The Oscars are this Sunday, and as the Academy prepares to select the Best Picture, it falls to us in the automotive community to select another equally fabulous award:The Automotive Oscar, aka "best movie use of cars." This most coveted award is sure to inspire great controversy, and it's up to you, the brave readers of this article, to decide who should take home the automotive gold. The Oscar 2012 movies are full of vehicular visuals, from country romps to high-speed car chases and even time travel. Let's take a look and see which sweet ride you think is worthy of taking home the trophy for "Best Movie Car."

Nominee One: "The Help." This Civil Rights centered film set in 1962 Jackson, Mississippi is a classic car candy store. In addition to a dream team of A-list actors, vintage vehicles play a starring role in the film. In fact, many classic car enthusiasts have applauded this movie's devout dedication to accurate vehicle depictions. And the nominee categories are:

Best Car Star: The Dark Blue 1962 Cadillac Convertible driven by title heroine, Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan.

Best Vehicle Villain: The 1963 Ford Fairlane station wagon driven by the film's vile antagonist, Hilly Holbrook. Extra evil points for her abusive driving behavior, including flooring her car through dirt roads and even (gasp) using the backseat as her personal beer bottles trash can.

Best Car Cameo For Comedic Effect: The beater 1950 Chevrolet farm truck, complete with trailing plow discs, that Skeeter is forced to drive on a dinner date when her brother makes off with her Cadillac.

What the Critics Say: "My hat's off to the movie producers for their faithful depiction of all these cars," says Doane Yawger, reporter for the Merced Sun Star, "That's no small feat; all it takes is one late-model Camry to ruin the whole scene. Thankfully, that didn't happen here."

Fun Movie Trivia: The directors actually solicited antique car clubs to donate vehicles to increase the authenticity of the film, paying car-owners $125 a day for use of their vehicles. They hit the jackpot: 9 vehicles from local car clubs were donated for use in the film.

Nominee Two: Drive. Ok, so it only got one measly nomination for Sound Editing (cough, Ryan Gosling got robbed, cough) but it is an Oscar nominee and it is the ultimate car movie, so let's take a look at the categories.

Best Super-Hero Alter Ego: Just like Clark Kent and Superman, the 1973 Chevy Malibu driven by Gosling aka "The Driver" in this film serves as his perfect unassuming cover, his "by day" persona that provides great contrast to his moonlight persona as a daring getaway car driver. After all, who would suspect a guy driving a Chevy Malibu? And who would date 0ne? Answer below!

Best Automotive Meet-Cute: While one wouldn't expect such a gritty, violent movie to borrow from classic chick flick tropes, The Driver meets his lady love, Carrie Mulligan when-wait for it-her car breaks down. Gosling, a mechanic by day, comes to her rescue. The use of a late-model Toyota Camry is also perfect here; the dreary maroon vehicle serves as a perfect correlation for Mulligan's seemingly average girl persona.

Best Vehicle Villain: Depending on your moral worldview regarding getaway vehicles, a strong contender could be The Driver's black Ford Mustang 5.0 This sleek black ride brings out Gosling's dark side; he uses it to hightail bad guys out of heist after heist.

What the Critics Say: "Cars take little precedence in Drive, but each vehicle serves as a reflection of the people who drive them."-The Mojo Motors Blog

Fun Movie Trivia: Director Nicolas Winding Refn has said the movie is an homage to another great driving movie, Taxi Driver. Nominee Three: Midnight in Paris.

Best Use of Time Travel: There's really only one vehicle featured in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, but it's magic, so that definitely constitutes a nom. Owen Wilson's nostalgia-struck hero Gil Pender travels to the roaring 20's via a Peugeot Landaulet 184 dating from the same era. Although the film's couldn't be more different aesthetically, it's impossible to see a time-traveling vehicle and not recall the beloved Back To The Future Eldorado, possibly the greatest car star of all time.

What the Critics Say: "The mechanism by which Gil travels back (via vintage automobile at midnight) to his beloved era goes happily unexplained, thus eliminating the sci-fi wheels and pulleys that tend to suck up so much screen time in time-travel movies"-David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Fun Movie Trivia: The Peugeot apparently met director Woody Allen's requirements that the chosen vehicle have “a driver’s compartment with a convertible roof and a covered passenger compartment.” (Not the highest standards...but neither again neither were Gil Pender's when he got together will the shallow Inez-burn!)

That's all the coverage we have! Who's your favorite? Is there a dark horse favorite we didn't mention? Vote for your pick for Automotive Oscar in the comments below!

On Friday, ADP Digital Marketing/Cobalt won a 2011 Pinnacle Award at the Automotive Website Awards (AWA) hosted by PCG Marketing at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. The Pinnacle Award is the highest recognition possible, according to PCG President Brian Pasch. Pasch stated, “Pinnacle Platform winners deliver outstanding digital marketing platforms for car dealers and show an unprecedented attention to detail in live production.”

Pasch elaborated on the dramatic enhancements to ADP Digital Marketing/Cobalt’s digital solution in the printed awards book, saying, “The biggest surprise of this year is the improvements delivered by the new ADP|Cobalt website platform. The design and engineering team at ADP|Cobalt made a strong investment in their website platform that we recognize and reward with their inclusion in the search marketing award list.
The ADP|Cobalt digital marketing platform is rapidly expanding and includes products and services that cover social media, reputation management and enhanced analytics…The dramatic changes in site architecture that have been completed this year are impressive.”

Greg Meyer, Vice President of Technology for ADP/Cobalt responded to the win, saying “I would like to thank our dealer partners who have provided input and review of our new solutions, their insight has been instrumental. This recognition is a significant milestone on the merger of The Cobalt Group and ADP Digital Marketing and a reflection of what is to come as we continue to gain momentum with our ground breaking digital marketing solutions.”

Read the full announcement from PCG Marketing here.

Welcome to the final chapter in our sexy dealer website series.  The final quality of a sexy dealer website is that it makes online shopping as real and dimensional as the experience on a showroom floor. “Think Avatar,” Paul Nagy, Vice President of Core Products at ADP Digital Marketing said. “Think about something so rich and dimensional, the consumer could almost reach out and touch it. That’s the goal. That’s where we’re headed.”

Sexy Dealer Website Checklist

• In-Depth Inventory. To offer that rich consumer experience, exploit your user inventory showcase to your fullest advantage. “Don’t just put up a few perfunctory images and call it a day,” Andy Largent, Senior Product Manager at ADP Digital Marketing advises. “Get intentional about creating an immersive experience. Incorporate multiple views of each vehicle and ensure a quote request form is always displayed so consumers can take that next step while they’re still captivated.”

• Genuine Representations. While you want to put your best foot forward, an important part of creating a “real” online shopping experience is accurately marketing your inventory. As you write your vehicle description, be sure to accurately represent the condition, appearance and history of your vehicles. The buyer is going to find out when they arrive anyway, so it’s best to honest up front. There are plenty of consumers who are in the market for well-worn, affordable vehicles, so it’s best for everybody to be honest and straightforward.

• Vivid Video. “They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, but that was before Youtube,” Nagy joked. “Videos of inventory are another great way to enhance a consumer experience and get them enthralled by your merchandise before they even arrive at the dealership.” Video drives highly targeted traffic.  The more they know before they arrive, the easier your job is when they get here.

• Business Online. Even with a sexy website, buying a car today remains a fairly tedious process. Being able to transact as much of the buying process online as possible is becoming a reality now. Finally, it is possible for the consumer to get a quote for a specific vehicle, get a precise value for their trade, complete a credit application and apply everything to the customized quote – leaving only the last step for the dealer to close and transact the deal via the standard process – shortening the process from half a day to less than 1 hour. Let your dealer website do the work- make sure you offer as many online capabilities as possible so that when a customer walks into the showroom, all you have to do is close the deal.

We hope you enjoyed this four-part series on Creating a Sexy Dealer Website. In case you missed them, here is part one, part two and part three. We’ve certainly enjoyed chatting with all of you and hearing your comments and insights, so if you didn’t get a question answered, don’t be shy; sound off in the comments below!

Paul Nagy is Vice President of Core Products ADP Digital Marketing (formerly The Cobalt Group). Nagy brings over 12 years of technology management experience to the role, including senior management positions at Apple, Metreo, and Selectica. When he’s not crunching technical problems, Nagy enjoys fly-fishing in the great outdoors.

Andy Largent is a Senior Product Manager at ADP Digital Marketing, where he works on the core website platform and services.  With 10 years of automotive website expertise, Andy uses his experience to build high-performing solutions for dealer, dealer group, and OEM customers. Andy hopes to turn the hundreds of pictures of his kids into an amateur photography sideline someday. Until then, his favorite new social media/photo app is Instagram.

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Does this conversation sound familiar?

Bob: “Hey Joe, it’s GREAT to talk to you. How are you on this OUTSTANDING day? How is the weather where you are, old buddy?”

Joe: “It’s hot and humid here, thanks for asking. How is the weather in Kansas?”

Six months later.

Bob: Also hot.

How to Ensure Your Dealership Social Media Program is a Huge Waste of Time

Of course, this conversation doesn’t sound at all familiar. It’s absurd.

Unfortunately, the scenario I’ve just described paints an exact picture of a common social media problem. It’s what I like to call the “popcorn approach” to social media, and its killing many dealership social media programs in their tracks.

The popcorn approach goes something like this: The social media program is announced. Accounts are created. Everyone starts off hot and heavy, posting up a storm to all their new best friends for life. Two months, two weeks, even two days pass. The real world intrudes. Daily duties pile up. The interest wanes. The posting stops. The program fizzles out, rendering all that initial effort worthless.

Sound familiar? It may seem funny, but as a social media professional, it honestly makes me want to cry. The reason why is because if you’re doing social media like this, you’re wasting your time.

I know what you’re thinking: “What is this guy’s problem? I am not wasting my time. I totally have a social media program. I have a Facebook account with 231 friends, a WWF wrestler as my Twitter avatar, and a blog with a name and everything! What else do you want from me?”

Dealership Social Media Magic Rule: Consistency is Currency

What I want from you is the one thing that sets a successful social media program apart: consistency. Consistency is defined as a regular cadence between your business and your target audience. It means regularly posting on Facebook, blogs, Twitter or whatever other social media channels you’ve identified as valuable to your business. It means when someone asks you a question on Twitter, you don’t take six months to respond. It means when someone leaves you a glowing review on Yelp, you don’t thank them three years from now. You respond exactly the way you would in a real conversation, because at the end of the day, that’s what social media is: a conversation. Not a checklist of accounts to create. Not a marketing campaign you can set and forget. It’s a real, genuine conversation-meaning it depends on regular back-and-forth repartee to work.

In social media, consistency is currency. With consistent social media efforts, a customer rapport is built. With consistent social media efforts, that customer rapport blossoms into a changed perception of your business. With consistent social media efforts, that changed perception inspires customers to refer you to friends, to write nice reviews about you, to buy something from your company, or whatever else your business goal may be. It works, and it’s the only that works.

Consistency is the key to social media that meets business goals. Don’t end up like Bob and Joe. Meet your business goals, keep the popcorn in the bowl, and remember; no one likes awkward silences, online or off.

P.S. Lest you think I’m too much of a buzzkill, stay tuned for my follow-up series on tips for creating a consistent social media program in your dealership. You can do it!

Matt Muilenburg, Vice President of Social Media at ADP Digital Marketing

Matt Muilenburg is Vice President of Social Media  for ADP Digital Marketing (formerly The Cobalt Group), where  he has been working closely with dealers and OEMs to identify new ways to improve automotive retailing and marketing effectiveness.  When not sitting in front of a gadget, you’ll find Matt volunteering at the YMCA, attending his kids academic, musical and athletic events, or releasing stress by working in his yard and garden. You can reach Matt at mattm@cobaltgroup.com or call him at 206-219-8259.

The Cobalt Group

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A sexy dealer website is one that offers prospective customers a quality shopping experience wherever they are, however they’re shopping. “Today’s dealer website has to be sophisticated enough to support the new gadget mentality,” Paul Nagy, Vice President of Core Products for ADP Digital Marketing explained. “We all know more and more consumers are shopping on their smartphones and their tablets. What we need to think about is not the technology, but its implications. Gadget shoppers are shopping on the go. They’re in the car, they’re waiting at the doctor’s office, and they’re hanging out at the mall. How can a dealer’s site cater to those particular needs?” According to Andy Largent, Senior Product Manager at ADP Digital Marketing, it’s all about creating that universal experience.

Sexy Dealer Website Checklist

• Mobile is a must. If you don’t already have a mobile dealer website, it’s time to make that leap. “Not only is mobile a huge trend, but our research shows that mobile shoppers are the most serious about purchasing,” Largent said. “When you’re chilling at your computer at home, you’re in day dream mode. When you’re searching for car dealerships on your phone, you’re looking to buy.”
• Lighten your loading times. Gadget shoppers are surrounded by myriad distractions, so their attention spans are short. If your site is taking too long to load, they’re going to get frustrated and move on. According to the Yahoo developer blog, 80% of slow loading times are caused by heavy elements like Flash slideshows. "While it’s tempting to cover your site in seemingly sexy widgets and shiny objects," Nagy cautions, "Remember it doesn’t matter how sexy your site looks if no one has the patience for it to load. Keep your design clean and elegant in order to sustain consumer interest."
• Clarity is king. Gadget users don’t have the attention span or the inclination for bells-and-whistles. They are merely interested in accessing their desired information as quickly as easily as possible. Make this easy for them. Opt for large fonts, remove “hover” links (links you have to mouse-over to click) and make sure your formats are gadget-friendly. The iPad and iPhone, for example, favors HTML5 code and MP4 movie formats – and will not even display Flash content at all. Opt for universal formats so you grab the biggest market share possible!

Paul Nagy is Vice President of Core Products ADP Digital Marketing (formerly The Cobalt Group). Nagy brings over 12 years of technology management experience to the role, including senior management positions at Apple, Metreo, and Selectica. When he’s not crunching technical problems, Nagy enjoys fly-fishing in the great outdoors.

Andy Largent is a Senior Product Manager at ADP Digital Marketing, where he works on the core website platform and services.  With 10 years of automotive website expertise, Andy uses his experience to build high-performing solutions for dealer, dealer group, and OEM customers. Andy hopes to turn the hundreds of pictures of his kids into an amateur photography sideline someday. Until then, his favorite new social media/photo app is Instagram.

60 Ways to Upgrade Your Dealership’s Customer Experience

Be honest: how many errands have you bailed on because you were cold, hot, hungry, bored, or in need of a restroom? Now turn the tables: how many “little things” in your dealership have caused you to lose a customer? Whether the person left because there was no toilet paper in the bathroom and they were too embarrassed to ask for more, or because they couldn’t get cell reception and wanted to take an important call, it only takes a little discomfort to send a potential customer out the door.

So here’s the challenge: we dare you to incorporate all 60 of these dealership improvement efforts into your store in the next month. Post in the comments and let us know which ones you’ve incorporated, and also chime in with your own ideas for improvement.

1.     Make name tags mandatory for every employee (real names or fun nicknames)

2.     SNUGGIES. Keep branded snuggies on-site for customers to wear while winter car shopping

3.     Add a blackboard to the lobby-scribble a welcome message, an inspirational quote, or a fun piece of car trivia

4.     CLEAN, CLEAN,CLEAN-it doesn’t cost any money to keep things tidy, and a sparkling dealership helps sell cars!

5.     Raffles. Skip the boring local lunch coupon and get creative: think trapeze classes, free car washes for life, or dates with your single daughter (we kid, we kid)

6.     Subscribe to the latest magazines-people hate buying magazines and love reading them, so why not have the most current selection attractively arrayed on your dealership coffee table? No one will mind the wait when they’re getting caught up on their reading!

7. Have branded umbrellas available for rainy-weather shoppers.

8. Invest in time-passers like Xbox Kinect, Wii and HD TV in your dealership lobby. It may seem indulgent, but when you consider that customers will be willing to wait literally hours for you to meet with them, it’s totally worth it.

9. Practice a thirty-second greet. Popular in the restaurant industry, this practice should also be applied to car dealerships. Make sure a receptionist or staff member says a quick hello, offers a beverage or reading material, and says “Our service rep Dan will be right with you” within thirty seconds of a customer arriving.

10. Wi-Fi. Do we really have to say it at this point?

11. Board games. Don’t have the budget for high-tech electronics? Go old-school with affordable games all ages can enjoy, like checkers, chess, and Connect Four.

12. Go green. Plants are another affordable way to spruce up your dealership and create a relaxing atmosphere. Get adventurous with colorful blooms or play it safe with hearty succulents. Either way, a little green adds instant calm to your dealership.

13. Go to the bathroom – no, really! Dealership restrooms are sometimes the most-used and most-neglected places in the building, particularly if employees and customers alike share them. Make sure they are cleaned several times during the day, and stock them with extra tissue (both kinds!), towels, sprays and soap. If you really want to impress customers, add mouthwash, toothpicks and hairspray!

14. Toys. Keep the little ones occupied with stuffed animals, coloring books, and of course, remote control cars.

15. PLEASE GIVE. Incorporate charity opportunities into your dealership, like a food drive, clothing drive, or giving tree.

16.   Add an aquarium.
 

17. Cultural flair. Show your regional pride by tastefully incorporating the best of your area. If you’re from Vermont, have mini bottles of maple syrup to take home. If you’re in Seattle, serve Starbucks, and if you’re in Florida, a bowl of oranges makes a great coffee table centerpiece.

18. Wall of fame. Take all the local clippings, magazine press, and awards you’ve gotten over the years, and create a wall of pride in your dealership. A tasteful gallery of accolades will ensure customers that they are in the right hands.

19. Humor! Post a “No Sharks Allowed” Sign or a sign in your dealership window that says “Welcome to an intimidation-free zone.”

20. Have a “Cosmic Dealership night” where car buyers can shop until midnight, accompanied by flashing strobe lights, disco music and fun giveaways.

21. Find out what hours your competitors open, and open an hour earlier and stay open an hour later.

22. SMILE

23. Have music playing, preferable an XM or Sirius channel that is middle of the road

24. Stick out your hand and thank the prospect for coming in.

25. Introduce your manager in the beginning of the sales appointment, not the end.

26. DOGS! Be pet friendly; dogs are fun!

27.  No smoking in the front or side of the building!

28. Hire an appropriate  greeter.

29. Upgrade your artwork.

30. If you are selling high line vehicles, wear high-end clothes

31. Turn your cell phone to vibrate

32. Consider an appointment board

33. Have good hygiene (deodorant, brush teeth)

34. FRESHLY-BAKED COOKIES!

35.  Take pictures of happy customers picking up their new vehicles and tag them on Facebook.

36. Place crossword puzzles, Sudoku, and word games on your coffee table

37. Have the customer lounge on the showroom floor.  It should be very comfortable and not look like an afterthought.

38. Make certain that customer parking is as plentiful as possible and very clearly marked.

39. Have prices clearly marked on all vehicles – new and used.  (No more “see sales person for details” on the used car price sticker.)

40. Have Saturday full-service hours for at least part of the day.

41. Hire non-traditional people for sales consultants.  Today’s consumers do not respond as well to “old-school” sales tactics.

42. Invite the customer to go with the manager when performing a used vehicle evaluation.  Most will decline, but this can go a long way to creating trust and confidence instead of arguments and confusion.

43. Consider a pay plan not based on gross profit.  Pay on performance, CSI, volume, etc.

44.  Upgrade Your beverages. (You do have beverages, don’t you?) If you have coffee, add syrups. If you have water, add sliced lemons. Make sure to have decaf and caffeinated options.  It’s the little things that count!

45. Don’t use hokey old types of promotion, such as the gorilla on the roof, red sirens, etc.

46. Have multiple trash cans-guests hate not having a convenient place to throw things away.

47. Have a coat rack-encourage guests to take off their coat and stay awhile!

48.  If your dealership is in a cold climate, invest in a fireplace.

49. If your dealership is in a warm climate, invest in a nice air conditioner.

50. Slow your roll! Speak slowly, walk slowly, and make the customer feel like they are a treasured guest rather than a sales victim.

51. Do not display your sales staff sales total on a public bulletin board-customers don’t like to feel like they a bulls-eye on their back.

52. Know what specials your dealer website is promoting and be able to speak to them.

53. Complete quick trade-in evaluations.

54. Invite customers to leave dealership reviews with an on-site Ipad or laptop.

55. Honor expired service offers.

56. Provide free service calendars with written-in service appointments

57. Offer loaner cars that are an upgrade on the customer’s current vehicle.

58. Price match any written offer.

59.Offer pick-up and delivery for vehicle service.

60.__________________________ You tell us! Sound off with your best customer experience idea in the comments below!

Digital Automotive Marketing Maxim #2: Place First in the Fingertips Race

A sexy dealer website means serving the customer the right page at the right time. To avoid, “fingertip fatigue,” minimize the number of clicks it takes for the consumer to reach their desired content. A rockstar site isn’t just about delivering the content that’s most aligned  with the customer’s desires-all your competitors are doing that. Relevance means delivering it in the least amount of time.  “ Relevance is all about making that quick  match between the customer’s goal and what your online experience delivers,” Paul Nagy, Vice President of Core Products said. “If a consumer searches for “Mazda oil change Seattle,” don’t settle for having them land on the home page and then click-through. Maximize your chance of conversion by having them land on the best-match page, the Services page, by optimizing that page for those key terms.”

Sexy Dealer Website Checklist

• Killer Keywords. Go through your site and think carefully about what kind of terms a consumer would search to get to each page. What terms can you add to help consumers land in the right place with the minimum clicks? For example, optimize your Parts page for “Seattle Chevy Shock Absorbers.” Try optimizing your Finance page for “Bad credit auto financing Culver City.” Don’t assume every customer needs to land on the homepage; reduce click fatigue by optimizing each and every page for its own key terms.

• Shining Specials. This tip relates to the Relevancy Golden Rule: one topic=one page. Create a more focused funnel by creating and optimizing individual pages for each topic your site covers-no need to cram everything into one page. This is especially important for specials and promos. “You wouldn’t have a Valentine’s Day promo next to a Veteran’s Day promo on your showroom floor, would you?” Andy Largent, Senior Product Manager at ADP Digital Marketing, asks. “The same focused selling should apply to your website.  Don’t saturate the customer, steer them toward a singular purpose: conversion.”
• Defeat “Dealer Speak.” While it is fun and convenient to use abbreviations, industry slang and inside jokes when chatting with your lot buddies, avoid the temptation to use industry terminology on your website. Keep in mind the types of phrases that consumers will be searching for, and remove any that are too technical or industry-specific to be helpful to the consumer. For example, say “Used Mazda” in your website copy rather than “Pre-Owned Mazda.”

Stay tuned for part 3 of our Sexy Dealer Website Series, coming next week!If you’re ready to try out the sexiest new dealer website platform in automotive history, go check out our new Dealer Command Center and make your competitors bow down today!

Paul Nagy is Vice President of Core Products ADP Digital Marketing (formerly The Cobalt Group). Nagy brings over 12 years of technology management experience to the role, including senior management positions at Apple, Metreo, and Selectica. When he’s not crunching technical problems, Nagy enjoys fly-fishing in the great outdoors.

Andy Largent is a Senior Product Manager at ADP Digital Marketing, where he works on the core website platform and services.  With 10 years of automotive website expertise, Andy uses his experience to build high-performing solutions for dealer, dealer group, and OEM customers. Andy hopes to turn the hundreds of pictures of his kids into an amateur photography sideline someday. Until then, his favorite new social media/photo app is Instagram.

The New Digital Automotive Marketing Strategy Gets Bold About Branding

In 2011, a sexy dealer website means creating a stand-up-and-take-notice brand. “It’s time to smash the cookie cutter,” Andy Largent, Product Manager at ADP Digital Marketing said. “To do that, you need to think beyond the brand foundation provided by your OEM, think outside what your neighbor dealer is doing. Be clear about why consumers should want to do business with you and really get creative about taking every opportunity to get that message out.”

Sexy Dealer Website Checklist

1. Get competitive. In order to represent your brand, it’s time to get the lay of the land. Google your top three competitors and read over their sites. What do you have that they don’t? If they emphasize speedy service, emphasize your outstanding selection. If they plug their low prices, emphasize your spectacular customer service. A sexy dealer website is one that stands out from the pack, and a little due diligence can equal a big competitive edge.

2. Spice up your content. A sexy dealer website in 2011 is characterized by exciting, action-inspiring content. To truly create a stand-out brand,  dealers need to think beyond their calls-to-action and look at their site copy as a whole. “Shiny buttons are great, but they’re just a start. Anyone can install a widget,” Paul Nagy, Vice President of Core Products at ADP Digital Marketing said. “But having a sexy dealer website in 2011 means taking the time to truly articulate your core advantages, and then taking every possible opportunity to do so.” Nagy recommends dealers start with traditionally under-utilized pages like the “About Us” page and the company boilerplate. “Look at every page from a ‘why me?’ angle,” Nagy says. “Make sure each and every sentence answers that question in a complete and compelling way.”

3. Think outside the homepage. Though many dealers are urged to adopt OEM compliancy guidelines, in general those standards center on the homepage. Find ways to reinforce your brand by expanding your efforts “away from home.” “There’s more than one road to Rome,” Largent said. “From landing pages to social media channels, there is boundless opportunity for dealers to brand themselves and still stay within OEM guidelines.”  He suggests adding new brand-rich pages, like a Press Page, an Employee Page, or a ‘Top Ten Reasons to Choose Us” page.

We hope you enjoyed part one of this series. Stay tuned for more modern website must-haves from the experts at ADP Digital Marketing.

 

It’s 2011; is your dealer website holding its own? Everywhere you turn in the digital automotive marketing world, technology is evolving at a rapid clip. Search engines are going social. Flash is facing new challengers.Tablets are trendy. Mobile is a must. Tastemakers are chomping for quick-loading sites that look slick and perform even better. How does a dealer keep up? For many, it will mean that age-old New Year adage: out with the old, in with the new. But you won’t have to do it alone. My associate Andy and I are here to help you “bring sexy back” to your dealer website with this  five-part series on modern website must-haves.

The New Definition of Sexy

What does a sexy dealer website look like in 2011? The answer is a mix of old and new.  As always, a sexy dealer website is one hundred percent focused on the end goal: helping in-market consumers find and purchase a vehicle as swiftly and seamlessly as possible. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is that consumers expect websites to be “smart” – providing just the information they need when they need it. Knowing that, here's my definition of a sexy dealer website in 2011:

What’s sexy now is a website that is so fast and intuitive that it can literally match its actions to the buyer’s desires, stroke for stroke-wherever the consumer is, on whatever device the consumer is using.

It’s a tall order, but no one said being sexy was easy. Stay tuned over the next month as Andy and I bring you hot expert tips on how to "bring sexy back" to your dealer website.