Written by Eliza Kelly, VP Marketing, Dealer.com Over a year ago, a group of us were lamenting the lack of insight into social media's impact on car shopping decisions. We had a hunch, primarily from our personal use of sites like Facebook and Twitter, that there were under currents of influence. But we didn't know to what extent.   Fast forward nine months and we're sharing our findings in "The Rise of Loyalty Advocacy and Influence: Social Media and the New Automotive Purchase Cycle." Along with our partners, DriverSide and GfK Automotive Research, we discovered our hunch was correct: twenty-seven percent of consumers use social media as part of their car shopping process.   And consumers plan on using social media more in the future. Thirty-eight percent said they were likely to use social media to research a vehicle for their next purchase. Approximately the same number said they would use it to research a dealership.   Why is this the...

Dealership service departments face two critical challenges, competition and perception. The competition—the Jiffy Lube’s and Pep Boys of the world—are stealing billions of service dollars by outmarketing the average car dealer.  The perception—most consumers think a dealer will overcharge them for service.  Fighting the competition and changing the perception is crucial, since most dealership profit comes from repair orders in the service department. Social media is the golden ticket to overcoming these challenges. There are some dealers who are already using the influence of social media to propel their service departments—and their brand—to new heights. How are they doing it, and, more importantly, how can you? Crush the Competition Increase Touch Points with Every Sales Customer Consider how many opportunities you get to sell to new or preowned car shoppers: once, maybe twice every two to four years?  Once you hand them...

These days, its not enough to have a website. With more and more consumers turning to their mobile devices to browse the web for products, having a mobile website is becoming essential to staying competitive in the digital marketplace. According to eMarketer, 51% of consumers say they are more likely to buy from retailers that have a mobile site. Out of those 51% of consumers, 88% of them said they are more likely to purchase from an auto dealership that had a mobile site. So why should you spend time and money building a mobile site in 2011? Simple; because your customers want it. If you’re not convinced yet that a mobile site should be in your marketing arsenal for 2011 here are a few more reasons: Mobile will be bigger than the desktop. Mobile usage is growing exponentially and is expected to be bigger than the desktop Internet by 2015, according to a study by Morgan Stanley. A website isn’t enough. If you think scrolling down on a desktop is tedious, try ...

There has been a lot of discussion online about how the rollout of Google Instant Previews has affected individual site analytics. Many webmasters have reported elevated views and sky-high bounce rates. This is of course very troubling as these factors are a part of the Google ranking algorithm.  If you are unfamiliar with Google Instant Previews, here is a screenshot: Following the discussion of this topic on several different blogs, it looks like Google made a pretty serious mistake. According to the introductory post called Beyond Instant Results: Instant Previews, on the official Google Blog, if a user decided to see one of the Instant previews, Google would render all of the previews for each result, making load times much faster if a searcher wanted to see other Instant Previews. This sounds wonderful and should have improved the user experience however there was a significant issue: The first version of Instant Previews counted this action as a visit to the site in...

Adding video to your website not only enhances your visitor’s experience and prompts them to buy your product, it can also increase your visibility in the search engines. Since Google now indexes video content and ranks it in the search engine results, having video on your site is becoming more and more valuable when it comes to SEO.   Each day as millions of people use search to find products and information across the web, the major search engines have integrated rich media results, including video results, into the search engine results page.   How do videos get found by Google? Video sitemaps.   When adding video to your site you should also be creating and submitting a video sitemap. A video sitemap tells Google what your video is about, where it is located on your site and that it is available for crawling.   Each video sitemap should include the following five pieces of information:   1.   ...

As with any company in the Automotive Digital Marketing industry, Dealer.com tracks its product adoption rates. We look at who is using what products to decide where we can improve. This is a pretty basic and important process for any business. Recently, I saw a report outlining our video offerings and their product adoption rates. I was surprised to see that even if you include non-Dealer.com video products on our dealer’s websites, less than 50% of our dealers are using video on their website. This surpises me because its proven that: Video increases time on site Increased time on site equals higher conversion rates Increased conversion rates means more leads For those of you who haven’t added video to your website, it might be time to examine some facts. To help illustrate the effectiveness of video, I thought we would look into the performance of dealer websites that contain video versus those without. Putting numbers behind these logical stat...

We are visual people. Like television, online video is a passive way to collect valuable information without having to sift through lines and lines of complex text. In essence, video simplifies a car buyer’s research process while it engages their curiosity in a more emotional way.   In a national survey conducted in partnership with Kelton Research, 59% of people who purchased a car in the last 18 months or plan to purchase a car in the next 18 months, think a website that includes video would be more helpful than one that included just photos and text.     Video content is one of the most popular rich media formats in the world. It is an essential element to a website that enhances your visitors experience and increases your visibility online. Adding video to your site is one of the easiest ways to increase the performance of your website with minimal manual effort.    As the online video industry evolves, video is clearly becomi...

At the recent Drivingsales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, I was given the opportunity to talk about pay per click advertising, which in my line of work, is taken for granted as a must-have solution for the auto advertiser.  After a little thought, I decided to address the conversation that has been spinning around the forums and networking sites for quite some time - the PPC versus SEO versus Local debate that recently sparked on Drivingsales.com. This conversation started when a group of industry personalities were picking sides in this argument in preparation for what might be a panel to talk it out. View the discussion. I can’t imagine running a business and prioritizing these online strategies above or below one another. They are all necessary in what has become an incredibly competitive environment for advertisers, regardless of vertical. One thing that can’t be disputed about PPC advertising is the ability to measure performance. It’s pretty tough t...

When Google Instant was launched, many pundits posted theories on the impact Instant would have on Paid Search. In Our post on Sept 9th:  Google Instant, What does it Mean to a Car Dealer? we explained that the immediate impact was a reduced amount of real estate on page 1 for local searches. Organic ads were being pushed down in favor of the local and paid options. Instant seemed to provide an opportunity for Google to make more money – Paid search is 99% of their revenue and they’re in the process of learning how to monetize local, so why not expose the searcher to more local and paid links? In fact, it has been reported that clicks on paid links have increased 5% since the launch of Instant, meaning more cash in the bank for Google. Today, a new Google Places display was launched, drastically changing the way we view the “Google 7-Pack.” The screenshot below is taken from the same search used in our exploration of Google Instant on Sept. 9th. This ...

This week Dealer.com attended the Drivingsales Executive Summit, held in Las Vegas on October 18-20. It was a content driven conference with no vendor expo floor allowing participants to focus solely on sharing information and learning from each other. If you weren’t able to attend this year, I highly recommend attending next year’s event. The importance of a consistent message The conference opened with a case study on Paragon Honda in New York showcasing the impact of a fully integrated and consistent marketing solution both on and offline. The importance of a consistent message cannot be understated. The goal of both on and offline marketing is to create momentum in the market and guide prospects to event details and descriptions, lead forms and phone numbers. Using social media to connect with your consumers Day one closed with a discussion from Scott Monty of Ford, on the importance of understanding the rich history of the Ford brand and leveraging that deep ...

The Internet has been an amazing tool for car dealers and consumers alike. Internet marketing is less expensive than traditional marketing, measurable, and directly connects dealers with today’s information-savvy buyers.   Though a website has become the most effective tool in a marketer’s toolbox, chances are, some business owners do not know who their current domain name belongs to.   Your website’s domain name is part of the brand you’ve worked so hard to build! It’s on your billboards, print collateral, business cards, and in today’s digital age, it’s how your customers learn about your dealership to buy and service their car. It is an industry best practice for dealers to be the registrant of their own domain name.   So, who does YOUR dealership’s domain name belong to?   To determine who your domain name is registered to visit Network Solutions or Who.is, type in your website URL...

By now, most of you have heard of, or experienced Google Instant search.  Many bloggers and tweeters and social media guru’s are lauding Google’s move to an even more on-demand search results page. It’s cool, it’s new and it keeps Google at the “tip of the sword” in the relentless search engine innovation war. What about the advertiser? The discussion that continues to take place across the web amongst the “guru’s” is whether PPC, SEO or Local strategies are most beneficial to the dealer.  With Google Instant, this argument slants heavily in favor of the paid and local camps. I cracked open my browser this morning and did a simple search for used cars in Boston.  Notice in the screenshot that there are no organic results. Some of you, like me, use monitors that have enormous resolutions.  It comes with the territory.  However, the average car shopper does not.  Below is a list of easily dig...

  Aside from building relationships with your customers and potential customers, creating and maintaining a blog can significantly enhance your search engine rankings and increase quality traffic to your site. Recent studies show that companies that have a blog on their site receive 55% more visitors, 97% more inbound links and 424% more indexed pages.   Here are 6 key elements to creating and maintaining a quality blog: 1. Write relevant content. Interesting and relevant content entices other bloggers and website owners to link to your site. This shows Google and other search engines that your site has authority increasing your chances of ranking for relevant phrases. Because each blog post becomes a new page on your website, more pages are available for search engines to index.  2. Optimize Your Blog Posts. When writing a blog post, create a quality URL for that post. Since the URL is one of the first things search engines look fo...

June 17, 2009 – Dealer.com, the leading provider of online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, today announced that Mark Bonfigli, CEO, received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2009 Award in the technology category in New England. According to Ernst & Young LLP, the award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses. Mark Bonfigli was selected by an independent panel of judges, and the award was presented at a gala event at the Marriott Newton Hotel on June 16th.
"I am excited to receive this great honor. I accept it on behalf of the Dealer.com team members who help our clients succeed every day," commented Bonfigli. "Their hard work, dedication and creativity are the driving force behind our industry leadership. From the beginning, we have always had a strong research and development focus to keep our clients two to four years ahead of the competition and this strategy is a significant reason ...

At the NADA show this year I spoke to many, many dealers that when asked if they were doing video they said,

"Yup, I have my TV commercials on my website."

Well, that’s a good start, but that’s not really a video strategy.

Plopping video on your website is fine, but I believe you’ll get better results if you plan your attack and measure your results.
Start with an outline for your dealership website and then fill in the blanks.

Every department should benefit from video. Here’s an example of how you might get started.

Equipment:
You can spend a ton of money on video equipment, but I suggest you walk before you run. Go out and buy a flip video camera for about $200. You may also want to buy a cheap banner with your dealership URL on it for interview purposes etc.

Sales:
Inventory Videos – Look for a product that creates high quality automated videos with no effort on your part. Be sure the product you use has real human voices instead of text-to-speec...

Many of us interact with Dealerships on a daily basis and try to convey how best we can help them save money and acquire new business during these difficult times… however, many of us get so technical with dealers that it’s very easy fly over the heads of our audience with techno-babble and statistic after statistic.
I’ve personally found that when attempting to convey complex theories to those that aren’t exposed to them all the time, it helps to remove ourselves from the dealership world and talk about how folks interact with the internet on a daily basis outside of the microcosms they are in every day.
For example, I was working with a dealership the other day and felt that I wasn’t getting through when talking about Inventory Merchandising. It was a dealership that felt convinced that giving little to no information would prompt website visitors to “call”. We all know that those days are long gone, but the mindset still persists out there…
The point is that ther...

Digital marketing provides your dealership a complete competitive advantage when employed with effective Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies. While directing your dealership’s online marketing strategies toward the most effective and profitable website solution, there are a few key questions concerning SEM that you should ask your vendor to ensure digital marketing success.

Google possesses 70% of the market share, which means your SEM strategies must utilize the great advantage Google can offer your SEM, as well as your dealership. More importantly, you need to ask your vendor questions about their pay-per-click programs such as:

* Do I have to commit to a long-term contract?
* How much do I have to spend per month?
* Do I have control over that spend?
* Can I divide my spend throughout different departments such as new and used car sales, service, parts, finance, specials etc.?
* What kind of flexibility do I have to move my spend up and down? ...

Hi guys:

With all the talk in the space today about what solid customer service really means I thought I would post some thoughts...

At the end of the day, regardless of what industry we’re in, we’re all essentially in the customer service business. So the bottom line is that if we’re not taking care of our customers in the most attentive way possible, a competitor will be more than happy to do it. The Internet marketing game is no different. As you consider entering into a relationship with a provider, you’re going to hear a lot of promises, particularly when it comes to customer service. And unless you’re careful, you’re going to learn a really hard lesson about the difference between full service and lip service.

Profit from experience.
In any business, particularly one as dynamic as Internet marketing, it pays to work with someone who understands what’s happening today and who knows enough to make an educated guess as to what will happen tomorrow. So it stan...

When your dealership is in the market to purchase a new web solution, it’s difficult to wade through the sea of differing opinions and sales pitches you will receive. Some vendors offer custom solutions to bring a dealer’s vision to life, while others offer customized template solutions that incorporate proven, time-tested designs.
Which is better for you? Keep in mind there are a number of important factors you should keep in mind when choosing a new vendor. Design, customer service and search engine marketing and optimization capabilities are all critical components to a successful dealer/vendor relationship.
But ultimately, you must never forget the purpose of your web site, which is to convert visitors into leads. If your web site is drawing a large number of visitors every month but only a small percentage are submitting their information or calling you, then there’s a problem. When it comes to your web site, conversion is the only metric that really matters.
Keeping this...