The Automotive Service Association (ASA) and AutoInc., ASA’s official publication, have announced the winners of AutoInc.’s annual “Top 10 Websites Contest.”
The contest serves to help member-shop owners create websites that proactively promote their business through cost-effective digital marketing.
The top 10 winners for 2019 include (in alphabetical order with links to each winner’s page):
- Carmine’s Import Service of Kernersville, N.C.
- Connie & Dick’s Service Center Inc. of Claremont, Calif.
- Dynamic Automotive of Frederick, Md.
- Fix-it With Fred of Canton, Ohio
- Greg’s Champion Auto of Mankato, Minn.
- Nealey Auto Service of Edgewater, Md.
- Network Automotive of Gilbert, Ariz.
- Sparks Car Care of Federal Way, Wash.
- Sparks Computerized Car Care of Muncie, Ind.
- West Automotive Group of Escondido, Calif.
Five additional repair shops also received “honorable mentions” for their web efforts, including:
- Croce’s Transmission Specialist of Norwalk, Conn.
- Kirkwood Auto Center of Wilmington, Del.
- Quality Collision Services of Greenville, Mich.
- Wayside Garage of Seaside, Calif.
- Webster’s Import Service of Greensboro, N.C.
“Thank you to everyone who participated, and congratulations to the winners,” said Ray Fisher, executive director of ASA. “Our automotive industry professionals are challenged today with maintaining a presence while at the same time maintaining an affordable marketing strategy, one that must be available 24/7 to its audience. At the end of the day, a website well done will still provide consumers answers to most of their questions allowing them to make better decisions.
“Today, those decisions go beyond having their vehicle serviced; they want to know what services are available during hours and after hours, payment methods, rental cars, shuttle service, appointment availability and so much more. The website needs to answer a lot of these questions because consumers today want answers when it’s convenient to them, and though many other venues may be available such as social media and texting, websites are still the ‘old reliable’ just as emails are, according to digital media professionals.”
This year, a panel of three AutoInc. judges reviewed a multitude of website submissions and narrowed the field to what they considered the “best.” The goal is to help other shops employ the internet as a powerful tool and show them how other shop owners use the web to improve productivity, enhance marketing programs and, ultimately, increase their businesses’ bottom lines.
Judges used set guidelines and a scoring sheet to evaluate specific features of each site uniformly. Qualifying websites were evaluated on the following criteria: 1) mobile friendly and mobile ready, 2) clear call to action, 3) strong first impression/visual design, 4) clear objective/purpose, 5) consumer friendliness, 6) technical agility, 7) establishes credibility and 8) strong social media presence.
Judges who took part in this year’s Top 10 Websites Contest included Carm Capriotto, host of Remarkable Results Radio, Jason Soto, vice president/general manager of MobileSoft and Tony Molla, ASA’s vice president of industry relations.
