How To Rank Your Auto Parts and/or Accessories Website #1 On Google and Bing Success in SEO isn't based on some secret, proprietary process. In fact, the basic process is brutally simple. The devil, as they say, is in the details. What follows is a detailed explanation of how Spork Marketing ranks our clients on Google and Bing. If you have questions about our process, or if you'd like to learn more about our services, please email info@sporkmarketing.com and we'll get back to you ASAP. Step 1 - Create Great Content While it's much easier said than done, great content is the foundation of any SEO success. This is by design, because Google and Bing have been programmed to try and find the very best content they can for any given search term. Therefore, great content is a prerequisite to SEO success. Start with research. Before your customers decide to buy a cold air intake or a set of OEM brake pads, what questions do they have? Are they wondering why OEM brake pads are more costly, or why it is that cold air intakes increase horsepower? Or are they wondering if they can install either of these things at home with basic tools? Or perhaps how adding these parts does or does not effect their vehicle warranty? These are questions that naturally come to mind in a consumer's purchase process, commonly illustrated as a purchase funnel. (continued on the next page)
Whatever these questions may be, it's your job as a website marketer to figure them out. This information will help you determine what content your website needs, to attract customers at different stages of the purchase funnel. Using tools like: Soovle Ubersuggest The Google AdWords Keyword Tool you can get some ideas about what people are typing into Google.com with frequency. If you combine this information with information gathered by: Surveying and interviewing customers Reviewing marketing materials from competitors Talking to installers and jobbers, knowledgeable enthusiasts, and reviewing forums You can come up with a great list of content ideas.
Find an automotive content expert. Coming up with ideas for great content is one thing, but generating great content is something else. First, you've got to find someone that understands your product and your industry. Then, you've got to make sure that person is competent. Generally speaking, you're looking for automotive content experts who: Have a good portfolio of projects you can review Actively blog (this is key) Have an active social media following Focus themselves on one area, meaning that your video gal only does video, that your photography guy only does photography, etc. You can sometimes find these people via Craigslist or Elance, but more frequently you'll find them at industry events like SEMA, large auto shows like Detroit, or by scanning bylines at popular automotive blogs....you can also find them at marketing companies...hint hint. Commit to a content plan. Last but not least, you must commit to developing great content for a period of time. It's not enough to generate one great article or graphic or blog post you've got to create multiple pieces of great content. This is because it's hard to guarantee that any one content item will get the attention it deserves. Sometimes you create a great piece of content, but for reasons beyond your control that content never takes off. What's more, creating more than one piece of great content shows your customers and Google/Bing that your entire website is a resource, rather than just one good page on your website. Step 2 - Build A Network Now that you have a website full of great content, it's time to start building a network of journalists, bloggers, enthusiasts, and relevant website owners who will link to your site, share links to your site, etc. These people are called influencers, as they have influence in the communities relevant to your business.
Since the goal of this whitepaper is to offer advice on achieving top rankings, we're not going to offer tips on the art of networking. Instead, we're going to focus on practical tips and tools you can use to find influencers. 1. Get involved on forums. Find the forum(s) that your customers frequent and get involved. Answer questions as best you can, offer compliments and encouragement, and participate in conversations. Do not be self promotional...the goal isn't to sell parts or accessories. It's to build relationships with influencers that you can later leverage to promote content. 2. Get involved on relevant Facebook pages. If you search Facebook you'll find vehicle enthusiasts of every kind. Follow and comment on the pages that are relevant to your business. 3. Start your own Facebook page. Create a page that's both informative and entertaining, and then use this page as a tool to connect with your influencers as well as your customers and the general public. 4. Find, read, and comment on relevant blogs. When you comment, use your real name. Don't use keywords or your company name bloggers generally don't approve of this behavior. 5. Find, follow, and retweet influencers on Twitter. Twitter is incredibly popular with journalists and bloggers, as it's a quick and easy way for these people to stay updated on events that happen throughout the day. Find the most important bloggers and journalists in your industry and pay attention to them. When the time is right, you can interact with these people on Twitter for mutual benefit. 6. Obtain email addresses. Find excuses to send influencers emails, because once you have their email address, you have a direct method of contact they're unlikely to ignore. (continued on the next page)
As you build your network, you can begin to promote your content by: Asking active enthusiasts and relevant bloggers for feedback on existing content. Suggesting new content to journalists (assuming your new content is newsworthy) and bloggers (assuming your content is interesting). Asking your Facebook fans to share your content on their favorite forums, Tumblr blog, etc. Sharing links to your content on forums and on Facebook, but only when it's helpful and/or relevant to do so. Over time, all of this content promotion is going to generate links, likes, tweets, shares, plus one's, etc. Since both Google and Bing evaluate a site's links, likes, tweets, shares, etc. when determining rankings, every link or like you get moves you a little closer to your top rankings goal. Don't forget to enlist your customer base too. Your existing customer list can be a great resource for promoting content. Ask your existing customers to follow your company on Facebook. That way, you can promote messages to them whenever new content goes live. Ask your existing customers to participate in content creation, by submitting reviews, pictures, and comments to your content creators. Offer your existing customers an incentive to help promote your content, like a coupon code or a giveaway for everyone that shares your most recent Facebook post. Ask your customer base to review your new content for quality and accuracy. Step 3 Optimize Your Site Structure When people think of SEO, they often think of META tags, title tags, robots.txt files, etc. We call these items structural SEO, and while structural SEO is important, it's not nearly as important as creating and promoting good content. What's more, we need to be clear that optimizing your site's structure for SEO isn't really the third step in the process. It should be the first thing you do. However, perfect tagging and structure isn't going to make your site rank #1 all by itself.
If we imagine that ranking #1 on Google and Bing is an auto race, than proper SEO website structure is very much like a good set of tires they keep your car on the course and off the wall. Likewise, great website content is like a powerful engine and a fast suspension setup it's the edge you need to get by the other cars on the track. However, without a good driver which is the network of influencers who help promote our website content we're a DNF waiting to happen. Therefore, we've put structural SEO last on our list. Not because it's the last thing you do, but because it's the least important part of SEO. Conclusion By following a simple three-step process: 1. Create great website content that's informative, helpful, and/or entertaining 2. Promote your content to influencers so you can get links, likes, shares, etc. 3. Make sure your site is structured correctly You can achieve top rankings on Google & Bing. The process is easy...the trick is to execute. If you'd like help executing your SEO process, contact Spork Marketing. We specialize in auto parts and accessory marketing and excel at SEO. Email info@sporkmarketing.com to learn more.