This web design guide is helpful for automotive service businesses including detailing, PPF, wrapping, tuning, remapping, paint repair, wheel repair, garages and many more.
Your website is the engine that powers your business online – we’re here to help you supercharge your website, guiding you to build a website that works as hard for your business as you do!
Did you know? 99% of your customers will visit your website, 81% of people will research your business online before buying (1) and it can take just 0.05 seconds for a customer to form a first impression of your business based on your website (2).
Your website works 24/7, day and night, supporting every aspect of your business from marketing and lead generation to sales and customer service.
Investing in your website is one of the smartest things you’ll do as a business owner. As of October 2024, there was approximately 1.1 billion websites online and 175 websites are created every minute (4).
Choose the right platform for your business
Choosing your website platform or Content Management System (CMS) is an important step, we’ve broken down when and why you might use the most popular platforms.
- Wix and Squarespace – Do-It-Yourself platforms that are suited to businesses just starting up, side-hustles and when you don’t have budget for a web designer.
- WordPress – professional open source platform with full control over the look, feel and technical performance of your website, WordPress is trusted by millions and is the #1 CMS by market share with over 62% of CMS websites built on WordPress (8).
If you’re just starting up, or managing your detailing business at weekends, and want to avoid the upfront costs of a professionally designed and Search Engine Optimised website – it would be worth considering a Do-It-Yourself platform like Wix.
However if you’re ready to invest in a professionally designed web site to support the growth of your car detailing business, we recommend WordPress. For anyone looking to set up an eCommerce website i.e. an online shop, there’s two choices Shopify or WooCommerce.
Make search engine optimisation a priority from the start
In October 2024, there was over 1.2m searches in the UK (22.2m globally) for services such as ceramic coating, car detailing, paint protection film and car valeting.
40,000 searches are completed daily in the UK making Google one of the single biggest sources of website traffic for detailing businesses.
Free traffic from Google search is earned through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). There’s also paid traffic from Google search in the way of “sponsored” ads managed in Google Ads – we’ll cover that more in a separate blog.
There are 100s of factors that influence your website ranking in Google’s organic search results and maps, Backlinko have a list of 200 ranking factors (6) and SEMRUSH regularly publish their studies on the most influential Google ranking factors (7).
Google search ranking factors can be categorised into 5 key groups:
- Content
- Backlinks
- Brand and reputation
- Customer/user experience
- Technical optimisation
create pages and supporting content for every service
One of the biggest mistakes I see on websites for detailing businesses is not enough pages or content about their services.
80% of the detailing and automotive websites I audited in 2024 had just 1-2 pages about their services with page titles like “Our Packages” and “Our Services”.
The problem: this won’t get your website found in search, it’s unlikely to convert visitors who are researching the services and if visitors don’t find the information they’re looking for early-on in their journey they could avoid your website altogether when they’re ready to book.
How I would structure a basic website for a car detailing business:
- Home
- Car Detailing
- Ceramic Coating
- Paint Protection Film
- Car Valeting
- About
- Contact
If you offer additional complementary services like alloy wheel repair, leather repair, body work, Paintless Dent Repair (PDR) – you should absolutely create pages for these. All of these pages will help your website to get found by potential customers searching for these services.
Local SEO and conversion rate optimisation: what to include on your service pages
One of the second biggest mistakes I see on detailing websites, is creating pages with thin content.
Google defines thin content – as pages with little or no value to users which can significantly harm your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Google’s Search Essentials emphasize that content should be “helpful, reliable, [and] people-first.” Pages lacking depth or originality fail to meet these criteria, leading to lower rankings or removal from search results (5).
To put it simply 100-300 words about Ceramic Coating or PPF is thin content, in my opinion.
Key Features of a Service Page:
- Page Title: Accurately explain the service and location you operate in such as: “Paint Protection Film London” or “Ceramic Coating Birmingham”
- Intro Text: Cover Unique Selling Points (USPs) of your business and the location you’re in.
- Reviews / Testimonials: Include your star rating from channels such as Trustpilot, Google and Facebook as trust signals and feature genuine customer reviews to demonstrate social proof and further build trust
- Calls To Actions (CTAs): You should include at least two forms on your service page – including your phone number, email address and links to Business WhatsApp.
- Name, Address and Phone Number (NAP): Ensure your NAP is accurate and consistent with your Google Business Profile and other online profiles, such as social media accounts and local directories.
- Google Map: Add a Google Map of your direct business location onto your website; highlighting a direct link your Google Business Profile.
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): Ensure you are writing high-quality FAQs about your product or service to litigate general enquiries – meaning you have more time to sell!
- Service Packages & Pricing: Information regarding your packages and pricing should be simple, clear and easily readable.
- Optional Package Extras / Add-Ons / Upgrades: Optional extras and upgrades should be featured early on to help you upsell them to customers.
- Brands You Work With: Big suppliers like Gtechniq, XPEL, GYEON, Pyramid Car Care and others usually have strong brand awareness with your potential customers. Be sure to highlight the suppliers you use, to help build trust.
- About Us Section: Feature business owners and team members to build trust and introduce the people your customers will be speaking to / working with.
- Finance Options: Shout about these options if your business has the option. Finance, particularly 0% / interest free options, are becoming increasingly more attractive. They could be the difference between a booking and a bounce!
- Cross-Selling: Ensure you link to other services internally to help cross-sell other options you advertise.
page speed: google likes it quick; your customers do too!
According to Google’s guidelines, a web page should load in under 2 seconds for good customer experience. For e-commerce sites, Google recommends a load time of under 1 second to minimise bounce rates and maximise conversions / sales.
Key factors that slow down your website:
- Large image files
- Large video files and iframes
- Animation
- Plugins
- Using the wrong web hosting technology
How can you check your website’s page speed?
There are some more advanced metrics we look at when building websites such as Google’s Core Web Vitals, which include:
- Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
- First Input Delay (FID)
- Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
You can get a Core Web Vitals report here by following this link: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9205520?hl=en
picture perfect: professional photography is one of the most effective ways to differentiate your website from your competitiors
Since your customers are making first impressions within milliseconds of landing on your website, it’s important that your visuals positively portray your business.
Professional photography can transform a car detailing website from ordinary to extraordinary; creating a lasting first impression that resonates with potential customers. High-quality images showcase your craftsmanship; highlighting the meticulous attention to detail that sets your business apart. Additionally, before-and-after shots is an effective method to build trust and social proof by demonstrating your expertise and how you put that into practice.
In an industry where visuals speak louder than words – professional photography simply strengthens your brand identity. Clean, well-lit and visually appealing photos convey professionalism and credibility – two factors that greatly influence a customer’s decision-making process.
Investing in professional photography is more than just aesthetics — it’s a powerful tool to build trust, attract new customers, and grow your car detailing business.
ai: chatgpt is a game-changer, but don't just copy and paste content to get the job done quick; use it effectively to level-up your website!
There’s a growing spam problem in Google, Website that are copying and pasting content from ChatGPT without editing, personalising, humanising or adding unique value.
Search Engine Land reported in April, on new changes to Google’s quality rating guidelines (9), saying “With its latest Search Quality Rater Guidelines update, Google added a definition and framing for generative AI for the first time. Google’s document calls it a useful tool, but one that can be abused”.
What is Google’s lowest rating? “The Lowest rating is required if the page is created to benefit the owner of the website (e.g. to make money) with very little or no attempt to benefit website visitors or otherwise serve a beneficial purpose.”
sources:
- https://www.marketingscoop.com/small-business/small-business-website-statistics/
- https://vwo.com/blog/web-design-statistics/
- https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/car-detailing-services-market-report
- https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/business/software/website-statistics/
- https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/creating-helpful-content
- https://backlinko.com/google-ranking-factors
- https://go.semrush.com/Ranking-Factors.html
- https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management
- https://searchengineland.com/google-quality-raters-content-ai-generated-454161
ready to transform your business? get a free website audit on us!
If you’re unsure on the quality of your website or whether you’re ready to take the next step on your growth journey – we’re offering a free website audit for you! Simply fill in the form to get started; where you’ll receive quality recommendations to help improve your online presence. Simply fill in the form today to get started!
