When you have a great auto body shop, you will want to spread the word to as many people as possible so you can get customers into your shop. This is a very important part of growing as a business and it is often one of the hardest early hurdles to overcome. Once you have customers and the business is bringing in money, you can focus more on internal matters, but until then, it is in your best interest to pour all your energy into building a customer base that will last you and sustain you for years and years to come.

We at Web-Est try to show as clearly as possible that consumers are now going online to look for goods and services.  Its just the trends.  Click here to see some statistics on the growth of the Internet.  The first thing you need to do is build a web presence and you can begin marketing your business online.  But first things first: the website.  You need to build a fluid, efficient website that your customers are drawn to.  

Once your customers get to your web site, what will they see? You want them to see a very slick professional and clean site that will tell them they can feel safe putting their trust in you.  Read the article we posted a couple weeks ago which discussed the importance of making your site look professional.  In the auto industry, people are very wary about salesmen and servicemen. They are afraid of getting ripped off. At the same time, they desperately need their cars to run for them. So building trust is the name of the game in this industry. A customer that trusts you is likely to be very loyal for years to come. This means dollars and cents to you.

It is vital that you make sure that all the important information about your business is on the web site and is clear and easy to find. People often bury information like phone numbers, directions, addresses, and hours of operation on their site. This is a terrible mistake. If people can't find you or reach you, you lose business. Put that information on the home page, or have a tab that specifically states "general info" so people know where to find that info.  You'll also want to consider having what's called a "Call-To-Action" form.  A CTA form is a field of questions and blank spaces that your website visitors can fill in and submit.  This creates an avenue of communication between yourself, the business owner, and the customer visiting your website.  With a CTA form, you can say, "Fill in the form and receive a free quote" or "Fill in the Form and schedule an appointment with our skilled staff today."  It capitalizes on the visits you receive to the site and is the best way to get them in the shop.

Having a unified color scheme helps people to feel that there is a sense of order on the page.  Consistency is key.  Images and colors that are all over the place tend to be distracting.  Having some graphics give the page some extra juice to draw customers in, but make sure the graphics aren't too overwhelming. Another option is to have photographs of your store, your staff, and your products. That will make people feel like they know you before they even come to your store. Again, trust is everything in this business. Letting people get to know you online before they meet you in person will help to build the customer base you are looking for.