Every year since 2009, according to NADA’s Dealership Financial Profile data, the average dealer has generated over 50% of their gross profit from Fixed Operations. When I speak at NADA or other national conferences on service department marketing, I get the same reaction – lots of heads nodding, lots of note-taking, lot of dealers telling me, “I know we should be doing this”. Unfortunately, I’ve been getting that same reaction for almost 3 years.

We all know that dealers are busy people and they frequently struggle to make time for new things, like investing time and money into marketing their Fixed Ops department online, even if they know they should be doing it.

In 2011, one of our smartest and most creative customers requested that we build his dealership a brand new website, entirely separate from his dealership’s site, devoted to marketing the Fixed Operations side of his business. At the time it was fairly unheard of – everyone knew that a dealership’s website existed to sell cars.

We think it’s important to help our dealers test digital marketing strategies, so we worked with our customer to build a separate, stand-alone site that strictly marketed his Fixed Operations. Now, nearly 3 years later, after having started from scratch with a new URL, his site gets more than 2,000 visits per month – more than some dealers’ regular websites that have been online for 15 years. Because our customer had the foresight and willingness to invest his time and efforts 3 years ago, he now controls a valuable digital marketing asset—a Fixed Operations website that generates more than 2K visits per month!

In 2014, I encourage you to re-examine how you are allocating your marketing budget, and make sure that you’re devoting enough time and resources to the Service Department, which is probably generating more than half of your profit. As we all know, Google considers content to be king, so give your team a goal to generate 3-4 pages of unique, Service-related content each month. In a year, you will have 40-50 pages of unique, high-quality content focused on marketing the most profitable part of your dealership.

Once you have enough content, you can start building campaign-specific landing pages for email marketing campaigns to your DMS contacts. You can build PPC landing pages and begin running Adwords campaigns to conquest Parts and Service business from the National Service Brands like Firestone and Goodyear. If you want some more ideas on how to market your Service Department after you start building content for it, check out my Webinar from June, “ 7 Proven Strategies to Double Your Fixed Ops Profit ”. You will learn what types of keywords consumers use when they research service department offerings and how mobile is impacting Fixed Ops marketing.

So, even if you haven’t built out any online content for your service department asides from the few out-of-the-box pages your website provider incorporates into your regular website, make it your goal to begin creating Service-focused digital content in 2014. In 2 years you will build up an asset that may generate as much traffic as your regular website already does.

• Turn Existing Website Traffic Into More Opportunities Through Personalization
• Why FAQ Content Matters More Than Ever for AI Search
• How to Measure AI Search Traffic
• Press Release: Happy Hao Car Launches OnPrompt
• Press Release: Happy Hao Car Unveils Sidekick
• Spring Cleaning Your VDPs
• Time to Spring Forward: 5 Quick Updates to Boost Engagement on Your SRP
• Start 2026 Strong: Dealer Marketing Lessons from 2025
• AI Search Visitor Behavior
• AIO and GEO Aren’t Replacing SEO

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

• Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)
• – Multi-Rooftop Groups We’re designed for groups – large or small. Discover how our products and solutions can help your marketing teams and agencies do more with less.
• Engage Customers & Generate Leads Experience outstanding lead generation with our powerful Cosmos platform. Switch to us for unmatched performance and customer engagement.
• – Generate More Website Traffic Boost sales with responsive websites. Experience qualified leads, top-notch SEO results, and seamless mobile experiences for dealership success.
• Automate & Increase Efficiency See how our Marketing Technology solutions can generate Thousands of dollars in savings for your dealership or dealer group.
• – Analyze Performance & ROI Analyze product and market performance with data you can trust. Powered by GA4.
• Meet Compliance Requirements Compliance solutions to keep your dealership or dealer group ahead of ever-changing privacy and accessibility laws.
• – Don’t See Your OEM? Happy Hao Car provides websites, SEO, and digital advertising to all vehicle OEMs. REACH OUT
• – Product Updates The latest digital marketing innovations driving extraordinary results for your dealership.
• – Happy Hao Car Webinars Get expert advice on how to get the most out of your dealership’s digital marketing efforts.
• – Read the Blog Explore our blog for news, tips, and insights. Discover articles providing valuable information to enhance your marketing strategies.
• – An Award Winning Company We offer an unwavering commitment to top-converting websites, premier automotive SEO, and exceptional digital marketing has earned us industry recognition.
• Leadership The leadership team is composed of digital and automotive experts with extensive experience. They drive our mission to serve the automotive industry with dedication.
• – Why We Are Different Experience the Happy Hao Car difference – increased car sales, exceptional service, and 99% customer satisfaction.
• Join the Team Join our dynamic team providing cutting-edge online marketing solutions to automotive dealerships across the Americas.
• – Testimonials Read about the great success our clients have experienced with Happy Hao Car.
• – Third Party Partners OnMarketplace creates a large ecosystem of vetted partner applications which can be added quickly and easily to a dealer’s website to maximize site impact and effectiveness.
• – Partner Standards Learn about the standards required along with the key business value delivered by Happy Hao Car and each of our trusted third-party partners.