To boost your car count and improve your average repair order(ARO), establishing a strong online presence is crucial for attracting the right type of customers. While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution to being discovered by potential customers searching for auto repair services, there are several key steps to take. One essential action is to claim and optimize your Google Business Profile.
Blogs
Do Online Directory Listings Matter for Auto Repair Shops?
January 23rd, 2024What are online directory listings?
Online directory listings (also known as citations) are the backbone network of local businesses on the web. Google, Facebook, Bing and Yelp are some of the more well-known online directories. As an example, your Google Business Profile is a listing. There are many more directories across the web where businesses are listed.
Read the rest of this entry »
Instagram Is Now a Necessity for Auto Repair Shops
January 10th, 2024If your auto repair shop is currently not using Instagram, now is the time to do so. Instagram has updated their map functionality to make it easier for users to discover local businesses. Thinking about joining Instagram? Well now is the time to put your official Instagram account on the map!
Read the rest of this entry »
Should I Respond to My Auto Repair Shop Google Reviews?
October 20th, 2023The short answer is yes, but there’s more to it than just posting a quick response.
That’s especially true if the review is negative. I’m writing this blog because we’ve seen a lot of unprofessional responses to negative reviews lately. Before you get mad at me for typing that, please understand that I know how frustrating it can be to see a negative review, especially when you’ve done everything you could to help a customer. Read the rest of this entry »
How Do Consumers Search for Auto Repair Shops Online?
September 26th, 2023There is a lot of confusion among auto repair shop owners about how consumers search for auto repair services on the web. Our goal in this blog is to clear up the confusion and help you understand how most consumers search for auto repair services so you can better understand how your website is performing in search.
Read the rest of this entry »
The Benefits of Allowing Customers to Schedule Appointments Online
August 21st, 2023Most of the repair shop owners we talk to either love the idea of allowing customers to schedule real appointments online…or they absolutely hate it. The resistance is understandable. It’s difficult to manage a shop’s schedule with cars, customers and techs coming and going.
Read the rest of this entry »
Local Search: 4 Tactics to Elevate Your Auto Repair Shop
June 2nd, 2023The four local search tactics are:
- Get a consistent flow of Google Reviews
- Make sure you have a dedicated page on your website for each service or service category that you offer
- Get links from other locally-relevant websites to your website
- Make sure you have links from the internal pages of your website to your home page
Please read on for all of the important information behind these suggestions! Or, skip to the tactics you specifically would like to read more about.
Read the rest of this entry »
8 Leadership Lessons from ATI’s 2023 SuperConference
April 27th, 2023As always, the speakers at ATI’s (Automotive Training Institute) 2023 SuperConference were outstanding. One of my favorite things about the event is the power-packed schedule with lots of learning opportunities from ATI coaches, ATI members and professional speakers. You don’t want to miss a single session because they all provide a great deal of value.
Local Links – What They Are and Why They Are So Important
March 24th, 2023One of the things we are always encouraging our customers to do is to get local links. What are local links and why are they so important? Let’s dive in so you can start boosting your website’s performance through local relationships.
The three core pieces of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are Architecture, Backlinks and Content. The acronym is easy to remember – ABC. Backlinks are links back to your website from other websites. Going forward for this blog I’m just going to refer to them as links.
The Power of Reviews: How They Impact Auto Repair Shop Decisions
March 10th, 2023How many consumers read reviews?
Are reviews especially important for the auto repair industry?
What are consumers looking for when reading reviews?
Thankfully BrightLocal recently released their Local Consumer Review Survey 2023 to help us find the answers to these questions and more when it comes to reviews. This thorough, in-depth and well-constructed survey includes viewpoints from 1,117 United States consumers in January 2023.