Individual Car Dealer Website Designs Versus Template Designs

From local website businesses to specialist Car Dealer Website providers, when trying to win motor dealer clients, many offer a templated web design – which on the face of it appears to offer a good web presence at a low cost.

But there are drawbacks. In today’s market, more and more consumers now look online to do their research – and in many cases buy cars without having set foot on a dealer’s forecourt. With this in mind, dealers now need to do everything they can to stand out from the online crowd. So why would you want a website that looks the same as other dealers, or has limited features?

Dragon2000 car dealer websites are not templates, they are all individually designed by our expert website team who work with dealers to create the perfect “shop window” with the right features for their business. All our websites can be fully integrated with the award-winning DragonDMS Dealer Management System, meaning there is no re-keying of vehicles or re-uploading of photos due to the fact they all appear on your website automatically, saving you valuable time.

Here we examine the benefits of an individual car dealer website design over a templated service.

Brand identity and awareness

All businesses should look to have a strong brand identity which distinguishes them from their competitors.

Car dealer website template customisation is usually limited to logos, colours and a choice of fonts, leaving dealers unable to make use of elements such as landing pages, videos, extra pages, enquiry forms, mailing lists and plugins, all of which are essential to establishing brand identity on an engaging website that stands out.

With online advertisers linking through to dealers’ websites, prospective customers often visit many car dealer websites in quick succession when browsing vehicles on a used car portal.

Seeing almost identical templated sites would not make those businesses stand out and could even confuse potential buyers – especially when generic header images of vehicles are used across many websites.

Design Process & Ongoing Support

The level of input dealers are able to have in an individual website design is far more than of a templated equivalent.

Individual Car Dealer Website designs allow dealers to have full control over the look and feel of their site, enabling them to make sure it fits with their branding. They can also decide the site structure/pages they would like, as well as choose from a wide range of available features.

With an individual design, dealers also receive a much higher standard of support, rather than a limited, one-fits-all response that often is provided with templated websites.

Not being able to add new features to a templated design could leave dealers struggling to keep up with competitor’s websites. Ongoing changes and design refreshes are easily accommodated into individually designed sites, whereas templates, by their nature, are not so easy to add new features to or radically change in design. Often such changes to a templated design can incur more cost for the dealer – making them a less attractive option financially.

Mobile Responsiveness / SEO

Some older templates will not be equipped to be mobile responsive, which makes for a poor visitor experience on mobile devices and increases the likelihood of customers losing patience and leaving the site.

Regarding SEO, many templated designs often work alongside outdated plugins that can mislead dealers, overstating the emphasis on particular ranking factors. This can lead to dealers constructing poorly written content, which will not only make for a negative user experience, but can also negatively impact their SEO results.

Conclusion

Whilst low-fee car dealer website templates will appeal to cost-conscious dealers, this should not be the only factor they consider. With an individual car dealer website design, the dealer has much more control.

Recent research on Dragon2000 websites revealed that 58% of website enquiries were made out of hours – after 6pm and before 8am – emphasising the point that dealers need to ensure that their website stands out, represents their brand values, conveys the professionalism of their business, and allows their visitors to easily to find all the relevant information and progress their enquiry.

Dragon2000 have been helping dealers and garages drive their businesses forward since 1995. Talk to our team today on 01327 222 333 or email sales@dragon2000.co.uk to find out how our dealer management system, car dealer websites and mobile apps can help your business increase profits and reduce costs.