In a continuing effort to make Google Places a very important part of online business marketing and advertising, Google is rolling out Google Boost in select markets. If your business is in any one of these cities, you can start testing Google Boost:

• San Francisco, CA
• Houston, TX
• San Jose, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Wichita, KS
• Charlottesville, VA
• Atlanta, GA
• Chapel Hill, NC
• Orlando, FL
• Washington D.C.
• Boston, MA
• Cross Plains, TX
• Portland, ME

Google Boost and Google Places

Google Boost is a pay-per-click advertising option to showcase your Google Places listing. One of the main reasons why you would want to use Google Boost is to highlight your outstanding customer review counts.

For example, Acton Toyota in Massachusetts has over 1,000 Google reviews. If they participated in Google Boost, they could bring their Google Places listing and reviews front and center. Here is an example Google Boost ad:

The important points to remember is that if you are going to use Google Boost, you better have a strong Internet Reputation Management process in place. Secondly, you can see that by using Google Tags ($25 a monthly) you can add the yellow marker and message to your Boost ad.

One of the other factors to consider when using Google Boost is the have another set of eyes look at your Google Places listing. It should fully leverage all the marketing tools that Places offers business owners.

For example, you can load up to four videos on Google Places and I recommend  that three of them be customer testimonial videos. Business owners should create one “welcome” video that outlines the advantages and benefits of doing business with your company.

Where Do Google Boost Ads Appear?

The Google Boost ads will appear in the normal places that Adwords ad would show but keep in mind that the landing page can be EITHER your business Google Places listing or your website. Also notice that the current number of reviews will be showing in the ad.

There are so many ways that this can be leverages but it has to start with inspecting that your Google Places listing is correct and fully completed. Second, you need to inspect the reviews that have been written about your company and to implement a strong reputation management process.

If you need help with creating a strong Internet Reputation Management process or if you have more questions about Boost, start the dialogue here.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

In a continuing effort to make Google Places a very important part of online business marketing and advertising, Google is rolling out Google Boost in select markets. If your business is in any one of these cities, you can start testing Google Boost:

• San Francisco, CA
• Houston, TX
• San Jose, CA
• Seattle, WA
• Wichita, KS
• Charlottesville, VA
• Atlanta, GA
• Chapel Hill, NC
• Orlando, FL
• Washington D.C.
• Boston, MA
• Cross Plains, TX
• Portland, ME

Google Boost and Google Places

Google Boost is a pay-per-click advertising option to showcase your Google Places listing. One of the main reasons why you would want to use Google Boost is to highlight your outstanding customer review counts.

For example, Acton Toyota in Massachusetts has over 1,000 Google reviews. If they participated in Google Boost, they could bring their Google Places listing and reviews front and center. Here is an example Google Boost ad:

The important points to remember is that if you are going to use Google Boost, you better have a strong Internet Reputation Management process in place. Secondly, you can see that by using Google Tags ($25 a monthly) you can add the yellow marker and message to your Boost ad.

One of the other factors to consider when using Google Boost is the have another set of eyes look at your Google Places listing. It should fully leverage all the marketing tools that Places offers business owners.

For example, you can load up to four videos on Google Places and I recommend  that three of them be customer testimonial videos. Business owners should create one “welcome” video that outlines the advantages and benefits of doing business with your company.

Where Do Google Boost Ads Appear?

The Google Boost ads will appear in the normal places that Adwords ad would show but keep in mind that the landing page can be EITHER your business Google Places listing or your website. Also notice that the current number of reviews will be showing in the ad.

There are so many ways that this can be leverages but it has to start with inspecting that your Google Places listing is correct and fully completed. Second, you need to inspect the reviews that have been written about your company and to implement a strong reputation management process.

If you need help with creating a strong Internet Reputation Management process or if you have more questions about Boost, start the dialogue here.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

I'm heading out in a few weeks to record a series of educational videos covering different aspects of automotive digital marketing, search engine optimization, reputation management, car dealer microsites, and social media integration.

I would love to get input from the DrivingSales community on the topics that you would like to see filmed.  The videos will be approximately 10-15 minutes in length so they are laser focused on one topic.  More complicated topics would be broken out into parts 1,2,3, etc.

Since September I have been mentoring 100 car dealers in the Automotive SEO Study and one of the most popular comments that I receive is that members of the study love to go back and reply the videos of the live webinars.  Some have commented that they play them back multiple times to catch all the details from our lessons. 

Automotive Training Videos

That is what makes video training so effective; you can repeat the videos until you get the subject matter integrated into dealership process.  With that in mind, I would love for you to make some suggestions.  In order to guide your thoughts and suggestions, here are a couple of planned videos segments:

Google Places

1. Introduction to Google Places
2. Completing Your Business Profile
3. Optimizing Your Business Profile
4. Understanding Google Places Analytics
5. Monitor Consumer Reviews

Search Engine Optimization

1. Introduction to SEO
2. How The Search Engines Work
3. Domain Name Purchasing Strategies
4. Microsite Publishing Strategies
5. Link Building Strategies
6. Creating Optimized Content Pages
7. Content Publishing Strategies

You get the idea.  With larger topics you need to break the videos into segments.  So share your creativity and if you have a "wish list" for great educational video content that you can use in your dealership to train your staff or a refresher course for yourself, make some suggestions.

I'll use the feedback from DrivingSales.com members to guide my video segments that I film this month and also in the coming months.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing

http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com 
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo
http://facebook.com/pcgdigitalmarketing

P.S. Don't forget to join me in Napa for our Digital Marketing Strategies Conference on February 1-3rd, 2011 just prior to the NADA Convention in San Francisco.

I'm heading out in a few weeks to record a series of educational videos covering different aspects of automotive digital marketing, search engine optimization, reputation management, car dealer microsites, and social media integration.

I would love to get input from the DrivingSales community on the topics that you would like to see filmed.  The videos will be approximately 10-15 minutes in length so they are laser focused on one topic.  More complicated topics would be broken out into parts 1,2,3, etc.

Since September I have been mentoring 100 car dealers in the Automotive SEO Study and one of the most popular comments that I receive is that members of the study love to go back and reply the videos of the live webinars.  Some have commented that they play them back multiple times to catch all the details from our lessons. 

Automotive Training Videos

That is what makes video training so effective; you can repeat the videos until you get the subject matter integrated into dealership process.  With that in mind, I would love for you to make some suggestions.  In order to guide your thoughts and suggestions, here are a couple of planned videos segments:

Google Places

1. Introduction to Google Places
2. Completing Your Business Profile
3. Optimizing Your Business Profile
4. Understanding Google Places Analytics
5. Monitor Consumer Reviews

Search Engine Optimization

1. Introduction to SEO
2. How The Search Engines Work
3. Domain Name Purchasing Strategies
4. Microsite Publishing Strategies
5. Link Building Strategies
6. Creating Optimized Content Pages
7. Content Publishing Strategies

You get the idea.  With larger topics you need to break the videos into segments.  So share your creativity and if you have a "wish list" for great educational video content that you can use in your dealership to train your staff or a refresher course for yourself, make some suggestions.

I'll use the feedback from DrivingSales.com members to guide my video segments that I film this month and also in the coming months.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing

http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com 
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo
http://facebook.com/pcgdigitalmarketing

P.S. Don't forget to join me in Napa for our Digital Marketing Strategies Conference on February 1-3rd, 2011 just prior to the NADA Convention in San Francisco.

PCG is hosting an industry conference in the Napa Valley on February 1-3, 2011 which is conveniently timed to precede the 2011 NADA Convention.  The workshop leaders and speakers are all working with a common goal: help dealers create a powerful digital marketing strategy for 2011.

The process of crrafting your 2011 Digital Marketing Strategy should be starting now. I was wondering how many DrivingSales.com members have a written digital marketing strategy for 2011.   If you have one, consider sharing it with this community.

You may be asking, what should this strategy look like?  For starters, it should list all your current expenses for digital and traditional advertising. 

Next to each item you should be indicating how you will be measuring, inspecting, and adjusting that investment for a better return.  For many dealers, some of these expenses have been on auto-pilot for years.

Then you should be listing new strategies that have not yet been tested.  These items should have estimated budgets and details on how success will be measured.  Some newer ideas may include:

• Facebook Advertising
• Facebook Marketplace
• Digital Radio Stations like Pandora
• Google Places Sponsored Ads
• Content and Inventory Snydication
• Craigslist
• Video Optimization
• Microsites

Then a discussion can start about funding new strategies and eliminating investments that no longer have a strong ROI.  The most important part of this process is to make sure that all spending has a purpose and a strategy.  Paying for something because your competitor is using the "shiny object" is not a strategy.

There are many more details to outlining your 2011 Digital Marketing Strategy. I invite you to start the dialogue here on this post.  What questions do you have that industry peers can answer?  What is working well for you that you can share openly to help the members of this community?

Let's get the conversation stated.

2011 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference

Also, if you would like to collaborate with some of the brighest minds in digital marketing, look into attending the conference. Details on the conference can be found at:  http://www.digitalmarketingstrategies.org

Workshop leaders include Alex Snyder, Gary May, Glenn Pasch, Brian Pasch, Matt Murray, and Christine Rochelle.  Speakers include Sean Wolfington, Jared Hamilton, and JD Rucker.

The conference ends on Friday February 4th and attendees will be taken to San Francisco on Friday morning to the Convention Center  so they won't miss a single event.

PCG is hosting an industry conference in the Napa Valley on February 1-3, 2011 which is conveniently timed to precede the 2011 NADA Convention.  The workshop leaders and speakers are all working with a common goal: help dealers create a powerful digital marketing strategy for 2011.

The process of crrafting your 2011 Digital Marketing Strategy should be starting now. I was wondering how many DrivingSales.com members have a written digital marketing strategy for 2011.   If you have one, consider sharing it with this community.

You may be asking, what should this strategy look like?  For starters, it should list all your current expenses for digital and traditional advertising. 

Next to each item you should be indicating how you will be measuring, inspecting, and adjusting that investment for a better return.  For many dealers, some of these expenses have been on auto-pilot for years.

Then you should be listing new strategies that have not yet been tested.  These items should have estimated budgets and details on how success will be measured.  Some newer ideas may include:

• Facebook Advertising
• Facebook Marketplace
• Digital Radio Stations like Pandora
• Google Places Sponsored Ads
• Content and Inventory Snydication
• Craigslist
• Video Optimization
• Microsites

Then a discussion can start about funding new strategies and eliminating investments that no longer have a strong ROI.  The most important part of this process is to make sure that all spending has a purpose and a strategy.  Paying for something because your competitor is using the "shiny object" is not a strategy.

There are many more details to outlining your 2011 Digital Marketing Strategy. I invite you to start the dialogue here on this post.  What questions do you have that industry peers can answer?  What is working well for you that you can share openly to help the members of this community?

Let's get the conversation stated.

2011 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference

Also, if you would like to collaborate with some of the brighest minds in digital marketing, look into attending the conference. Details on the conference can be found at:  http://www.digitalmarketingstrategies.org

Workshop leaders include Alex Snyder, Gary May, Glenn Pasch, Brian Pasch, Matt Murray, and Christine Rochelle.  Speakers include Sean Wolfington, Jared Hamilton, and JD Rucker.

The conference ends on Friday February 4th and attendees will be taken to San Francisco on Friday morning to the Convention Center  so they won't miss a single event.

I'm not sure what changes are happening behind the scenes at Google, but I received two frantic emails today from clients that saw their review counts practically disappear. Honda Cars of Bellevue had a total of 42 reviews showing on Google Places last week, and this is how things look today:



Acton Toyota last week had over 1,000 reviews last week and this is what their Google Places listing looks like today, November 8, 2010:

Is anyone else seeing their Google Places review counts dropping? It looks like there is a bug in their system that is going to be hurting many businesses.

I'm not sure what changes are happening behind the scenes at Google, but I received two frantic emails today from clients that saw their review counts practically disappear. Honda Cars of Bellevue had a total of 42 reviews showing on Google Places last week, and this is how things look today:



Acton Toyota last week had over 1,000 reviews last week and this is what their Google Places listing looks like today, November 8, 2010:

Is anyone else seeing their Google Places review counts dropping? It looks like there is a bug in their system that is going to be hurting many businesses.

Facebook has started a push to attract car dealers into their Facebook Marketplace which is powered by Oodle. The image shown above was part of an email solicitation campaign that reach one of my dealer clients to offer their automotive advertising package.

According to the Facebook marketing website, your subscription with Oodle Pro will display your cars on Facebook as well as a number of other websites in the Oodle network.  Do you think that Facebook could create a competitive automotive marketplace challenge to Autotrader.com and Cars.com?

The Facebook Marketplace Pitch

Here are some excerpts from the Facebook Marketplace website:

• Showcase vehicle inventory on Facebook Marketplace. Your listings get top placement in search results on Facebook Marketplace and across the Oodle network to maximize exposure.
• Open your dealership to millions of potential buyers across Facebook Marketplace and the Oodle Network. Reach local audiences and millions of prospective buyers. Access to more than 500 million people on Facebook Marketplace.
• With Oodle Pro, one service automatically lets you post to over 250 sites including: Oodle, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace Classifieds, and more. Manage all of your listings in one place, making it easy to stay on top of your business – no more need to post your listings on website after website.
• No social media experience needed — a simple, easy to use setup, gets you up and running quickly, and makes it easy to begin reaching millions of people right away. Hassle-free product support, detailed help topics, and feature-specific tutorials give you all the support you'll need to be successful.

If anyone has been using the Facebook Marketplace for their car inventory, please share your results. I am familiar with the Oodle network outside of Facebook but not their ability to market cars within Facebook. I was also a bit suspicious that they are hawking this service to advertising car inventory on Twitter and MySpace, which qualify for "Weak Ideas of the Week".

Shopping For a Car on Facebook

Once you reach Facebook Marketplace, you can click on Cars in the top navigation as shown below which pops up a box to help you narrow down your search criteria.

Once you click on "submit" you will see a listing of cars for sale, not unlike any other automotive advertising portal. So I clicked on a 2007 Chevy Cobalt that appeared in my list, and this is the Vehicle Detail Page I was presented.

I wanted to experience how I would communicate with the seller so I clicked on the RESPOND button at the top of the listing and I had to give Facebook Marketplace access to my profile. This is where things started to go off the tracks for me. Recently I accepted an App that wreaked havoc on my friends so we have to assume the Marketplace will not abuse this access.

Once I granted permission to access my profile, a message box appeared which will allow me to contact the seller as shown below:

Car Dealer Inventory on Facebook

I decided to look at car dealer listings that appeared for my search and Sheehy Ford of Springfield appeared in the list. The car did not have any photos and in fact, all the dealers that I saw on the first few pages had photos missing. Here is what the Vehicle Detail Page looked like:

This is one ugly Vehicle Detail Page in my opinion. Since I gave access to my profile, the form at the bottom of the page to contact the dealer is pre-filled with some bacsic information from my profile.

How Much Does it Cost?

As you can see from the pricing chart below, you can list up to 500 cars a month for $499 if you go month to month. If you want to syndicate more than 500 cars, you need to request special pricing.

What Do You Think?

So what do you think about Facebook Marketplace for automotive advertising?

The Marketplace application was very slow from my computer so I would like some feedback is speed was also an issue from your PC.

Our recent survey of automotive shoppers indicated that "ease of use" of the shopping interface was the most important factor in selecting a website to shop for a car.  This current version falls short in my opinion of creating a positive shopping experience.  What do you think?

Facebook has started a push to attract car dealers into their Facebook Marketplace which is powered by Oodle. The image shown above was part of an email solicitation campaign that reach one of my dealer clients to offer their automotive advertising package.

According to the Facebook marketing website, your subscription with Oodle Pro will display your cars on Facebook as well as a number of other websites in the Oodle network.  Do you think that Facebook could create a competitive automotive marketplace challenge to Autotrader.com and Cars.com?

The Facebook Marketplace Pitch

Here are some excerpts from the Facebook Marketplace website:

• Showcase vehicle inventory on Facebook Marketplace. Your listings get top placement in search results on Facebook Marketplace and across the Oodle network to maximize exposure.
• Open your dealership to millions of potential buyers across Facebook Marketplace and the Oodle Network. Reach local audiences and millions of prospective buyers. Access to more than 500 million people on Facebook Marketplace.
• With Oodle Pro, one service automatically lets you post to over 250 sites including: Oodle, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace Classifieds, and more. Manage all of your listings in one place, making it easy to stay on top of your business – no more need to post your listings on website after website.
• No social media experience needed — a simple, easy to use setup, gets you up and running quickly, and makes it easy to begin reaching millions of people right away. Hassle-free product support, detailed help topics, and feature-specific tutorials give you all the support you'll need to be successful.

If anyone has been using the Facebook Marketplace for their car inventory, please share your results. I am familiar with the Oodle network outside of Facebook but not their ability to market cars within Facebook. I was also a bit suspicious that they are hawking this service to advertising car inventory on Twitter and MySpace, which qualify for "Weak Ideas of the Week".

Shopping For a Car on Facebook

Once you reach Facebook Marketplace, you can click on Cars in the top navigation as shown below which pops up a box to help you narrow down your search criteria.

Once you click on "submit" you will see a listing of cars for sale, not unlike any other automotive advertising portal. So I clicked on a 2007 Chevy Cobalt that appeared in my list, and this is the Vehicle Detail Page I was presented.

I wanted to experience how I would communicate with the seller so I clicked on the RESPOND button at the top of the listing and I had to give Facebook Marketplace access to my profile. This is where things started to go off the tracks for me. Recently I accepted an App that wreaked havoc on my friends so we have to assume the Marketplace will not abuse this access.

Once I granted permission to access my profile, a message box appeared which will allow me to contact the seller as shown below:

Car Dealer Inventory on Facebook

I decided to look at car dealer listings that appeared for my search and Sheehy Ford of Springfield appeared in the list. The car did not have any photos and in fact, all the dealers that I saw on the first few pages had photos missing. Here is what the Vehicle Detail Page looked like:

This is one ugly Vehicle Detail Page in my opinion. Since I gave access to my profile, the form at the bottom of the page to contact the dealer is pre-filled with some bacsic information from my profile.

How Much Does it Cost?

As you can see from the pricing chart below, you can list up to 500 cars a month for $499 if you go month to month. If you want to syndicate more than 500 cars, you need to request special pricing.

What Do You Think?

So what do you think about Facebook Marketplace for automotive advertising?

The Marketplace application was very slow from my computer so I would like some feedback is speed was also an issue from your PC.

Our recent survey of automotive shoppers indicated that "ease of use" of the shopping interface was the most important factor in selecting a website to shop for a car.  This current version falls short in my opinion of creating a positive shopping experience.  What do you think?