Part of my daily routine as an SEO consultant is to type in common automotive search phrases to see who is being displayed on Google Page One.  I also pick random car dealership names to see how their Google Page One Management (GPOM) strategy is playing out.  Not all dealers believe that they should own Google Page One for their dealership name; I do. I do not think it is in the dealer's best interest to allow lead collection websites and websites that are filled with complaints to show up on Google Page One when a consumer types in their exact dealership name. Sites like RipOffReport.com, ComplaintsBoard.com and PissedConsumer.com have a history of encouraging only negative posts and some have even stooped to collecting extortion money.

Your Dealership Names Is Under Attack

I was blown away today when I saw that a complaints website called "Pissed Consumer" was creating sub-domains using a car dealers name to show up on Google Page One.   I typed into Google "Midway Nissan" and came across a website  on Google Page One with the address:

http://midway-nissan-phoenix.pissedconsumer.com

You can see the screen capture below: Wow.  This website is now employing clever SEO techniques to ensure that consumer complaints are showing up on Google Page One.  This just raised the bar on how aggressive these websites want to appear on Google Page One for a car dealers name.  The website is not doing anything illegal by the way; a sub-domain is not protected by trademark law like a primary domain. Midway Motors is just one of thousands of dealers that are under attack.  This website has created sub-domains for every dealer and once complaints start to get posted these sub-domains  will jump to Google Page One. Here are a few other sub-domains that I easily found.

• http://david-maus-toyota.pissedconsumer.com/
• http://hoover-toyota.pissedconsumer.com/
• http://rick-case-honda.pissedconsumer.com/
• http://maxon-hyundai.pissedconsumer.com
• http://frenchies-chevrolet.pissedconsumer.com/

Internet Reputation Management

If you understand the significance of this SEO attack, you can bet that other review websites and lead collectors will follow this same strategy.  If you want to build a strong defense to protect your multi-million dollar brand, you need to get to work and build a proactive Internet Reputation Management and GPOM strategy. This is the warning shot across the bow. If you act now, you can be first to have better assets optimized for your dealership brand name.  Delay, and companies like PissedConsumer.com will surround you and your consumers with many distractions. If you have any questions, drop me a note. Brian Pasch, CEO Pasch Consulting Group www.dealer-seo.com 732-450-8200

I'm working on a white paper on proposed changes to  the ADF Specification and I was getting angry about my research so I decided to vent. The ADF  (Auto-Lead Data Format) specification is an XML file that automotive website providers, CRM vendors and lead providers use to send consumer lead data to each other.  When you fill out a form on a car dealer's website or a third party automotive website, the leads eventually hit your CRM system in the ADF format. The specification was created to make it easy for various automotive websites to pass leads to each other.  The ADF 1.0 specification was last modified in the year 2000.  As you know, much has changed since 2000 in regards to lead management and reporting.

Integrated Web and CRM Vendors Have An Edge

Dealers who have an integrated, single vendor solution for their website platform and CRM tool may be able to leverage their platform much faster to create effective Internet Sales lead source report in 2010. Those vendors who currently offer an integrated website platform and CRM tool would be wise to demonstrate an end to end monthly sales report by "off-site referring URL source".  A very simple summary could start like this:

Referring Source	Leads	Sales	Conversion
Press Releases	20	4	20.0%
Blog Sources	30	4	13.3%
Facebook	40	6	15.0%
Twitter	20	1	5.0%
DealerRater	60	10	16.7%
Yelp	20	5	25.0%
Microsites	100	20	20.0%
Total for Month	290	50	17.2%

Dealers who have a third party CRM software package that uses only the ADF or STAR specification are most likely operating in the dark.

If dealers want to get true accountability for their offline SEO and social media efforts they need to stir up a storm in 2010 with their CRM vendors.

Is The CRM Software Community Asleep?

Dealers are asking questions like:

• How can I track if Facebook is generating car sales?
• Will Twitter increase my car sales?
• Do Press Release generate car sales?
• Will a NING community really generate car sales?
• How many leads a month can my microsites generate?

You get the idea.  If vendors are pitching that dealers must engage in social media, press releases, blogs and Automotive SEO, they deserve to have the ability to track those sources to a final sale.  It would be great to link the referring websites to an eventual sale but there is a problem.  The referring website,  often referred to as the referring URL, is currently not being sent to CRM systems that use ADF data sources. A consumer reading a post on a Dealer's Facebook Fan Page may click on a live hyperlink pointing to their  website.  This visit would have a referring URL of www.facebook.com plus some text.  This is great data to have if they fill out a lead form.

Website Vendors Have The Ability To Capture Valuable Data

Website vendors have the ability to capture the referring URL when a consumer hits a dealer website.  They can store this data in a session variable as long as the customer is on the website.  If the customer completes a form, the website vendor has the ability to save the referring URL to know where they came from with the lead data.  This means that you can know if a lead was generated by a press release, Facebook, a Twitter post, a microsite or a blog post. The problem is that when the lead is sent to a third party CRM software tool using the ADF specification, that referring URL data is dropped. Why?  Because the 10 year old specification never thought to include a field for the referring URL.   So, your CRM tool tracks the lead as coming from your website but you don't know HOW the lead got to your site.  This is bad for tracking the ROI of your Internet Marketing investments. Once again, some vendors already have this capability since they control the website and CRM data communications and can use their own file formats.  I would like these vendors to develop executive level reporting by general off-site source, as shown above, which makes it easy to see trends and ROI.  Having a 50 page report by referring URL is silly; a roll-up is needed.  Don't show me a detailed list of referring URL's; executives won't read that.

Have CRM Vendors Taken The Easy Road?

CRM software vendors have known for years that dealers need referring URL data for complete online advertising accountability.  Dealers also need sub-source data like WHERE on their website the lead came from: finance page, trade-in page, car model page, without creating dozens of one off forms. To date, the CRM software community has not revised and approved an ADF 2.0 specification. Valuable consumer search data is being thrown away every day and I don't see anyone telling the dealers about this problem.

Manual Reports Eventually Stop Being Created

Some website vendors do store referring URL data on submitted forms in their database.  The process of matching these sales leads to the CRM database sales is a manual or semi-automated process.  Since it is tedious to create a true lead source report manually, its just not done on a regular basis. If anyone else mad about this? Do dealers really want to have end to end cost analysis for their off-site social media, SEO and blogging efforts?  I believe that if they understood that they could have this type of reporting, they would want it. So I'm starting the idea that there should be an ADF 2.0 specification committee and why not start it here on DrivingSales.com? If the CRM vendors and website vendors don't gather together in 2010 and update the ADF specification, tell them you will fire them and go with the first CRM vendor that approaches their website provider to create a custom data exchange layer that has a rich data-set.  Either the specification gets updated for everyone's benefit for a few companies will have a strategic edge.  Let's see how that plays out. Dealers will demand that they have end to end ROI reporting.

Internet Marketing Spending in 2010

A major shift is underway in regards to online spending. Car dealers are increasing their online marketing budgets.  This fact alone should create a strong reason for car dealers to demand that valuable tracking data be included in a revised ADF specification.

If dealers care about the ROI of their Internet spend, then updating the ADF specification could not be a more timely priority.

Looking forward to a great year in 2010! Brian Brian Pasch, CEO Pasch Consulting Group www.dealer-seo.com 732-450-8200 http://twitter.com/automotiveseo http://facebook.com/paschconsulting.com

With the advent of social media posts from Twitter and Facebook being integrated into search engine result pages (SERP), car dealers can further leverage their social media involvement. The ability to have Tweets and Facebook walls posts show in search engine results is not without its downside risks. From what I can see, the integration in real-time data into Google has started a tweeting and Facebook posting frenzy with subjects that are clearly designed for Automotive SEO positioning. This is a big mistake for businesses thinking that their social media posts will catapult them to the top of search rankings. Car dealers have to remember that social media platforms when used properly, should provide value and engagement to those that follow you. They should be humanized and not sound like a sales pitch. This has been repeated thousands of times but still the new "gold rush" with Google real time feeds seems to have gotten folks off track.

Nissan Dealer Tweets

I did a simple search in Google "Twitter Nissan Dealer" and found dealers on opposite coasts that were actively using Twitter.  Neither of these dealerships are my clients, and they were two of three that showed at the top of the SERP.  What was interesting was that Google knew I was located in New Jersey and the first result in the SERP was a New Jersey Nissan dealer.  Notice from the screen shot below that I did not specifically include NJ in my search phrase:

 

Two Different Dealer Strategies

The two dealers that caught my attention in the SERP were:

• http://twitter.com/newjerseynissan  belongs to East Coast Nissan
• http://twitter.com/msage belongs to Universal Nissan

In the first case, East Cast Nissan in New Jersey,  the tweets look like a 100% sales push and little customer interaction. This pattern of tweets does not look like engagement at all. Notice no messages to any followers in this stream. This strategy will backfire. In the second case, Universal Nissan in California, you can see Mike Sage engaging the followers and adding a human element to the conversation. Yes, there are some product and sales posts but they are balanced. These are just two random examples from a quick search. There are probably many good and bad examples that can be documented. The key is to not let the Google integration of real-time search skew your writing to become an SEO campaign. You will lose followers faster than Tiger is losing sponsors.

Your Lack of Action Is Equally Visible

If you have created a Twitter account, it is important that you keep up with it. In that same search for "Twitter Nissan Dealer"  shown in the screen shot above, there was a third company that showed in the SERP; Abeloff Nissan in Pennsylvania. http://twitter.com/pimpmycube When you take a look at this Twitter account, you can see that they just ran out of gas. The last post on this account was August 2, 2009. To just cover all bases, I did a search for "Abeloff Nissan Twitter " and this was indeed the only account for the dealership. In this case, a stale Twitter account is not a positive for the dealership. If you are not going to maintain a blog or a Twitter account, it would be best just to take them down.

Use Twitter and Facebook: Just Do It Well

With Twitter and Facebook data streams integrated into search results, this makes these two platforms a powerful tool for IRM, SEO and customer engagement if done properly.

Dealers need to use these tools; snooze and you will lose.

Dealers need to create value and engage consumers with good content.   If you can write and find articles that you customers would benefit from, hire someone who can. Share Your Best Examples If you have some outstanding examples of car dealers that are using Facebook and Twitter, post some links.   It will be good to refine this article with pratical examples of dealerships that are engaging social media with excellence.  It's so new, we have to start with early adopters that have had success. P.S. You can follow me at http://twitter.com/automotiveseo and on Facebook at:  http://facebook.com/paschconsulting

A recent survey of 1,100 business conducted by Econsultancy and Bigmouthmedia found that majority of companies are planning to invest more in social media next year but are struggling to find the time and resources to manage their activity.  According to the piece written on MC Charts:

"The biggest barrier to better social media engagement for companies surveyed is a lack of resources, with more than half of companies (54%) saying this is a significant problem, the report said.  Nine out of 10 businesses (90%) say social media is taking up more time internally than a year ago."

The data collected in the survey parallels my experience as I consult with car dealers seeking to create powerful Internet Marketing strategies for 2010.  More than any time in the past, automotive budgets are being adjusted so that a majority of the funding is directed toward online advertising.  This is reflected in increased spending for Google Adwords, banner advertising, SEO, blogging, video, social media and microsite designs. The survey data documents a turning point in retail automotive operations. In years past, software and technology have reduced the staff hours needed to complete sales or marketing tasks.  Some reading this article may remember hand typing sales contracts or a newsletter that now is produced with a few clicks of a mouse. The turning point is that Internet Marketing and engaging customers online takes real people doing creative writing, videos and online customer service. It's a labor intensive operational shift that requires increasing staff levels and dealerships need to recognize that shift.

How Much Should I Spend?

A common question I hear from dealership executives is; "How much should they be spending in each online strategy?"  There is no easy simple answer to that question because each online advertising strategy will depend on local competition and your sales goals.  More importantly is the honest assessment of the commitment, skills, and availability of your staff and your ability to track the ROI on your online advertising spend.  These two factors will be hallmarks of successful dealers in 2010.  An important change is on the horizon in 2010.   With the increase in online spending and a decrease in monies spent on radio, TV and newspaper, dealers will have the opportunity to directly track a majority of their advertising investments.    Let me emphasis that this is a major change and opportunity for car dealers.  Automotive executives need to make the commitment to track their online media spending.  Many dealerships will miss the rich information provided by implementing an online tracking strategy. For example, do you have unique phone tracking numbers for Facebook, Review Websites, Press Releases, Microsites, Google Maps and Twitter?  Is your website capturing the referring URL for every customer that submits a lead form?  Are you creating consolidated sales reports by website and phone source?  Do you know how many cars were sold off Facebook this month? Media like radio, newspapers and billboards relied on either tracking phone numbers or sales staff surveys to related store traffic to a sale.  It was an imperfect system.  With many budgets going 75% or more to online spending, dealers must realize that the holy grail is getting closer; calculating the true ROI on your advertising strategies. 

Do you have the right team in place?

I am currently interviewing candidates for dealership group in South California for position called Digital Media Specialist.  This role will support the Internet Marketing needs of their 11 stores and also work with the Pasch Consulting Group marketing team to create a unified and competitive Internet Marketing strategy.   The job description requires the ability to write and communicate professionally online.  Experience with social media, press releases and advertising is a must.  The salary requirements of these candidates that have applied for this job ranges from $40,000 -$65,000.   The position will enable the dealership group to more effectively blog, write press releases and engage local consumers on Facebook and Twitter, to name a few targeted tasks. I commend the decision of their Executive VP to create a blended model of internal staffing and outside expertise.  This will give the GM's immediate in-house resources for day to tactical marketing projects and the benefit of outside experts to direct the overall strategies for the dealership.  This is a model that will be replicated in 2010 across the country.  The pace of change in the online marketplace will make it difficult to be competitive with only internal marketing resources. As I have said many times before; "The most important hire for car dealers in 2010 will be a content writer".   For smaller automotive groups or stand alone stores, in may not be cost effective to hire a full-time staff position so dealers will need to look at consultancy models.    A shared resource for Internet Marketing implementation can cost dealers a fraction of what a full-time person would require.  For example, the Pasch Consulting Group has an effective starting package for $995 a month which brings those functions listed above to under $12,000 a year.   There are other solutions on the market; you just have to do your research. The key point in regards to staffing is that doing nothing is not an option.  Online marketing spending is on the increase so in 2010 you will have more competition online.  With recent changes in Google which shows Twitter and Facebook activity in real-time, dealers more than ever, need to implement a smart comprehensive online marketing strategy that include social media, blogging, microsites, press releases, banner adverting, SEO, SEM, IRM, video, document publishing, photography, and link building.

Are You Ready?

I look forward to 2010 as the opportunities for online engagement and new technologies keep me busy testing new strategies for success.   Executives submitting marketing budgets for 2010 need to reflect on the findings of the study from Econsultancy and Bigmouthmedia.  It is a snapshot of what is happening to business owners all over the country. With increased spending comes increased competition.  With increased spending comes accountability. Dealers must have a rock solid tracking system in place to determine which online strategies are giving them the best results so that they can be nimble throughout 2010. Since effective online marketing and social engagement are labor intensive, car dealers must have the staff in place to be effective.  Dealership staff must be trained on how to leverage social media and online marketing tactics; it's not intuitive for most people.  At the pace of change in this industry, going it alone may not be the optimal choice. 

Doing nothing will make your competitors smile.

Footnote:  Dealers looking to increase the skills of their staff should send them to the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp on February 12, 2010.  It is schedule the day before the offcicial start of NADA so they can benefit from both educational experiences, back to back.  Jarod Hamiltion, will be the keynote speaker with the opening night on February 11th.

About the Author

Brian Pasch is the CEO of the Pasch Consulting Group and can be found online at: http://twitter.com/automotiveseo http://facebook.com/paschconsulting.com http://www.dealer-seo.com

As 2010 quickly approaches I would like to encourage automotive marketing professionals to carefully review their spending and budgets for the upcoming year. In the past few months I have received an increase in calls from car dealer Internet sales managers asking about how they can wisely increase their online spending. I am getting a feeling that many dealers believe that the worst is over and they want to have a strong Internet presence in 2010. I agree that dealers who aggressively invest in Automotive SEO, Social Media and carefully designed PPC will have a strategic advantage in 2010. This is not a self-serving statement; it's where the action is.

2010 Internet Marketing Wish List

So I thought I would offer five tasks for my 2010 Wish List for Internet Marketing ROI metrics and tools to help dealers. I welcome the dealership community as well as automotive solutions providers to add their own suggestions to help members who want to dominate their local PMA but also want to track the ROI of their online spending. I hope that one day soon dealers can have near perfect 100% tracking for online lead and sales costs. Dealers will always have the problem with showroom sales being properly accounted for but that is not the topic of this post. As I speak with Internet sales managers across the country, many still have not even implemented tracking numbers across all of their advertising media. The automotive industry still has a great deal of education to work through at the dealership level in regards to tracking Internet Marketing ROI.  Tracking phone numbers are NOT expensive.  They actually reduce waste and identify customer service problems. 

I wish for...

Tracking numbers for all online lead funnels. If you are not using a call tracking service like "Call Source" or "Who's Calling" sign up immediately. Depending on the size of your dealership group, I suggest that each brand that you sell has UNIQUE tracking numbers for various online marketing lead funnels. Its easy to do and they provide excellent back-end metrics helping you fully analyze your ROI. These should include one unique tracking number each for:

a. Your Brand Specific Google Maps Listing b. Review Websites (dealerrater.com, insiderpages.com, yelp.com, etc.) c. Press Releases that you send out d. Microsites e. Blogs f. Facebook g. Third Party Lead Providers h. Local Online Banner Ads / Google AdWords Campaigns i. Customized Social Communities (ex: Ning.com, Vox) j. Photos on free distributed inventory feeds The goal is to track these different audio sources and to evaluate the call and sales volume that come in from each source. The automotive community should also require these call tracking companies to create an industry standardized set of categories for tracking these numbers, as follows:

• Press Releases
• Social Media
• Blogs
• Microsites
• 3^rd Party Leads
• Local TV
• Local Newspaper
• Local Websites

You will see why this is important as you read further. Capture of the referring URL with all lead forms. This gets a bit tricky so stay with me on this. If you have an integrated single vendor solution for your website and CRM/ILM system then you have a shot at success in 2010. You will want to demand a report of leads by all the sources listed above. It requires the website vendor to capture the exact URL that referred the visitor to your website and strip that down to the base URL and create a tallied report by source. It would also be nice to require the website vendors to create a standardized set of categories for tracking these leads, as follows:

• Press Releases
• Social Media
• Blogs
• Microsites
• 3^rd Party Leads
• Local TV
• Local Newspaper
• Local Websites

Do you see the pattern? What happens when all leads and calls can be rolled up into one consolidated report? Resolve Ala-Carte Modules and the ADF Issue If your website platform sends form leads to a third party CRM/ILM system you may have a problem. This is because the data exchange is normally done using the ADF file format; an XML file. The current ADF specification does not have a field for the referring URL so one platform cannot pass this information to another without a special data exchange partnership. This is SO IMPORTANT and vital for a dealer's success in 2010. Somehow the ADF specification has to be revised so that dealers who are actively engaged in social media and offsite SEO can capture the true source of the lead. As long as the ADF XML file format does not include the referring URL, we lose valuable data which prevents true ROI calculations for Off-site SEO, social media, etc. Clear Reports that Show Bounce Rate and Conversion by Keyword Dealers who are using Google Adwords to drive traffic to their websites do not have executive level reports that show the waste in the PPC spending. Keywords that have high bounce rates can be an indications that:

1. The landing page is not in line with the value proposition / ad the visitor clicked through from
2. Your call to action is weak / diluted by too many other items on the page
3. You are attracting the wrong visitors
4. Other

Most website platforms don't make it easy to see the keywords with the highest bounce rates and lowest conversion. Dealers need tools to refine their SEM budgets in terms that a NON-PROGRAMMER can understand. Clear reports that show the diversity of organic keyword traffic If dealers took a look at their Google Analytics reports they will probably see the number one source of organic traffic to their website is their brand name. But after that, how many high-value keywords are bringing real traffic to your website? If the list is very narrow, it is a good sign that your website is not broadly optimized for a larger set of keywords. A broad set of keywords can indicate that your website is actively blogging and adding content on a variety of topics. Keep in mind that service, parts and extended warranty sales have great profit margins and should not be ignored. If your top referring keywords in Google Analytics do NOT include these phrases you are missing a great opportunity for new revenue.

The Benefit

If all Leads submitted by forms could be tracked to a "category" of referring URL's and if all calls were tracked, then you might be able to get a much closer estimate of your online advertising spending. A simple report could look like this:

Looking Ahead

The Automotive SEO world is rapidly changing and dealerships need to quickly adapt or perish. The newest topics to hit the news feed for SEM in 2010 are two-fold from Google. First, an announcement of integrating Social Media into Live search results and second, the implementation of Google Goggles for mobile devices. As social media has grown, so has Google's ability to track it, and in 2010 we'll start to see Google's attempt to simplify it all in a new, live search results, way. Just how this will effect the current SEM model is yet to be seen but it one thing is clear, Social Media marketing is here to stay and getting stronger. Second, with the world of mobile-apps growing more integrated into our daily lives, Google "Goggles" will now start to give devices with cameras an "eye" for search. "Goggles" is reported to have the ability to identify pictures taken by a mobile phone and search throughout the web for price comparisons, reviews and more. Do you have a FlickR account with pictures of your entire line of vehicles yet? If not, you need get moving, because when customers start snapping, you better be on Google Page One! If you have questions, post them here or call me at 732-450-8200 or you can email me at brian@paschconsulting.com.

Most dealers are unaware of the "brand" leakage and revenue that is being drained away from their own pockets every day online.  A great post by Alex Snyder at www.dealerrefresh.com caught my attention. Alex is one of the few dealers that is now aware and very pissed.  He's justified in his anger because the commonplace brand "leakage" took on a new face this past week. Alex's post is well worth reading.  Recently Alex was searching in Google for his own MINI store name (Checkered Flag MINI) and he found that Edmunds.com was running a PPC campaign, in his own backyard, for his dealer name and the Add was using his brand.  See screen shot below:

Alex did not authorize the use of their brand name nor could understand why a vendor he was already doing business with, was competing directly with his own Google Adwords campaigns.

Fight Back

This is the first time that I heard of Edmunds.com running PPC campaigns with visible dealer names and ads that target a dealers' own PMA.  Alex and members of the forum have suggested that dealer's unite to get an official statement from Edmunds that this practice will stop immediately.  If you feel the same way, join that action by sending an email to Edmunds.com sales representative. All the reasons why Edmunds.com would run such a visible PPC program are unknown. However, there are a few very well known secrets that SEO consultants and online advertising professionals can share about the lead collection business that can shed some light on the practice.  Lead reselling is a multi-million dollar business; you'll see why in a minute.   The fact that they  used "Checkered Flag MINI" in their visible ad was unprecedented.  Most PPC campaigns will buy the dealer name as a "keyword" and have a generic ad that claims that they can save money on their brand.  Test it yourself and type in your dealership name and see how many people are running ads tied to that search.  It did a test to show you an example below:  

PPC Is NOT the Major Leak

I understand Alex's concern that Edmunds.com is using his multi-million dollar brand in a PPC campaign.  The bigger question from an industry insider; "Is this really much different than what Edmunds.com and other content/lead collection portals, review sites and business directories have been doing for years via SEO?" For example, type into Google "Checkered Flag Honda" and you will see on Google Page One a search optimized page for Checkered Flag MINI from Edmunds.  This optimized page doesn't cost Edmunds anything when consumers click on the link.  In fact, since it's on Google Page One and if your brand marketing is strong, this link would be clicked on a regular basis.   Think cash register. http://www.edmunds.com/dealerships/Virginia/Norfolk/CheckeredFlagHonda/index.html On this page, you can post a review or get a price quote for a MINI or any car that competes with Checkered Flag MINI.  Why would Edmunds optimize a page on their website for your dealership?  Why would they take the time to create a page for most dealerships in the USA?  Add review pages? They are using dealer "brand" name to generate traffic and leads every single day. Dealers spend thousands of dollars each month to create brand awareness.  For most dealerships this cost over time runs in to the millions of dollars. Using Automotive SEO for lead capture pages has been going on for years and its a multi-million dollar business that drains equity from a dealer's brand. 

If dealers allow lead collectors on Google Page One for searches on their brand name, they diminish the ROI of their marketing budget.

Is using Automotive SEO to capture leads illegal? No.   The Internet is still the "wild wild west" of marketing and savvy online companies are using SEO to draw traffic on established brand name.   In fact, Edmunds.com is not the only online player that is draining the ROI on Checkered Flag MINI's brand investment. YellowBot.com has an optimized page for Checkered Flag MINI :  http://www.yellowbot.com/checkered-flag-honda-norfolk-va-1.html And so does Yelp.com: http://www.yelp.com/biz/checkered-flag-honda-service-department-norfolk So does SuperPages.com: http://www.superpages.com/bp/Norfolk-VA/Checkered-Flag-Honda-L0116347619.htm Notice how all three of the companies listed above are running Google Adsense to generate revenue on your name.  In fact, Paul Rushing added a comment to Alex's original article on DealerRefresh.com that these 3rd party websites can be used in a competitive strategy.  If these sites are optimized for your competitor's names, why fight them?  Paul suggest that by targeting Adwords campaigns on these third party websites, it may be a cheap way to generate leads through the content network. SEO Lead Optimization and Adsense Pages Are a Billion Dollar Business The companies listed above are using Search Engine Optimization techniques using Checkered Flag MINI's multi-million dollar brand to generate Google Adsense revenue and/or to collect leads that they can sell for $15-$20 on the wholesale market. These leads are then purchased by companies that we all know and sold to 3 dealers for a total of $60.  There are millions of dollars tied up in leveraging car dealership brand name.   During the Cash for Clunkers program, my website generation thousands of leads over a 60 day period and were sold to brokers.  I made money and so did the resellers. The Edmunds PPC campaign is nothing compared to the organically optimized pages that Edmunds has on most dealers in the USA. The PPC ad's use of "Checkered Flag MINI"  caught Alex's eye but the real money is that Edmunds.com is showing up on Google Page One for in the organic listings for searches on many dealer names. When a website gets MILLIONS or unique visitors a month, can you imagine the millions of dollars that are generated by selling leads to car dealers?  In Alex's case it looks like Edmunds just got a bit too aggressive to expedite the filling of their coffers. As long as there are no "rules" about organically optimized content pages or profile pages, the only way to diminish the brand drain is to make sure lead collectors DO NOT show on Google Page One or two for searches on your brand name. That's what I do for my clients who want to OWN page one.  It is possible to push off of Google Page one third party lead collectors which will stop the brand drain from third party website.  

Marlboro Nissan Fought and Won

If you type into Google "Marlboro Nissan" you will see that their dealership owns 9 of the 10 organic listings.  The one that they don't control is Dealerrater.com and we decided to allow that site to stay on Google page one.  Marlboro Nissan has  275 reviews on DealerRater.com so this site is brand enhancing for them.  Timothy Martell, Digital Marketing Director at Marlboro Nissan,  hired my firm and TK Carsites to dominate organic search results in their PMA and our progress is very encouraging. I want to thank Alex Snyder for starting this discussion because it's one of the lesser know reasons and a contributing factor why dealer websites DO NOT get the number of local leads that they should normally receive.  As an SEO consultant,  I would use the same techniques used by Edmunds to protect my client's brand. Edmunds.com is brilliant in using SEO to generate revenue. I have used the same techniques to help my clients.   They are very good at what they do for online advertising.

This article is not an attack on Edmunds.com but a wake-up call for all car dealers that if they do nothing to guard their brand,  one of many online companies will surround their brand and create a revenue leak.

How much leakage is going on with your brand?

A copy of the article in PDF format is available at: http://www.slideshare.net/brianpasch/your-online-brand-is-leaking Brian Pasch, CEO Pasch Consulting Group

Do you know anyone that has a cold?  How about the flu?  Have you heard any news reports on the H1N1 virus? If you are looking for a new promotional marketing item for your car dealership, let me suggest small tubes of branded hand sanitizer. With cold and flu season in full swing, this item is a bulls-eye for positive branding of your dealership. I've been known for my Internet Marketing articles so this may seem like a departure in my writing but keep in mind that 75% of car dealership ups still walk-out unsold. I'm all about helping dealers make more money! Dealers spend thousands of dollars every month to get people into their dealership and a majority leave unsold. To keep your brand and phone number in front of consumers that leave your business without becoming a customer, give them something of value as they leave. Ladies will drop these right into their handbags and use it every day. Guys will drop them in their briefcases, computer bags or coat pockets.  They are addicting.

Hand Sanitizers

With all the concern about the H1N1 virus and the flu, these giveaways will not be thrown away until they are emptied. In fact they communicate a great message to potential customers; we care about your health. I never used hand sanitizers in the past but when Kim Depalma, CEO of Novel Promotional Marketing gave me a sample, I was hooked.  Kim suggested that I use these at my booth at DD7. So, I handed the branded personal hand sanitizers out at my booth at the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville and they were a hit! People were coming over and taking a few samples and said that with all the people at the Conference shaking hands, this idea was a winner. Whether you are looking for a new giveaway for an upcoming trade show or just to give away in your dealership, these are great branding tools. Kim Depalma will be able to discuss pricing with you based on the quantities that you order. You can reach Kim at 732-859-0426 or via email at kim@novelpm.com. At the 7th Digital Dealer Conference I heard of many good promotional marketing ideas like mugs and chip clips but these hand sanitizers really strike at where the consumer mindset is at today. With cold and flu season in full swing, this is a good time to place and order since turn-around is fast.

Traditional Branding Still Works

Don't forget traditional marketing strategies and local branding. I may be an Internet Marketing advocate but successful promotional marketing and branding offline can also be a hit!

If a customer came to your dealership in the still of the night and spray painted "Liar" and "Cheat" in large letters on your street facing signage, would you leave it untouched when you arrived in the morning?

Consumers have tremendous power today to express their opinions about their experience at your business and make that voice heard.  With dozens of popular websites containing a listing of your business that allows for consumer reviews, car dealers can no longer ignore the feedback that is being shared online.

Automotive studies have confirmed that dealers who focus on good online customer service reviews see a measurable increase in calls and leads referred from review websites.  Since Google Maps is now rolling up review scores from multiple websites, the consolidated dealer "score" is front and center for any search that includes a city or state search word and the brand that you sell.

Give it a try.  Type in "Denver Toyota Dealers" and see that Google Maps is at the top of the organic search results, and under each address is a review count. This data encourages consumers to see how well you are doing.   When you click on your review score, are you proud of what you see?

Which Websites Should I Monitor?

There are a number of review websites that need to be monitored because of how the search engines rank their content.  Google, Yahoo and Bing may show a different priority when a consumer searches for your business name.  Some of the websites that I suggest you monitor include:

• DealerRater.com
• InsiderPages.com
• CitySearch.com
• Judysbook.com
• Yelp.com
• MerchantCircle.com

Since new sites are always being created, the rule of thumb is that you should monitor any websites that have review capabilities that show up on Google Page One and Page Two for a search on your dealership name.  Also check searches for your OEM brand and the city name where you are doing business from.

DealerRater.com is the only site that has a paid system which gives dealers a two week window to resolve complaints with consumers before they are posted.  Since DealerRater.com is highly optimized for organic search, most dealers will find the site on Google Page One for searches on their name.

The search visibility of review websites make them difficult to ignore, especially if they have unbalanced negative reviews.  Let me emphasize this point again; do not ignore review websites.

How To Increase Your Positive Review Counts

Like any digital marketing endeavor, you must honestly assess if you have the proper staff in place that will not be distracted from this important task.   An effective Automotive IRM program, once launched, will require about 3-4 hours a week for the first six months to really see a difference.  These hours are spent contacting satisfied customers and getting their buy-in to post a review on one of your targeted review websites.

If you don't have the right staff in place or you know that your IRM staff member will be unable to isolate time each week for this important task, hire someone to do it for you.

Dealers do not have the luxury to ignore online review websites. They have to have a process in place that ensures that online comments reflect the true percentage of positive and negative feedback in their store.

Proactive IRM Starts With a Friendly Phone Call

My staff has found that starting with a phone call makes the process more intimate and meaningful.  Call through a list of customers that have purchased in the last 7 days and ask first about their experience at your dealership.  Thank them for their business and find out if they need assistance.

Ask them if they would recommend your dealership to family and friends. If they say yes, explain that consumers start their car research on the Internet and that their peers will value their opinion if they found it online.  Ask them to help you educate their peers by sharing their positive experience online.

If the phone call is handled professionally, most customers will agree to help.  Tell them that you will make it easy by sending them an email with links to two websites where they can post their review.  Don't overwhelm them with six review websites; rotate which two sites are used so you cover all sites over time.  Ask them if they can write their review in the coming week.  Most will say yes. This is an important buy-in question to reinforce in your email.

Thank them specifically for their commitment to open the email and post a review in the next week. Once you send the email, keep a log on when they said they would post their review.  Check back to the sites you included in your email with links and see if they made a post.

If they did not post, send them a very brief email saying that you were following up and that maybe the email was caught up in their spam filter.  Remind them how easy it is to click on the link and post a review. Ask them nicely to honor their commitment to help educate others.  The second notice gets more people to keep their promise.  Everyone is busy and a friendly reminder is just that.

It's A Process That Yields Results

If every week your dealership's proactive IRM program adds two new reviews, at the end of the year you will have over 100 positive statements that you can leverage.  More likely, you can get 4-5 reviews a week with a few hours of dedication. This will yield over 250 reviews in a year.

When Google Maps displays your dealership and your competitors on a list which shows that you have 100 more reviews than your closet competitor, you will be amazed at the results. If you place a unique tracking phone number on your Google Maps listing today and start this process, you will be pleased to see how an increase in positive reviews equates to more calls.  These calls may even be considered "warm leads" because of the positive reviews that they have most likely read.

With an emphasis on advertising your customers positive experiences, you are well positioned when a negative comment is posted.  The reality is that if you don't start an IRM process, the majority of posts that you will read online will be negative.  Life is about balance.  No dealership can be perfect.  For most dealers the negative customer experiences are a small percentage of their sales.  Make sure your online review scores accurately reflect that same percentage.

Don't Buy Votes

Starting December 1, 2009, a new law, which will be enforced by the FTC, has guidelines for people who write online reviews, endorsements and testimonials.  The law is focused on online posts where the writer has been compensated in some way for the review.  (Download FTC Rules)

Take a moment to make sure that your dealership is in full compliance. To simplify the matter, never pay for an online review or endorsement.  Never offer a free oil change, a free tire rotation, a discount or a gift card in exchange for a review or testimonial.  If a reviewer is compensated according to the new law, that must be disclosed in the review.

Compensation cheapens the experience for your customers and it may get you in trouble.  You don't want to be the first auto dealer that the FTC sues under this new law because a competitor reported you. Just wait, every industry will have its turn under the FTC magnifying glass.

If a customer is not compelled by a friendly voice to share their experience online, move on to another customer.  Most dealers have hundreds of customers each month that they can draw upon for IRM assistance. Some dealers have utilized a business card which lists popular review sites, and they encourage their staff to get customer commitment when they deliver the car. Just make it easy to get your customer involved.

It goes without saying, never implement a system where your sales staff receives monetary or cash equivalent rewards for having their customers post the most reviews.  This system will always result in cheating and fake reviews being posted by sales staff and their friends from their home computers.

Never encourage customers to post reviews from inside your Internet café since many sites will notice multiple posts from the same IP address and ban your account.

Dealers that have an active Facebook page or Twitter account can also post links to the reviews written by their satisfied customers.  By praising customers who have helped spread the word, you create a desire in other customers to receive that same praise.

You can ask your followers to post a review by adding easy links to the websites previously listed.  Make it easy for them to participate. People who are already online and who are asked to help promote their experience at your dealership are likely to follow a link and post a review if done properly.

Defensive Internet Reputation Management Tactics

An effective IRM program has an offensive and defensive strategy. The defensive team knows when a new comment, blog post or article has been indexed on the Internet by Google. The defensive mantra says: " The sooner you know about a problem, the better chance you have to diffuse the matter."

If you would like to receive email notifications when someone writes a review or a blog post that includes your dealership name, I highly recommend Google Alerts.  You can use this free service to monitor your dealership name and the names of key executives.  When set up, you will know via email when a new post is indexed in Google, and then decide how to respond.

There are tools on the market to automate this process. You just have to decide if you need anything more than Google Alerts. If you have an active campaign to post positive reviews each week, your staff will be on all the top review sites every week checking what has been posted.

The need to pay for a monitoring service may not be justified for a single point dealership. Larger dealer groups that have one person managing multiple dealer properties may be better served to purchase an automated tool or just outsource the process.

Internet Reputation Management = Brand Protection

I started the article with this question:

If a customer came to your dealership in the still of the night and spray painted "Liar" and "Cheat" in large letters on your street facing signage, would you leave it untouched when you arrived in the morning?

An Internet Reputation Management (IRM) program is also a brand protection process. As more of your customers start and end their car shopping experience on the Internet, your online brand becomes vitally important.

I predict that customer reviews will be further leveraged and consolidated by savvy entrepreneurs because of the influence that they yield.  Imagine what would happen if someone created a customer "score" and made that score a household name.

When used car shoppers want to know about a vehicle's history, they often ask for a CARFAX report. Imagine the impact if a company invested the money to nationally brand the concept of a DEALERSCORE report; a consolidated summary of your online customer satisfaction scores. What would your consolidated score look like?

From my search experience, less that 20% of car dealers across the USA have implemented a healthy proactive IRM program.

Over half of the dealers in America have "You Suck" written on their Internet billboards and they don't seem to care.  The rest may have no reviews at all, which means they are even more vulnerable for that first negative post.

There is no better time to get started than today.

Your competitors hope you do nothing.

Copies of This Article

If you would like a PDF copy of this article to use at your dealership, you can download it here:  Automotive Internet Reputation Management

About The Author

Brian Pasch is the CEO of the Pasch Consulting Group and an active writer for the automotive community.  You can find him on:

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/automotiveseo

Facebook http://facebook.com/paschconsulting

You can also reach Brian in his New Jersey offices at 732-450-8200.

I was speaking to an automotive executive today who oversees a large group of stores in California.  He made a comment that stuck in my head and encouraged me to create this blog post. His comment gave me some insight why there was so much  interest at the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville for Automotive SEO, Social Media, Microsites and overall Internet Marketing strategies.

Have We Seen a Bottom?

We were discussing Internet Marketing strategies and he wrote on the whiteboard how sales in 2008 and 2009 were down across his dealership group; year over year. Frankly he stated that in the first quarter of 2009 things  were ugly. When people approached him at that time, with similar Internet Marketing strategies that I presented today, he was not able to "hear" the message because he was in a defensive posture. New spending or adding staff was just not on the radar screen at the beginning of 2009.  He recounted how his automotive group looked at all expenses and reduced overhead wherever possible. Fast forward six month later and his mood and optimism has changed.  In his own words he said:

"It is time to go on the offensive!"

At that moment I knew that our relationship would be successful because he was willing to invest and compete online.  He was willing to take a step of faith and leverage the Internet to take his business to the next level.   He was no longer looking backwards.

Are You Still in Defensive Mode?

As he prepared for his offensive squad to take the field he asked:

"How many dealers across the US are leveraging advance Internet Marketing strategies and social media tools?

My guess was less than 10% of car dealers were fully engaged in social media, SEO, microsites and integrated online marketing.   That made him smile because it confirmed that he was not late to the game. But the recent surge on online discussions on this forum as well as the diversity of questions posed at the Driving Sales Executive Summit and Digital Dealer Conference is a clear sign that the automotive marketing  game is moving back to an offensive posture.

How To Direct The Offensive Team?

The challenge of educating automotive decision makers is that only a small percentage of dealerships have  executives that actively engage their peers on websites like:

• http://www.DrivingSales.com
• http://www.AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com
• http://kainautomotiveideaexchange.ning.com
• http://www.dealerrefresh.com

These websites are filled with great "Do It Yourself' strategies and peer review of new technology and services.  This is good for those who are reading up on the latest tips and strategies shared on these forums.  The real question is whether money is being increased at their dealership for digital marketing initiatives. I am confident that dealerships who are first to act over the next year will be rewarded handsomely.  It's time to stop looking back and comparing sales stats and compensation plans from three years ago. It's time to listen to dealerships who are pioneering Internet marketing and social media strategies that are working.   Rethink your monthly marketing budgets and TAKE RISKS and test new ideas.  Make sure you setup systems to measure real change and track results. As team Nike would say:  Just Do It! Brian Pasch http://twitter.com/automotiveseo

At the Driving Sale Executive Summit I had the opportunity to meet Chris Brogan and to hear him speak on social media trends. I received a free copy of his book Trust Agents and have been reading it in between flights and work and it's really a great resource to focus your thought on social media strategies. The book is a must read for anyone in your organization tasked with managing your social media campaigns. On Page 79, Chris cites a "Trust Equation" created by the authors of a book called "The Trusted Advisor" which reads like this:

Trust = (Credibility  x  Reliability  x Intimacy)  /  Self Orientation

The formula stuck out in my mind because it demonstrates the relationship of "self promotion" (S) in creating trust with the social community.   For those of you who loved math, Self Orientation is in the denominator of the fraction.  The higher this number goes, the lower your trust "result". This formula should be taped on the computers that are used by your employees that manage your Twitter, Facebook or blogs.  Remind your social media managers that too much self promotion will weaken the net effect of their social media efforts.

Social Media Topics That Can Build Trust

Things that build creditability

• posting manufacturer recalls and safety warnings
• acknowledging where your dealership has failed and how you fixed the problem
• admitting when your competitors have done something better than you
• pointing out third party sources than can help the members of your social community

Things that can build Reliability

• provide car service tips for things that customers can do themselves
• warn customers about extended warranty scams via phone or postcard
• respond to people who post on your social media accounts promptly - without a pitch
• provide online self-service documents that can help answer common questions

Things that can build Intimacy

• Post a story of an employee winning a customer service contest and their trip to Hawaii
• Share you staff's work in the community or with non-profit organizations
• Post videos of your customers getting delivery on their cars

Everyone needs to create a list of things that they can do in each of these three categories.  Inspect what you are posting to see where your social media posts fall. If the last paragraph of every blog post is a reminder of how great you are or how wonderful your organization delivers "the goods", then you'll flunk social media math.  Review your posts and see how many times you reference your company in a blog post or in a response/comment.  Do the math.