Google recently announced changes to their search algorithm and included in those changes were efforts to lower the visibility of spammy websites.  One of the secondary conversions was will Google lower the weighting of keyword rich domains like "www.buyviagra.com".

Matt Cutts addressed this specific question in a video below:

I want to thank Anirban Das for bringing this video to my attention.

All car dealers have their primary domains set and locked for most cases so buying extra domains would be used for marketing microsites for lead collection, brand awareness, or to capitalize on popular search phrases. 

Matt Cutt's video and his examples are really misleading because car dealers would not be investing the millions of dollars needed to create large technology or marketing portals like Twitter, Tech Crunch, Zappos, etc.  Branded websites do not become popular for non-match keyword searches magically, which is a large omission from Matt's video message.

Regardless if Google turns down the dial slightly for exact matching domain names, they are still the fastest way for a dealer to gain page one visibility in their local market for long tail keywords.

Buying non-exact matching domains still works, like Matt said, but what he didn't disclose is that non-exact matching domains needs significantly more external links with anchor text on the targeted keywords.

Example, search Google for "Automotive Microsites" and you will see www.dealerbytes.com on Page One.  It does not have either phrase in the domain name but it ranks on page one.  Why?  Because Paul Rushing, domain owner, has content on his website and links on the phrase "automotive microsites" directed to that domain.

For dealers, exact matching domains are the better match because dealers have smaller budgets for SEO projects. There are hundreds of automotive microsites that I have build that demonstrate that exact matching domains with great unique content are still the fastest way to hit Page One.

Need some examples, post Google update:

1. ToyotaRecall - ranks on page one for "Toyota Recall" over most major giant news sources
2. MiamiUsedCars.org - ranks well on Page One for "Miami Used Cars" in a very competitive market
3. ChevroletFortWorth.com - DFW is a very competitive market for Chevy dealers, Jerry's gets more awareness.
4. SeattleJeep.com - Seattle has a number of choices for Jeep dealers, Rairdon get more visibility.
5. BuffaloCars.net - A popular search phrase in Buffalo is "Buffalo Cars" and this site get the brand out there.

So, as many writers have said in the past, content is King and great content on a keyword rich domain can deliver an annuity of page one placements. Then the focus has to be switched to testing designs that increase calls, leads, and floor traffic.  In the end, a poorly converting microsites is a waste of time.

Microsites are a great tool for car dealers and regardless of what Google may signal, the proof is that SEO marketing strategies on a small budget can benefit from exact matching, keyword rich domains.

Microsite Education

If you are looking for advice and strategies to build effective microsites, PCG is offering  two classes at the upcoming Automotive Marketing Boot Camp that will show you everything you need to succeed.  You can register for the April 16-18th event by visiting http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com.

I will be conducting a workshop on Automotive SEO Strategies and two members of the PCG team will be conducting a workshop on WordPress microsites and optimization strategies.  The combination of these two workshops will empower you to launch, test, and improve your microsite marketing campaigns.

Bring your laptop to these workshops since you will be jumping in and doing hands-on work for these sessions.  If you have microsites that have not been doing well, bring your logins and passwords so you can optimize them during the boot camp with help from the experts.

Google recently announced changes to their search algorithm and included in those changes were efforts to lower the visibility of spammy websites.  One of the secondary conversions was will Google lower the weighting of keyword rich domains like "www.buyviagra.com".

Matt Cutts addressed this specific question in a video below:

I want to thank Anirban Das for bringing this video to my attention.

All car dealers have their primary domains set and locked for most cases so buying extra domains would be used for marketing microsites for lead collection, brand awareness, or to capitalize on popular search phrases. 

Matt Cutt's video and his examples are really misleading because car dealers would not be investing the millions of dollars needed to create large technology or marketing portals like Twitter, Tech Crunch, Zappos, etc.  Branded websites do not become popular for non-match keyword searches magically, which is a large omission from Matt's video message.

Regardless if Google turns down the dial slightly for exact matching domain names, they are still the fastest way for a dealer to gain page one visibility in their local market for long tail keywords.

Buying non-exact matching domains still works, like Matt said, but what he didn't disclose is that non-exact matching domains needs significantly more external links with anchor text on the targeted keywords.

Example, search Google for "Automotive Microsites" and you will see www.dealerbytes.com on Page One.  It does not have either phrase in the domain name but it ranks on page one.  Why?  Because Paul Rushing, domain owner, has content on his website and links on the phrase "automotive microsites" directed to that domain.

For dealers, exact matching domains are the better match because dealers have smaller budgets for SEO projects. There are hundreds of automotive microsites that I have build that demonstrate that exact matching domains with great unique content are still the fastest way to hit Page One.

Need some examples, post Google update:

1. ToyotaRecall - ranks on page one for "Toyota Recall" over most major giant news sources
2. MiamiUsedCars.org - ranks well on Page One for "Miami Used Cars" in a very competitive market
3. ChevroletFortWorth.com - DFW is a very competitive market for Chevy dealers, Jerry's gets more awareness.
4. SeattleJeep.com - Seattle has a number of choices for Jeep dealers, Rairdon get more visibility.
5. BuffaloCars.net - A popular search phrase in Buffalo is "Buffalo Cars" and this site get the brand out there.

So, as many writers have said in the past, content is King and great content on a keyword rich domain can deliver an annuity of page one placements. Then the focus has to be switched to testing designs that increase calls, leads, and floor traffic.  In the end, a poorly converting microsites is a waste of time.

Microsites are a great tool for car dealers and regardless of what Google may signal, the proof is that SEO marketing strategies on a small budget can benefit from exact matching, keyword rich domains.

Microsite Education

If you are looking for advice and strategies to build effective microsites, PCG is offering  two classes at the upcoming Automotive Marketing Boot Camp that will show you everything you need to succeed.  You can register for the April 16-18th event by visiting http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com.

I will be conducting a workshop on Automotive SEO Strategies and two members of the PCG team will be conducting a workshop on WordPress microsites and optimization strategies.  The combination of these two workshops will empower you to launch, test, and improve your microsite marketing campaigns.

Bring your laptop to these workshops since you will be jumping in and doing hands-on work for these sessions.  If you have microsites that have not been doing well, bring your logins and passwords so you can optimize them during the boot camp with help from the experts.

Did you know that your local competitor just got smarter? You thought that they were behind the ball with digital marketing, social media, and leveraging the Internet but that was yesterday’s news.

Your local competitor did wake up. They realized that they were behind and took action. Good entrepreneurs are not perfect but when they realize that they are losing market share and wake up they can be a fierce competitor once again.

If I were you, I would be looking over my shoulder because your competitor is using their recent knowledge to mount an attack.

Your competitor attended a 20-group meeting, a social media conference, or a digital marketing workshop, and the lights went on. You were too busy to notice this change so I thought I would send a warning shot over the bow.

Keep Working On Last Year's Ideas

I was pleased to know that you got started with social media and digital marketing a few years ago and had an edge in your local market. You exploited that edge and basked in the sun of your success. Congratulations.

You were rewarded with greater sales, website traffic, and market share. Over the past few years you have been busy implementing the things that you learned by engaging in the educational opportunities offered by this industry.

In fact, I’ve noticed that you have been so intent on implementing what you learned you have been too busy to attend any new workshops in the past year. Is it still true that you got so many ideas in 2009 and 2010 that you have decided to skip attending conference this year?

Why pile on more ideas when you haven’t had a chance to implement those from 2009 right?

Your Competitor Wants False Confidence

To paraphrase a famous business book, while you have been busy implementing last years’ digital marketing strategies “the Cheese has moved again”.

Do you need an example?

Today being on Google Page One is not as important as being on Google Page with strong positive review stars. If you are one Page One with bad reviews, your advertising budget is helping to direct more business to your competitors.

If you haven’t focused on a strong IRM process, much of your Automotive SEO work may be actually hurting more than helping your online sales.

Where Are You?

Is this scenario describing your dealership?

• Are you the incumbent that has decided to attend conference every other year?
• Are you the dealership that recently woke-up and engaged?
• Are you the dealer who wants to engage but needs assistance creating a competitive digital marketing strategy?

The dealers who want to remain relevant cannot afford to skip a year of education. The industry is moving faster that most can comprehend yet I hear so many excuses why dealers think they can take a break from learning.

• “I’ve been to that event last year”
• “I can’t take time out of the office.”
• “The speakers and topics are always the same”
• “I’m the only person in my market that gets it.”

The reality is that the best conferences have not only new topics but also important revisions to existing strategies that you are using.

Two years ago little data on consumer behavior on dealer mobile websites was being shared, today we have a wealth of data to discuss.

Two years ago the conversation on reputation management was just starting and today the case studies on the impact of online reviews is chilling.

Google has recently changed their standards for organic search rankings and many dealers were penalized for poor link building processes.

Education Is A Continuous Investment

Since your competitors are heading to conferences, workshops, and online learning opportunities based on the most relevant topics for 2011 I thought you would want to reconsider your lack of action.

You have the power to remain ahead of your competition and find where the cheese has been moved. What will you do?

A suggestion:

I hope to see you in Orlando for starters at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th. Lock in a $100 discount off Boot Camp Registration by taking advantage of this special registration link.

Did you know that your local competitor just got smarter? You thought that they were behind the ball with digital marketing, social media, and leveraging the Internet but that was yesterday’s news.

Your local competitor did wake up. They realized that they were behind and took action. Good entrepreneurs are not perfect but when they realize that they are losing market share and wake up they can be a fierce competitor once again.

If I were you, I would be looking over my shoulder because your competitor is using their recent knowledge to mount an attack.

Your competitor attended a 20-group meeting, a social media conference, or a digital marketing workshop, and the lights went on. You were too busy to notice this change so I thought I would send a warning shot over the bow.

Keep Working On Last Year's Ideas

I was pleased to know that you got started with social media and digital marketing a few years ago and had an edge in your local market. You exploited that edge and basked in the sun of your success. Congratulations.

You were rewarded with greater sales, website traffic, and market share. Over the past few years you have been busy implementing the things that you learned by engaging in the educational opportunities offered by this industry.

In fact, I’ve noticed that you have been so intent on implementing what you learned you have been too busy to attend any new workshops in the past year. Is it still true that you got so many ideas in 2009 and 2010 that you have decided to skip attending conference this year?

Why pile on more ideas when you haven’t had a chance to implement those from 2009 right?

Your Competitor Wants False Confidence

To paraphrase a famous business book, while you have been busy implementing last years’ digital marketing strategies “the Cheese has moved again”.

Do you need an example?

Today being on Google Page One is not as important as being on Google Page with strong positive review stars. If you are one Page One with bad reviews, your advertising budget is helping to direct more business to your competitors.

If you haven’t focused on a strong IRM process, much of your Automotive SEO work may be actually hurting more than helping your online sales.

Where Are You?

Is this scenario describing your dealership?

• Are you the incumbent that has decided to attend conference every other year?
• Are you the dealership that recently woke-up and engaged?
• Are you the dealer who wants to engage but needs assistance creating a competitive digital marketing strategy?

The dealers who want to remain relevant cannot afford to skip a year of education. The industry is moving faster that most can comprehend yet I hear so many excuses why dealers think they can take a break from learning.

• “I’ve been to that event last year”
• “I can’t take time out of the office.”
• “The speakers and topics are always the same”
• “I’m the only person in my market that gets it.”

The reality is that the best conferences have not only new topics but also important revisions to existing strategies that you are using.

Two years ago little data on consumer behavior on dealer mobile websites was being shared, today we have a wealth of data to discuss.

Two years ago the conversation on reputation management was just starting and today the case studies on the impact of online reviews is chilling.

Google has recently changed their standards for organic search rankings and many dealers were penalized for poor link building processes.

Education Is A Continuous Investment

Since your competitors are heading to conferences, workshops, and online learning opportunities based on the most relevant topics for 2011 I thought you would want to reconsider your lack of action.

You have the power to remain ahead of your competition and find where the cheese has been moved. What will you do?

A suggestion:

I hope to see you in Orlando for starters at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp, April 16-18th. Lock in a $100 discount off Boot Camp Registration by taking advantage of this special registration link.

When Bob Burg, coauthor of The International Phenomenon, “The Go-Giver” speaks of giving, he’s talking about constantly and consistently providing value to others, and touching lots of lives with that exceptional value.

In fact, that’s the only way one can make money in a free-enterprise based society. Thus, shifting your focus from “getting to giving” is not only a nice way to do business, but a very financially profitable way, as well.

PCG Digital Marketing is proud to announce that Bob Burg will be delivering the Keynote address on Sunday April 17th at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

Bob's message:

"A Counter-intuitive Way To Obtain High-Quality Referrals"

Spend the morning with Bob you’ll learn how to genuinely and authentically accelerate your ability to connect with new people and build the trust that is essential in life and business!

In fact, Bob’s mantra is: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those automotive dealers they know, like and trust.”

During this powerful morning program you will learn the philosophy at the heart of The Go-Giver, embraced by so many of today’s top producers and leaders.

You’ll learn how to quickly and easily build a prospecting and referral “Machine” to continuously create more sales than you ever dreamed possible! You will also learn the philosophy at the heart of The Go-Giver embraced by so many of today’s top producers and leaders, including the principle behind The Law of Influence – perhaps the biggest factor of all in terms of success.

In this information-packed morning session, you’ll learn how to:

• Quickly cultivate new prospects — whether or not you have ANY existing contacts
• Dramatically increase your business without spending more time or money
• Instantly connect via the “One Key Question” that will set you apart from the rest
• Develop an Army of “Personal Walking Ambassadors”
• Model the one SECRET all superstar salespeople use to get to the top

Click to register while space is available:

Click Here To Register Today

Learn More About Bob

If you would like to learn more about Bob Burg, visit his website at www.burg.com .

Request the first chapter of three of Bob's best selling books and he'll send them to you for free. This way you can get to know Bob before he speaks at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

You can also watch videos of Bob speaking or read his blog which contains valuable insights for anyone who seeks to live a world class life. You can also connect with Bob on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Automotive Professionals Enthusiastically Praise Bob's Message

We are so pleased to have Bob Burg as part of the Boot Camp Experience. Car dealers need fresh ideas on leadership, sales, and most importantly how to connect with consumers.

Car dealers can benefit from innovation in technology but they can also benefit equally as well from new strategies to serve their customers and prospects.

If you are coming to Boot Camp to take your dealership to the next level, Bob Burg's keynote presentation will provide the strategy and case studies to show you how to create Endless Referrals, the Go-Giver way!

Here is what other car dealers have said about Bob's strategy:

“After reading Endless Referrals, never again will any salesperson in your dealership have to depend on ‘ups.’ Instead they can meet people wherever they go and form friendships and relationships that create a steady stream of referrals. Burg has put together a primer for developing, what he calls, personal walking ambassadors. And, it works!”

-Sam S. Edelsbert,  Mercedes-Benz Salesperson

“Thanks for the terrific program at our dealership. I believe the tools you provided for us have the power to transform the earning potential of our team. You presented them with proven principles that empowered them to take control of their own destinies. You didn’t just talk about selling cars. Instead, you gave our team winning approaches for developing and leveraging relationships with people in the local marketplace. This cultivates people wanting to do business with them directly, as well as people who refer others whether or not they themselves are in the market for a car. As you called it, they are developing ‘Personal Walking Ambassadors.’”

What you brought to the battle, Bob, was very hard-hitting, easy-to-apply ‘how-to’ information. You provided exact, simple language for situations, like the one you gave us regarding asking for referrals. So simple, yet no one I’ve seen actually does it. This one principle-based tactic could account for a huge increase in referral business, all by itself.

While not everyone applies the great information our company provides for them through excellent teachers like yourself, I am aware of several who are doing so now and already seeing results. It works that fast! These individuals are not only increasing their own success quotient, they are also becoming the building blocks that we can use to improve our overall corporate performance.

Please consider this my enthusiastic endorsement for any dealership or family of dealerships that want to significantly lower turnover and increase repeat and referral buyers in order to dramatically increase both their sales and the resulting profits as well!

- Mark Barton Former General Sales Manager JM Lexus #1 Lexus Dealer in the World

When Bob Burg, coauthor of The International Phenomenon, “The Go-Giver” speaks of giving, he’s talking about constantly and consistently providing value to others, and touching lots of lives with that exceptional value.

In fact, that’s the only way one can make money in a free-enterprise based society. Thus, shifting your focus from “getting to giving” is not only a nice way to do business, but a very financially profitable way, as well.

PCG Digital Marketing is proud to announce that Bob Burg will be delivering the Keynote address on Sunday April 17th at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

Bob's message:

"A Counter-intuitive Way To Obtain High-Quality Referrals"

Spend the morning with Bob you’ll learn how to genuinely and authentically accelerate your ability to connect with new people and build the trust that is essential in life and business!

In fact, Bob’s mantra is: “All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those automotive dealers they know, like and trust.”

During this powerful morning program you will learn the philosophy at the heart of The Go-Giver, embraced by so many of today’s top producers and leaders.

You’ll learn how to quickly and easily build a prospecting and referral “Machine” to continuously create more sales than you ever dreamed possible! You will also learn the philosophy at the heart of The Go-Giver embraced by so many of today’s top producers and leaders, including the principle behind The Law of Influence – perhaps the biggest factor of all in terms of success.

In this information-packed morning session, you’ll learn how to:

• Quickly cultivate new prospects — whether or not you have ANY existing contacts
• Dramatically increase your business without spending more time or money
• Instantly connect via the “One Key Question” that will set you apart from the rest
• Develop an Army of “Personal Walking Ambassadors”
• Model the one SECRET all superstar salespeople use to get to the top

Click to register while space is available:

Click Here To Register Today

Learn More About Bob

If you would like to learn more about Bob Burg, visit his website at www.burg.com .

Request the first chapter of three of Bob's best selling books and he'll send them to you for free. This way you can get to know Bob before he speaks at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.

You can also watch videos of Bob speaking or read his blog which contains valuable insights for anyone who seeks to live a world class life. You can also connect with Bob on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Automotive Professionals Enthusiastically Praise Bob's Message

We are so pleased to have Bob Burg as part of the Boot Camp Experience. Car dealers need fresh ideas on leadership, sales, and most importantly how to connect with consumers.

Car dealers can benefit from innovation in technology but they can also benefit equally as well from new strategies to serve their customers and prospects.

If you are coming to Boot Camp to take your dealership to the next level, Bob Burg's keynote presentation will provide the strategy and case studies to show you how to create Endless Referrals, the Go-Giver way!

Here is what other car dealers have said about Bob's strategy:

“After reading Endless Referrals, never again will any salesperson in your dealership have to depend on ‘ups.’ Instead they can meet people wherever they go and form friendships and relationships that create a steady stream of referrals. Burg has put together a primer for developing, what he calls, personal walking ambassadors. And, it works!”

-Sam S. Edelsbert,  Mercedes-Benz Salesperson

“Thanks for the terrific program at our dealership. I believe the tools you provided for us have the power to transform the earning potential of our team. You presented them with proven principles that empowered them to take control of their own destinies. You didn’t just talk about selling cars. Instead, you gave our team winning approaches for developing and leveraging relationships with people in the local marketplace. This cultivates people wanting to do business with them directly, as well as people who refer others whether or not they themselves are in the market for a car. As you called it, they are developing ‘Personal Walking Ambassadors.’”

What you brought to the battle, Bob, was very hard-hitting, easy-to-apply ‘how-to’ information. You provided exact, simple language for situations, like the one you gave us regarding asking for referrals. So simple, yet no one I’ve seen actually does it. This one principle-based tactic could account for a huge increase in referral business, all by itself.

While not everyone applies the great information our company provides for them through excellent teachers like yourself, I am aware of several who are doing so now and already seeing results. It works that fast! These individuals are not only increasing their own success quotient, they are also becoming the building blocks that we can use to improve our overall corporate performance.

Please consider this my enthusiastic endorsement for any dealership or family of dealerships that want to significantly lower turnover and increase repeat and referral buyers in order to dramatically increase both their sales and the resulting profits as well!

- Mark Barton Former General Sales Manager JM Lexus #1 Lexus Dealer in the World

I just finished conducting a 20 Group workshop on digital marketing strategies and all the the dealers in the room had incomplete or inaccurate Google Places data. What was also interesting was that no dealers in the group had more than 15 reviews posted on Google Places.

Once I showed the dealers how easy it was to fix their profiles and setup a process to get customers to post reviews, they were very thankful. They were not aware of the importance of Google Places but now they do so and they can inspect their listings. Knowledge is power.

From this experience, I decided to remind all members of this community to run through this checklist and make sure that you are leveraging the full potential of Google Places. Let me know what you found when you looked at your Places page, and share with the community if this checklist helped you.

The Best Free Advertising Resource For Dealers

Google Places is the best free automotive advertising resource for car dealers to increase online visibility, referral website traffic, and phone calls. Despite this opportunity, many dealers have not completed and optimized their Google Place data.

When you login into your Google Places Dashboard account it will tell you what percentage complete your data is currently. Make sure you edit your profile to achieve a 100% complete status.

Google Places Optimization (GPO) however goes further than having your profile data 100% complete. You also want to optimize the consumer experience and enhance your brand message when consumers read your page. You also want to increase the opportunity to get MORE clicks to your Places Page than local competitors.

Google Places Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure that you have your Google Places listing optimized:

1. Enter your business name, address, and phone number so that it matches the primary information associated with the local phone company and your OEM website. Do not use a tracking number unless all OEM listings and all business directories are using this number.
2. Make sure that you enter your website address and test the link. You would be surprised to see how many listings still have http://maps.google.com or the OEM website.
3. Use all five “business category” tags, which include your OEM brand and the category “Used Car Dealer”. For example, if you are a Toyota dealer, make sure you pick "Toyota Dealer" as one of your 5 categories.
4. Complete the “Additional Information” section of the profile to include brands of goods that you sell and related services that include: tires, oil change, brakes, transmission service, and of course used cars.
5. Load 10 photos and stay away from photos of your building. Photos should show happy customers taking delivery of a car, your work in the community, OEM awards, or any brand enhancing images. Photos that will make people smile! Photos of your building will not help to engage your audience.
6. Load 5 videos and we recommend that three videos be actual customer testimonials. The remaining two videos can be a welcome to the dealership message and the final video to invite consumers to service their car at your dealership.
7. Set your “Service Area” beyond the default range of a 20-mile radius around your store location. For most dealers the range can be comfortably increased to 50 miles. Dealers near bodies of water can create a custom shape for their service area. If you need help, you can refer to this article I wrote on custom service areas.
8. Setup a process to get your customers to post reviews directly to Google Places. Your goal should be to get at least 30 reviews a month to be posted directly on Google Places. The Google Places App can help you easily achieve this goal. Between sales and service there are hundreds of customers that are completely satisfied with your dealership so ask them!
9. Invest $25 a month to enhance your Google Places listing with a Google Tag. This yellow highlighted graphic can advertise your monthly specials. Also, set a process to update your specials each month on Google Places because they will automatically expire in 30 days.
10. Once your have a strong number of positive reviews on Google Places, consider spending money to advertise your high marks from consumers using Google Boost. Let your customers speak for you and drive more traffic to your website.

The good news is that once all of these tips are implemented, you can track the increase in impressions, clicks, and activity using Google Places activity reports. So login to your Google Places account and run through this checklist today.

I'll be sharing more ways for car dealers to leverage free online advertising tools and search optimization strategies at the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando, April 16-18th.

I hope you can be part of that experience so get registered today. http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

I just finished conducting a 20 Group workshop on digital marketing strategies and all the the dealers in the room had incomplete or inaccurate Google Places data. What was also interesting was that no dealers in the group had more than 15 reviews posted on Google Places.

Once I showed the dealers how easy it was to fix their profiles and setup a process to get customers to post reviews, they were very thankful. They were not aware of the importance of Google Places but now they do so and they can inspect their listings. Knowledge is power.

From this experience, I decided to remind all members of this community to run through this checklist and make sure that you are leveraging the full potential of Google Places. Let me know what you found when you looked at your Places page, and share with the community if this checklist helped you.

The Best Free Advertising Resource For Dealers

Google Places is the best free automotive advertising resource for car dealers to increase online visibility, referral website traffic, and phone calls. Despite this opportunity, many dealers have not completed and optimized their Google Place data.

When you login into your Google Places Dashboard account it will tell you what percentage complete your data is currently. Make sure you edit your profile to achieve a 100% complete status.

Google Places Optimization (GPO) however goes further than having your profile data 100% complete. You also want to optimize the consumer experience and enhance your brand message when consumers read your page. You also want to increase the opportunity to get MORE clicks to your Places Page than local competitors.

Google Places Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure that you have your Google Places listing optimized:

1. Enter your business name, address, and phone number so that it matches the primary information associated with the local phone company and your OEM website. Do not use a tracking number unless all OEM listings and all business directories are using this number.
2. Make sure that you enter your website address and test the link. You would be surprised to see how many listings still have http://maps.google.com or the OEM website.
3. Use all five “business category” tags, which include your OEM brand and the category “Used Car Dealer”. For example, if you are a Toyota dealer, make sure you pick "Toyota Dealer" as one of your 5 categories.
4. Complete the “Additional Information” section of the profile to include brands of goods that you sell and related services that include: tires, oil change, brakes, transmission service, and of course used cars.
5. Load 10 photos and stay away from photos of your building. Photos should show happy customers taking delivery of a car, your work in the community, OEM awards, or any brand enhancing images. Photos that will make people smile! Photos of your building will not help to engage your audience.
6. Load 5 videos and we recommend that three videos be actual customer testimonials. The remaining two videos can be a welcome to the dealership message and the final video to invite consumers to service their car at your dealership.
7. Set your “Service Area” beyond the default range of a 20-mile radius around your store location. For most dealers the range can be comfortably increased to 50 miles. Dealers near bodies of water can create a custom shape for their service area. If you need help, you can refer to this article I wrote on custom service areas.
8. Setup a process to get your customers to post reviews directly to Google Places. Your goal should be to get at least 30 reviews a month to be posted directly on Google Places. The Google Places App can help you easily achieve this goal. Between sales and service there are hundreds of customers that are completely satisfied with your dealership so ask them!
9. Invest $25 a month to enhance your Google Places listing with a Google Tag. This yellow highlighted graphic can advertise your monthly specials. Also, set a process to update your specials each month on Google Places because they will automatically expire in 30 days.
10. Once your have a strong number of positive reviews on Google Places, consider spending money to advertise your high marks from consumers using Google Boost. Let your customers speak for you and drive more traffic to your website.

The good news is that once all of these tips are implemented, you can track the increase in impressions, clicks, and activity using Google Places activity reports. So login to your Google Places account and run through this checklist today.

I'll be sharing more ways for car dealers to leverage free online advertising tools and search optimization strategies at the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando, April 16-18th.

I hope you can be part of that experience so get registered today. http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

I recently had a demonstration of Dealer.com’s Social Relationship Manager (SRM), and I was so impressed that I decided to write a formal review of the product.

The raw potential of SRM should advance the widespread adoption of two software categories in the automotive sector. Social Relationship Manager is both a content syndication platform as well as a reputation management platform.

Dealer.com has fired the warning shot over the bow for stand-alone products that offer car dealers software dashboards to manage their online reputation or social media engagement. Customers of Dealer.com will find it hard to justify paying for third party reputation management, and social media publishing tools, since SRM integrates tightly with other powerful features of the Dealer.com platform for only $399 a month.

Content Publishing For Car Dealers

I’ve long been an advocate for content publishing strategies for online branding and marketing. In 2008 I stated at an automotive conference, “the most important hire next year for a car dealer will be a content writer”. That statement was true then and more urgent today; however, I was a few years ahead of the market.

Content syndication tools make it easier and more affordable for dealers to start their own content publishing strategy. In fact, at the NADA Convention in San Francisco, Digital Compass Marketing announced the release of Dealer Syndicator (DS), web-based software for members of the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN). Dealer Syndicator leverages content syndication technology over the thousands of websites in the AAN network. Dealer.com and the AAN are leading the way in this exciting new product category.

In 2011, content syndication software will be a fast growing segment for progressive dealers who have a strong digital marketing strategy.

Content Syndication

What is content syndication? Content syndication tools take exclusive and/or modified content and publish it across social media websites, microsites, or a private network of automotive sites.

Content syndicator tools simplify managing multiple logins across blogs, microsites, and social media sites. With a single login dealers can view, monitor, and post to dozens of websites.

In benchmarking tests conducted by PCG Digital Marketing, content syndication tools will increase the productivity of the internal or outsourced content writers 100-300%, depending on the task. This increase in productivity easily justifies the investment in syndication software for dealers with an active digital marketing strategy.

Content syndication tools use a single-login to allow car dealers to craft original content about dealership news, sales, promotions, incentives and post that content on multiple website platforms. Content syndication tools integrate and directly publish content into all popular blogging and social media websites that include Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, Blogger, TypePad, Slideshare, Posterous, and dealer customized microsites using these blogging platforms.

SRM Is Platform Independent

Social Reputation Manager (SRM) is the first time Dealer.com has created a software platform that can be used by any dealer regardless of whether the dealer is a Dealer.com customer or not.

According to Dealer.com, “Social Relationship Manager is designed to Listen, Talk, and Connect with today’s social customers”. Platform independence is one of the reasons I was very excited about SRM because any dealer that wanted to double the productivity for their content writers could purchase SRM and amplify their investments.

Dealers who have not started to leverage content writing and social media now have another reason to get in the pool: SRM makes it easy and cost effective! The price/performance of SRM also makes it a strong product consideration for any dealer that may be using tools by Xteres.com or GoSo.com.

Social Relationship Manager in a Nutshell

Social Relationship Manager is a multi-function dashboard that summarizes the most important elements of a dealer’s online presence. From one login, dealership staff can review changes in online reviews, leverage OEM news on blogs and social media platforms, and amplify their brand across the Internet in a fraction of the time!

• · Monitor Your Dealership’s Brand and Reputation
• · Compile and Inspect All Dealer Ratings In One Location
• · Easily See How Your Online Rating Are Increasing or Decreasing
• · Escalate Consumer Reviews or Blog Posts That Needs A Response
• · Suggest and Syndicate Custom Content
• · Schedule and Auto-Deploy Content Over Weekends or Holidays
• · Leverage OEM Incentives and News For Content Ideas
• · Make Your Facebook Page More Engaging

Looking At The Social Relationship Manager Dashboard

In the photo above, you can see how the SRM dashboard would appear to dealership employees. The initial dashboard screen is divided into six regions, which summarize the current snapshot of time for the dealership. The top navigation menu provides fast access to the core features of SRM:

• Social Media
• Reputation Monitor
• Dealer Ratings
• Social Syndication

I found the product navigation menus and overall user interface intuitive. After a few minutes it was clear how to navigate the product, which should be encouraging to dealers. This is a sophisticated product that anyone can use with ease.

Content Syndication Strategies

Let’s start with one of my favorite topics; content syndication.

I’m a proponent of content and inventory syndication and the SRM allows dealers to monitor ANY RSS news feed and syndicate custom versions of that news across blogs, Facebook, and microsites. So if you are a Porsche dealer, you can monitor the news feed from the OEM and when you see an article that interests you, you can copy the content, customize it for your market, and post it to MULTIPLE consumer facing websites minutes.

In the example above, it will post the article to the dealer’s blog, Facebook, and Twitter. You can connect SRM to all your third party blogs, micro-blogs, and social media sites and track how much “content” is being published to these sites.

I don’t know about you, but dealers I speak with are OVERWHELMED with how many websites, logins, and reports they have to use to INSPECT their online content publishing strategy. SRM simplifies all that with a single activity based dashboard.

In the photo on the right, you can see that each social media site you connect to SRM will show all recent activity.

If you have custom WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad microsites, they all can be managed from this central SRM dashboard.

This is a significant time saver and the consolidated reporting makes it easy for a manager or dealership executive to inspect the productivity of internal or third party content writers.

The dashboard application for content syndication will provide dealers with a way to inspect the amount of work that is being done to promote their brand online.

If SRM is leveraging all the best content publishing platforms, then this will prove to be a winning productivity application for car dealers.

What's the Holy Grail for SRM?

Integration to publish content to other third party automotive content networks, like the AAN, to expand the reach and power that SRM offers to dealers.

Monitor Your Online Reputation With Ease

There are a handful of automotive specific software tools that have assisted dealers monitor their online reputation. Companies like Xteres.com and GoSo.com were first to market.

Good ideas never go unchallenged and leading automotive platform providers like Dealer.com, Cobalt, Dominion, and TK Carsites have measured the market and are broadcasting a clear message; Reputation Management and Social Media will be an integrated part of their software strategy.

SRM will result in significant marketing consolidation for stand-alone reputation management tools.

Why? SRM makes it easy for existing dealers to monitor their online reputation and it comes with additional functionality.

In the photos above, you can see that dealers will be presented with a live scrolling feed of news alerts, blog posts, and reviews pertaining to their dealership, or any other set of keywords they decide to follow.

Manual IRM Resources

Dealers who are using free manual monitoring tools like “Google Alerts” should know that Google Alerts does not accurately track commentary that is going on inside popular websites, reviews sites, and industry communities.

The data mining tools that are leveraged by Social Reputation Manager are innovative and very thorough. It was designed with the content writer from a car dealership in mind. Each piece of content found by SRM on the Internet is pre-marked based on logic to determine whether it is a positive or negative post.

Of course, these predicative grades can be overwritten and marked for follow-up or deletion. Why deletion? For some dealers they share a name like “Classic Chevrolet” with dealers in many different states. So posts brought into the review window can be deleted if they do not pertain to them.

By monitoring, reviewing, and scoring all activity properly, dealer principals can develop a very accurate picture of the online reputation scores. In fact, SRM provides scoring for both Reputation and Social Media engagement.

Facebook Fan Pricing

Social Reputation Manager (SRM) also replaces stand-alone software tools that add inventory to a Facebook Fan Page.

SRM offers a new spin; encourage consumers to get your special Facebook pricing but it requires them to become a Fan.

Cool idea and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how much this helps to increase fans.

The design and layout of the Facebook tab is attractive and compelling but once a consumer becomes a fan, they may not have a need to visit the dealer’s Fan Page.

Energizing Digital Marketing Strategies

Any dealer that wants to increase the productivity of their existing content writers and social media team should get a demonstration of Social Reputation Manager. The product is well designed, easy to use, and can assist dealers in better engaging with consumers on the socialized Internet.

Dealers who have held off investing in content writing and social media have a compelling reason to get started. SRM simplifies the management of multiple websites and tracks all activity to measure the ROI of your investments.

Content Syndication takes traditional blogging and social media engagement to the next level. SRM is one of those groundbreaking products that energizes the automotive community and provides the momentum to build innovative, time saving, products in the years ahead.

For more information on Social Relationship Manager, visit: www.dealer.com or call 888.894.8989

I recently had a demonstration of Dealer.com’s Social Relationship Manager (SRM), and I was so impressed that I decided to write a formal review of the product.

The raw potential of SRM should advance the widespread adoption of two software categories in the automotive sector. Social Relationship Manager is both a content syndication platform as well as a reputation management platform.

Dealer.com has fired the warning shot over the bow for stand-alone products that offer car dealers software dashboards to manage their online reputation or social media engagement. Customers of Dealer.com will find it hard to justify paying for third party reputation management, and social media publishing tools, since SRM integrates tightly with other powerful features of the Dealer.com platform for only $399 a month.

Content Publishing For Car Dealers

I’ve long been an advocate for content publishing strategies for online branding and marketing. In 2008 I stated at an automotive conference, “the most important hire next year for a car dealer will be a content writer”. That statement was true then and more urgent today; however, I was a few years ahead of the market.

Content syndication tools make it easier and more affordable for dealers to start their own content publishing strategy. In fact, at the NADA Convention in San Francisco, Digital Compass Marketing announced the release of Dealer Syndicator (DS), web-based software for members of the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN). Dealer Syndicator leverages content syndication technology over the thousands of websites in the AAN network. Dealer.com and the AAN are leading the way in this exciting new product category.

In 2011, content syndication software will be a fast growing segment for progressive dealers who have a strong digital marketing strategy.

Content Syndication

What is content syndication? Content syndication tools take exclusive and/or modified content and publish it across social media websites, microsites, or a private network of automotive sites.

Content syndicator tools simplify managing multiple logins across blogs, microsites, and social media sites. With a single login dealers can view, monitor, and post to dozens of websites.

In benchmarking tests conducted by PCG Digital Marketing, content syndication tools will increase the productivity of the internal or outsourced content writers 100-300%, depending on the task. This increase in productivity easily justifies the investment in syndication software for dealers with an active digital marketing strategy.

Content syndication tools use a single-login to allow car dealers to craft original content about dealership news, sales, promotions, incentives and post that content on multiple website platforms. Content syndication tools integrate and directly publish content into all popular blogging and social media websites that include Facebook, Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn, Blogger, TypePad, Slideshare, Posterous, and dealer customized microsites using these blogging platforms.

SRM Is Platform Independent

Social Reputation Manager (SRM) is the first time Dealer.com has created a software platform that can be used by any dealer regardless of whether the dealer is a Dealer.com customer or not.

According to Dealer.com, “Social Relationship Manager is designed to Listen, Talk, and Connect with today’s social customers”. Platform independence is one of the reasons I was very excited about SRM because any dealer that wanted to double the productivity for their content writers could purchase SRM and amplify their investments.

Dealers who have not started to leverage content writing and social media now have another reason to get in the pool: SRM makes it easy and cost effective! The price/performance of SRM also makes it a strong product consideration for any dealer that may be using tools by Xteres.com or GoSo.com.

Social Relationship Manager in a Nutshell

Social Relationship Manager is a multi-function dashboard that summarizes the most important elements of a dealer’s online presence. From one login, dealership staff can review changes in online reviews, leverage OEM news on blogs and social media platforms, and amplify their brand across the Internet in a fraction of the time!

• · Monitor Your Dealership’s Brand and Reputation
• · Compile and Inspect All Dealer Ratings In One Location
• · Easily See How Your Online Rating Are Increasing or Decreasing
• · Escalate Consumer Reviews or Blog Posts That Needs A Response
• · Suggest and Syndicate Custom Content
• · Schedule and Auto-Deploy Content Over Weekends or Holidays
• · Leverage OEM Incentives and News For Content Ideas
• · Make Your Facebook Page More Engaging

Looking At The Social Relationship Manager Dashboard

In the photo above, you can see how the SRM dashboard would appear to dealership employees. The initial dashboard screen is divided into six regions, which summarize the current snapshot of time for the dealership. The top navigation menu provides fast access to the core features of SRM:

• Social Media
• Reputation Monitor
• Dealer Ratings
• Social Syndication

I found the product navigation menus and overall user interface intuitive. After a few minutes it was clear how to navigate the product, which should be encouraging to dealers. This is a sophisticated product that anyone can use with ease.

Content Syndication Strategies

Let’s start with one of my favorite topics; content syndication.

I’m a proponent of content and inventory syndication and the SRM allows dealers to monitor ANY RSS news feed and syndicate custom versions of that news across blogs, Facebook, and microsites. So if you are a Porsche dealer, you can monitor the news feed from the OEM and when you see an article that interests you, you can copy the content, customize it for your market, and post it to MULTIPLE consumer facing websites minutes.

In the example above, it will post the article to the dealer’s blog, Facebook, and Twitter. You can connect SRM to all your third party blogs, micro-blogs, and social media sites and track how much “content” is being published to these sites.

I don’t know about you, but dealers I speak with are OVERWHELMED with how many websites, logins, and reports they have to use to INSPECT their online content publishing strategy. SRM simplifies all that with a single activity based dashboard.

In the photo on the right, you can see that each social media site you connect to SRM will show all recent activity.

If you have custom WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad microsites, they all can be managed from this central SRM dashboard.

This is a significant time saver and the consolidated reporting makes it easy for a manager or dealership executive to inspect the productivity of internal or third party content writers.

The dashboard application for content syndication will provide dealers with a way to inspect the amount of work that is being done to promote their brand online.

If SRM is leveraging all the best content publishing platforms, then this will prove to be a winning productivity application for car dealers.

What's the Holy Grail for SRM?

Integration to publish content to other third party automotive content networks, like the AAN, to expand the reach and power that SRM offers to dealers.

Monitor Your Online Reputation With Ease

There are a handful of automotive specific software tools that have assisted dealers monitor their online reputation. Companies like Xteres.com and GoSo.com were first to market.

Good ideas never go unchallenged and leading automotive platform providers like Dealer.com, Cobalt, Dominion, and TK Carsites have measured the market and are broadcasting a clear message; Reputation Management and Social Media will be an integrated part of their software strategy.

SRM will result in significant marketing consolidation for stand-alone reputation management tools.

Why? SRM makes it easy for existing dealers to monitor their online reputation and it comes with additional functionality.

In the photos above, you can see that dealers will be presented with a live scrolling feed of news alerts, blog posts, and reviews pertaining to their dealership, or any other set of keywords they decide to follow.

Manual IRM Resources

Dealers who are using free manual monitoring tools like “Google Alerts” should know that Google Alerts does not accurately track commentary that is going on inside popular websites, reviews sites, and industry communities.

The data mining tools that are leveraged by Social Reputation Manager are innovative and very thorough. It was designed with the content writer from a car dealership in mind. Each piece of content found by SRM on the Internet is pre-marked based on logic to determine whether it is a positive or negative post.

Of course, these predicative grades can be overwritten and marked for follow-up or deletion. Why deletion? For some dealers they share a name like “Classic Chevrolet” with dealers in many different states. So posts brought into the review window can be deleted if they do not pertain to them.

By monitoring, reviewing, and scoring all activity properly, dealer principals can develop a very accurate picture of the online reputation scores. In fact, SRM provides scoring for both Reputation and Social Media engagement.

Facebook Fan Pricing

Social Reputation Manager (SRM) also replaces stand-alone software tools that add inventory to a Facebook Fan Page.

SRM offers a new spin; encourage consumers to get your special Facebook pricing but it requires them to become a Fan.

Cool idea and I’ll be looking forward to seeing how much this helps to increase fans.

The design and layout of the Facebook tab is attractive and compelling but once a consumer becomes a fan, they may not have a need to visit the dealer’s Fan Page.

Energizing Digital Marketing Strategies

Any dealer that wants to increase the productivity of their existing content writers and social media team should get a demonstration of Social Reputation Manager. The product is well designed, easy to use, and can assist dealers in better engaging with consumers on the socialized Internet.

Dealers who have held off investing in content writing and social media have a compelling reason to get started. SRM simplifies the management of multiple websites and tracks all activity to measure the ROI of your investments.

Content Syndication takes traditional blogging and social media engagement to the next level. SRM is one of those groundbreaking products that energizes the automotive community and provides the momentum to build innovative, time saving, products in the years ahead.

For more information on Social Relationship Manager, visit: www.dealer.com or call 888.894.8989