Beware of Free Truck Dealer Websites from Advertisers

You spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars a month advertising on big name truck paper magazines and circulars. You have to, it's a necessary evil. Many big name truck paper magazines and circulars offer clients "free" truck dealer websites. These truck dealer websites aren't really free since you are paying thousands throughout the year to maintain advertising. They usually don't cost you anything additional so they are coined as "free". The big name truck paper websites and circulars can offer you these dealer sites for free because they don't really incur any additional overhead. The hardware and software needed to run your site is already in place and since your inventory is on their website setup is easy.

What you, the truck dealer, may not realize is that your truck dealer website is actually a huge traffic generator for the big advertising vendors. Take a look at your truck dealership inventory. Does it reside soley on your site or does it redirect back to the advertising vendor's website? In most cases your inventory on your "free" site is linking right back to the advertising vendor. What this means is that there is no online connection between your truck dealership and your truck inventory. Let's say that your truck dealership is Bob's Truck Depot, you specialize in Kenworth sleepers, and have some trucks on your free website hosted by a big advertising vendor. When someone searches for Kenworth sleepers, Bob's Truck Depot will never be found because your Kenworth sleepers not are actually located on Bob's Truck Depot website, their on the advertising vendor's website. Instead, your inventory gets lost with thousands of other Kenworth sleepers for sale from hundreds of other dealers all over the country. Hundreds or thousands of these free truck dealer websites are directing traffic away from the dealer and back to the advertising vendor. This traffic generates hits, search engine goliath status and huge revenue streams for their website, not yours! Your website is essentially working to make their website more popular. Have you considered what happens if you don’t meet monthly advertising budget requirements?

It's time to "Break the Chain"

Let's break down the math - the following is provided for example purposes only: the big advertising vendor website might have approximately 120,000 trucks for sale, 6,000 of those are Kenworth Sleepers. You have 8 Kenworth sleeper trucks in stock. How much traffic does that monster of a website have to do in order for your 8 Kenworth sleeper trucks to get exposure? Trucking industry websites do not typically receive large volumes of traffic relative to other more popular online genres. A number for a site with this many trucks might be 20,000 visits a day, more or less (this is a very generous number). Each visitor will view several pages, maybe 12 pages per visit, mostly navigation with actual viewing of a few spec sheets. What is the probability that one of your 8 Kenworth sleepers will be seen?

A better way. Take your 8 Kenworth Sleepers and put them on your own inventory website. Now you can put your advertising vendors to work for you. Use your own inventory link every place possible online. Use creative online or email marketing, direct mail and other methods to drive people to your site. Instead of visitors being offered financing and other supplementary services at the big advertising vendor sites you can offer your own truck financing options and services. It’s all about building a brand for your dealership. Owning and managing you own online fleet inventory allows you to take control of your own success. Every visitor to your page is looking at your inventory. Do we still need the paper media giants? Yes, they will help you reach markets you can’t reach online but you can also leverage the exposure you have on their websites to push visitors to your own truck dealer website with your own truck dealer inventory.