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Automotive SEO - Pasch Consulting Group

Archive for the ‘automotive marketing boot camp’ Category

The Great Digital Opportunity

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

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I am in the process of collecting data from car dealers on their 2010 Digital Marketing knowledge, strategy and budget.

From the first 120 dealer responses, I was amazed at how many dealers had a low percentage of their budgets dedicated for online spending which included their websites, PPC, SEO, IRM, social media, blogging, and microsites.

 

The Great Digital Divide

The 11 questions on the PCG Digital Marketing Survey will provide great data and insight for the automotive community.  If you have not participated in the survey, click below share you answers on this great survey. The results will be posted on DrivingSales.com. 

Take the survey

I firmly believe that dealers need to have greater than 60% of their marketing budget directed to online marketing.   Only 17% of car dealers would fall into what I would consider as being  ”on the right path”.

Based on the data collected so far, dealers will be faced with major changes to the marketing strategies.  Dealers will be faced with the challenge of deciding how much they should be spending on social media, seo, blogging and ppc.  The answers are not very clear.

Automotive Marketing Boot Camp

boot-campCar dealers who want to move more of their marketing dollars online should consider coming to the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.  It is being held on February 12th, the day before the official start of NADA Convention in Orlando Florida. 

Attendees would fly into Orlando on Thursday February 11th for the opening banquet where Jared Hamiltion will be the keynote speaker.   Attendees must bring a laptop computer since all classes will provide hands on skills specifically designed for your dealership.

The Boot Camp will provide both hands on training for important Internet Marketing tactics but also the higher level strategy of what to do and how much to spend.  I will be leading the Internet Marketing strategy classes.

The Boot Camp will feature five educational tracks lead by industry specialists:

  • Social Media - JD Rucker
  • WordPress Microsites - Paul Rushing
  • Digital Marketing Strategies - Brian Pasch
  • Pay-Per-Click Marketing - Eric Mayhew
  • Video Marketing and Optimization - Tim Jennings and Matt O’Such

Dealers looking to develop the skills of the Internet Marketing team as well as crafting an effective Internet Marketing Strategy for 2010 should sign-up while seating is available. 

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will be limited to 75 attendees since each classroom session will be limited to 15 people.  This will allow the instructors to transfer the information and skills needed to each attendee.

For additional information visit:  www.digitalmarketingbootcamp.com

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Posted in automotive digital marketing, automotive marketing boot camp, marketing budgets | 1 Comment »

Press Releases As Part of Your SEO Toolkit

Wednesday, November 11th, 2009

The topic of press releases is near and dear to me since I have spent the last two years experimenting with about 20+ sites and the impact on search marketing.  The key starting point in this discussion is to first determine the goal of the press release.  There are many goals that could be possible and I have just listed a few:

  1. To be picked up by offline media news
  2. To stir controversy or break news
  3. To block competitors from Google Page One for valuable keywords
  4. To create a basic link from a highly rated website

I have focused my research on numbers 3 and 4 and have found that my opinions conflict with traditional advertising agencies.  Most traditional agencies think of a press release in offline terms and that the message has to be very important.  Traditional agencies scratch their heads when I tell them that car dealers should put out press releases at least every month per brand.

As an Automotive SEO consultant, I have a standard “goal” of owning the first 10 free organic search results in a Google SERP.  I want to eliminate competition for certain search phrases for my clients.  So my spin on press releases is that they are part of an offsite SEO toolkit.  They are not the solution to search dominance, but they are part of the toolkit I use.  They work well because the content is posted on a highly rated website. 

Other tools in an effective off-site SEO strategies include blogs, forums, commenting on high page ranked articles that don’t have a “no follow” tag, videos, document posting services, social communities, and the list goes on.  In today’s competitive market, once dealers have a good website platform in place they need to consider the off-site SEO work that needs to be done each month.

Why You Need Many Tools in the Toolbox

Type into Google “Ford Transit Connect New Mexico” and you can see how free press releases services can help create SERP entries that block competition and drive traffic to a dealer’s website.  Normally press releases can optimize well for 3+ word keyword phrases.  There are many examples I can give, but the concept applies to any phrase you want to optimize.

Content targeting keywords is the heart of SEO.  Type into Google “digital dealer conference Nashville“  or “digital dealer Nashville” and you will see that 50% of Google page one is dominated by articles that talk about my seminar or the conference.  That is a direct decision to promote my brand.  This is the same strategy can be used for car dealer names, the cars they sell or the promotions they plan. 

These press releases build SERP visibility and also good links.  Tip: When you create links in a press release hyperlink the keyword phrases that you want to promote and link to an appropriate page on your website.  Do not always create links to your home page.

Press releases and their impact can vary based on which site you decide to use to publish your press release.   Spending more money on expensive press release posts ($300-$700) in most cases do not justify their costs from page one rankings.  They may generate more calls or offline copy but a $25 press release can often beat the $700 release.

Measuring ROI

The ROI is hard to measure unless your website platform has the ability to capture referring URL’swhen someone completes a lead form.  Those platforms that capture referring URL’s on all forms can demonstrate easily the ROI of press releases.  Many releases that I post get anywhere from 500-1,000 visitors and cost about $100 to write and implement.

Dealers that have the right platform in place can spend a few hundred dollars to create and publish a few press releases to determine ROI of this medium within 30-60 days.  This goes for any off-site SEO strategies; blogging, car forums, Facebook,. etc.  Dealers need to demand from their platform vendors to have the ability to track form submissions to the referring URL that drove that consumer session to their website.

Press Release Training

Writing and Posting Good Press Releasescould be a topic at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.  The session would show attendees tips on creating and posting press releases, in real-time for their dealership.  Do you think this is needed skills building exercise?  We could probably write, review and post 3-4 press releases for each dealership in attendance on four different website portals in a two hour session.  Let me know what you think…

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Posted in automotive marketing boot camp, automotive seo, press releases | 2 Comments »

Automotive Marketing Boot Camp

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

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I am working with Paul Rushing and JD Rucker to put together the details for the first Automotive Marketing Boot Camp which will be held in Orlando on the day prior to the official start of the 2010 NADA Convention. The boot camp will be a full day of intensive skills training; Automotive SEO, Social Media and tactical Internet Marketing skills.

One Day of Intense Training.  Are You Ready For Boot Camp?

The Boot Camp sessions will be at least 2 hours in length to give participants time to develop real life Internet marketing skills using their own laptop computer. These skills will give them the confidence to go back to their dealerships with effective marketing strategies. Every participant will be required to bring their laptop since they will be working online during class with strategies for their dealership.

Advanced Preparation and Customized Materials

Automotive Marketing Boot Camp participants will receive advance customized documentation to prepare for the skills building sessions. In addition, the boot camp instructors will be preparing dealer specific materials that will be waiting for the students when they register. The advance preparation will ensure that the basics are setup before classes start.

Every participant of the Boot Camp will be part of at least four specific skill building classes. The instructors for the Boot Camp will include social media experts JD Rucker and Internet Marketing specialists Brian Pasch and Paul Rushing.

Additional Boot Camp instructors will be announced next week.  The instructors will NOT be offering high level discussions but hands on tactical training.   That’s why a laptop will be required; during the sessions strategies will be set in play specific for each dealership represented.

Since each participant will receive customized reports and analysis of their website and marketing strategy, they will effectively have the industry’s top experts consulting for your specific dealership for a full day. As a bonus, attendees will have both Thursday night and Friday morning to ask specific tactical questions of our instructors. Straight talk and intense skills training.
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Get ready for Boot Camp!  Paul suggested that we start at 5:30 am  with calastenics and a 3 mile run. (I doubt that will happen)

Limited To 50 People

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp is designed to achieve small classroom sizes and effective hands on training. As a result, the registration will be limited to 50 students.

Instructors will provide the step by step skills training that will yield confidence and the ability for attendees to go back to their dealership with a strategy that can be implemented.

The tentative schedule for the Boot Camp is as follows:

Thursday February 11, 2010

  • 6:00 pm Boot Camp Registration and Cocktail Reception
  • 7:00 pm Dinner Rations and Opening Remarks

Friday February 12, 2010

  • 7:00 am Boot Camp Breakfast  (SOS) & Opening Remarks
  • 8:00 am - 12:30 Morning Sessions
  • 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm Lunch & Keynote
  • 2:00 pm - 6:30 pm Afternoon Session
  • 7:00 pm Graduation Ceremony & Cocktail Reception

Saturday February 13, 2010

  • 7:00 am Industry Breakfast (NADA attendees invited)
  • 8:00 am - 10:00 am Q&A Opportunity With Instructors

Interested?

If you are interested in attending, send an email with your contact information to Carrie Valentine at carrie@paschconsulting.com. The cost for the Boot Camp will be announced shortly. We expect the event to sell out quickly, so those who indicate their interest in advance will be given the first opportunity to register.

If you have someone who you think would like attend the Boot Camp, please tell them to submit their name to Carrie as quickly as possible. 

There will be six sponsorship slots available for the Boot Camp.  Vendors who are interested, should contact Brian Pasch at brian@paschconsulting.com.

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Posted in automotive marketing boot camp | 6 Comments »



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