Let’s get the obvious out of the way: websites are good to have. Having said that, would you believe us if we said 17% of OPE dealers don’t have one??? Crazy, we know. So the first answer to our title question ‘What makes a good website?’ is (again, obvious) having one. Not good enough? How ‘bout some stats to back it up:

  • The internet is the #1 place consumers find out about new brands/products
  • Over 500 Million searches are performed in the United States every day
  • 88% of consumers research online before making a purchase in-store

Now that everyone’s on the same page, time to dive into what makes a website stand out, why standing out is important, and most importantly how a website should stand out.

A website that looks good is always nice. Google knows this, and includes it in its ranking process; basically, the higher a site ranks, the more likely it will come up in search results.

But Google knows there’s waaaay more to a website than looks. Your site must also quickly serve up information related to the search that was performed. And the more relevant information you have, the better.

Years ago there were ways to game this part of Google’s search algorithm—that’s the technical term for the ‘brain’ that decides which sites come up highest in a list of search results—but those days are long gone. So yes, Google can really tell the difference between a site that looks cool, and a site that’s well organized and offers relevant information…Guess which one will get more looks?

Wondering how your site stacks up? Contact us today for a full site audit!