Formula One Fails To Score Online

Following on from the automotive theme of my previous post, I’ll voice my dismay at how Formula One teams run their online shops. In a word – badly. They almost always look like an afterthought done on the cheap, which doesn’t suit the elegance, technology and money that these teams otherwise posses. Very little effort is made to market the stores through PPC, while SEO is a rarity and Affiliates are non-existent. I understand that Formula One relies mainly on TV money and sponsorship, but if an online shop is being built, then might as well do it right and proper and make the most out of the commercial opportunity. I’ve briefly reviewed below the websites of some of the bigger teams for your viewing pleasure – feel free to point and laugh.

Red Bull Racing

PPC: None
SEO: Not ranking
Favourite Product: Er.. The Race Leather Belt

Overview: The F1 Red Bull Racing shop is actually quite hard to reach – there’s only a small link on the official team website. Search doesn’t seem to be taken into consideration, with PPC ads missing and on-site meta tags, URLs and copy not optimised for SEO at all. Red Bull make good use of video on the home page, however the rest of the site is uninspiring and bland.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

PPC: Excellent
SEO: Nowhere to be found
Favourite Product: 1988 Senna Helmet

Overview: McLaren’s shop is one of the better and prettier ones out there with plenty of products including clothing, helmets, toys and gifts. The navigation is user-friendly and detailed, making it easy to hop between product categories. It’s great to see so much attention paid to video and photography – most products have multiple photos and zoom facility, while category images include real members of the McLaren team posing with the relevant merchandise. There’s an extensive PPC campaign that includes misspells and competitor bidding. SEO is appalling though – identical title and description tags while URLs and copy need to be optimised.

Ferrari

PPC: Bidding on some keywords
SEO: Quite good
Favourite Product: Ferrari FXX Pedal Go-kart

Overview: Ferrari wins pole for me here. Their store is, unsurprisingly, the best looking of the lot. The design is simple, yet sleek and elegant. Although not catering for F1 merchandise exclusively, the website offers plenty of products to excite the fans – you can even buy a real 2002 engine polished to perfection. The site is excellent as well with clear and attractive category and product pages that are both user-friendly and well optimised for SEO.

Renault

PPC: None
SEO: Good rankings
Favourite Product: It has to be the F1 Car Cuddly Toy

Overview: After waiting for a flashy on-site live timer to count down to the launch of Renault’s official online store, I developed some expectations that weren’t really met. The design is a bit hit and miss, with attractive top navigation spoilt by some amateurish graphics elsewhere. I mean, have a look at the product image here. Despite the numerous categories and subcategories, the range of merchandise is quite limited. Poor meta tags and copy throughout will hinder any progress through Google’s SERPs. The best bit on this site was the pre-launch countdown timer.

Mercedes GP Petronas

PPC: Ads link to the general Mercedes-Benz store
SEO: Eh?
Favourite Product: I can’t pick one from the few shirts and hats

Overview: Mercedes have outsourced the production of merchandise and online sales to Henri Lloyd. They in turn have put up quite a simple unengaging microsite that has the bare minimum of content. It almost looks like a quick weekend job, while SEO and PPC… well, what SEO and PPC? Disappointing.

New Toy

It is not that new actually, but haven’t bragged about it yet. Now that it has completed a track day at Brands Hatch I think it’s earned its praise. It’s a ’83 Porsche 944 that, after the initial few visits to the garage and the odd call to the AA, has proven to be relatively reliable, not too expensive to run, and a great deal of fun to drive. With a proper 80′s dash, a cassette player and pop-up headlights, it leaves little to be desired. Regarding mechanical and performance specifications, I saw it described somewhere as “Engine in the front, gearbox in the back and a nut in the middle.” Right, next stop – Cadwell Park. Can’t wait!

EDIT: Wow, what an amazing track Cadwell Park is! It has some really sharp corners, nicely strung together, and then a few good long straights and steep climbs. It’s all set in the picturesque and leafy Lincolnshire countryside, which is just a pleasure to drive through. I’ve put 3 or 4 more photos on Flickr.

Rubber Neck

There was a huge bang! on my quiet street today and this is what I found by the time I got out of the house to have a peek. Despite the many police cars, the accident doesn’t seem too bad and I hope everyone is OK. Drive carefully people!

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

photo from the internet