AutoTrader.com has announced that dealer inventory listings will now be able to include vehicle history reports from Experian Automotive's AutoCheck. The ability to select a vehicle history report other than Carfax will be a first when it launches in September. Read post

Since May is National Military Appreciation Month, it presents the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your gratitude to the men and women who have sacrificed for our freedom. Military Appreciation Month should be a time to honor, remember, and recognize those individuals who have served and are serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Today I’ll share three easy-to-execute campaign ideas that will help you show your appreciation. Thank a Soldier Help your community show their appreciation to the U.S. Military by creating a “Thank a Solider” campaign. That’s right, simply ask your fellow community members to say thanks each time they see a veteran, active duty, reserve, or National Guard member. Remember to tell them that it is a great way to demonstrate appreciation for the sacrifices, dedication, and service they have made for our country. These types of community outreach are a great way to create top-of-mind awareness for your brand while showing these generous ind...Read post

So, you have a Facebook page for your business. You’re ready to tap into the most powerful social site in the world. You want to get fans, to get people to like your page and hear your messages, to communicate with them in a meaningful way and to help drive more business. You figure that, “Hey, I’m a business. The only way people are going to like my page is if I have a drawing for a free iPad or give them a game that they can only play if they like my page!” Nope. It’s the wrong thinking. It’s not just the fact that you’re going to get people liking your page from everywhere around the world rather than the coveted local area Facebook users. What’s worse is that you’re actually going to do damage to your page and prevent locals from seeing your post or engaging with your page. Here’s why…   Their Intentions are Not Good Convenience stores don’t make a ton off of lottery tickets, but they get peo...Read post

All companies' business capabilities rely on how they identify opportunities, and gain more business insights. And to achieve this, all of things need to successfully function in the marketplace, from giving nice experience on the web store, smooth payment processing, to excellent customer support. When these things come together rightfully, there is always a good chance of extending business capabilities. But it is important to seek the right tools that have potential of turning around things for more business capabilities. Organizations use different tools and technology to exceed themselves in the competition such as customer relationship management systems, business intelligence tools, help desk, phone and chat support. But what’s more important is determining your business strategy, and how the implemented tools are going to complement your strategy. For instance, if customer service is something your organization has determined to be a strategic capability, find out th...Read post

Rumors always fly about Google, particularly when it comes to search. Next to Apple, Google is the beneficiary and/or victim of rumors on a regular basis. Some of them are started by others, but occasionally they're started (and confirmed) by Google itself. Such was the case last year when they hinted about the first variation of Penguin and it was the case this year with the latest update, dubbed Penguin 2.0. Now it's here and their was a nice writeup about it on Driving Sales by Aaron Schinke of DealerFire. The advice he gives is sound and falls in line with what we've seen from this update. The update has proven to be a very positive one for those who are doing SEO the right way. I spent an hour doing spot checks on dozens of our clients last night and found that they either kept their strong positions or moved up if they weren't #1 already (which usually means that their competitors actually moved down as a result of the update, but the net result is the same). ...Read post

Remember how slow the industry was to embrace the internet as a sales tool way back when? I do, I got into this business around the time the “fad” hit the noodles of dealers across the country. I found as a trainer for an automotive training company, there was a 33/33/33 factor when I would talk to dealers and management about it.   33% said the Internet was not a force to reckon with but a fad 33% said that they were “watching” to see how things developed but remained in park 33% started trying to figuring out how to engage but not really more than a little “figuring”   Then there was that 1% - they were actively moving into this new territory, making mistakes, figuring it out along the way with bumps, bruises and some pain. If someone was to do a survey of all dealerships that were around then and are still around today- I bet they would find that the 1% are the current industry leaders boasting the highest sales, largest grosses, l...Read post

Here’s the sad truth about the way that most dealers are posting their inventory to Facebook. It’s not getting seen. None of it. Not at all. Currently, there are three primary ways that dealers are posting their inventory to Facebook. The most common method is to have a tab on their Facebook page with their inventory. This doesn’t work. The click stats that we’ve studied using three different inventory types show that even the most active dealer Facebook pages are seeing next to zero traffic, clicks, or leads from this form of inventory posting. The reason is obvious – people don’t visit your Facebook page unless they get there through search, a link from your website, or an ad on Facebook. In these three scenarios, they’re either not interested in seeing you inventory (if they were, they’d just go to your website) of, in the case of referrals from your website itself, they’ve already seen it. Now they want to see you and your...Read post

Yesterday's announcement about Pinterest's new product pages and feature enhancements has me all excited about this platform. This is clearly a sign of a new direction in web design, eCommerce models and especially mobile content creation and consumption. Bottom line, I love Pinterest and you should too. Read post