Have you ever dreamed of being a famous Hollywood star?

Okay, maybe not that far. But if you’re the extroverted type that doesn’t mind being in the spotlight, then you’re in luck. Creating how-to videos for auto part installation can be a fantastic way to market your parts website and drive traffic to your store.

Even for those of you who don’t want to be the star of the show, you can hire an outside group to handle the details for you. Either way, dealers and aftermarket solutions have seen staggering success with tending to a YouTube channel. It’s something worth your time and investment when you pull it off right.

1. It will boost your SEO

Remember how important Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is for your parts website? If your site ranks high on SEO, then you’ll appear higher in search engine results when a customer researches a part they need.

And videos are a fantastic boost to SEO.

Some studies say that video makes up 64% of all internet traffic, and it’s expected to keep growing over the next few years. Take full advantage of this by not only posting videos on YouTube, but also embedding the videos on your parts website directly.

Search engines LOVE video content, so it’s a powerful way to improve online visibility and boost your Google ranking. You might have already noticed how often YouTube videos appear at the top of the page in search engine results. That could be YOUR parts website!

2. It will improve name recognition

Creating videos can be a lot of work, so it’s no surprise that many dealerships choose not to bother with it. This makes it an ideal opportunity for your dealership to make a name for itself.

The more videos you create, the more likely DIYers are to stumble upon your videos more than once. They’ll start to recognize your dealership or parts website name. And if they like your content, it will also boost your online reputation.

It will drive real results, too. If you search for “automotive how-to videos,” there are entire websites devoted to vehicle installation guides. People are actively searching for this information, making it a prime opportunity to take advantage of.

3. It will increase parts sales

If a customer is researching “how to change a [brand name] cabin air filter,” then you’re in luck. You know what part they need, and you know you sell that part. You also know that they’re ready to buy the part NOW, or at least in the near future. They’re basically an easy sale.

A lot of first time DIYers will research the steps before deciding if it’s a task they can handle themselves. If you can show them that installing the part is simple, and then link to the exact part they need, you’ve made life very easy for that individual.

Buyer confidence is absolutely essential to closing the sale when selling auto parts online. As the creator of a how-to video, you’ve already established your standing as a reputable source—someone a shopper can trust. They trust you to tell them which part they need.

Tips for success:

1. Keep your videos short. Videos that are less than 4 minutes tend to perform the best. That said, if you’re making a DIY video for a more complicated installation, don’t rush the video at the cost of losing clarity. Customers need to find your videos genuinely helpful.
2. Break the videos into multiple parts. If the installation process is especially long or complicated, then it might be best to break the video into multiple parts instead of posting a 30-minute video. Not only does this give you more videos to post, but it will also break down the steps to make things easier for your customer to follow and understand.If you end up breaking a guide into multiple parts, create a new “playlist” so customers can watch these videos in order. Look at this example from Advance Auto Parts:
3. Transcribe. Although it takes a little extra time, providing a video transcript will help your video rank well for SEO, since the words are considered relevant content.
4. Add appropriate links. In the video description, make sure to add all the necessary links! This means linking to your parts or dealership website, for starters. If you mention specific tools or parts that the viewer needs for installation, link to a product page. Uploading your videos to YouTube lets you add popup bubbles, too, so you can link to these products mid-video. This article from Spork Marketing goes into even greater detail about link building on YouTube.
5. Encourage viewers to subscribe. At the end of every video, ask viewers to subscribe to your video channel if they liked the content. A lot of times, viewers are too busy thinking of other things that it really makes a difference to offer a quick reminder.
6. Add some information to your YouTube channel page. Make sure it’s easy to learn more about your dealership for curious viewers. This can be as simple as writing a short bio, adding a profile picture, and linking back to your parts website.

Quality videos take time to prepare, film, edit, and publish, so no one expects you to add a new video every week. It’s something that you can build over time that will boost your parts store exponentially with every video you add.

Your video series might be a little slow to start, but that’s fine. You can’t expect instant results with a single video. As long as you can produce quality videos and you’re determined to add to your video collection on a fairly regular basis, it’s almost a guaranteed way to gain a following online.