Automotive Website Design Blog | Spidersnet

Sales analysis

2010-07-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

Sales Analytics reporting tool – Free of charge for Spidersnet clients
Welcome to this new feature.
What will it do for me?
Once you have entered the info on the 'pop up' form once you click the 'Sold' button you will be able to view a sales report.

The sales report will show the following
1. Location of your customers via a Google map.
2. Date you sold the vehicle.
3. Where the enquiry came from eg Autotrader, Google or Friday-Ad.
4. What the total value of your sales over the period you have chosen.

Once you have entered some data this will provide you with a really valuable insight into where your leads are coming from and where your customers live. This will only be as good as the info you enter in!

Once you have sold some more vehicles click on the 'management' tab to see how it looks!
If you do not want to use this feature just delete the vehicle and it will be removed from your site in the normal fashion.
If you want to contine to show ‘Sold’ vehicles on the site but don’t want to use this facility then add your postcode and ‘x’ in the customer name and enquiry source. You will be missing out on useful data for the sake of a few seconds of data input!

Fad fiestas

2010-07-13T01:42:00.000-07:00

3 Website design must haves...

2010-07-06T05:54:00.000-07:00

1.Clear simple navigation (user friendly)
A design policy puts the end user first, ultimatley they are your target audience.
A user should be able to access any page from any page with relavent content, Your users must be able to navigate their way around your site with ease, A simple navigation structure will invite the user to visit more pages and explore more of your business.
2. A site that creates buyer confidence
Distinctive design
Apart from user friendliness your site needs to look attractive and modern to grab the users attention and create the enquiry. You need to have a well designed site that inspires confidence in your future prospects and will be readily found on search engines. A well designed site will provide you with the majority of your traffic, this is a vital part of the build process.
3. Easy for the dealer to update (dealer friendly)
CMS Content management
We know that if ‘its hard to update’ it probably wont be done, despite the best intentions. Uploading needs to be by VRM lookup or data feed, with a quick and easy way of uploading multiple images of each vehicle. Its not just the vehicles that need to be updated, web pages and current offers need to be changeable by you at your convenience. Video will be playing an increasingly large part in the forward thinking dealer, preferably incorporated with every vehicle.

Please call one of our account managers if you want to talk about this in more detail.

Spidersnet dealers go Mobile

2010-06-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

Spidersnet dealers get mobile for 2010.

Great news! We have launched the mobile dealer site.
We think it’s the best one available, for the following reasons.
Please take a look at the short video which explains most of what you need to know.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fklgt9OAJu8

Facts

Mobile is set to become a must-have for dealers looking to reach customers in 2010. Do not underestimate the breadth of this market, either. In the third quarter of 2009, 10.4 million people used their phone to access the internet – that’s an increase of 18 percent in just 3 months!
Your users are already looking at your (desktop/full) site on their ‘Smart phone / iPhone, we know this from your analytics.

Features

1. You don’t need to do anything, just upload vehicles in the normal way.
2. Mobile site designed specifically for i-phone and smart phones with web access
The mobile site displays the following
Your logo,
Quick search, make - model – price – gearbox, and even a text box key feature search!
Your own mobile home page text / profile (different from your homepage, editable by you from the Autopromotor upload tool)
4 images per vehicle, all optimised for mobile and rapid loading
10 items of spec (the first 10 that you have selected)
Click to call facility
Google map of your location
Sync’d with your site instantly
3. Your mobile visitors don’t need to type in any special web address or get a text esaage link, if they are using a mobile, we will display them your mobile website.

Benefits,

Latest technology used, gives buyers confidence.
Keep ahead of your competitors, mobile is the future.
Mobile site displayed if viewed from mobile phone with web access automatically
Your users will get a far better experience looking at a mobile version of your full site.
Faster loading
Direct call feature from the users phone to you.
Keep viewers on your site looking at more pages.
Increased call / email rate from mobile.

Call your account manager on 01273 837560 today.

Word of web

2010-05-05T10:10:00.000-07:00

Recently I went to the internet world show at Earls Court. Very interesting and full of new tech and gizmos. But the over riding buzz was all about social media and how you can help your business for the future.
Please look at this video, its only just over 2 minutes.
.

Latest improvements -

2010-04-06T08:45:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce the following improvements to your upload tool(autopromotor.co.uk).
1. Bulk delete of photos.
You can now delete all the photos for a vehicle in one go! instead of one at a time.
2. Ammending your opening hours

You can now edit you opening hours on the upload tool, to edit your open hours just go to the 'edit your profile' in the header once you have logged in and click on the link.
Then fill / edit your current opening hours then click on the 'Save changes'
Please let us know if you want to display opening hours if you are not already

A bit of gloating...

2010-03-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

Subject: Duston Garage website

Dear Alan,

We have recently changed to your company to provide our website services and I feel that I should make you aware of how delighted we are with the service your company has provided and operation of the website thus far.

However, all too often a company’s staff are taken for granted and the only feedback is complaint related, In view of this I felt it important to let you know that every member of your staff that I have dealt so far have been a credit to your company both in their professional conduct and their friendly manner.

I would also like to mention the exceptional effort and support given to us by Raphael and Justin throughout this period and I do hope that you will pass on my

sincere thanks to them both.

Yours sincerely

Duston Garage

Which Camera should I buy?

2010-02-02T03:08:00.000-08:00

Now updated with an even better deal, Thanks Mark for pointing this one out to me...

I am asked regularly which camera should I buy.

Well the good news is I have found the perfect camera and it costs less than £60.00

Here are the details

Fuji A170

10 mega pix, and now includes rechargeable

All sorts of shooting modes, great quality.
Click here for the link to buy this camera from Amazon,
(no I am not on a back hander!)

I also recommend that you buy a tripod and use this for taking all your vehicle shots, this costs less than £25.00
Click here for the link to buy this Tripod
The benefits of a tripod are
1 steady shot = sharper image, try and you will see!
2 You can take your images from exactly the same place every time, for the really professional look.

If you need any help on how to take really good photos of your cars, vans or bike please contact us.

Autopromotor's New Photo Uploader - Install it now!!!!

2010-01-29T03:25:00.000-08:00

For those of you still using the Old version its time to change to the new improved photo uploader. When adding a new image you will be prompted by a pop up to "Install Active X image uploader" You must carry out this process in order to use the new uploader.
Some of you may have problems installing Active X and will not be prompted; this will be down to the security settings on your PC.
This is the way to fix it.
Active X is a vital component that allows the photo uploader to work correctly.
Please click on the below link that explains what you need to do......it’s very easy and will take a minute.

Get using Autopromotor's new photo uploader now.......your wish you installed it sooner!!

Save money off your invoice

2010-01-05T08:05:00.000-08:00

Do you know someone who could benefit from using Spidersnet as much as you do? Invite them to join, and we'll reward you with 10% off your monthly maintenance bill………for life!

To take advantage of this offer, the dealer needs to join Spidersnet by 28th February 2010. Once the dealer has joined, we'll organise the 10% reduction from all future invoices.

There is no maximum number of people you can refer to Spidersnet. For every single new customer that joins following your referral, we'll give you 10% off your monthly maintenance bill.

Go on, sign them up!

Wanted warning....

2009-10-07T04:37:00.000-07:00

Important information about ‘wanted’ adverts
Recent feedback has indicated that consumers find ‘wanted’ adverts misleading when searching for vehicles for sale. Users of the motoring websites have said that ‘wanted’ adverts disrupt the user experience which may deter them from visiting again in the future.
As a result, and to ensure users are not confused if the word 'wanted' appears in the text of your advert it will not appear where you would expect it to on Autotrader, ebay and many more motoring sites.

Video launch on dealers website

2009-09-22T06:29:00.000-07:00

Atlast this is now a reality, you can upload video to YouTube which is displayed within your vehicle details page.
All you need to do is let us know you want to do this, there is a one off cost of £85 to make the necessary ammendments to your site to enable video to be displayed for each vehicle.

The benefits are;-
Add a really dynamic feature to your website
Significant SEO improvements and gains on dealer who have not embraced video yet.
No extra cost to your monthly budget.
Get in now, you will be harder to knock off the top of the page rankings.
Your customers will love it.
It will keep visitors on your site for longer.

It will take around 30 mins to do each car from start to finish.
We have made a short video to show how to do this from start to finish, it is good fun to do and will bring out the creativity in you!

Call us or email to get your video on site today

Videos increase sales, we can help.

2009-08-26T05:40:00.000-07:00

Video Solution
We are currently developing a solution for you to show a video of each car or van you have for sale on your Spidersnet designed website.
We will display the video in the place of the main photo. Don't worry we will still display all 8 photos in the same panel.

Consumer is King
Consumer research shows, a huge percentage of your customers want to see a video of what they are buying. You would if you could...
Not much to do
It is going to be so easy to do, all you will need is;-

1. A video camera, or a camera with a video facility.

2. A YouTube account, this will take no more than 5 minutes for you to set up (Free of charge)

3. Some skills as a cameraman, I recommend you have a good practice before we set this up for real! We will be doing our own 'How to do a good Video' guide later.

Once you have set up your YouTube account you will upload a 1 or 2 minute video for each car, or a few cars, there are some good editing tools within the YouTube site to make the Video even better.
Then just copy the URL of the video and paste it in the field just below where you click to enter photos for each vehicle.

Keep ahead of your competitors
This will not be for everyone, it will be for the committed online seller. The benefits are many and include#

1. Better Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - There will be a link from YouTube to your website
You can name each video to help with this, carefully worded so it will be found via YouTube.

2. Improved customer experience, imagine if you had a convertible, the roof going up an down would look pretty cool.

3. Visitors would stay on your site for longer, look at more vehicles, therefore increasing the likelihood of a valuable enquiry.

Spidersnet keeping ahead of our competitors
We are always aiming to find simple solutions to the latest innovations in online retailing.
Video is going to be the next MASSIVE thing, If I was still selling cars for a living I would do this for every vehicle for sure. YouTube is the biggest and best site to post your videos to, with our link to your video this will be a win win situation.
We are very exited and looking forward to seeing some really great videos.

Alan Stuart
Operations Director

Follow Us on Twitter

2009-08-20T07:25:00.000-07:00

Want to keep up to date with the latest movements and developments of the Spidersnet Team?
Then follow us on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/spidersnetUK

Dealers stock now on C4 (Channel4) website

2009-07-22T01:34:00.000-07:00

Spidersnet to promote their Dealers on Skupe Net Network

Date: 21th July 2009

Skupe Net, who manage classified car listings for a number of UK Publishers have signed an agreement to feature all of Spidersnets’ Dealers on two of its major partner websites:
- Channel4 4Car
- Carpages.co.uk
Through their news, reviews and cars for sale sections, these websites provide a valuable resource for car buyers researching their next purchase with a readership of over 2million unique users every month.

With this deal, Spidersnet will avail of featured listings for all of their dealers in the cars for sale sections on both of these websites. In addition, the dealers will gain valuable brand exposure by having their logos displayed alongside their car classifieds on these two sites.

Skupe Net’s unique approach of having related cars for sale classifieds on each news and review page of their partner websites (e.g. Jaguar XFs for sale on the review of the Jaguar XF) allows them to deliver an enhanced user experience and increase the number of sales leads generated for Spidersnets’ dealers.

Raphael Millin, Business Development Manager for Spidersnet said:

‘We are committed to helping our dealers sell more cars and we are always looking for ways to improve our service. www.channel4.com/4car and www.carpages.co.uk
are well known for the quality of their motoring content and they provide an invaluable service to car buyers. Following on from a recent trial, we are delighted with the response rates achieved and have decided to include Skupe Net’s featured listings as part of the online marketing package that we provide to our dealers.’

Bernard McGranaghan, Managing Director of Skupe Net said:

‘We are delighted to have signed this deal with one of the UK’s premium automotive website design companies. This deal will provide Spidersnets’ Dealers with significant brand exposure and a valuable source of new sales leads while promoting Spidersnet’s high quality inventory of cars for sale will benefit car buyers by offering a better experience when visiting our publishing partners.

Skupe Net works with web publishers to help them deliver a better car search experience while simultaneously delivering cost effective advertising for dealers, our partnership with Spidersnet represents a win-win situation for both the Car Buyers and the Car Dealers.’

About Skupe Net
Skupe Net Limited was launched in 2005 in order to help consumers and vendors connect on the web. Skupe Net achieves this by supplying classifieds technology, strategy and business processes to a growing number of publishers in a variety of sectors.
In the UK Motoring Classifieds sector, Skupe Net manages a database of almost 200,000 cars for sale and displays these cars for sale to approximately 2 million unique visitors per month. This is a achieved via a number of publishing partners which includes www.carpages.co.uk
and www.channel4.com/4car

Alan Stuart says, 'This is precisley the type of partnership deal we are trying to achieve for our dealer network. Increasing the oppurtunity for dealers stock to be found on major websites. The deal is for Spidernet dealers stock to be in the 'featured listing' giving them the premium slot.

For more information contact Bernard McGranaghan at Skupe Net Limited, UK Office, 8 The Square, Stockley Park, London UB11 1FW (telephone: 0208 610 6103;
e-mail:info@skupenet.com; web site: www.skupenet.com).

Customer Service

2009-07-02T04:18:00.000-07:00

We believe that 'Exceptional Customer Service' in 2009 is vital to the success of your business and ours. To address this we have just appointed Dina to take on the role of 'Tech Support' for Spidersnet. She will be responsible for broadcast queries, website amendments, she will endeavour to make the changes either the same day or the following day. Our aim is to offer rapid' turn around on queries and website changes.
Please email her directly on support@spidersnet.co.uk or call 01273 837559
For sales and other enquiries continue to call 01273 837560

Codeweavers 'the best' online car finance solution in the UK

2009-07-01T03:57:00.000-07:00

Spidersnets' senior web designer Ashley Hitchcock has just completed full Codeweavers finance intergration into the AutoPlanet website.

The features are exactly what the customer needs, they include:
1 Up to 3 types of finance deal for every vehicle, displayed on the results page, and the vehicle details page with full finance examples
HP
Low cost payment
PCP
2 Fully editable by the user
3 Online application form that can go directly to the finance house and your inbox

The dealer can choose the amount of F&I income at the outset, set the rates, have full control.
The customer can adjust the months and the deposit so that your stock is affordable.
In short we know this will keep your prospective customers on your site longer, let them create deals that suit them (and you at the same time) and will allow you to sell nearer the asking price as this no longer becomes such an issue once the finance application has been accepted.
It does not matter which finance house you are affiliated to this Codeweavers solution caters for every major and minor finance house in the UK.
We can add this to your site, we think this is the single best addition you can make to your business.
Prices are dependant on the number of vehicles you have in stock, the less cars you have the less you pay.
Have a look at the AutoPlanet website and see if this could work for you...
Please call us or Codeweavers for details.

2009-06-29T03:35:00.000-07:00

New website re-design - TSC Used Car Supermarket - tsccars.co.uk

What TSC had to say about Spidersnet…

We are so pleased with our revamped website we wanted to let you know, we all tend to hear about things when they are not quite right but rarely when things are superb and a credit to your company. Working closely with the Spidersnet team we got exactly what we set out to achieve, we wanted the new site to be fresh, modern, dynamic, easy to use, access all the information quickly with lots of interesting images to highlight the different pages on the site.

Justin was so patient at times with our demands but really did an excellent job, as Ash has also done when ever we needed something doing over the many years we have been with you. Our website, like I am sure all your other customers have become so important to our business and image, in this new day and age it is our shop window and the amount of business it generates out weighs all our other marketing tools by a considerable amount. Many thanks again and i don't hesitate in recommending you whenever I get the chance.

Spidersnet Video on Car Dealer website.

2009-06-29T03:31:00.000-07:00

Spidersnet Business profile Video is now live on the Car Dealer publications website.

Click here to view

Be part of the revolution before your competitors. 8 out of 10 internet users now access video.
Videos are seen by google and other search engines as a very powerful tool thus improving your sites ranking in its results. To arrange a free video consultation please call 01273 837560 or email sales@autopromotor.co.uk

Please view these links below to see some of videos we have recently launched.

Eastbourne Daihatsu

Abbott and Son Car Sales

Lighthouse Car Centre

Barking Car Sales

2009-06-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

We have recently created a brand new website for one of our oldest clients Barking Car Sales, the original site worked very well producing sales, but did look a little tired around the edges!
Alan Stuart (ops director) met with Peter Sullivan and his staff who were all instrumental in creating the new look along with Kevin (one of spidersnets web designers) who did all the clever stuff and put it all together.
The sales team at Barking Car Sales upped the anti and are now doing really first class photos which we all know will really help sell those cars.
have a look on
http://www.bcs4cars.co.uk/

Once the site went live this is what they had to say about us

To All at Spidersnet

We at Barking Car Sales would like to say a big thank you for designing our new website in such a professional manner,we are absolutely delighted with the finished article and are very impressed with the way that you dealt with our requirements we cannot recommend spiders net enough and look forward to doing business with them in the future.

kindest regards

all at BCS

2009-06-23T01:31:00.000-07:00

New website launch - Tempest4cars.co.uk

Tempest 4 Cars have been loyal customers with us for some time now. We have recently rebuilt their website to meet the current competitive online motors market. Incorporating new features we have been developing over the years since the client first signed up. We now have included video advertising, quick search bars and more user friendly navigation. Behind the scenes our features are always improving, integrated with this new site we are confident we will drive more customers and enquires to our client.

Motor Show

2008-07-31T00:42:00.000-07:00

Friday-Ad and Autopromotor / Spidersnet were delighted to be the main sponsors of the Eastbourne Motorshow, now in its 10th year.
This was the busiest yet with over 40,000 visitors,
Win a car competition
A brand new Lotus Elise S worth £25,000 was the prize for anyone who managed to roll 7 sixes in one throw, Dream Machines the Lotus dealers for the Heathfield area were the suppliers and sponsors of this very popular competition. http://www.dreammachines.org.uk/
This caused a real sensation with a long cue all day for both days of punters trying their hand at winning the prize. Unfortunately no one did win the full size car but one lucky winner did get a model of the Lotus Elise.

Click on the slide show to view it full size

Raising money
We raised £1277 in total from both shows, we split this between BEN (all the money raised at Eastbourne £920) & Hospice in the Weald ( Tunbridge Wells local hospice)
Both charities were most appreciative.

Click on the slide show to view it full size

Photo Slide show from Tunbridge Wells 2008

Wow that was a hot weekend, with over 5000 visitors looking at the new cars from the Tunbridge Wells dealers new models and most of the 5000 visitors having a go on the 'Roll a Dice' competition to Win the Car, in this case a
Ford Fiesta 2.0 ST supplied by Lifestyle Ford
All the punters had to do was throw 7 sixes in one throw, we had 3 fairly lucky punters throw 5 sixes, close but not close enough.
Autopromotor are proud to say that we created and power the Lifestyle group of websites, take a look at what we do on http://www.lifestyleeurope.co.uk/

Mike Brewer
Mike did a fantastic job as the presenter of the shows despite the searing heat he was knowledgeable and made us all laugh wit his witty banter and dodgy competitions such as the 'Topless challenge'. Thank you

What do we do?
Autopromotor is one of the Spidersnet products, we cater for all types of Motor dealer websites, we broadcast your stock to pretty well all the motoring sites you can think of on a daily basis, we also create bespoke websites from scratch for large and small dealers as well as dealer groups. We would like to speak with to discuss your online requirements and will be contacting you over the next few weeks.

Next year
It will be bigger and better for both venues, we hope to have another 'Win a Car' competition again, but this time increase the odds of winning the car by reducing it to 6 sixes and have an even higher value car to bring out the big gamblers and raise even more money for charities.
Come on lets have the Audi R8, that would make the headlines...

Have a good summer
Thanks to all the dealers and staff who made the MotorShow what it is now, a really great platform to show off your new cars and show them to a large audience of genuine car buyers.

Alan Stuart
Operations director
Spidersnet

New Rapid Photo Uploading Tool

2008-06-10T05:56:00.000-07:00

We are currently developing a new tool to speed up uploading photos to Autopromotor.
This tool is in the final stages of development and we are hoping to deploy it this week.

So watch this space for the latest updates

Brownbook.net - Open business directory

2008-06-10T05:00:00.000-07:00

The Brownbook.net (www.brownbook.net) is the open business directory where anyone can update, edit and add reviews.

Get your Dealership listed to get greater exposure

Click here

Remember to add your Web address this will help with link popularity and help you gain greater Search engine Exposure (For example in Google)

New Website Designer Required

2008-01-11T08:19:00.000-08:00

Job Purpose
You will be a key member the Web Design Team, involved in creating visually stunning websites for motor dealers. As well as providing various maintenance and administrative duties.

Accountabilities and Responsibilities
· Demonstrate the ability to multi-task, and be self-sufficient, detail-oriented, and motivated to excel
· Handle various other design and administrative duties as assigned
· Display skill in creative and visual thinking
· Participate in brainstorming sessions and other planning activities
· Work in a team environment
· Troubleshoot and resolve unexpected issues quickly and efficiently
· All other duties as deemed appropriate.

Essential Skills
· HTML
· CSS
· Adobe CS Studio including Dreamweaver and Photoshop
· A creative edge
· Good Oral and Written communication
· Customer Focus
· Ability to multi-task
· Strong Portfolio

Desirable Qualities
· Design related qualification
· Flash
· Illustrator
· SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
· Understanding of Accessibility
· ASP

Salary: £16-18K
Additional Information: URL`s /examples of your own work must be included in your application.

How to apply: To apply for this role and for a full job description, please email your covering letter and CV to sarahback@friday-ad.co.uk or by post to:

Sarah Back
Spidersnet,
London Road,
Sayers Common,
West Sussex,
BN6 9HS

Other benefits include 25 working days holiday, a company pension (after a qualifying period) and use of our on-site gymnasium.

Based in our Sayers Common office, you will need your own car, as public transport is limited.

We are an equal opportunities employer