In October, 2013, I posted a controversial article about the differences between responsive and adaptive websites and came to the conclusion that, at that time, properly coded adaptive websites were performing better than responsive websites in the automotive arena. I stand by that assertion as long as the timestamp is attached. In other words, adaptive was better in the automotive industry than responsive in October, 2013.

Today, I am happily reversing my opinion. The industry has caught up. There are a handful of companies in our space that have not only improved on the earlier iterations that I did not like but who have taken their responsive sites beyond the adaptive sites that were performing phenomenally well. It's not that adaptive sites are bad or that they've fallen off at all. Today, the responsive sites (and the numbers attached to their results for dealers) have surpassed their adaptive counterparts.

The real difference in the platforms that I have seen launched in recent months compared to the original batch of automotive responsive website designers is that they seem to have followed (coincidentally, I'm sure) a different assertion I made a week after the original post that dealers and their vendors should build websites for mobile first. Mobile is today. It's getting bigger tomorrow.

Responsive websites that are built to accommodate the demands and limitations of mobile devices do not lose out on desktop functionality. If anything, today's savvy buyer has grown accustomed to a more mobile experience on their desktops and appreciate the simplicity that such design brings to the table.

I am dying to name some of the companies that I have looked at over the last few months that have impressed me with their designs and website management tools, but now is not the time. There are five strong responsive design firms that have impressed the heck out of me lately. Two are well known. Two are less known. One is pretty much unknown in the industry. I won't name them because I have yet to do a comprehensive review of everyone's platform. Considering that there are about 50 players in the automotive website arena, it's likely that I will never make it through them all.

In lieu of recommendations or direct endorsements, I'll keep it simple and show you what you should be considering...

• Speed and User Experience: While I have never been big on "quality test" sites that spit out a score about how good your website is, Google has a pretty good one out there with their PageSpeed Insights. The desktop component isn't a huge deal but look at both numbers in mobile - Speed and User Experience. Shoot for a speed over 50 as a bare minimum and the UX should be high, preferably over 90.
• Mobile-Only Functionality: One of the arguments that adaptive website providers make is that you can't put mobile functionality such as "Click to Call" or GPS-enabled navigation on responsive sites. This isn't true, though most of the responsive sites that I have seen do not take advantage of this. You can have that sort of unique functionality appear on your responsive sites when they are on a mobile screen and have them not available on a desktop. If you're considering responsive, ask your vendor if this is the case for their sites.
• Morphing Buttons: Many of the buttons on desktop websites are square. This doesn't lend to an effective mobile translation most of the times because they are too big to see on a single mobile screen. When a responsive website is rendered on a small screen, those large buttons should "morph" into mobile-friendlier buttons, preferably long rectangles that are still big enough for those of us with fat fingers.
• Intelligent Navigation Bars: Just like with the buttons, the navigation bars at the top that are so easy to use on desktop often become a challenge on mobile devices. Most responsive websites stack the navigation options when viewed on a small screen. This is a mistake. Instead, there should be a transition to a drop-down menu for the mobile experience. It should be at the top right and be easy to push for us fat-fingered-folks.
• Remove of "Extras": Even though we'd like to think that everything on our website is of vital importance to our visitors, there are always "fillers" that make sense on desktops but not on mobile. For example, that scrolling display of all of your vehicle types (you know, the one that gets somewhere south of 20 clicks per month) should not be taking up space on mobile. It' fine for desktops but make for a bad mobile experience. Remember, mobile is about getting to the point.

There are plenty of other things that I could go into regarding what to look for in a responsive website design, but I'll leave it off where it is and add a single closing thought: a great adaptive website is still better than a good (or bad) responsive website. Let the numbers guide you in your decision. It's about getting leads and driving more people to your inventory both online and offline. Make sure that the experience they're receiving in their mobile exploration of your website is better than any of your competitors. It makes a difference.

Inbound links still matter. Despite what you may here from SEO gurus around our industry, the power of high-quality, relevant, and natural inbound links to a dealer's website is still apparent. Google's Matt Cutts acknowledged that in the long run, this may not be the case.

That day, however, is not today.

Google is reportedly in the middle of a 10-year plan to discount links from the search algorithm. The best guess is that they're at about year 5 of this plan, which means that we still have another half-decade to make the adjustment. Many of us already are, but that does not mean that links should not be a part of the overall strategy.

Earn them. Use them appropriately. Avoid anything spammy or unnatural. Focus on incredible content that can get people to link to you rather than schemes or techniques for building them. That's what we do. That's what you should be doing as well.

Here's the video from Cutts answering the question recently about inbound links.

Inbound links still matter. Despite what you may here from SEO gurus around our industry, the power of high-quality, relevant, and natural inbound links to a dealer's website is still apparent. Google's Matt Cutts acknowledged that in the long run, this may not be the case.

That day, however, is not today.

Google is reportedly in the middle of a 10-year plan to discount links from the search algorithm. The best guess is that they're at about year 5 of this plan, which means that we still have another half-decade to make the adjustment. Many of us already are, but that does not mean that links should not be a part of the overall strategy.

Earn them. Use them appropriately. Avoid anything spammy or unnatural. Focus on incredible content that can get people to link to you rather than schemes or techniques for building them. That's what we do. That's what you should be doing as well.

Here's the video from Cutts answering the question recently about inbound links.

For years, many social media "gurus" have been talking about the power of social media being its popularity. It's huge and getting huger. People spend so much time on it. Dealers need to as well, right?

While that's partially true, it's really not in the size or reach of social media that the real benefit can be garnered. That's the catalyst, not the goal. The real goal is achieved by taking advantage of the huge amounts of data that social media's popularity gives it. Sites like Facebook know more about us than just about anyone, even Google. If it wasn't for the NSA, Facebook would probably hold the crown for knowing the most about our personal lives.

It isn't just in what we tell them, either. Social media sites have purchased or otherwise acquired vast amounts of data from companies like Datalogix, a Polk partner. This data, which can help dealers target people who are intending to make a purchase of a particular make or model in the near future, can be very beneficial for putting the right message in front of the right people at the right time.

As you craft your social media strategy, be sure to focus on the things that can make your targeting smaller, not larger. While there is definitely benefit in reaching as many locals as possible with certain messages, it's in the smallness of the data targeting that dealers can really take advantage of what Facebook and other social media sites have to offer.

For years, many social media "gurus" have been talking about the power of social media being its popularity. It's huge and getting huger. People spend so much time on it. Dealers need to as well, right?

While that's partially true, it's really not in the size or reach of social media that the real benefit can be garnered. That's the catalyst, not the goal. The real goal is achieved by taking advantage of the huge amounts of data that social media's popularity gives it. Sites like Facebook know more about us than just about anyone, even Google. If it wasn't for the NSA, Facebook would probably hold the crown for knowing the most about our personal lives.

It isn't just in what we tell them, either. Social media sites have purchased or otherwise acquired vast amounts of data from companies like Datalogix, a Polk partner. This data, which can help dealers target people who are intending to make a purchase of a particular make or model in the near future, can be very beneficial for putting the right message in front of the right people at the right time.

As you craft your social media strategy, be sure to focus on the things that can make your targeting smaller, not larger. While there is definitely benefit in reaching as many locals as possible with certain messages, it's in the smallness of the data targeting that dealers can really take advantage of what Facebook and other social media sites have to offer.

Facebook is about as crowded as any marketing venue on the internet. There might be hundreds of sites vying for keywords that pertain to you on search (and no, having millions of results does not mean that they're all going for that keyword) and dozens of dealers selling cars in your local area on the classified sites, but there are thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of people to contend with in the Facebook news feed within your community. It's hard.

A prospect of ours was really trying at social media. They were posting great content on Facebook and the other sites, following a good chunk of the best practices out there, and even boosting a post every now and then. However, their reach, traffic sent to their website, and overall presence on social media was above average at best. They needed ads. They needed well-managed, properly positioned ads.

They needed the bullhorn in order to break through the noise that is omnipresent of Facebook.

We've seen the opposite situation in the automotive industry as well. Unlike most other forms of advertising, the message plays a huge role in the effectiveness of the advertising. Throwing money at poor posts or advertising good posts the wrong way can be less effective than not advertising at all and can actually have a negative effect on your presence. Once you have the bullhorn, you have to use it the right way or Facebook will slowly, methodically take it away. Your posts that were getting thousand of views from $10 in advertising will soon be getting hundreds. Eventually, you can kill your page's "love from the algorithm" to the point that the dollars spent are only helping you reach dozens of people. Quality matters in Facebook advertising.

Facebook is "pay-to-play". The other networks are heading in the same direction. Maximizing your effectiveness and using social media to sell more cars can only be accomplished by combining the two components: quality and volume. The right message spoken without volume won't reach the right people. The wrong message blasted out through the advertising bullhorn can do even more damage. The two go hand-in-hand.

Facebook is about as crowded as any marketing venue on the internet. There might be hundreds of sites vying for keywords that pertain to you on search (and no, having millions of results does not mean that they're all going for that keyword) and dozens of dealers selling cars in your local area on the classified sites, but there are thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of people to contend with in the Facebook news feed within your community. It's hard.

A prospect of ours was really trying at social media. They were posting great content on Facebook and the other sites, following a good chunk of the best practices out there, and even boosting a post every now and then. However, their reach, traffic sent to their website, and overall presence on social media was above average at best. They needed ads. They needed well-managed, properly positioned ads.

They needed the bullhorn in order to break through the noise that is omnipresent of Facebook.

We've seen the opposite situation in the automotive industry as well. Unlike most other forms of advertising, the message plays a huge role in the effectiveness of the advertising. Throwing money at poor posts or advertising good posts the wrong way can be less effective than not advertising at all and can actually have a negative effect on your presence. Once you have the bullhorn, you have to use it the right way or Facebook will slowly, methodically take it away. Your posts that were getting thousand of views from $10 in advertising will soon be getting hundreds. Eventually, you can kill your page's "love from the algorithm" to the point that the dollars spent are only helping you reach dozens of people. Quality matters in Facebook advertising.

Facebook is "pay-to-play". The other networks are heading in the same direction. Maximizing your effectiveness and using social media to sell more cars can only be accomplished by combining the two components: quality and volume. The right message spoken without volume won't reach the right people. The wrong message blasted out through the advertising bullhorn can do even more damage. The two go hand-in-hand.

I really don't know who I'm going to offend on this one. We've been researching so many vendors over the last couple of months that work with chat, lead-gen widgets, and website platforms themselves that we haven't taken the time to explore PPC vendors. Maybe that's why I was blindsided to find out that there are at least two vendors out there charging 20% and one that we found who is charging 25%.

Is it me or is this insane? We'll put aside the 25% vendor for now. I'm hopeful that it's some sort of accounting mistake or something. Focusing on the 20% charge, it really bugs me that this may be more common than I ever knew. I've always hung around the organic side of search, so PPC hasn't been a focus. With that said, I've managed dozens of PPC campaigns over the years and I could never imagine charging anything other than a flat fee.

To me (and again, I might be on the wrong side of this argument and would be very open to some education on this one), if a dealership is spending $10,000 per month on their PPC, $2,000 of it going to management seems high. If the software is driving the bidding and the feeds are generating the dynamic ads, wouldn't it seem that very little manual effort and development costs are going into the service on a monthly basis?

I've always been a fan of flat fee PPC management because of transparency. I want to be able to recommend to a dealer that they raise their budget without them wondering if I'm just trying to make more money and I want to be able to recommend that they reduce their budget without reducing my service fee. To me, adjusting a budget is a matter of changing a number or two in the backend and I cannot justify charging hundreds of dollars more per month for clicking a few buttons.

Here's the math:

• 20% service fee
• $10,000 per month initial budget
• Dealer wants to raise to a $12,000 per month budget
• Vendor clicks a few buttons, adjust some daily budgets
• Additional monthly cost for clicking those buttons: $400/month
• Yes, that's $4,800 a year for 5-10 minutes of effort

I'll say it again. I'm willing to hear why I'm wrong. I'd love to see the additional monthly effort that goes into a bigger budget. If that's not the case, I'm open to hearing why the cost is justified. If there are vendors out there charging a lower percentage or a flat fee that dealers (or vendors) are willing to recommend, I'd love to hear about those as well.

Someone, please set me straight on this issue. It's bugging me.

I really don't know who I'm going to offend on this one. We've been researching so many vendors over the last couple of months that work with chat, lead-gen widgets, and website platforms themselves that we haven't taken the time to explore PPC vendors. Maybe that's why I was blindsided to find out that there are at least two vendors out there charging 20% and one that we found who is charging 25%.

Is it me or is this insane? We'll put aside the 25% vendor for now. I'm hopeful that it's some sort of accounting mistake or something. Focusing on the 20% charge, it really bugs me that this may be more common than I ever knew. I've always hung around the organic side of search, so PPC hasn't been a focus. With that said, I've managed dozens of PPC campaigns over the years and I could never imagine charging anything other than a flat fee.

To me (and again, I might be on the wrong side of this argument and would be very open to some education on this one), if a dealership is spending $10,000 per month on their PPC, $2,000 of it going to management seems high. If the software is driving the bidding and the feeds are generating the dynamic ads, wouldn't it seem that very little manual effort and development costs are going into the service on a monthly basis?

I've always been a fan of flat fee PPC management because of transparency. I want to be able to recommend to a dealer that they raise their budget without them wondering if I'm just trying to make more money and I want to be able to recommend that they reduce their budget without reducing my service fee. To me, adjusting a budget is a matter of changing a number or two in the backend and I cannot justify charging hundreds of dollars more per month for clicking a few buttons.

Here's the math:

• 20% service fee
• $10,000 per month initial budget
• Dealer wants to raise to a $12,000 per month budget
• Vendor clicks a few buttons, adjust some daily budgets
• Additional monthly cost for clicking those buttons: $400/month
• Yes, that's $4,800 a year for 5-10 minutes of effort

I'll say it again. I'm willing to hear why I'm wrong. I'd love to see the additional monthly effort that goes into a bigger budget. If that's not the case, I'm open to hearing why the cost is justified. If there are vendors out there charging a lower percentage or a flat fee that dealers (or vendors) are willing to recommend, I'd love to hear about those as well.

Someone, please set me straight on this issue. It's bugging me.

Science rules in digital marketing.

Social media is a place of vanity. Those of us who use social media often get to see flattering images of just about everything - people, places, food, cars, whatever. Have you ever seen a picture of a friend posted as their new profile picture and thought, "Wow, that's a good picture of them."

One might believe that the same holds true for automotive ads. On websites, it has been widely accepted that real pictures of inventory work better than stock photos, but on social media we have access to the gorgeous pictures that are supplied by the OEMs. Will pretty advertising pictures outperform pictures of live inventory on ads that are sending traffic to the vehicle details pages and search results pages?

We have done a ton of A/B testing over the past few months and we have pretty compelling data, but I want to get the opinion of the community here before posting those results. What do you think?

Here are some of the criteria for a test we ran for a Hyundai client:

• All ad copy had the same titles, status text, and link description
• The ads linked to the search results page for new Hyundai vehicles
• They were targeted at intenders - people within driving distance to the dealership who had indicated they intend to buy a new Hyundai in the next 180 days
• The only difference was the image

We ran two concurrent campaigns for 1 month. One had beautiful images pulled from the OEM. The other had live inventory images. Here are samples with the branding omitted:

Which type do you think got more clicks to the dealer's website?