brought to bear still another influencer; Liking. Through helpful emails and follow-up phone calls the salesperson should have established a relationship with that person and gotten themselves “liked”.

We are also able to use another influencer as part of the campaign. Simply by including a link in our email signatures to our reviews and testimonials site in the salesperson’s email signature, we can show that others who have dealt with us in the past have had good experiences and would recommend us to their friends and family. This is the Social Proof influencer. So in this single lead nurturing campaign we have made use of five of the six primary influencers.

Now we have the ZMOT, or zero moment of truth. It all still starts with the stimulus, but before the first moment of truth; before they ever set foot in a store or on your lot, your customers are taking to the web in record numbers. Seeing the advice of friends on Facebook, reading your reviews online, looking over your inventory. This part of the process can take days, or even weeks depending on the kind of decision being made. When purchasing a car, the biggest single purchase that many of our customers make, it can take months.

As I look over the framework of my marketing budget for 2012, I’m keenly aware that our focus tends to be too much on stimulus alone. Stimulus, stimulus, stimulus… but to what end… to do what? For us, the answer to that question is going to be centered on digital media. On driving people to our website, our reviews, our online profile with the BBB, and anywhere else I can create a positive impression of our company.

We need to focus our marketing dollars on those things which produce the best results. To me that is defined as cost per lead and cost per sale. Simply put, if internet leads are producing 20% of my sales, then web and internet marketing should be getting 20% of my marketing budget. I plan to focus the my budget on enhancing the ZMOT.

Social media marketing and online reputation management will be the cornerstones of that. I’ll be discussing those in greater depth in the future. PPC (pay-per-click) will be the least of my budget. We’ve seen PPC costs rise and effectiveness drop consistently over the last year or so.

Create an affiliate program for blogs and websites across southwest Michigan.

According to my research, there are about 8,000 blogs and websites that are local to Southwest Michigan. As opposed to advertising, I suggest we create a series of different sizes banner and offer them for download through an affiliate program. Affiliate banners, unlike Google ads, can be static banners that site publisher post on their websites. We’d offer a lead fee — much like we do with other lead sources — of something around $10-20 per online credit application generated. Not only would we get the benefit of the leads, but we’d also get the benefit of the incoming static links (SEO-Love) that these banners would create.

There are a number of affiliate management sites out there that will handle overseeing such a program and promote your program to their network, even handle payments to the affiliates. Be careful at jumping on one of these, most have the ad link to their site then redirect. Then you don’t get the benefit of the SEO love.

After a good deal of searching, I’ve settled on Earth Skater. We just started with them, so I can’t give them full marks just yet, but I’ll report back on my experience with them as I go.