ORLANDO, Fla. -

With the Web becoming more of an integral part of the vehicle shopping process, FirstLook and MAX Systems founder Pat Ryan Jr. is hosting a session at next week’s 12th Digital Dealer show that can help dealers tackle online challenges and find success.

His workshop — “Driving Traffic … When the Traffic is Online” — is set for 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the Orlando, Fla., conference.

“These days, the average car buyer often knows more than the ‘pros’ in the dealership about price and feature comparisons of a vehicle,” Ryan noted. “This transparency can hurt closing rates and put pressure on profit margins, but the Internet doesn’t have to mean the end of solid per-vehicle profitability.”

Ryan’s session will delve into consumer behavior online and offer best practices for online success based on what the most successful dealerships have employed. The session will look at how consumers are conducting the vehicle research and shopping processes, and Ryan will also touch on the benefits of consumer-optimized online ads.

“Google has been so successful because they maximize relevance for the user: We search on Google because it helps us find what we’re looking for,” Ryan explains. “Retailers should think about their listings the same way by asking themselves, ‘How do I make my listings as relevant as possible for today’s savvy online car shopper?’”

His workshop will also show what the consumer-optimization process entails, as well as how these practices can help dealers build traffic, boost volume and quicken their turnover pace, and simultaneously keep (or perhaps boost) strong margins.