There are 5 main web properties to which a dealer needs admin access. These are non-negotiable, ALWAYS.
1. Your Google Analytics
Of the 5 Web Properties To Which a Dealer Needs Admin Access, we begin with Google Analytics. It is easy to give people access to your Google Analytics and if they have been hired to help grow your dealership website business I recommend it. Any good online marketing company will use the data of your Google Analytics to measure the success or failure of their campaign. If you have lost admin access to your Google Analytics and the current admin is no longer around, read our article “Reclaim Your Google Analytics Account”.
Warning – Do not agree to start over with a new Analytics account. I can’t stress enough that Google Analytics is how you measure growth and success of a vendor and you need to know how well things were working BEFORE they took over to know if they have grown or shrunk your business. This is also a sly way to create a new account without giving you, the Dealer, proper Administrative access.
2. Your Domain Hosting Company
Dealership websites are registered with one company, and they are typically independent of who is hosting your website. Your Domain is a word that ends in “.com” and points at a series of numbers like: 192.168.1.1. This is your web property and is very valuable. You should always be able to login and make sure this is being renewed. Think of it like a patent on your name.
Warning – Always make sure this is renewed or set to auto-renew a few years in advance. It costs $10 to renew it for a year but potentially $100,000’s if it expires and a squatter grabs it. Just ask Nissan, they still don’t own Nissan.com
3. Your Website
This access depends on the dealership’s website provider. You should always have the ability to adjust elements of the web pages of your site. Whether it’s to correct spelling mistakes or to write original content. It should be one login away.
Warning – Never hire a website company that does not give you the ability to create original content that you have decided you want on your site.
4. Your Social Media Profiles
These are to be treated like website addresses. They are pieces of your brand and you need to have Administrative access to them at all times.
5. Your Adwords Account
Last but not least in the list of Web Properties To Which a Dealer Needs Admin Access, is Google AdWords. The magic of AdWords is in knowing what successful keywords are worth bidding on. This information cannot be hid from the owner of the AdWords account. For this reason many Pay Per Click vendors insist that they have exclusive access to the AdWords account in order to hide this important information from the Dealer. Insist on Administrative access, the history of success or failure that AdWords campaigns give you is very expensive to recreate if your current vendor is let go.