4x4 Connection Case Study

Background

4x4 Connection, a global supplier of parts and accessories for off-road vehicle enthusiasts, approached Digital Assembly Line about deploying a complete Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategy and managing a Google, Yahoo and MSN Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing program in order to increase their site's unique visitors, along with their sales. Based in rural Virginia, 4 X 4 Connection has an international clientele that includes customers in Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and the British Isles.

The Challenge

To bolster 4 X4 Connection's sales and unique site visitors, DAL initially indexed more than 1,700 pages within the major search engines including Bing from Microsoft, Google and Yahoo. DAL developed a complete custom on-line shopping experience that included a community portal geared towards 4X4 enthusiast, drawing thousands of new visitors to the site annually. Drawing the new visitors with videos and other interactive communication capabilities constantly produces new content for the site, which is a critical element to deploying a successful SEO program.

The interactive community portal and retail system built for 4 X 4 Connection now allows them to update product information on the fly, eliminating costly turn-around-time and also takes advantage of free consumer labor to achieve its SEO goals. When consumers produce content, the number of indexed pages in major search engines is increased, which draws even more unique visitors to the site, as well as increases sales and lowers the cost of the project during the SEO process. New information and content are critical in the algorithms employed by the search engines and help the search engines make computational decisions on which sites, along with keywords and phrases, will be elevated to the top search results.

The interactive community DAL created for 4 X 4 Connection allows for easy management of the site's content. In addition, the website's ability to address customer questions online and allow visitors to interact with other 4x4 enthusiasts has led to increased site visits along with content and links coming into the site - which in turn has led to heightened customer satisfaction and increased sales. "I wasn't completely convinced of DAL's strategy to increase our sales and visibility at first," said 4 X 4 Connection's founder, "but I went along with my staff's suggestion and hired DAL and followed their recommendations. The best way I know to explain our success would be like this: adding the community portal was sort of like building a recreation center in a run-down neighborhood. It gave the kids some place to hang out and chat about their love for the outdoors and specifically 4X4 vehicles."

Once the word started to spread to other 4X4 enthusiasts, "the other kids from the adjoining neighborhoods started coming by to visit, greatly increasing our sales and our brands visibility in the process," continued 4 X 4 Connection's founder. "The great thing about the increase in visitors and sales is that a large majority of the work needed to succeed with our PPC and SEO programs is provided by the consumer and not my staff."