With just a few days before 2012 arrives and I celebrate my 50th birthday in January, I wanted to know if you have made any special New Years Resolutions?

Personally, I don't wait till New Years to make changes or new commitments in my life but traditionally this time of year we talk about change.  

So what do you want to change?

Making a Shift in 2012

I love to write and most of my writings are about marketing, advertising, and strategy for the car business but today I wanted to shift to something more important.  Your health and success in 2012.

Two years ago this week I made a commitment to change my lifestyle so I am talking from experience.    After two years of success it is time to lead others to a better life in the years ahead.

Two years ago I was sitting in fromt of a computer for 12-15 hours a day building my business and ignoring my health.  I belived that I did not have time to exercise or eat better.  I was convinced that diving into my career was the best thing I could do with my time.

In the afternoon my energy levels crashed and I often felt the need to take a nap during the day. I was also gaining a few pounds each year and in 2009 reached 211 pounds.  I looked in the mirror in December 2009 and I finally was disgusted with how I looked.   I didn't know then how important that day really was for my personal life or my business.

30 pounds lighter and with renewable energy, I thought it was time to challenge my friends in the industry to rethink how they are taking care of their bodies.

Investing The First Hour Of The Day

I was blessed to find a trainer and personal coach that changed my life.  Rick Ivone helped me to achieve so much in the last 2 years that I will be forever grateful.  He unlocked my potential that I had bured with the activity of my work.

The end result of this change was not less time for work but actually more!  I had more energy, focus, and a new vision for my business.  

If I had not change my life I would NOT have been able to keep the pace of my growing business.  If you have been following my travels, you can understand what I mean.

I would have been a diabetic if I had not changed by lifestyle. Anyone who has diabetes knows how that disease changes your life!

Do you have dreams, goals, and desires that may or may not be realized yet?  If you are truly looking to acheive greatest in your life, you have to invest in yourself first.  That's before your wife, family, kids, or your boss. 

I take the first hour of most days for myself in the gym, running, or just walking.  It has been the best investment I have made in my first 50 years of living.  This investment has enabled me to serve my family, friends, and co-workers with more passion, energy, and creativity.

Do You Feel Like Crap?

I can't tell you how many people I meet as I travel that are lethargic, overweight, exhausted, and some even admit to feeling like shit on a regular basis.  

Many of these friends are just not taking care of their bodies yet they wonder why they can't "keep up" with life.  They wonder why they have moved to the "next level" of success.  

Do you realize that with exercise and the proper fuel (food), we can think clearer, radiate more positive energy, and engage life with power.  Limping through each day is not the trademark of a winner.

Are you just getting through the day?

Tired of feeling tired?  Unhappy with your current energy levels?  Need to get started on that "big" idea?  How about investing in a personal makeover in 2012.  Are you ready?

Getting Started?

Start by making a commitment to read a book a month in 2012.  That will start to shift your mental state.  If you email me I will send you a list of some great books that have helped to change my life.

One powerful inspirational book is Grant Cardone's "The 10X Rule".  If you are a manager of teams of people, I would recommend "Multipliers: How The Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter". If you want to learn how to better serve your family, friends, and business associates I recommend "The Go-Giver". 

Readers can suggest a few titles as well in the comments area below.

Then make a commitment to move your body each day.  Invest the first hour of each day for yourself.  In the automotive industry we tend to have jobs that place us behind a desk or standing in a limited area with little movement.  That will never change so you have to change by getting your investment completed BEFORE you get in the office.  Once you get sucked into the demands of the day, it is very HARD to leave on a set schedule each day.

Getting The Right Motivation

If you are attending the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference you will also have the opportunity to get some fitness advice from two people that I admire.  

Todd Durkin, who trains top athletes, like NFL star Drew Breeze, will be speaking to the conference on February 1st and also conducting a morning training program on February 2nd.  Todd lives by three words: Passion, Purpose, & Impact.

My trainer and coach Rick Ivone will also be in attendance to run a fitness program each morning.    Both of these men will be there to help attendees with a new focus for their physical and mental health for 2012.

Is investing in your mental and physical health in 2012 that important?  After two years of change I would have to firmly say YES.  

Ask anyone who has lost their health or their ability to have a clear mind if they regret not taking care of themselves.  Don't live a life of regrets.  Make the change now.

And if you already invest in your health, bravo!  Share you turn around story or how your investment has paid you back over time.  

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

Have you been able to quantify how much Autotrader, Cars.com, or other third party classified websites contribute to your dealership's ability to sell more cars?  

Have you questioned the importance of alternative classified websites like Craigslist or Ebay?  

I started off with these questions because if you are a car dealer using any of these services, you most likely have been frustrated getting answers on the ROI of third party classified websites.  

Industry leaders like Dennis Galbraith have rightly suggested that dealers should look at Vehicle Detail Page (VDP) views per month and SRP's as one benchmark of value.  (Read Article)

Dealers frankly, wanted more confirmation and I'll let you decide if this is another way to confirm your digital marketing investments.

Your Best Kept Secret

Today, we have some other ways to look at your best kept secrets!  Why do I use the term secret to describe your digital investments that everyone knows about?  For years, dealers have only had a partial understanding regarding the source of their website traffic.   

What I have found out is that there are Secret Santas bearing gifts to dealers that they did not know about!  Would you like to find our who your Secret Santas are?  I'll show you, but let's see why dealers didn't know this is the past.

Dealers were told to look at "referring" website statistics, which is the LAST website that brought a consumer to your website.  What we did not see is what other websites influenced their behavior during the Zero Moment of Truth.

Autotrader Assisted Conversions

Consider this flow diagram below:

This diagram illustrates a consumer who was first exposed to dealer inventory on Autotrader and then did a Google search and then typed into the dealers website address.  Traditionally, Google Analytics would show this consumer is a "direct visitor" and Autotrader would not get any credit.  

It is clear now that Autotrader did influence this visit.  In this example, it is not unreasonable to consider that the consumer got the dealer's name from the VDP listing, did a search and went to their main website.  In this example, Autotrader is the dealer's Secret Santa.

Autotrader in this shopping funnel example is part of a group of steps called Assisted Conversions.  Multi-Channel Funnel conversions are linked to "goals".  Google Analytics goals can be set to represent a lead being submitted.  

Goals can also be created for any other behavior you want to measure.  Goals can be set to trigger when a consumer views your used car inventory listing page, which could give you insights to what sources are driving traffic to view your inventory.

Finding Your Best Kept Secrets

Take a look at a section of the Google Multi Channel Sales Funnel reports for a Mazda dealer and you can see how much richer the consumer shopping experience can be documented.  Your best kept secret may just be the service that you were considering canceling.  For this dealer, it is obvious that Craiglist is also one of their Secret Santas!

Create A Robust Set of Channel Rules

Taking a look at how I setup these "Channel Rules" below, you will see that I included rules for the OEM website, Group Website, and you can make rules for all your digital investments.    This is just a small snapshot of data from the larger dataset so not all Assisting Conversion websites were displayed in the report above.    

I'll be presenting a complete report of insights that I have discovered at 2012 DMSC, but here is an example of the rules that I setup for this dealer:

Are You Using Multi Channel Sales Funnels?

I've been writing about Google Multi-Channel Sales Funnels for the past few months and I am preparing to share my findings at the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) in Las Vegas, February 1-3rd.  I wanted to give you a sneak peek on what this new tool is showing car dealers and how this impacts their marketing investments.

I believe that data provided from free tools like this and richer data sets provided by Dataium, will make 2012 the year of dealership analytics.  I believe that progressive dealers, when presented with opportunities like show above, will want to look into how their marketing investments are truly paying off.

Don't miss this opportunity to gain better insights into your existing website traffic and your chance to find your Secret Santa!

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

Have you ever wanted to see which websites and influences during the Zero Moment of Truth resulted in the highest conversions or achieved goals set by your marketing strategy?  

Do you want more information on which websites are "assisting" conversion so you can properly give them credit?

I wrote about Google Analytics Multi-Channel Sales Funnels in the past, but as I have been tinkering with the setup, it is clear that dealers should take action for better visibility in 2012.

So If you want to have greater visibility of the ROI on your 2012 Digital Marketing Investments, follow these 4 steps:

1. Make Sure Analytics and Adwords Are Linked

In order to fully leverage the Google Analytics data which will show the digital influences that result in the most conversions, you need to link Google Analytics and Adwords. If you are NOT using Adwords, then add that as a fifth step for 2012 action items.  

You can read how to Link Google Adwords to Analytics on the Google support forum. The linking allows conversions (lead forms) from Adwords to be tracked in the Multi Channel Sales Funnel reports.  Google Analytics "goals" can also be imported into Adwords for additional insights into your Adwords ROI.

2. Make Sure Conversion Tracking Is Setup in Adwords

You will want to be make sure that when a consumer submits a lead on your website from Adwords, that that conversion is tracked.  Google Adwords provides the tracking website "code" which your website provider must install.  If your website provider has technology that can't support conversion tracking, get a new website platform.

Oddly, many Adwords accounts that I view do not have conversion code installed.  Without conversion code, you are shooting blindly with your Adwords dollars.

3. Setup Google Analytics Goals

Leads are only one aspect of website traffic that you will want to track.  There are many reasons why you would like to see which influences create a more engaged visitor.  That engagement level can be measured in time on site or by the number of pages viewed.   You may be also interested to see which influences drive consumers to specific landing pages that have value to your marketing strategy.

4. Setup Channel Rules To Track Specific Influencers

In the graphic above, you can see that Google preloads a number of rules that can help identify that types of websites that can assist in a conversion. Those are rules 1-7 shown above.

I am suggesting that dealers add a number of rules that specifically apply to the automotive business.  You can setup a rule for your classified partners, blogs, social media sites, charitable endeavors, etc.

If you use a third party email services, you can create a rule to identify visitors from your email vendor.  This will allow you to see what email blast visitors look like in the sales funnel compared to organic visitors or PPC visitors.

By setting up these rules, you can see graphically which websites in the ZMOT are assisting the most with conversions that you predefine.  Google will display consumer interaction with these sites only for the last 30 days.

Setup A Stronger Digital Strategy for 2012

I hope you found this Analytics feature helpful in defining a better set of reports and processes to inspect your marketing investments in 2012.  Don't snooze on this great opportunity for better visibility into your existing website traffic.

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

The automotive industry is buzzing about TrueCar^© and their business model.  Critics say that the customer sales data and transaction prices, pulled from their DMS by TrueCar.com, are being used against dealers.  Advocates claim that TrueCar arms consumers with data and pricing that will get them the best deal.

Dealers who have decided to continue using TrueCar^© that I interviewed remarked "Close your eyes Brian, it's just a numbers game!".  Should I be surprised at this response when OEM goals are focused on volume and not dealership profits?  

Other current users who are selling cars through the program remarked, "I want to get off the drug (TrueCar^©/ZAG^©) but I'm afraid."  

I have also heard a similar comment referring to TV, Radio, and Newspaper investments that dealers have used for years. 

This fear based comment is what sparked this article.

This post is not designed to continue the heated discussion about TrueCar^© on a different thread.  I wanted to challenge dealers that there are alternatives to generating leads if they decide not to participate with third party agents.  

There is a bigger problem at play that is supporting the existence of TrueCar^© that needs to be addressed.

Before You Kick The Dog

A majority of dealership marketing budgets are allocated to radio, TV, and newspaper, in some combination, despite research that shows that most car buyers will visit the dealership website and 18 other Internet sites before calling submitting a lead, or coming into the showroom.  (Zero Moment of Truth)

This behavior is the real story behind the TrueCar^© dilemma.  If dealers had a strong digital marketing strategy that they owned, they would be less reliant on any third party solution.  They would be generating more first party leads and not reliant on leads distributed to multiple dealers in their market.

Should I Cancel Autotrader?

No, I have not lost focus on the main story!  I want to connect a predictable behavior at 20 Group meetings across the US with this story.  It is inevitable when I give a workshop of digital marketing strategy that I am asked:

"If I do the things you are recommending, can I cancel  Autotrader and Cars.com?"

After years of not having a great answer to this question, I believe I now have an educated response.  Autotrader and Cars.com are not the big problem in car dealer budgets.  In fact, they are probably the LAST thing a typical dealer should consider eliminating.

For thousands of dealers AutoTrader and Cars.com represent the majority of the digital marketing strategy.  If you include a few dollars for Google Adwords spending, many dealers think they have maximized their online strategy.  This is the crux of the problem.  This is not a winning strategy.

Dealers love to hate Autotrader and Cars.com but fail to see that their own addiction to drugs (traditional media) is the bigger problem.   They say that Autotrader.com does not generate enough leads, making it expensive.  After looking at hundreds of budgets during our Automotive ZMOT Study that was started in September, dealers should be more mad at their own investments in Radio, TV, and Print.

Before dealers kick their third party digital vendors, they should take a hard look at the actions, or lack of action,  that have created their dependency.   This is why this applies to TrueCar^© regardless if you don't like their business model.  

Traditional Advertising Costs To Generate a Visitor

Take a minute to follow me on a calculation to approximate marketing costs and website traffic.

Let's first start with one building block:  Most of your customers who purchase a car will visit your website BEFORE they purchase a car.

Not all, I said most.

If you can agree on this point, we can look at Google Analytics and your call tracking logs as a proxy for marketing investments.

The second point of agreement we need to have is how to approximate the impact of traditional advertising.  Let's look at one example below.

I recently visited a dealer that invested heavily in radio and TV to comunicate their unique brand message and also to promote their website address.  They did not advertise price or payments.  Their unique selling proposition always included their website address and of course their dealership name.

If we were very generous in regards to their $50,000 a month traditional Radio and TV investment, we could take all the visitor traffic on Google Analytics that included a search on the Dealership Name as well as Direct Traffic.  

Direct traffic is when the consumer typed in the website address directly.  We could also count how many calls were generated by a tracking number assigned to traditional media.

The dealership was running a Google Adwords campaign at $2,500 a month which easily gives a cost per visitor.   The dealership also was investing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), DealerRater.com, Cars.com, Autotrader.com, and 3rd Party Leads. 

• - The cost per visitor for their Adwords was: $1.50
• - The cost per visitor from their Traditional Media was: $18.65

Despite these numbers, the dealership budget was 63% Traditional Advertising.  The Dealer was also spending 25% of their budget on Third Party Classifieds and Leads.  88% of their budget was managed by generic advertising partners with little control on making their dealership unique in the Zero Moment of Truth. 

• - Looking at these numbers, wouldn't you think that the dealership would increase their Google Adwords spending to generate more first party leads at a lower cost?
• - Would you think the dealer would have invested in an IRM or Video Marketing Strategy?
• - Would you think that the dealer would look at their Cost per VDP view on Autotrader.com and Cars.com and compare how these investments merchandise their inventory compared to radio, TV, and print?

The Dealership Digital Strategy

This dealer really didn't have a digital strategy that differentiate themselves from other local dealers.  What they had was a traditional marketing strategy with a sprinkle of EASY digital expenses that they were "uncomfortable" with generating a good ROI.  

No one took the time to look at the cost to get interested shoppers to their website.  

It's too easy to avoid arguing with the dealer principal who may be addicted to traditional media drugs, right?

So, if this is the rule rather than the exception, it's easy to see why dealers use third party lead generations websites, including TrueCar^© to hit their sales goals.   They don't feel that they have an alternative.  Selling cars now is all that matters to dealers on the 30 day gerbil wheel. 

I go back to the one dealer comment "It's all about volume!".

If dealerships took more leadership in their online strategy, the third party partners remaining would be people who added value and not out of fear or obligation.  Dealers would be empowered to cut anyone who did not support their brand or delivered ROI.

That's the story behind the TrueCar^© story.  If dealers had the balls to change their marketing investments to connect with where consumers shop, they would have more first party leads and be more in control of their business.  They would be able to opt-out of TrueCar if they felt the company was a competitor because they had strong alternative digital strategies.

Dealers who hate the TrueCar^© model and stay with the program may do so because they feel that they have no alternatives.  The truth is that they have alternatives. 

It takes courage to get off drugs (traditional media over spending)  and focus on the investments that have the best ROI today.  

For this dealer, Cars.com and Autotrader.com had a better ROI than the radio and TV investments this dealer was making.  Is that a surprise?  Stop kicking the wrong dog.

Do You Need A Digital Strategy?

If this story reminds you of your dealership, isn't it time to roll-up your sleeves and create a First party lead strategy?  Isn't it time to have a stronger presence during the Zero Moment of Truth?

One place to start is to attend the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) on February 1-3rd just prior to NADA.

You can register online before tickets are sold out by visiting http://www.digitalmarketingstrategies.org.

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

* ZAG^© and TrueCar^© copyright True Car Inc.

I was checking into a local restaurant with Four Square in Atlanta and I was presented with a new screen sponsored by American Express.

The program is called "Shop Small".

The promotion was supporting small businesses with a twist: Amex will credit MY card based on my checkin and payment with an Amex Card.  

So, my friend took me out to Cafe Sunflower in Atlanta and when I checked in, I was presented with an offer to save $10.

Linking My Amex Card

I had to link my Amex Card to activate the promotion and then charge the meal with my Amex Card.

I decided to follow the process and it was very easy.  I entered by Amex Card number and was quickly linked to Amex. This "loaded" the special.

Once I unlocked this special and the only thing I had to do is pay for the meal on my Amex card.

I had a great meal at Cafe Sunflower and when the check was presented, I paid with my Amex card.

I few minutes later, I received a message on my iPhone as shown on the third photo on the right.  It was a surprise how fast the actually happened.

Local Based Marketing

I was very impressed at the process and how location based marketing worked with Amex.  This was a clear BENEFIT of being an Amex card member.

I felt that AMEX reached out to me to offer this benefit.  They also offered this program at the Mexican restaurant I had lunch with today.

Something is brewing.  This is very proactive and it felt very good.  If it feels very good, should it be something that dealers should investigate?

Using Location Based Marketing?

I suggest that your dealership investigate local based marketing opportunities.  The strategies may vary from high-line brands to entry level brands. 

I have some ideas on this but I would like to hear what you have to say.  I want to recognize Eric Miltsch for being a pioneer in educating dealers about location based marketing.

Does the fact that consumers buy cars every 3 years nullify these proactive offers?  

Should location based marketing be used for service?

What say you?

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

Google Offers is now in Beta testing, have you taken a look at this new advertising platform?  Will you be considering Google Offers in your 2012 automotive advertising strategy?

I am in Atlanta surfing the web and clicked on a PPC banner ad that was running in CNN.com as shown on the screen capture below.  The PPC banner is in the upper right corner.

I had not previously signed up for Google Offers so I thought it was a good time to check it out.

When I clicked on the Google Ad, I was given the option to sign-up for offers in Atlanta.  Since I am normally not in Atlanta, I clicked on the drop-down menu to see which other cities were covered in the Google Offers beta.   Once you find a city of interest, you can SUBSCRIBEto those offers.

If you are already logged into your Google account, the subscription process is seamless.  If you are not logged into your Google account or do not have one, it is easy to signup.  You do not need a Google email address to subscribe to Google offers. 

Cities In Beta

From the list in the drop-down menu you can see if any of these cities is where your business in located.

I decided to see what local offers where being presented to consumers and the first ad was for an automotive service center.

Since it was an automotive offer, I decided to document what i saw and share it with the automotive community.

Google Offers may be something to look for your business if the business model is attractive.

I'm not prepared to discuss or share the costs of Google Offers but I will do some research since Google seems to be picking up their advertising campaign.

Automotive Service Deals on Google Offers

The offer that I was presented with from the Atlanta area is shown below:

The ad also had a tab for "Look Inside" which was a 360 Degree photos walk-around tool which showed the service area of the shop.  I think I would have selected a different photo to use in this feature.   I don't know how long this link to the ad will work, but you can check it out yourself:  Google Offers Atlanta

Paying For Google Offers

 If you click on the BUY NOW button, and if you are logged into your Google Account, you will be taken to Google Wallet.

This is a payment platform that competes with Paypal.

You can start to see how Google is morphing into new ways to monetize their search marketing platform.  In some ways, they are becoming an advertising agency for small business owners who don't have the resources and strategy to leverage digital marketing.

How will car dealers utilize Google Offers and Google Wallet?  That is too early to tell but I thought I would start the discussion.

If you are in one of the BETA markets and are planning on testing Google Offers, keep me in the loop on your success.

Questions For Google Automotive Team?

The Google Automotive team will also be at the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) on February 1-3rd, so we will be asking them specific questions on how car dealers can leverage their latest marketing tools and strategies.  The conversation will be lively. 

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

With all the discussion about Google Places lately it is clear that it is an important source for connecting with consumers in the Zero Moment of Truth.  

I got a call yesterday from Joe Webb asking about a review feature in Google Places that most people do not know about.  

It is the "Best Ever" rating for a business.  

Would you like to have people in your community vote your dealership as "Best Ever"?  I hope so.

Best Ever Ratings In Google

To see the Best Ever rating button, you have to go to Google HotPot.  The link is:  www.google.com/hotpot

HotPot is the WEB based tool to track and manage your reviews and favorite on Google Places.

This is my HotPot summary page, which shows that I rated 37 businesses and wrote 33 reviews on my Google Account. 

Placing The Best Ever Review

In order to vote a business as "Best Ever" you first need to find their Google Places tile, as shown above.  You can search for your business name and the tile will appear.  

Tip: You can also bookmark this page on your iPad to encourage your customers to vote as well.

Google account holders have 10 precious votes to place.  When you hover over the "Blue Ribbon" button, Google will show you how many votes you have left.

In the example on the right, I have 9 votes left and if I clicked on the Blue Ribbon button for Norman Chrysler Jeep Dodge, I would have 8 votes left.

What Do These Special Votes Do?

These "Best Ever" votes show up on the Google Places page and they may enhance search results in the future as Google focuses on optimized local search.

If you have an in-store reputation management process in place, this step can be added for passionate customers that have a Google account. 

Here is an example for Undici Restaurant which shows  how these special reviews show up on the Google Places page.  

If you hover over the ribbon, it tells the consumer what it represents.  

It will be interesting to see how this evolves as Google cleans up Google Places technology and move stronger into the review business.

Whether you use this special button or not, your dealership needs to get reviews on Google Places, and this is just icing on the cake.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

I'm back on the Google Beat covering the latest discoveries for the automotive industry on search marketing strategy.  

I want to thank DrivingSales member Craig Waikem for commenting on my blog post about new Google PPC Adwords formats that collect email addresses. 

What Craig shared was a landing page that was displayed when he clicked on a Google Adwords advertisement.  

It looks like Honda and Google are testing a number of new initiatives and not just Adwords formats with built-in email collection 

What I saw was very chilling because of the Copyright at the bottom of the page:  Copyright 2011 Google Inc.

Google Co-Ops Automotive Classified Pages

The page in question can be found on this link:  http://automobiles.honda.com/certified-search/google/.  It is sitting on the Honda marketing website and it is a vehicle listing page that is very similar to what Cars.com, Autotrader.com, Everycarlisted.com and other classified websites display.

The page inserted by local ZIP CODE automatically  based on my IP address and displayed Honda cars nearby my home, as shown below:

When you click on a vehicle, the vehicle detail page (VDP) looks like this:

Enhanced Pay Per Click Marketing Tools

It looks that Google is helping manufacturers (Honda) like an advertising agency, to create classified advertising campaigns. What would prevent Google from taking this one step further and create an entire network of car inventory listing website for all OEM's.

Is this something that the larger automotive classified websites should be worried about?  Google obviously has access to Honda dealer inventory.  

Should automotive advertising agencies be the one more worried?  This microsite advertising model looks like a Tier 2 project (i.e. www.buyatoyota.com) that other companies offer. Tier 2 Automotive Advertising vendors should wake up and take notice that Google wants that business.

Should Google have more sepratation between their search platform and their advertising products? Is this example ripe for being accused of placing their own marketing services above others and drawing anti-trust concerns?

How Was Google's SEO Score?

On a side note, I looked at the Page Source and the SEO tags are awful. This is a PPC landing page and most likely viewed as a dynamic websites with temporary pages not to be indexed.  I was hoping to see how new techniques to help search indexing of Vehicle Detail Pages!

What do you think about this design and business model?  Is Google crossing some of its top advertising partners?

Change is in the air....and as always I will do my best to keep you ahead of the curve. 

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

I've been actively writing about the weekly changes that seem to be impacting Google SERP and Google Places.  

Are you getting dizzy by the work needed to keep Google Places up to date?  I won't even mention the pain that many dealers have been having with Merged Listings!

One of the MOST crazy changes is that in many markets, the Google Places Business Name is being over-written with the dealer's Home Page Title tag.  

This makes no sense since many websites are not optimized and have no proper Title Tag in place.  

The Denver dealers listed below now have CRAPPY business names and descriptions?  Why is Google asking for the business name and description in Google Places and not using it??  Obviously, the Google team needs to step back and get feedback from the business community.

Until this is fixed and if this applies to your listing, I would update the HOME PAGE title and meta description on your website immediately.

Local Search Results Getting Stronger and Cleaner

Today I was looking at some searches in the Miami market, and a search phrase like "Honda Miami" did NOT pull up Google Places.  It normally does.

In other markets, like typing in "Honda Denver" Google Places does show.  Google Places is not consistent, have you noticed?

But the point I want to make is that when Google Places does not show, the results are very "clean".  Oddly clean.

The results were just like Google Places, in that the results were WAY TO CLEAN and ORDERED for my trained eye.  What I mean is that 9 out of 10 of the organic listings were the primary websites of OEM Honda dealers.  

These sterilized results are not representative of what Google SERP have looked like a year ago.   

It is clear that Google is localizing search better and may be using third party validation and not just SEO to create a SERP.  In the past, this page would have third party classified websites, press releases, and blog posts.  

What is consistent, is that the only non dealer primary website in list is an exact matching microsite. (http://www.hondamiami.org)   Now I have watched the video Matt Cutts filmed that said that Google will "weight' domain names less in organic search, but my experience is different.

Digital Marketing Vigilance

I bring this up to make the point that Google seems to be making visible changes on a weekly basis that impact your digital marketing strategy.  Google Places has become a magnetic for organic clicks which is reducing visitors to third party microsites that once easily apepared on Page One.

SEO strategies need to evolve and get more aggressive and that include more of an emphasis on Video SEO strategies. 

Have you seen how much organic search results have been changing?   If you need a better mousetrap, give me a call.

Share you challenges and success stories here.

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch

If you have been wondering why your Google Places analytics data has been light in November, it looks like there is a systemwide data evaporation across the Google network from November 20th thru November 27th.

I also have found this problem being discussed online on this Google support thread.  

This BUG impacts the month of November analysis so don't panic.  It looks like it has been fixed and data is being collected and reported.

This was actually discovered because we got a call from Alex Jefferson from Proctor Honda and it forced us to dive into the situation.  

Thank you Alex for alerting this problem and now we can advise the automotive community.

As much as I try to keep up with things pertaining to Google, any time someone sees something odd, please send me a note to:  brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com . 

It's great when we all work together to solve what seems to be the greatest puzzle of all time:  Google.

Google Places In Your Digital Strategy

Google Places is a very important aspect of your Page One Defense (POD Score) as well as your online reputation marketing.  If you have not invested in merchandizing and optimizing your Google Places page, this is a wake-up call to get that done.

At the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference there will be specific workshops that cover Google Places optimization, Google Adwords Express, and In-Store Reputation Management processes which are connected with Google Places.  Don't miss the opportunity to stand out from local dealers during the Zero Moment of Truth.

Brian 

Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences
Brian Pasch