Switching From Auto Dealer Web Design Leads To Buyout!

Can an Auto Dealer Web Design Truly Sell RVs?

See how Century RV’s switch from an auto dealer platform to a custom RV web service resulted in a remarkable 338% traffic increase and a significant acquisition.

We used the RV web service system we outline below to increase traffic 67% in two months to Century RV in Longmont, CO.

Aside from the spike in the beginning of 2017 from an RV show, Century RV went from 2,420 in December to 4,064 organic visitors in February.

But wait, there’s more! Sorry, I couldn’t resist channeling my inner infomercial host.” 🙂  But… We increased traffic 338% in two years. 

When Century RV approached us, they were trapped in a common pitfall: using an auto dealer web design that failed to attract RV buyers. Their site, designed for vehicles, wasn’t cutting it.

Fast forward two years, and their traffic had surged by 338%, thanks to a specialized RV dealer web service. In this case study, we’ll unveil the strategies and steps that led to this remarkable turnaround, transforming their online presence and driving real-world growth.

Is It Easy?

The following case study demonstrates that success in the digital realm isn’t about flashy gimmicks or short-term tactics. Instead, it’s about:

• Deeply understanding your customers
• Creating a user experience that caters to their needs
• Consistently optimizing your approach based on data and results.

6 Reasons Auto Dealer Websites Fail RV Dealerships

When Century RV approached us, they were struggling with a common problem in the RV industry: they were using an Auto Dealer Web Service that was failing to attract RV buyers. While the auto dealer website was cheap, it caused numerous issues for their business.

Their traffic was stagnant at just 2,400 monthly visitors, and sales were far from impressive for a dealership of their size and market.

Here was their home page at the time:

The web design looked fine, but let’s break down the key issues:

1 – Incompatible Website Platform

Century RV was using a website platform designed for car dealerships. While this might seem like a minor issue, it was actually the root of the significant setback. The auto-centric design failed to cater to the unique needs and search behaviors of RV enthusiasts. Auto buyers and RV buyers have a completely different buying cycle and buying needs and the website needed to reflect that.

In short, all content throughout the site said “Auto” or “Vehicle,” which was terrible for SEO, traffic, leads, and sales.

2 – Inability to Import DMS Data

The dealer management system (DMS) data couldn’t be imported into the website. The auto dealer website couldn’t match the class types correctly or display the naming correctly. Notice the class type: New Travel Tra Vehicles for sale. This created a disconnect between their inventory and what was displayed online, leading to no rankings in Google and and missed sales opportunities.

3 – Poor On-Site SEO

The auto dealer website’s SEO was working against Century RV in several critical ways:

• URLs lacked relevant keywords: For example, a travel trailer page had a URL like http://www.centuryrv.com/search/new-travel_tra/tp-bd22994
• Page titles were misspelled, didn’t have RV industry keywords and no location attributes. (We’ll show the difference below)
• On-page content was auto-focused: Product pages displayed text like “New Travel Tra Vehicles for Sale,” using auto dealer language that failed to tell Google what the page was about and thus didn’t rank, didn’t send organic traffic and ultimately led to very few leads.

4 – Keyword Mismatch

The site wasn’t optimized for RV-related keywords. This meant that when potential customers searched for RVs, Century RV’s pages were nowhere to be found in the search results.

Here’s an example keyword: Travel Trailers For Sale Longmont, CO

That keyword phrase is one of the most popular keyword phrases, and their travel travel page didn’t rank because it said New Travel Tra Vehicles for Sale. This mismatch confused search engines, making it impossible to rank for relevant keywords like ‘Travel Trailers for Sale in Longmont, CO’.

5 – Failure to Address the RV Buyer’s Journey

Perhaps most critically, the website failed to acknowledge the unique stages of the RV buying process. From curious novices to seasoned RV enthusiasts looking to upgrade, the site offered a one-size-fits-all approach that served nobody well. We’ll address the RV customer buying cycle below.

6 – Limited Geographical Reach

As Longmont, CO is a major hub in Colorado for purchasing an RV, Century RV also wanted to attract customers from nearby Denver. However, their website wasn’t optimized for multi-location targeting, limiting traffic to their website by shutting out a near by city with a population of over 1 million.

The Solution: Crafting a Digital Strategy Built for RV Buyers

To address Century RV’s problems, we developed a comprehensive strategy that aligned their online presence with the unique needs of RV buyers. Here’s how we transformed their digital marketing:

1. Setup ranking, traffic & conversion goals
2. Keyword & Competition Research
3. Understanding the RV Buyer’s Journey
4. Custom Website Development
5. Customized SEO Services

Business Goals – A Sit Down With The Store Manager

I sat down with Ray, the store manager, to discuss the key improvements they wanted for their website and their expectations. Here’s an overview of our conversation:

1. Customized Website: Develop a website aligned with the customer buying cycle (details below). Integrate their DMS (Sys2k, now Motility) to automatically populate inventory and accurately assign class types and brands.
2. Local SEO: Achieve top rankings in Longmont, CO for all RV-related searches. With Cougar being a major brand, they needed a plan to boost awareness and sales.
3. Traffic and Leads: Increase website traffic and lead generation.

Ready to learn how a website overhaul can drive real business growth? Here’s how we did it with Century RV.

Step 1: RV Customer Buying Cycle

Understanding your customers’ purchasing needs is crucial. It starts with identifying the questions they ask when visiting your dealership.

I spoke with Ray, the store manager, about these questions. It became clear that the pre-sales questions are vital because these are the queries customers ask Google. We categorized these questions into specific stages of the buying cycle and tailored our strategy accordingly.

This framework formed the basis of our strategy, ensuring we created content that addressed customers at every stage of their journey.

“The goal was to group clients based on their search behavior so the dealer (and the sales team) could quickly identify the client’s stage and guide them to the point of sale faster!”

The 5 Stages of the RV Dealer Sales Funnel:

1. Novice: New to RVing, seeking basic information.

• Google Searches:
  • What RV is right for me?
  • Best RV class types
  • Best RV for Overlanding
  • General terms like “RVs for sale” and “RV dealers in [city]”
  • Renting vs Buying, New vs Used

2. Researcher: Exploring RV types and features.

• Google Searches:
  • Best [class type]: best travel trailers, best travel trailers for a family of 4, etc.
  • RV shows [city]: RV shows Longmont, CO
  • Best RV floorplans

3. Explorer: Focusing on specific brands and floor plans.

• Google Searches:
  • Best RV manufacturers or brands
  • How to drive/tow an RV

4. Buyer: Ready to purchase, searching for specific models.

• Google Searches:
  • Year Manufacturer Make Model + Review
  • RV financing
  • RV storage
  • RV insurance

5. Current Customer:

• Google Searches:
  • RV service
  • Repairs
  • Upgrades or trade-ins
  • Best RV travel locations
  • RV parks & parking

These keywords were assigned to the stages of the RV customer buying cycle. This approach helped quickly identify where the client was in their journey, bringing them to the point of sale faster.

Want our RV customer buying cycle Master keyword list? [Click Here]

We compiled the questions and keywords into a spreadsheet, assigned them to stages, and ensured the website had content around those topics.

Understanding the Customer Journey Drives Success

By mapping out the RV buyer’s journey and creating content for each stage, Century RV engaged potential customers at every decision-making point. This comprehensive approach led to higher engagement and more conversions.

Step 2: Keyword Research & Competition Research

This is a brief overview of keyword research, but you can read our blog post on keyword research for RV dealers here.

Now that the RV sales funnel was starting to take shape, we did some keyword research online. We use online keyword research tools like ahref, SEMrush, Moz and Century RV’s Google Search Console to create a master keyword list.

What did we do?

We use those tools for generic keyword research to find similar keyword phrases that were driving traffic locally for each keyword in the sales funnel.

For each stage of the buyer’s journey, we conducted extensive keyword research. This included:

• General terms like “RVs for sale” and “RV dealers in [city]”
• Class-specific searches like “best travel trailers” or “top 5 Class A motorhomes”
• Activity-based queries such as “best RV for overlanding”
• Specific model searches by year, manufacturer, make, and model
• Service-related terms like “RV repairs” and “RV upgrades”

RV Dealer Competition Research & Content Gap

We need to see what keywords that Century RV didn’t rank for, but were driving traffic to our competitors. View this report:

What’s amazing about this is that you are able to put together a master list of keywords that drive traffic and create content on your site for it.

We saved this keyword list in a Google sheet and created a content calendar for creating and publishing.

Want to get a competition report like this for your business? We’ll send you one FREE. Click here. 

Step 3: Building an RV Website Designed for the Sales Funnel

With our comprehensive strategy in place, we moved forward with a systematic implementation process to transform Century RV’s online presence. Here’s how we put our plan into action:

We built a new website from the ground up using a flexible, RV-specific platform:

• Created a responsive, mobile-friendly design
• Implemented an intuitive navigation structure based on RV classes and brands
• Developed a robust search function allowing filtering by RV type, price, length, and features

Auto On-Site SEO

One of the biggest benefits for Century RV was our auto on-site SEO. It can get a bit technical, but here’s the cliff notes:

We meticulously optimized each page for relevant keywords:

• URLs: Implemented a clean, keyword-rich structure (e.g., /rvs-for-sale/travel-trailers/longmont.html)
• Title Tags: Crafted unique, descriptive titles (e.g., “Travel Trailers For Sale Longmont, CO”)
• Meta Descriptions: Wrote compelling summaries to improve click-through rates from search results
• Header Tags: Used H1, H2, H3 tags to structure content and include relevant keywords
• Image Alt Text: Added descriptive alt text to all images for better accessibility and SEO

Here’s the before and after for the travel trailer page:

We didn’t just launch the site and call it a day. We implemented a process of continuous improvement:

• Regular content updates based on seasonal trends and inventory changes
• Ongoing keyword research to identify new opportunities
• Monthly performance reviews to refine our strategy
• Google Analytics for tracking website traffic and user behavior
• Google Search Console for monitoring search performance
• Custom goal tracking to measure lead generation and conversions

This comprehensive approach addressed all of Century RV’s initial challenges while positioning them as the go-to resource for RV buyers in Colorado. By aligning every aspect of their digital presence with the RV buyer’s journey, we created a website that not only attracted more visitors but also converted them into customers more effectively.

Results: A Digital Transformation That Drove Real-World Growth

The implementation of our comprehensive, RV-focused digital strategy yielded impressive results for Century RV. Let’s break down the key metrics and milestones that showcase the dramatic transformation:

1. Website Traffic Growth

We saw a consistent and significant increase in monthly website visitors:

• August 2017 (Pre-implementation peak): 2,474 visitors
• January 2018 (New site launch): 4,640 visitors (87% increase)
• 2019 Average: 6,442 visitors per month (160% increase from 2017)
• April 2020: 9,197 visitors (272% increase from 2017)

This represents a total traffic increase of 338% from the pre-implementation peak to the April 2020 figure.

1. Organic Search Performance

• Keyword Rankings: Achieved first-page rankings for over 200 targeted keywords, including high-value terms like “Colorado RV dealer” and “travel trailers for sale Denver”
• Organic Traffic: 85% of the total traffic increase came from organic search, demonstrating the effectiveness of our SEO strategy. 

1. Geographical Expansion

• Denver Traffic: Achieved a 290% increase in website visitors from the Denver area
• Multi-Location Success: Successfully established online presence for both Longmont and Denver locations

1. Ultimate Outcome: Acquisition by Industry Leader

The crowning achievement of this digital transformation was Century RV’s acquisition by Lazy Days RV, one of the largest RV dealership networks in the United States. This acquisition was directly attributed to Century RV’s impressive growth and strong online presence in the Colorado market.

Conclusion

The remarkable transformation of Century RV from a struggling single-location dealership to an attractive acquisition target for a national chain illustrates the profound impact a well-crafted digital strategy can have on a business.

By shifting from a generic auto dealer website to a comprehensive, RV-specific digital strategy, Century RV significantly boosted their online visibility, customer engagement, and overall business growth.

The lessons learned from Century RV’s journey are applicable far beyond the RV industry. Any business, regardless of sector, can benefit from a digital strategy that prioritizes industry-specific solutions, customer journey mapping, comprehensive SEO, and continuous improvement.

In today’s digital-first world, a strong online presence isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a critical driver of business success. As Century RV’s story shows, the right digital strategy can do more than just increase website traffic; it can transform your entire business, opening doors to growth opportunities you might never have imagined.