As I have been working hard on the final conclusions for the 2009 ASMA Study, I took some time to read what other have said about the the 34 website providers that I am reviewing. What I found was disappointing from an Automotive IRM perspective. Automotive industry professionals have been quick to claim the benefits of posting positive customer reviews online. Articles are flourishing on how important an effective Internet Reputation Management (IRM) program can be to sales. However, when you look at DrivingSales.com Vendor Reviews, one of the few places that post automotive industry vendor reviews, the numbers are telling. The shoemaker's kids have holes in their shoes!  Let's see why.

Automotive Website Vendor Reviews

Dealer.com has 14,000 dealers using their software and has the most customer reviews and the best scores in this category but a measly 44 dealers posted their comments.  That's less than 1%. (36 Positive / 8 Negative) BZ/ADP have over 2,000 dealers using their platforms and only 15 review, less than 1%. (5 positive / 10 negative) Dealerskins - 11 Reviews (5 positive/ 6 negative) Reynolds & Reynolds - 9 Reviews (5 positive / 4  negative) eBizAutos has zero reviews. You get the idea.  DrivingSales.com and DealerRefresh.com are two places where dealer website platforms and vendors can be reviewed.  On both websites, the representation is the same, very few customers have posted positive reviews. eBizAutos also has no reviews on DealerRefresh.com nor any I could find doing and Internet search. As DrivingSales.com grows, I believe it will become to premier place for automotive vendors to be evaluated and scored by the automotive community. If IRM is good for car dealers, then IRM is good for car dealer vendors and suppliers.

As I ready my review of 34 website platforms (2009 ASMA Study) and their effectiveness for search marketing, I thought I would ask a question that has been bugging me.  As you look back on 2009, which automotive industry website vendors have truly added INNOVATIVE services or tools for car dealers to better market their businesses on the Internet. If you care to post, please try to be specific on your experience with a specific vendor.  Please explain what innovative technology was delivered in 2009 and how you benefitted.  I need to hear from the field of active automotive professionals on exactly what game changing software and/or  tools have allowed dealers to improve their effectiveness online for sales, service and parts.  I want to be very careful on how to properly describe the many changes in the automotive industry for my study.  Vendors don't need to pitch their own services please.  Your input is appreciated. If you need to send a note directly, you can send it to:  brian@paschconsulting.com

As I was putting the finishing touches our study of 34 website platforms as part of the 2009 ASMA study for car dealers, a question came to mind.  By the way, the study will be released at the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville on November 1st. Question: Should website companies provide in their base website package a site that includes unique Page Titles and META descriptions, which would be Google SEO Compliant?

Google's SEO Starter Guide as well as Google Webmaster Tools specifically calls out the need to have unique Page titles and descriptions.   You can see from the screenshot from the Webmaster Tools that Google alerts developers when it finds duplicates.  If this is in the console, its important.

Sloppy Or Ignorant? 

However, I find that a number of car dealer platforms deliver duplicate Page Title and META description tags for brand new websites.  If a site is allowed to be indexed for weeks with duplicate tags it would seem that some companies don't have a SEO compliance check in place.  I feel that this has to be in place for all platform providers that want to compete in this industry. I'm raising the bar and stating that all car dealer websites be delivered with basic unique tags so that a new site is not penalized in organic search results.  This can be accomplished with a simple search and replace script on default tags for starters.  Then an SEO specialist can tweak the pages further. This problem is not just for new sites.  A number of mature websites fail basic the Google SEO compliance tests.

Duplicate Descriptions

Just this week I advised a new dealership that I'm working with, who has had their site up for over a month, that their META description tags were duplicated and that some Page Titles were also duplicated.  See the screen shot below of the "site:" command which lists pages in Google's index:

From every test that I have done for organic search, these two factors play an important role in search results along with other factors like page content, PageRank, etc.  To leave the Page Titles and META description in this condition does not make any sense, especially when everyone is talking about the importance SEO and search optimization. So, what do you think?  Should dealership platforms be held to a standard that they deliver a basic Google SEO compliant website day one?

On November 1st, I will be publishing the 25 page 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) study.  I will be posting a live link to the PDF on DrivingSales.com for all my blog readers. The report will review and summarize 34 automotive website platforms to assist car dealers evaluate which website platforms can best help them with their search marketing goals. I have included three grids below that will be part of the report to show you a portion of the questions I am asking as well as who will be included in the 2009 study. If you work for one of the companies listed on these grids, I simply ask that you email me with the Y or N answers to each of the questions in these grids. Please send your responses to: brian@paschconsulting.com In the end, it is very beneficial for all companies on the grid to submit  their data otherwise it will be blank. Having the CORRECT data for the company in the report helps everyone on this forum understand the services that these companies can offer car dealers. I have many of these questions completed but there are a few missing and so I thought that this forum would be a good place to ask vendors to send their answers and make sure I have as much participation as possible. I appreciate your assistance in making the 2009 ASMA study the most complete review of automotive website platforms in circulation. If you are using any of the platforms listing on this grid, please forward the link to this page to your support representative so that they respond this week. The Y/N Questions on this grid are: User Editable SEO Tags on All Static Pages Add New Pages on the Fly Custom Naming of New Page URL's

The Y/N Questions on this grid are: Company Offers Direct SEO Services Company Offers Social Media Services Company Offers Content Writing Services

The Y/N Questions on this grid are: Vendor Offers Their Own CRM/ILM Modules Vendor Offers Integrated Adwords Management Vendor Offers Direct Video Integration Services

Today was the third time in the last month that I was speaking with a dealership that was having very poor open rates for their newsletters and email campaigns. In this case, the list of 28,000 email addresses had a 10% open rate. For some of you, that might seem normal; I think that sucks. So here is a suggestion to help you revitalize a section of your email database. Do an email blast from a white-listed email  company that can send "text only" emails.  Do not use your current vendor because they may be part of the problem.   There are a number of reputable companies that we use and that work well with one-time tests. Instead of a fancy graphical email, send a "text-only" email with a clear call to action message(s) with links back to specific landing pages.  You can't have too many links in the email or it will trigger a spam filter.  Keep it simple.

Email Contents

To have the email appeal to a wide base of readers, I would suggest that you present in the text email:

1. New Car Offer
2. Used Car Offer
3. Service Incentive

Each of these offers should be presented in a few sentences with a hyperlink to a landing page that is designed to convert.  Let the landing page have the beautiful graphics, disclaimers and lead forms.  When you are done with the email, run it through one of the many free email spam filter tests.  The test will tell you if you have used words that will trigger spam filters or if you have too many links. For example, words like "free", "thousands", "millions", "unlimited", "limited time offer" all can trigger spam filters if used improperly.   Think of an email that you would send to a friend and tone down the sales pitch and present a valuable message and offer without the hype. Please place a unique TRACKING PHONE NUMBER on the email so you can see how many calls are generated.  Not everyone will need to click through to respond.  Place this same phone number on your landing pages so that the total calls can be tracked from this effort.

Why This Works

This technique should increase the delivery rates and open rates of your email list for a few reasons:

1. By having it sent in text format, it will reduce triggers from spam filters that focus on graphical emails.
2. By having it in text format, customers that have Blackberry's or mobile device will be able to read the email and click to take action.  If you have every seen what your automotive newsletter or an email from Constant Contact looks like on a Blackberry you will understand why so many emails are deleted or not clicked.  It look like a spaghetti mess.
3. By having it sent from a white-listed email company that is different than your current vendor you change the delivery rules which can assist you with IP blocking and previous junk mail tags based on the sender's email address.

When the email has been sent, you can check to see if your delivery, open and click-through rates increase.  You will see new people opening and clicking that never did before.  Everyone is different so reactivating your dormant email customers often needs a new approach.

Dont Waste Their Time

Finally, think of an offer that is meaningful.  One of the best email campaigns I did for service revenue was called "3 For Free" which offered customers a free oil change, car wash and multi-point inspection.  The offer was emailed to select group of customers that had a valid email and a postcard was sent to everyone that did not have an email address.  The postcards had a second goal to capture email addresses by providing a service appointment link on the postcard and a unique tracking phone number for calls.  The call center required and email during the appointment setting process. Of those who responded, over 92% of the appointments results in a billable RO.  The first campaign generated over $60,000 in repair profits.  Most customers had a number of  "little things"  that needed to be fixed and while they were in the dealership. The service advisors also did a good job of up-selling respondents. So, if you want to get a bump from your valuable email list during the post "Cash For Clunkers" hangover months, give this approach a try.  Your email list is one of your most valuable digital assets.  Let me know how it works. Brian Pasch, CEO Pasch Consulting Group

The Driving Sales Executive Summit attracted industry thought leaders and automotive retailers that are forward thinkers and leaders in their local communities.  From the various presentations, breakouts sessions and round table discussions a few themes developed.    One theme that resonated with me was that car dealers cannot afford to ignore Social Media (SM), Internet Reputation Management (IRM) and Automotive SEO.   Automotive retailers must understand that a major shift in how consumers are using the web in underway.  Dealers need to place themselves in the path of the consumer, listen and respond appropriately.  Speakers shared data that quantified the opportunity and the actual ROI of social media, IRM and Automotive SEO.  One specific study which analyzed a three year period of Internet leads from Dick Hannah Honda showed that their Automotive SEO and Internet Reputation Management strategies today represented 40% of their Internet revenue and the best ROI of all lead sources.  They are getting 180 calls a month from consumer review websites. The data from Dick Hannah Honda clearly demonstrated that consumer review websites, business directories, microsites, blogging, social media, and onsite SEO can drive traffic that converts into leads at a fraction of the cost of any other lead source.    I've been writing about these opportunities for two years and I was so pleased to see that data so beautifully presented by someone else.    Amen! As a side note, Dick Hannah Honda does not advertise on the radio, TV, newspaper or local car booklets and leads their region in new car sales and in second place in used car sales. They attribute their success to a partnership of vendors and their early adoption of SEO, IRM and Social Media.

Getting Started

Dealers who attended this conference or those that have been following the buzz about Social Media, IRM and SEO have to be feeling a bit overwhelmed.  Where should they start?  One of the expert speakers and author Chris Brogan said "if dealers wait to get started, they will be behind the curve by 7 years!"  If this is true, how can dealers start down the path of new media strategies when they are unclear where it will lead? The build vs. buy conversation comes to mind.  Most dealerships do not have one person that is capable of handling all aspects of SM, SEO and IRM.   Secondly, these communication strategies are not one time tasks; they need attention each day if not every week depending on the scope of engagement.   Lastly, things are changing so fast that even consultants like me are learning new techniques each day. Since doing nothing is not an option, my suggestion is to call in a consultant and get started.  Get your initial footprint established.  Get training in place to share the daily tasks involved in tapping into these new channels.  A good footprint will get you "in front of the consumer's path" and you can start to listen to what they have to say.  By sharing the workload, a week will never go bye that something isn't done regardless of your staffing issues.

Roles For Consultants

Consultants can be very helpful in setting up systems and procedures that have proven effective for things like IRM and Social Media.  However, outsourcing 100% is a mistake.  The beauty of Twitter and Facebook, when done properly, is that they reflect the personality of the dealership.  Having a consultant setup Facebook, Twitter, WordPress and NING is a smart choice but having a consultant as the sole content creator for your social media websites would be missing the mark.  Consultants are ideal for off-site SEO: link building, bookmarking, press releases and aiding customers to post to review websites.  That is a great use of a consultant's time because the skills required are not those that dealership staff need to focus on initially.  Later, you can decide to take back any of these tasks if your staff evolve into mastering these strategies.

How To Price These Services

The challenge of social media, IRM and SEO is that initially it is boundless.  The initial work and setup is very time consuming. Local market conditions also dictate how aggressively a dealer needs to invest in their strategy.  So do one size fits all pricing packages work? I've been of the mindset that charging for services by the hour makes the most sense because of accountability.   If the initial setup takes more time, then initial charges will be higher.  If a dealer wants 20 consumer reviews posted over 90 days it will be cheaper than if a dealer wants to build to 100 reviews over the same period. However, dealers are hooked on the fixed monthly pricing model.  Most all of these services they buy are packaged this way.  So is $500 a month too cheap, $2,000 a month better and $5,000 a month crazy or nirvana?  The answer is they all can be good depending on what they offer.  I was told that I need to raise my prices. When dealers don't understand the mechanics of SEO, IRM and SM the risk is that any price point may make them feel uncomfortable; is this valuable?  So, in the end, service providers have a challenge to clearly measure the impact of these marketing channels and educate dealers on how they are contributing to their bottom line.

What Are My Choices?

At the Driving Sales Executive Summit there were a few independant companies that offered services that could help dealers get started other than my namesake consulting firm; Pasch Consulting Group.  Paul Rushing from Sega Systems and Exteres Auto are two other companies that are offering consulting services to car dealers who want a competitive edge. So what are you waiting for?  If you have not fully leveraged SEO, IRM and Social Media, you would not want one of your competitors to call one of the three conference participants listed above.  All three of us are extremely competitive, and personally I don't like to lose.

Content based SEO strategies must compensate for the differences in the way search engine result pages (SERP) are displayed on the Big Three search engines; Google, Yahoo and Bing. The table below lists a number of automotive search phrases and microsites that we have created.   I chose sites I created because I know how long they have been indexed in Google. The chart is the basis for a future discussion that delves into a common question:

Why some search phrases yield ZERO page one search results when the same phrase yields top placement on another search engine.

As you develop an Automotive SEO strategy for your dealership, it is important that you track the results in all the major search engines.  The difference in being Google page 1 position 1 vs. Google Page 1, position 7, considered under the fold, can be huge! Google may represent 65% of all organic search traffic but that other 35% is very important. As you look at one example below "Ford Massachusetts" the microsite does very well in Google but after 4 months the site is still not listed on Yahoo page one. Since traffic from Yahoo is not insignificant, a special strategy is obviously needed.

URL	Search Phrase	Yahoo	Bing	Google	Age of Site
www.bmwusedcars.net	bmw used cars	3	1	1	36 months
www.dealer-seo.com	automotive seo	8	2	1	24 months
www.automotiveseo.vox.com	automotive seo	2	4	n/a	9 months
www.infinitig37nj.com	g37 dealer nj	1	1	1	12 months
www.fordmassachusetts.com	ford massachusetts	n/a	3	1	4 months
www.infiniticar.net	infiniti car prices	2	1	7	18 months
www.chevydealerphoenix.com	phoenix chevy dealers	1	5	2	12 months
http://lease.bmwpeabody.com	bmw x6 boston	1	1	n/a	18 months
www.hyundaime.com	hyundai maine	2	6	1	4 months
http://boston.infinitimassachusetts.com	Boston Infiniti	1	2	n/a	18 months
www.usednissancars.net	used nissan cars	n/a	3	4	18 months
www.infinitiwarranty.net	infiniti extended warranty	1	1	2	24 months
www.audinh.com	Audi dealers NH	1	6	2	18 months

n/a = not found on page one

Automotive SEO Strategies

The point of this post is to say that content SEO strategies will vary with the search engine you are targeting. There are some very valuable insights that this data hints at including how the different search engines treat:

• Sub-domains
• Exact Matching Domains
• Short domain names
• Long domain names
• Free blogging portals (Vox, Ning, etc.)

A second reminder is that Bing traffic is increasing and for many automotive sites that I track, the search traffic from Bing is equal to or exceeding that of Yahoo. At the upcoming Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas next month, I will be going over specific Content SEO strategies that will not only show you how to write content for better search visibility but to discuss how domain names and platforms play a direct role in your ultimate success.  I'll be there to answer any questions you may have on Automotive SEO strategies. Consider it the Pasch Internet Marketing Plan (PIMP).  It's time to PIMP up your website.

As I start the review process of over 25+ automotive website inventory modules and website platforms for the 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) study, I am very excited from what I have seen so far from the industry.  At the last Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas, I predicted in my Automotive SEO seminar that within the year, major platforms would include a blog into their base infrastructure.  That has come to pass in just under six months.

WordPress Technology

This week I had the opportunity to view two car dealer platforms that will release integrated Wordpress skins into their core technology.  In one case, the WordPress technology was a menu choice off the main navigation with seamless integration.   The basic WordPress functionality is in place with customized widgets for automotive services like lead collection. The second vendor raised the stakes even higher with multiple WordPress skins at the touch of a button with the powerhouse kicker:  SEO compliant inventory module PLUGIN for WordPress.  This brings the concept of a microsite to the next level. A low cost WordPress website, that dealers can edit and expand, with live embedded inventory.  Remember that Wordpress allows dealers to leverage their brand on multiple DEALER OWNED domains with affordable CMS technology.

Automotive SEO is Evolving

The landscape for Automotive SEO is changing in our industry. My automotive website report (2009 ASMA) which will be published on November 1st, will be a forward indicator that will highlight companies that are changing the rules for content based SEO strategies.  This is the topic that I will be discussing at the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville which runs from November 1-3rd.  I hope you can come to my seminar and be the first to get the ASMA report.  (www.digitaldealerconference.com) It is my conviction that the reason why sites like Edmunds.com, Automotive.com and Motortrend.com dominate so many national page one search for car models is fundamentally about good content. Over 90% of car dealer websites do not have 5 paragraphs of well written CONTENT on any one car that they sell.  They may have features, specs and option lists but no real consumer targeted CONTENT. With that in mind, the fact the forward thinking website platform providers are adding WordPress technology into their base platforms will be revolutionary.  With the free plug-ins available for WordPress, car dealers can start to create attractive CONTENT so that when they drive consumers to their website via PPC, social media or SEO, they have compelling content as well as an interactive experience. Looking forward into 2010, the saavy website providers will take away the criticism that their platforms don't have on the fly page creation.  They will include blogging software integration to leverage content based SEO strategies.   Once that happens, dealers will be moving toward a common ground of SEO compliance.  This begs the question: What will SEO consultants be doing then? 

Automotive SEO is Not Just META Tags & Titles

Once our industry moves to providing website platforms that are fully Google SEO compliant,  we can move on to more important factors that drive traffic and conversion. Allowing car dealers to add  unlimited content pages without programming knowledge is the next big thing.  Once the tools are in place for car dealers to have MORE control over their SEO destiny, they will come to the realization that they never hired someone on their staff to write good content, let alone follow "data directed" SEO content writing. In 2010, I predict that the most valuable hire that progressive car dealers will make is an Internet Marketing Writer that is focused on automotive content building for their brand in their PMA.  This can be an internal employee or a consultant that has a cost effective content development team.  These "writers" will take the new content based SEO tools, like WordPress, to new heights.  Dealers will start to dominate their local markets with  well written content that delivers SEO benefits as well as conversion benefits when social media drives traffic to their websites.  Automotive SEO is also about off-site SEO. Knowing how and where to post content that is not on your website is equally as important for total domination. So let me repeat that:  Hire someone who can write and understand the basics of Automotive SEO This new role will compliment that work that other staff members in the dealership are doing to attractive more consumers to visit the dealership website using social media, PPC or other traditional media.  It will be an interesting evolution as car dealers wake up to the fact that they can attract consumers via organic search through better content and well targeted content. Social media and traffic driving strategies will ultimately rely on platforms that can deliver good landing pages with easy to edit content that in the end, creates a call to action.   WordPress can do this unlike any HTML editor on any platform today but it is NOT the only technology solution.  There are other options, but that is top secret. Get ready for major shifts in SEO tools for 2010...the strategies will not change...however the teamwork with SEO consultants and dealer staff will never be more important! Will I be out of a job?  Never...but my role will change in 2010 for sure!! P.S.  If you are going to Digital Dealer in Vegas, make sure you come to my Halloween Party on the 31st!!

I will be publishing our annual report on Automotive Search Marketing Architecture this November. The ASMA study will identify automotive website providers that offer SEO compliant platforms using Google's guidelines as well as best practices in the search marketing industry. All automotive website providers are invited to participate in our study. My 2009 ASMA study report will be released in time for the 2009 Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville which takes place November 1-3.   I will be speaking at the conference on Automotive SEO – Effective Content Strategies. The 2009 ASMA study will evaluate and assign rankings to car dealer website platforms based on key components that represent the best in search engine optimization (SEO) architecture and consumer search experience. For many car retailers, their inventory pages make up over 85% of the total content pages on their website. Organic search optimization and search ranking are heavily skewed to reward good content and good SEO architecture. The report is designed to provide car dealers with an independent view of website platform technology as it relates to organic search marketing. In last year's report, I reviewed over 16 automotive platforms with only 2 providers receiving a perfect score for SEO compliance. In the past year car dealer website providers have released or announced many changes to their platforms which should make this year’s report even more interesting.

2009 ASMA Logo

A new element to this year’s study will be an official ASMA logo which will be awarded to automotive website providers that rank at the top of their peer group. The ASMA logo will allow leaders in the field of automotive website design to proudly display their award on their marketing materials and on their websites. The ASMA logo will represent the best in SEO architecture for the automotive industry. Automotive website providers who would like to participate in the review must submit three working websites which utilize their latest technology to me by 9-30-09. Dealer software providers who do not submit examples of their technology may still be included in the report. However, the website PCG reviews will be based on those found randomly on the Internet or referenced on their company websites. Dealer software providers can contact Brian Pasch at info@paschconsulting.com for more information.

2004 Chevy Astro Van at $649,595?

2009 Audi Q5 offered at $436,999?

Any takers?  These are great margins if you can get them.

I was on the CARS.COM website portal today and was laughing at some of the data entry errors.

I'm not sure what is going on at CARS.COM today but this is just too funny.  Data entry Q&A must be on summer recess.