Sell Your Car Online: Step 4, Writing a Compelling Description
Sell Your Car Online: Step 4, Writing a Compelling Description of Your Automobile
Auto classifieds websites are some of the most powerful tools available today to help you sell your car or truck. In step 3 of this series, titled Sell Your Car Online: Step 3, Using the Right Information to Help Sell Your Automobile , you learned what information you should display about your automobile in your classified ad.
The fourth step in placing an ad is writing a compelling description of your automobile. Most auto classified web sites have an information field labeled Description in which you can type a lengthy discourse about the car or truck you have for sale. You may think that this is not needed since you already have all the important information listed in the previous info fields. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
So, what do you type in the description field? First you should quickly restate the most important information, like the make, model, and year. Then list again a few of the best accessories and options that have the most appeal. Next comes the fun part.
You should write a descriptive paragraph that includes information about your vehicle that has not been previously listed. If your car or truck has a special feature, describe it. If it has a new component, like a new engine or transmission, list it. If the vehicle has a special quality that is not noticeable in any of the photos, write about it.
For example, if your vehicle is a classic sports car that has a specialty racing engine, list the specific engine enhancements. If the vehicle is a show truck with a high end sound system, describe how the radio sounds. If the vehicle is an expensive luxury car, describe how comfortable the drivers seat feels.
The objective of the description field is to paint a clear and unique picture of your car or truck that puts the buyer in the drivers seat. The buyer should feel, hear, and see everything that sets this vehicle apart from the rest. After reading your description, the buyer should not have any doubt that this is the right vehicle for himher to purchase.
This is a great example of a properly written description:
This 1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula is in great condition. It has alloy wheels, AC, power everything, and a 6-disc changer. The T-tops are a nice addition, especially in hot weather. Even though this Firebird is 10 years old, it looks like it belongs on the showroom floor. It has flawless red paint on the exterior and a super clean black interior. A brand new automatic transmission was installed only 12 months ago, which is still under warranty.
The best feature about this 1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula is the engine. It has a 5.7 Liter HO V8 that has been well maintained. It does 0-60 in a respectable 5.2 seconds and has a top speed just under 160 MPH. Accelerate and you can hear every one of the 305 horses coming through the exhaust. Any sports car enthusiast would enjoy getting behind the wheel of this one.
Dont miss this 1996 Pontiac Firebird Formula. Its a good deal on a great car. Call today.
Notice how the description flows. Its not just a simple list, but it is written in a conversational style with wording that plays on the emotions of the buyer. It is concluded with a call-to-action, Call today.
Dont worry about the length of the description. Whether it is short or long is secondary to how enticing it is to the potential buyer. If the description is interesting enough to keep hisher attention, it could be 6 paragraphs and still be effective.
Remember this from step 3! Theres no such thing as listing too much information about your vehicle, so type away and tell as much about your car as possible. The worst thing that can happen is that the potential buyer will spend more time viewing your listing and not viewing someone elses listing.
If done correctly, writing a powerful description of your automobile can transform the viewer of your classified ad from a browser to a buyer. Look for the final installment in this series titled Sell Your Car Online: Step 5, Making Search Engines Love Your Classified Ad. Happy selling.
Sell Your Car Online: Step 2, Using Pictures of Your
Sell Your Car Online: Step 2, Using Pictures of Your Automobile Correctly
Selling your car or truck online is a great way to put it in front of potential buyers. In step one of this series, titled Sell Your Car Online: Step 1, Taking High Quality Pictures of Your Automobile, you learned how to take great quality pictures of our vehicle.
The second step in placing an ad is selecting the pictures of the vehicle you want to use in your listing. Remember the hypothetical situation from step 1? Using multiple pictures in your listing can give the potential buyer loads of information about your vehicle before the buyer even reads the first word about it.
You must choose the correct combination of pictures to display with your listing for maximum effect. If you followed the directions in step 1, you should have at least 15 to 20 pictures to choose from. Group the pictures into categories depending on the angle (for example: front, left, rear, right, front right, rear left, under the hood, interior, etc.). Then select the best picture from each category and discard the rest.
Now you should have a group of about 7 to 10 high quality pictures. Comb through these pictures and select the ones that, if displayed together, would show the most detail about your vehicle. The goal is not to overwhelm the potential buyer with tons of photos showing the same details, but to display great photos of different areas of the vehicle that convey the overall condition of the vehicle.
A great example of photos to use is: front drivers side, rear passengers side, under the hood, interior, and any after market add-ons to the car. You should use at least 4 photos with each listing, but feel free to use more.
After you select the correct photos, you need to edit them. Most auto classified web sites have a maximum file size for photos you can upload with your listings. The highest quality settings for digital cameras can be anywhere from 1 MB to 5 MB per photo and greater depending on the camera. So what do you do if the photos you take exceed that size? You have to edit or resize them. But before you do that, you need to know how images are displayed on computer monitors as opposed to print.
High quality images displayed on the web are actually low quality when printed. Computer monitors display images at 72 DPI. A good quality printing will be 300 DPI or greater. A photo displayed on a monitor at 600 pixels (8.33 inches) wide will only be 2 inches wide if printed on paper. To get a good quality 8.33 inch print on paper, the photo will need to be at least 2500 pixels wide. This is a big difference in file size (and download time).
The optimal size for photos on the internet is approximately 600 pixels wide by 400 pixels high. If your camera cant take pictures this size, even in the lowest quality setting, you will have to manually resize them. To do this you need an image editing program. Most computers have at least a simple image editing program on them. If your computer doesnt have one, youll need to download one from the internet. You can find free and low cost image editing programs by going to www.download.com and searching for image editing software.
However, you can skip the image editing step if you find a car classifieds site, like VINclassifieds.com, that automatically resizes the photos upon upload so they are the optimal size for the internet. This could eliminate the need for you to manually resize your photos before upload.
Choose the right pictures for your classified ad and viewers will set up and take notice. Look for the next installment titled Sell Your Car Online: Step 3, Using the Right Information to Help Sell Your Automobile. Happy selling.
Sell Your Car Online: Step 1, Taking High Quality Pictures
Sell Your Car Online: Step 1, Taking High Quality Pictures of Your Automobile
Placing your car or truck for sale in an auto classifieds website is a great way to reach tons of potential buyers. But constructing a great ad is not childs play. To generate a lot of interest in your vehicle, you must know how to create the perfect online listing. The necessary steps are outlined in five articles titled Sell Your Car Online.
The first step in placing a great ad is taking pictures of the car or truck that is for sale. You dont just want to take any picture and post it on the internet. You want to post the best picture you possibly can. After all, the potential buyers that view your online listing want to see a picture that tells them something more than just the color of the vehicle. A good picture can convey the overall condition of the body, paint, interior, and more. A good, or near professional-quality, picture can seal the deal in the buyers mind.
Hypothetical situation: A potential car buyer is looking for a particular car. The buyer has found two nearly identical cars, one belongs to you and one belongs to someone in a nearby state. These two cars have the same body style, the same engine and transmission, the same color, the same options, and very close to the same price. The only deciding factor is the pictures. The competing car has one low quality picture. It is half blocked by a neighboring vehicle. The sun is in the background causing a glare that obscures the color and overall appearance of the car. Your car, on the other hand, has multiple pictures from different angles. There is no sun to cause a glare and no rain to make the picture look dreary. The true color of the car shows and there is nothing blocking the view. Which car do you think the buyer would choose? Pictures of competing cars can, without a doubt, influence the potential buyer to purchase one car over another.
There are things you must consider before you take the first picture. What type of camera should I use? How many pictures should I take? What exactly should I take pictures of? Should I take the pictures in direct sunlight? Unless you are a professional photographer, or at least an experienced one, you may not know the correct answer to these questions.
What type of camera should I use? Since the pictures you upload to the internet must be in digital format, a digital camera is the best type of camera to use. If you use a non-digital camera, you first have to pay to get the film developed. Then use a scanner to digitize it. You must spend valuable time and money to do this. Using a digital camera is the most cost efficient and time conserving way to take and upload photos of your vehicle. In most cases, all you have to do is connect your camera to your computer to download the photos to the hard drive. Then youre ready to post your ad.
What size mega pixel (MP) camera do I need? This depends on what you will be doing with the pictures. If you need large, high quality pictures, like 8X10 prints or a large display photo in the newspaper, you may need to purchase a 5 MP camera or better. If you will be printing the pictures for personal use or posting small photos in print ads in the local newspaper, you probably need a 3 MP camera or better. If all you need is camera to take pictures to be uploaded to the internet, a 2 MP camera should do the trick.
Remember this! If the picture you are taking will only be used on the internet, use the lowest quality setting that your camera has. Some cameras even have a setting for internet quality photos.
How many pictures should I take? There is no correct answer for this question. Just take as many as you need. A good photographer will take pictures from multiple angles as well as take duplicate pictures from each angle. If you have 20 pictures to choose from, you can easily find at least 5 high quality photos to post with your listing that show lots of detail about your vehicle. Then you can delete the unused photos so youre not wasting space on your hard drive.
What exactly should I take pictures of? You need pictures from opposite angles that show the exterior of the vehicle. Pictures should be taken of the engine compartment with the hood raised. More pictures should be taken of the interior. If your vehicle has expensive aftermarket accessories, take pictures of them. For example, take close ups of expensive mag wheels, custom artwork or painting, or a high-tech audio system. In essence, you want to convey the overall condition of the vehicle and any special features the vehicle may have with the pictures you take.
Where should I take the pictures? You need to take pictures of the vehicle in a place that has as little background detail as possible. For example, you dont want another car, a highly trafficked street, or a person in the picture at all. The best place to take the pictures would be near a plain brick wall, or in front of an empty field. You dont want any object, whether in the foreground or background, to distract the buyer from seeing the details of your vehicle.
Should I take the pictures in direct sunlight? In order to take a great picture with a mid- to low-quality digital camera, you need plenty of light. But too much direct sunlight can cause bright glares and dark shadows, neither of which is good. The absolute best time to take pictures of your vehicle is on a partly cloudy day when the sun is behind the clouds. This eliminates the harsh, dark shadows even though there is still plenty of light to draw out the true color(s) of the vehicle. If you must take the pictures in direct sunlight, always make sure that the sun is behind you (so it will be shining on the side of the vehicle that is facing you). Try not to take a picture of a vehicle when the side facing you is in the shadow.
If you normally take terrible pictures, remember this! It is much better to take a picture with a wider view that has all the details in it than to try to get a close up and cut part of the important details out. So zoom out to make sure you get a great picture.
Follow these steps and you will have high quality photos of your automobile for display in the car classifieds site of your choice. Look for the next installment titled Sell Your Car Online: Step 2, Using Pictures of Your Automobile Correctly. Happy selling.
Search For A Honda Car Dealer Online
If you are looking for a specific Honda car then going with a Honda car dealer should be your first stop. Even better going online and searching with many dealers will make finding the car of your dreams simple and quick. Using a specialist motoring website you can search for dealers that specialize in Honda cars and they will be listed together so that you can take the time to browse and see if they have what you want.
One of the best tools that a specialist website will offer is the search engine. Unlike a traditional search engine you can tailor your search based on many factors regarding cars. To start with when looking for a Honda car dealer online you should define how far you are willing to travel when it comes to looking at the vehicle and taking it for a test drive. Of course the wider the area then the bigger the chance of finding the right car for the right price, some websites will make this easy by listing counties to choose from.
Once you have been presented with a list of Honda dealers then clicking on the links will take you to the dealer page and from here you can start your search. For example if you are looking for a Honda Civic of a certain age, price and even colour then type your criteria in the box and you will be presented with cars matching this. To narrow down the choices you can then add more search criteria.
All listings for used cars should be accompanied by good clear photographs of the cars and depending on the dealer there will be several photos, which can give you an excellent overall view of the car. Of course more important is the actual listing, the wording describing the car. The wording should detail all the basics of the car including how many miles the vehicle has done, any service history, the asking price and the cars age. Hopefully the listing will then go on to mention any extras the car has and will point out both the good features of the car and the bad, if there are any.
Once you have found your ideal car you will of course want to go and take a look at it and here again a specialist website can be very useful prior to your going. They will give you many hints and tips on what to check while looking over the car and while buying your car from a Honda car dealer is safer than buying privately you still have to be careful. Also take into consideration what it will cost to tax and test the car and what the running costs will add up to along with the insurance. Also check online when it comes to options for the loan and make sure you can really afford to take it on. Once you are satisfied that you can afford the car then do not be afraid to haggle with the dealer over the price. The majority of dealers will knock off something, even if only a little from the asking price.
Research You Should Do Online Before Attending A Used Car
Research You Should Do Online Before Attending A Used Car Auction
Are you in the market for a new used vehicle? If you are, have you ever thought about attending a used car auction before? Used car auctions are a great way to find a large selection of affordable, yet quality used cars for sale. If this is your first time attempting to buy a used car from a used car auction, you may not necessarily know that you should first do a little bit of research online.
When it comes to doing research online, before attending a used car auction, there are many individuals who wonder exactly what it is they should research. In all honesty, it depends. If you have yet to find a used car auction to attend, you may want to research local used car auctions online. You can also research used cars online. This is nice, as it gives you to opportunity to learn a little bit more about some of the cars that may be sold at a used car auction.
As previously mentioned, if you have yet to find a used car auction to attend, you may want to research local used car auctions in your area. One of the many ways that you can go about doing so is by performing a standard internet search. When performing a standard internet search, it is advised that you perform a standard internet search with your location in mind or the locations to which you would be willing to travel. For instance, if you would like to attend a Chicago area used car auction, you may want to think about searching with phrase like or similar to Chicago used car auctions, or Chicago auto auctions.
When visiting the online website of a used car auction house or company, it is advised that you thoroughly read through any information given to you. You will want to learn when the auctions are held, if inspection sessions are offered, if there is an admission fee, and what methods of payment are accepted. The sooner that you familiarize yourself with a local used car auction, the easier it would be for you to ask and get answers to any questions that you may have, particularly before the auction is scheduled to take place.
Depending on the used car auction house or company in question, you may also be able to find information online about the used cars that they plan on having available for bidding at their next auction. If you are given this information, you are advised to look it over. Many times, it is common to find pictures of the vehicles being auctioned off, as well as detailed descriptions; descriptions that may include the year and make and model of the vehicle in question, as well as the mileage. In addition to just reading the vehicle information that you are given by a used car auction company or auction house, you may also want to do a little bit of your own research.
When it comes to doing your own used car research, you may also want to rely on a standard internet search. Once you have the year, make, and model of a used car, you can learn more about the car in question. For instance, you can see if the car has a history of needing repairs. You can also find out if any recalls have been issued on the vehicle or vehicles in question. It may also be a good idea to find a website that allows you to examine the value of used cars. Having a used car value in mind is nice, as it may help to prevent you from bidding too much on a used car. On the other hand, having the estimated value of a used car can also let you know when you may get a steal, at a used car auction.
In short, the more research that you do, the more you should be able to benefit from attending and possibly buying a used car from a used car auction. If you live in or around the Chicago area, you may want to examine North Shore Auto Auction and the many scheduled used car auctions that they have, many of which include fifty or more used cars.