Here are few things we’ve learned while launching the first 100 dealership websites on Inventory Presser, our WordPress plugin for automotive dealers.

Set WordPress’ thumbnail sizes to match the aspect ratio of the dealer’s photo uploads

Find the width and height dimensions of the dealership’s vehicle photos, and determine thumbnail sizes in Settings > Media to be of the same aspect ratio. These photos are the most important content on the site, and preserving the quality and size is of utmost importance to your client.

Do not organize media uploads into month- and year-based folders

We turn off he “Organize my uploads into month- and year-based folders” checkbox under Settings > Media. We see no value in maintaining an information architecture of vehicle photos by time. Also, very few of our customers are using WordPress to regularly blog, and therefore vehicle photos are the vast majority of content in the Media Library.

Dealers prefer leads have a vehicle attached

(We knew this long before building sites on WordPress, but it’s worth sharing here.) A dealership website is a lead funnel, and dealers would like every lead to identify a vehicle in their inventory in which the customer is interested. Save your client time by designing a dealership website that attaches vehicles to all form submissions.

Photo by moritz320