Sport Aviation Marketing

General Aviation Shipments vs. Website Traffic

May 18th, 2006

The General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) recently reported record setting numbers for deliveries in the industry. Cessna led with 187 shipments. Cirrus had the best-selling model (SR22), with 124, plus another 35 SR20s. Diamond Aircraft and Columbia 400 both shipped 46. Finally, The New Piper Aircraft shipped 39 aircraft.

So how do these numbers relate to the effectiveness of each companies website? Alexa.com is a free online tool that gives overall reach and page view statistics for popular websites. Here are charts for both website reach and pageviews for each of the top five manufacturers:

A few interesting things to note:

First, prior to January, Cessna really dominated reach and pageviews. In the last few months they seem to be losing their grip on both. Cirrus and New Piper have been steadily trending up while Cessna has taken some hits.

Second, Diamond and Columbia have equal sales and Diamond has been around a bit longer. Yet Columbia is making great improvements in both measurements while Diamond barely registers on the scale. Time for Diamond to step it up. I believe they redesigned their site not too long ago but it appears to be ineffective.

Third, this is anybody’s game. Cessna and Cirrus certainly have leads but they are not insurmountable. None of the current websites go beyond typical brochure-ware. If any one of these manufacturers were to decide to “own” the web channel from a marketing and lead generation perspective, they could accomplish it with a reasonable investment.

Alexa is a fun tool. Go play with it to see what you can learn about your own company and competitors.

[tags]Aviation Marketing, Aviation Website, Cessna, Cirrus, Columbia Aircraft, Online Marketing[/tags]

Entry Filed under: Columbia Aircraft, aviation marketing, aviation website, cessna, cirrus, general aviation, online marketing