• Stop being a LURKER - join our dealer community and get involved. Sign up and start a conversation.

Whats Different About Your Dealerships Website that is better than others

All,

In my wacked view of the world, building a web site in many ways nearly identical to building a magazine... it starts with a blank page.

Ask yourself an honest question.
Could you build a magazine from a blank piece of paper?

  • Concept
  • Content
  • Look and Feel
  • Navigation (index)
A magazine is all content, but we sell cars! So to move the magazine one step closer toward us, add to it an array of products and now you've got a CONTENT RICH catalog. This is what Alex has built at Checkeredflag.com. ALL of the above efforts all point to the inventory.

Be careful! Building custom site is highly complex. I am 18 months into my effort and it's still not done (it's NEVER EVER done... just ask Alex! ;-)


Know your strengths and weaknesses.
Web publishing is a team sport. Where do you fit in? Technical players can't sell a car, and car people can't build a site. I'll ask again, Where do you fit in? Do you have a nose for marketing and a knack for creative? Can you lead a technical team? Can you communicate complex thoughts for all to follow. How much time do you have to "donate" to building this project?
 
Last edited:
AND... Becareful of HIPPO thinking!!! You're starting with a blank page, but, be prepared to challenge your convictions. It doesn't matter what WE think the web site should be, its what our customers want it to be. Look out for the HIPPO to tell you all how to build a web site.

Challenge your convistions, look for a vendor/botique that can create easy A/B tests* to sweeten the ROI.
 
Alex - I really like the upgrades you made to your site. The customer comments section on the inventory details page is genius...Wait a minute did I just call you a genius? Well I guess its ok since your name is Alex. Maybe they will confuse you with me. LOL.

Anyway, has anyone experienced issues with site speed when adding plug-ins from 3rd party vendors?
My site speed seems to suffer especially in Internet Explorer which 75% of our site visitors still use. the website vendors say
 
Alex - I really like the upgrades you made to your site. The customer comments section on the inventory details page is genius...Wait a minute did I just call you a genius? Well I guess its ok since your name is Alex. Maybe they will confuse you with me. LOL.

Anyway, has anyone experienced issues with site speed when adding plug-ins from 3rd party vendors?
My site speed seems to suffer especially in Internet Explorer which 75% of our site visitors still use. the website vendors say

I have seen instances where using 3rd party plugins can really slow down a site if not done right. For example a live chat program can require special java script to load. That java script file may load off their server and not from your website provider. If their server is slow or doesn't cache the file correctly it can slow down your entire site no matter what your website vendor does.
 
Alex - I really like the upgrades you made to your site. The customer comments section on the inventory details page is genius...Wait a minute did I just call you a genius? Well I guess its ok since your name is Alex. Maybe they will confuse you with me. LOL.

Anyway, has anyone experienced issues with site speed when adding plug-ins from 3rd party vendors?
My site speed seems to suffer especially in Internet Explorer which 75% of our site visitors still use. the website vendors say

Thanks and :lol:

We have two different analytics pieces that sometimes show some slow down, but they're last to load on the site so it isn't super noticeable.