7 Tips To Fuel Your Dealership’s Blog

by David Lux, TK Carsites, Inc.

Blogging has become a must for nearly every business, but keeping the content flowing is one of the biggest challenges faced by new bloggers. A blog, by its very definition, is intended to have regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other content, which means that if you’re not feeding it new posts, you’re letting it go to waste.

Whether you’re considering starting a blog for your dealership, or if you looking for ways to improve your existing blog, check out these simple tips to keep the content flowing.

1. Bring others on board

Not everyone is a writer, but each employee does have their own unique skills and perspective of what’s happening around the dealership. Take advantage and advocate that others contribute to the dealership blog. After all, a dealership’s blog should be a window into what a dealership is all about, so the more the merrier.

2. Invite guest bloggers to contribute

Perhaps you have a good relationship with a particular vendor, customer, or other industry contact. If so, invite them to contribute to your blog. In exchange, give your guest blogger their own byline or bio to help promote their business or service.

3. Don’t get hung up on format

Not everyone will have the same voice, and that’s OK. If you have several blog contributors, encourage them to have fun with it and don’t act as a gatekeeper for posts that may be a little different from the blog’s usual content. Whether it’s about dealership news, a specific customer interaction, or local events, what’s important is to keep the posts flowing, even if a new story idea is a little off topic from time to time.

4. Consider news well beyond the dealership

Blogging about the pulse of the automotive industry in general is a great way to overcome “blogger’s block.” If it’s been pretty quiet on the showroom floor, blog about new concept cars, new OEM partnerships, or other broader topics.

5. When news breaks, get reactions

Whenever there’s a really big news story concerning the automotive industry or just in your local area, it would be ideal to get a fresh story posted about it. But, perhaps you don’t have the time available to develop that insightful point of view story that you would really like to make. In those instances, shoot an email to a dozen people at the dealership requesting a brief reaction to the news. Then, write a short intro about the news development and include the commentary from the employees you emailed and there you have your complete POV story.

6. Make blogging easy on others

If you’ve been successful in finding others willing to become involved with the dealership blog, help them find the easiest way to contribute. Offer to accept their content contribution in any way they feel most comfortable with, whether it be via email, Word doc, or even written down. If they want to get more hand-on with blogging, show them the steps to publish a post online. Take a tip from Jerry Maguire and help them help you!

7. Devise a schedule and keep to it

Blogging can sometimes be overwhelming, especially when you’re committed to publishing longer posts as often as possible. But eventually, we all have the potential to get burned out. To overcome this obstacle, come up with a reasonable schedule of writing that works seamlessly between your other tasks and duties.

David Lux serves as Content Manager at TK Carsites. His expertise in content development helps support our industry-leading SEO and link building efforts.