This question is really important when considering your online presence. If the search engines were asking you this question, would you answer 1 year at a time?  By registering your domain name one year at a time, this is exactly what you are saying to them.

For years SEO/SEM speculation has surrounded this topic that the search engines only want to provide the most relevant results to searchers.  Competing against search engine spam has been one of the biggest issues they run into constantly.  So if is a factor in their algorithm, how are you representing your business online?

There are many others reasons as to why you should register your domain name for longer periods.  Here are just a few:

• Save money from price increases in the future (every year or so prices jump slightly, but it does continue).
• Protect it from expiration  (I have heard so many horror stories of lost domains and the legal efforts needing to be used to get them back, simply because accounting missed the bill).
• Reduce spamming messages to renew your domain name (there are a couple of companies out there who send out mock invoices that it’s time to renew your domain name.  If you aren’t careful, you could accidentally renew your domain name through a new company, pay more than you should, and cause a myriad of other problems for yourself.)

In any case, I recommend if you have a domain name and intend to be in business longer than a year, lengthen the term of your business registration.

If you don’t go back and revisit your marketing pieces every once in a while, you could be missing out on opportunity. The opportunity to enhance and improve what you did from the last time you used it. Some possible reasons for revisiting your auto repair marketing are:

• Looking for possible changes to content, or mistakes that had previously been missed.
• Checking to see if there is a way to improve the effectiveness and results from the last time it was used.
• To make sure it remains consistent with your current brand/identity.
• or just updating your value proposition.

Just as having an oil change is to an automobile, so is reviewing your marketing. You must inspect everything to make sure it is fully functioning and in proper operation. All the pieces should work together to properly motivate and encourage customers to come and see you first.

Search engines rank your website by taking into account a lot of different variables. The more search variables your website adheres to for the engine, the better ranking it will receive. But website integrity and enhancements are not the only criteria that search engines recognize. Directories, linking and social networking have become a huge consideration for search engines.

Claiming your business on directories in your area can be tricky business. The best advice I can give on this matter is to establish specific information for your marketing guru to use in your directory listings. Then claim as many relevant directories that are within your business area.

Linking can be tricky as well. Having your website linked to from a plethora of sites is not necessarily a good thing. The sites you want to be linked from should be high quality sites that pertain to your business. These can be mutually beneficial and increase the ranking positions of both business websites. Unfortunately there are many businesses who do not understand this and try to link to any and all businesses out there. Be selective! If you’re in doubt, check with your marketing or SEO expert!

Social networking can also be beneficial as they provide communication and exposure to your customers. Networks like Facebook can keep your name and events in front of those who do business with you, but they do take a lot of time and energy to keep current. It is important to make sure social networking sites be kept current and relevant or your subscribers will lose interest and fall away.

Now that you have a good, clean website you will want to track the source of your customer’s contact with you. Did they find you on the web? If they did, can they tell you what keywords they used to search for you? Most people don’t mind giving you this information, especially after they have experienced your high-quality work and superior customer service skills. The information your customers provide to you is invaluable!

(The information about your customers is also beneficial: their occupation, gender, age, miles driven per year, type of vehicle, care of vehicle, etc. Historical and cultural facts provide an enormous amount of help when building marketing strategies.)

Once you have a database of customer information and tracking, you have begun to build a marketing toolbox that will work miracles in the future, especially from the web perspective. There is no limit as to what your marketing capabilities can be with your on-line reach.

Your on-line reach involves SEO fine-tuning in order that your website can reach its highest customer exposure and optimal customer draw. Sometimes a sponsored ad may not be needed if search engines rank your website on page one, position one. There are actually times where a sponsored ad can enhance your web exposure even when ranked on page one. An website SEO expert may be just the ticket to ensure your best on-line reach.

Each and every industry has its own jargon and lingo that is used to sell or appear strategically more competitive. While these buzz words and phrases make sense to some within the industry, and may be specific only to your prospective vendor, they are gibberish to many outside of that world.

It could cost you hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars not knowing or understanding what these terms mean. This could be due to spending money that is unnecessary (like buying halogen fluid for your headlights), or even spending it incorrectly (such as not knowing exactly what you are paying for).

A very simple way to prevent this problem is to take the time to understand what you are purchasing, and exactly what the jargon or lingo means. There is insight you can gain from multiple vantage points. These can include:

- The level of training and education your vendor is willing to provide
- The knowledge level of the vendor and what they are capable of
- A better understanding of the products or services you are purchasing

If you fail to see how it connects to your automotive shop needs, ask them to show you a connection or to leave that aspect out of your purchase options. In the end, you will find that you have gained competitive knowledge at a reduced cost from the vendor, and reaffirmed that what you are buying will do exactly what you expect.

Auto repair shop owners:  It is important to stay abreast of Internet scams that may cost you valuable time – and money. One popular Internet scam for business owners who own Web site domains is fake domain renewal letters.  These fake domain renewal letters may come through the mail or through email.

Basically, these scams tell you that you need to register your auto repair shop Web domain with their company or renew your domain through their company in order to ensure that you don’t lose ownership of your Web domain. The goal of these scams is to get auto repair shop owners to transfer their registrars – and often ownership – of their domains.

Here are some tips to help you quickly spot a fake domain renewal letter:

The letter comes from a company that does not already host your auto repair shop domain

Your auto repair shop Web domain is hosted by only one company – and that is sometimes the same as the company through which you purchased the domain. (Read this blog to learn more about how to find out where your Web site is registered.) There is no reason for you to transfer ownership or registration to another company unless you decide that you want to.

Sometimes, scammers will try to make you believe that your domain name is expiring and that if you want to keep your auto repair domain name active and in your business name, you need to renew it with their company or transfer it to their company. This is simply not the case. In fact, in many cases, your Web domain can be automatically renewed through your registrar company.  You may want to check with your registrar or Web master to find out how.

Look for words that may indicate a scam, such as “registrar” or “expires”

Scammers prey upon auto repair shop owners who may not have expertise in Web site management. Therefore, they may reference practices or activities that seem reasonable, such as a Web site domain expiring. In fact, you may even receive legitimate notices from your domain name registrar or Web hosting company when your auto repair shop domain is about to expire.

However, you should also be vigilant about reading emails and letters suggesting that you switch registrars or that you should take action because your domain is about to expire. Whenever you have doubts about your auto repair shop domain, call your domain name registrar or Web hosting company for more information or guidance.

In most cases, once you purchase your auto repair shop domain name, you’ll need to pay some annual or monthly fees for the domain. However, it is unlikely that you will have to take action to transfer that domain – or renew it more than once a year. Any calls to action to transfer, renew, or maintain your domain should be researched fully to ensure that you are not a victim of an auto repair shop Web site scam.

Many small business owners – including auto repair shop owners – turn to people they know and trust when it’s time to hire someone to perform a professional service. However, having a customer design your auto repair shop Web site may seem like a good idea in the early stages, but the arrangement can lead to some big-time dilemmas down the road. Here are some important things to think about if you are considering using a customer to do your auto repair Web site:

Trading Auto Repair Services for a Web Site

If you are thinking about trading auto repair services for someone to design or develop your Web site, be sure that you are getting a fair arrangement. In many cases, auto repair shop owners end up paying more than they need to for their Web sites when they barter. Many auto repairs not only require your time, but they also require parts. Therefore, you may not only have to put your valuable time on the line, but also your pocket book purchasing parts. In the end, you may end up paying more money – and spending more time –on your customer’s car than you would have if you had simply hired someone to do your Web site.

Too High a Price for Auto Repair Sites

When you hire a customer to do your auto repair site, chances are good that you are expecting the customer to give you a fair and reasonable price for the site. While this may end up being the result of your agreement, it’s important that you take time to investigate other Web site development services as well.

For example, for the same price that you would pay your customer for your Web site, you may be able to find someone who will not only design and develop your Web site, but will also get you set up with a newsletter and other bonuses. It’s important to shop around for the best deal and services when it comes to getting the best results for your automotive repair shop Web site.

Plan for the Unexpected

Your auto repair customer may be a good friend and a loyal customer now. However, when business takes on another dimension by hiring him or her to do your Web site, your relationship could be on the line. For example, what happens if your customer does not deliver the level of service or the type of design that you thought you would be getting?

If you and your customer have a falling out over the auto repair shop Web site, you may not only lose an auto repair shop client, but you could get into a sticky situation with your Web site. For this reason, many auto repair shop owners like to keep their businesses separate by looking outside of their customer pool.

Think twice about using a customer to design or develop your auto repair shop Web site. Too many customer relationships have been sacrificed when an automotive repair shop owner works with his or her current customer base for outside projects.

When you own your own car repair shop, you need to manage many aspects of your business effectively. So what happens if one of your professional service providers seemingly falls off the face of the planet and takes your important files along with him or her? Unless you have a back-up of those files, you may be out of luck. For this reason, it’s important for you to retain a copy of the original files for your auto repair shop web site.

Here’s what you need to know about keeping your auto repair shop web site files:

Know what to ask for when hiring someone to design and develop your auto repair shop web site.

When you hire someone to design and develop your auto repair shop web site, be sure that you will receive a copy of the final web site.  These files are sometimes called “source files”, as they provide the source for your car repair web site.

How to get your car repair shop web files.

Your web designer and/or developer should be able to get your car repair shop source files to you on a hard disk or through email.  If the source files for your web site are emailed to you, they should all be contained within one folder, which can be zipped and/or compressed.  The reason that all of the files should come in one email is simply so that you can keep them together and manage them; after all – you may not be able to actually view the files to see what they are without the proper software. If they are in the wrong order, or rearranged by mistake, it can cause problems if you need to use them to reset your website.

You can also get your auto repair shop web site source files by downloading them from your web hosting company.  Unless you are tech-savvy, you may need to contact your web hosting company for more information about how to easily download the files.

Automotive repair shop owners: Are you holding onto an email distribution list but not actively emailing your auto repair customers? If you are like many small businesses, you probably have a list of emails for your customers or potential customers that you are not yet making the most of. It’s time to start using those email lists to get in touch with current and future auto repair customers… today!

Many auto repair shop owners hold onto these email addresses without sending emails for a few reasons, including:

• They think they need to have a larger email list in order to send emails to car repair customers.
• They think they need to wait until they are able to send out a technically advanced email – but they don’t necessarily have time to develop a technically advanced email yet.
• They are not sure what to say to their car repair customers in their emails, so they don’t say anything.

However, by waiting to send out your automotive marketing emails until you have a larger list or the “right” technology, you are missing valuable opportunities to communicate with customers who are interested in learning more about your services. After all, everyone needs auto repair services from a reliable auto repair shop they can count on.

Here are a few reasons to start sending emails to your current auto repair customer list now:

• If you wait to send automotive marketing emails, the email addresses you currently have might no longer be active by the time you are ready to send your emails. Sending emails now will help to ensure that you send emails to active email addresses. If you wait, some of your car repair customers will change their email addresses – and you won’t be able to reach them!
• No matter how big or small your email address list is, your customers want to hear from you – especially if you have coupons or valuable information for them. Don’t make your automotive repair customers wait any longer!
• Sending emails now can help you test and refine your email campaigns. For example, you’ll be able to see what types of emails people respond to best, which can help you to develop better emails as your list grows.
• Communication with your car repair shop customers not only helps them receive valuable messages from you, but it ensures that they remember you. Send emails now so you stay fresh in your customers’ minds.

Not sure what you want to say in your car repair shop emails? Here are a few suggestions:

• Share a valuable tip that can help to save your automotive repair customers time and money.
• Offer coupons and special promotions.
• Keep them updated about what’s going on with your business or in your industry.
• Remind them to refer their friends who are in need of a reliable car repair shop, like yours.

Are you still using a Yahoo, Gmail, or AOL email address for your auto repair shop? If so, then it’s time to upgrade your generic email address to a more professional one by using your own auto repair shop domain name instead of a Yahoo, Gmail, or AOL domain name.

Upgrading your email address will convey your professionalism and leave a positive impression with your car repair customers. Moreover, it will be clear that the email address you give your auto repair customers is your auto repair shop business email address – not a personal one.

Generic Domain vs. Customized Domain for Your Auto Repair Business

Even if you use a special email address for your auto repair business, such as SampleAutoRepair@yahoo.com, your customers will still see that it is a generic email address because of the @yahoo.com domain. However, if you are able to use your specific auto repair shop name with a unique domain name, such as John@SampleAutoRepair.com, you’ll boost your professional image and impress your car repair customers.

You might already own a unique domain for your automotive business. If not, it’s easy (and cheap) to buy one – you’ll just have to find a domain that’s available!

Customized Email With a Simple Car Repair Web Site

You don’t need to have a fancy multi-page Web site to have a more professional email address (even though it’s generally a good marketing idea to have a robust Web site). You simply need to have the domain name and a basic landing page for your Web site to start generating an online presence and boosting your auto repair image.

Start upgrading your professional auto repair shop image by switching to a customized email address with your own domain name. Your car repair customers will be impressed with your professionalism, which will translate to increased trust and reliance in you auto repair services. Plus, it’s easy to get started!