Has the website had its day as the destination for all your marketing investments?

That is a question you really do need to ask yourself as a car business in the AI era we are now in. I am working on a new version of Nieuweautokopen.nl, simply because I enjoy working on new ideas, and with all the AI possibilities available now, I can quite easily build a website that offers around 80% of the functionality.

The website, a brainchild of mine, is fairly easy to set up: I create a landing page, add the new version of Novaco AI, which has access to the entire stock and can answer every question, and I make it so simple that everyone understands it straight away… Just as Google showed us that you can be very successful with a homepage that has nothing but a search bar…

Of course, a website does still have real value for a car business. Your SEO value lies in it, and it is also a matter of digital hygiene. But when you see how many mini-websites you already have as a dealer, such as your business page on Marktplaats, your pages on Facebook and Instagram and, of course, your Google My Business page, how much money do you still want to spend on your dealer website?

Starting over?

If I had to start again now, my website would consist of a homepage with the virtual assistant as the primary CTA, a Search Result Page with the stock, so that I can link directly to it from Google My Business, for example, using a URL such as www.experiencestoredoesburg.nl/voorraad, a VDP page for every car in stock, of course, and a contact page. All other information can go through the virtual assistant. And yes, I would then miss out on landing pages with valuable information about leasing, new models, the workshop and so on for SEO, but is that still worth the investment in a full-blown dealer website?

I built the websites dcdwevents.nl and https://marktplaatscursus.pauldevries1972.nl/ with minimal resources and with the help of AI, which also shows that a website as such is relatively easy and affordable to create… as a car business. If you add a good AI as a virtual assistant, such as Novaco Assistent, with all the connections to your stock, your DMS and your workshop planner, what is left to build?