It has been brought to my attention that some in the industry are pushing the concept that you absolutely, positively, without a doubt have to have search engine marketing pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns or your website is going to die a fast yet painful death.  These people are using phrases such as "anybody who tells you otherwise is lying to you."

The funny part of that statement is that it is a complete and total misconception ill-conceived around product offerings.  You see, if a company is good at one thing and poor at another, they will spread the idea that the thing they are good at is the key to success and the thing they are bad at is not important.  It's sad, but that's sales.  It's human nature.  I am not upset by this.

The part that upsets me is when dealers fall for it.  They should know better.  It doesn't make sense.  There is too much research on Google and Yahoo searches to believe otherwise.  Do the searches, do the research, then use common sense.

Here's what common sense tells us.  Less than 25% of searches click on the sponsored links that are offered through search engines.  It isn't like it used to be.  In 2004, PPC was the place to be.  As time has progressed, fewer and fewer people trust the listings in the paid sections, thus the continuous decrease in the number of users clicking these ads.

Organic listings are clicked on the most often.  They have a degree of trust that can only be gained by ranking based upon what the search engine believes is the most relevant.  To rank only for PPC and not for organic is completely the wrong strategy.

Ideally, a dealer will have the budget for both PPC and SEO, but if it's not a perfect world for you, SEO is a no-brainer between the two.  Think of it like buying a house.  What you invest into a house stays with you, just as how you optimize a site can last for a long time if the SEO services stop.

PPC is like renting a home.  It's fine, it puts a roof over your head, but as soon as you stop paying rent or turn your PPC campaign down, you have built up nothing.  All of the money invested in the past is gone and your site is in no better shape than it was before.

This post was not meant to attack anyone openly.  It just irritates me to see sites that are so poorly ranked organically spending money on clicks.  PPC is a great bandaid for an unoptimized site and is a nice supplement to optimized sites, but it's definitely not the primary focus of a true automotive internet marketing campaign.

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Come again and visit this automotive internet marketing blog.

 

Just a few years ago, the notion of car dealers having more than one website was ludicrous.  Many didn't want to be on the Internet at all and wished that someone would just turn the whole thing off.

Today, more and more dealers are expanding upon their web presence to have multiple websites within their porfolio.  For dealers interested in getting into other forms of sites, I have broken down some of the styles with links to live samples.  Browse and enjoy!

Simple

The days of explosions and screaming are gone.  There was a time when people were actually impressed by a lot of hype and hooplah.  Now, they want the cars.  They want to see the cars, the prices, the pictures at different angles, and they don't want to be distracted by anything other than the cars.  Take a look at this San Diego Chevrolet Dealer.  There can be a lot going on with a site and still give the customer what they want.

This is a perfect example of a site that focuses only on what is important to their customers.  Cars, cars, cars!

Simpler

There are times when the best way to get a point across is to keep everything focused.  Car Cash is not a dealer, but they do have one purpose in the car business: they BUY cars from customers.  Their website, Buy My Car New York, has lots of information but focuses on their one and only objective.  They want to buy the vehicles that consumers are selling.  Period.

This is a microsite.  Many confuse microsites with landing pages (see below) but this one is a fully functional, bonafide microsite.  It is simple enough to be a quick "in and out" for the fast consumer but offers plenty of information for the more investigative client.  Sites like these are perfect as focus sites for various profit centers in a dealership.

Simplest

Some customers want a buffer zone.  They don't necessarily want to talk to a dealer directly (yet) but they do want to get information.  They are the type of customer who wants a quick quote, hopefully filtered from many dealerships, with the best possible price.

They are the same customers who want to spend zero time on a website in their quest to get a quote.  For these customers, custom landing pages were made for them.  Check out Chattanoogo Chevrolet Dealers.  As you can see, there's not much here.  It gets the prospect in, out, and on with their lives.  They leave satisfied that they have done their job and now it's just a matter of time before someone will contact them with a price.

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A strong internet marketing strategy in the automotive industry often requires having multiple ways of getting the leads.  Different sites appeal to different people, so giving everyone an option that fits their needs is the best way to maximize exposure and increase leads.

Regardless of what "mix" you use in your internet presence, always remember that pay per click search engine marketing is good, but true automotive SEO is sublime, regardless of how simple your site is.

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Read more car dealer marketing articles on this blog.

Pay Per Click marketing, often called Search Engine Marketing, is slowly becoming one of the most sought after forms of advertising for car dealers.  It is less expensive and often more effective than conventional marketing through radio, television, or newspapers, and has the convenience of an easily adjustable budget.

The problem with many of the offerings out there is that the products being pushed by companies are not maximized for the dealers' benefit.  While SEM should always be secondary to SEO (which has a much higher and more sustainable return on investment) it is still an important part for many marketing plans.  As such, there are less-than-desirable products being offered.

When looking for a search engine marketing firm, here are five things that you should look for, listed in reverse order from least important to most important:

#5 - Masters of the Automotive Segment

SEM for car dealers is completely different from SEM for realtors, lawyers, or pharmaceutical companies.  A company should specialize in or be able to demonstrate proficiency with the automotive segment.  It is unique, competitive, and most of all, hard.

#4 - Easy Accessability and Quick Turnaround on Changes

The OEMs have a tendancy of springing things onto their dealers on short notice such as sales and incentives.  Nature can do the same thing with storms.  There are many factors that may require a swift change in the wording or focus of a search engine marketing campaign.  If it takes more than a couple of days to make this kind of change, that's too long.

#3 - Adjustable Budgeting on a Monthly AND Daily Level

As simple as it is to set up on Google, Yahoo, and MSN, it is amazing sometimes that vendors will not adjust budgets on the fly.  The reason for this could be touched upon in #1 down below.  It could also be a lack of ability in managing the campaign.  Regardless of the reason, the result should be the same.  If you can't adjust your budget regularly, you shouldn't go with that particular company.

#2 - Hands on Partnerships, Set-it-and-forget-it, and Everything in Between

Different dealers have different levels of desired participation.  Different vendors offer different levels.  Some are designed for dealers to write a check every month and do nothing else.  Others have tools and resources available for the dealer to manage the campaign themselves.  If you can find a company that will do both, plus anything in between, you are more likely to be satisfied with the product.

Think of it like this: in the beginning, you may want to be very hands on as you get a feel for the product.  As time goes on and you feel that your campaign has hit its "sweet spot" you may want to back off and let your firm handle all of the tweaks and adjustments.  Having that level of flexibility will help you keep your sanity strong and your campaigns even stronger.

#1 - FLAT-RATE MANAGEMENT FEES

There is no way to stress this more.  Most companies take a percentage of the spend.  They are then asked to recommend adjustments to budgets that will benefit the dealer.  This is a conflict of interests.  If they tell you that you should raise your budget by $500 per month, how can you be sure that they are giving you advice that has your best interests in mind?  If you could do with spending less to gain a more effictive ROI, do you think that those charging a percentage of spend will recommend this?

Managing $1000 a month campaigns is not much easier than managing $5000 per month.  With this in mind, why would they want to charge a percentage instead of a flat fee?  A good amount for a flat fee should be betweek $300-$800 per month depending on the activity level of the campaign.

Regardless of what you spend and who manages your search engine marketing campaign, always remember that SEM should only be a supplement for automotive search engine optimization.  Build a foundation with optimization, then spend the money to help your website grow.

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Learn more about Automotive SEO on this blog.

I did a follow-up with a lost client today.  We were discussing doing search engine optimization a few months ago and I wanted to make sure that everything was still going well.  I, of course, wanted to see if there was any opportunities to earn their business today.

They had signed with another SEO company a few months prior.  I asked how it was going.  "Just fine," she said.

There was an acute lack of confidence in her voice.  I pushed a little harder, telling her that I wasn't necessarily trying to insult the other company, but that I was surprised that someone had been working on it since their rankings hadn't changed in the four months since last we talked.

She said that she had noticed the same thing, but was told that the results were coming.  It takes time, her SEO company told her.  I agreed, but I said that 4 months was definitely enough time to see a noticeable result.

After a brief silence, she asked me if I would be willing to analyze her site to see what they had done.  It was tough for her, as I know that she really wanted to go with us before but there were questions at the time over a conflict of interest.  We had another dealership of the same brand in her city and the owner wasn't happy about "sharing" us with them (which, for future reference, is not a problem since there are plenty of keywords for everyone in most major metros).

I checked out their site and compared it to the initial analysis I had done 4 months earlier.  There were some meta description, meta keywords, and title tag changes.  So far, not bad -- there were many other things they could have done, but at least they were doing something.

Then, I checked the real indicator.  I did a check on their inbound links.  After 4 months, there wasn't a single new link.  In fact, a few had dropped off the list.

At this point, I gulped.  When I called her back and told her the news, she was furious.  She asked if I would talk to the company on a conference call and act as a dealer representative instead of a competitor.  I, of course, complied.

When we talked to "our" representative, he was friendly enough.  I asked what they had done.  They were actively monitoring the site and the rankings, making adjustments as needed.  He noted that the last change was performed just 4 days earlier.  I asked about the change -- they had added the telephone number to the inventory title tag.

When I asked about links, they said they had built over 300.  I told them that I had checked and hadn't seen a difference in 4 months, which was responded to with "it takes time to get the links indexed".  I asked for a list of the links.  He declined.  I said we would cancel immediately if we couldn't see the links.

After being put on hold, an "SEO Expert" came on the line and asked why I wanted a list of links.

The next 3 minutes of the conversation probably shouldn't be posted here, but in the end, he agreed to send a partial list.

When I received the email, I laughed out loud.  I literally laughed out loud.

They were free for all links.  FFA.

For those "in the know" you probably understand this private joke in the industry.

What I learned next was not funny at all.

They were paying $699 per month for this service.

I offered a complete, true service for less.

To put this into perspective using an automotive analogy, it was like I was selling a new Honda Accord on sale for $15K, but my customer purchased a 10 year old Daewoo for $20k.  Oh, and it didn't have an engine.

Frustrations.  SEO is so easy for those who know what they're doing, but it's even easier for scam artists to sell to those who don't know any better.

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More automotive SEO advice can be found on this blog.

 

For most dealers, search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing are the primary methods for driving traffic to the dealership Web site. It is targeted and localized, and the return on investment is amazing compared to other forms of marketing.

Establishing a stronger presence through Web 2.0 can drive traffic to a Web site and greatly improve a dealer’s search rankings on Google, Yahoo and the other search engines. The social Web revolution has been taking the Internet by storm for a few years now, but has only recently become a buzzword in the automotive industry. Blogs, social media and social networks are all excellent forms of traffic-drivers if applied properly.

If mishandled, however, they can actually have the opposite effect.

Dealership Blogs
Blogging is something that many dealerships want to do, but often do not know how to start. Those who are able get rolling are sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of time required to maintain a good blog. A true, quality dealership blog must be built with an appropriate theme, optimized in and of itself, and have fresh content added two to 10 times per month.

They can be used to highlight different aspects of the dealership from a perspective that isn’t necessarily sales-driven. There can be articles about employees of the month, charitable sponsorships, local events in which the dealership participates, manufacturer news, exciting new models coming out, spotlights on special customers, etc.; the possibilities are endless. There are three keys to remember with a blog:

1. Blogs should have personality. They should be interesting and not just a series of articles about the latest sales or incentives.

2. They should be optimized, first for the dealership name, then for the city and brand. When a blog takes up a spot on the front page of the search engines, other search results like competitors’ sites and negative reviews are pushed down.

3. Use the blog for optimization of the primary site. It shouldn’t be loaded with links, but a few strategically-placed links pointing to the parts department or used car inventory every now and then will benefit the primary Web site.

Dealers can do it themselves. There are free resources out there such as Wordpress and Blogger that offer ways for people who are not tech-oriented to start a blog. For a small amount of money, dealers can purchase a domain, find a free or inexpensive theme, and make a more professional-looking blog.

Unless a dealership is prepared to invest the time and energy required to maintain a fresh and impressive blog, they should either hire an expert or not blog at all. A bad blog with old stories can turn a customer off just as quickly as a good blog can turn them on. Ask your Web site vendor how they can help you put out something you want people to see.

Social Networks
There is a multitude of pros and cons to be considered when a dealership looks at social networks like MySpace and Facebook. While pages on these networks can be tremendous marketing tools for reaching people, they can also turn into eyesores and embarrassments if not handled properly. As with blogs, tread carefully before jumping into the big social networking sites. Having nothing at all is much better than having a poorly-done page representing you.

Another option is to use the personalized social networking sites. Ning and GoingOn are two of the most popular entrants into this segment. They are part blog, part social network and part forum, all rolled into one. Personal social networks like these have amazing results if handled well. An additional benefit of these sites is that they can be set on autopilot once they are built up.

Social Media
Web 2.0 sites like Digg and Propeller have had extreme search engine optimization benefits for over a year. Because they promote news stories, videos and pictures, dealerships and their optimization companies have had a difficult time applying the SEO power of social media into the dealerships’ Web sites.

The solution is to use social media as a secondary optimization push. While submitting a dealership’s Web site to Digg.com would be pointless, writing an article on a blog that discusses and links to the dealership and then “digging” that blog post can help. This secondary layer of link-building is too advanced for most automotive SEO vendors. If they aren’t using these tools (or worse, if they are using them improperly and spamming your link across networks), then you should find a vendor who does use these tools and, just as important, uses them correctly.

Optimization 2.0
Optimizing an automotive Web site in 2008 is very different than it was last year. Throughout this year, it will continue to change, but Web 2.0 will still be an enormously important aspect of optimization for a long time.

A properly-run Web 2.0 optimization campaign is difficult to find. It takes time to research and more time to implement, but it is the gasoline that drives your Web site. You can have the best meta-tags and content in the world, but without the high-octane links to drive your Web site forward, you’d better hop out and start pushing.

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Originally published in the print publication Auto Dealer Monthly.  Read more SEO Advice for Car Dealers on this blog.

While exploring the new Google Knol, a service that acts like a mixture of Wikipedia and Squidoo/HubPages, I started experimenting with a knol about automotive SEO.  What started off as an experiment turned into a long, drawn out explanation of the basics of automotive search engine optimization.

Rather than duplicate it here, I will put a link to it for later reference.  Future follow-ups will be posted on this blog rather than on Google Knol, but for a good, quick read, check it out.  Also, I posted a video of me in an interview as a Car Dealer SEO.  It should make for some pretty cheesy midday watching.  Grab your popcorn and check it out.

There is a line that "M" says to James Bond in Casino Royale that applies to the car business and specifically to building websites.

"I need you to take your ego out of the equation."

There is a difference between putting forth a proper online image and bloating a site with the "Wow Factor."  Anyone can build a website that looks like the homepage for an action-adventure movie, but the best, highest converting websites are ones that are both attractive and functional.

That isn't to say that your website should be ugly or plain.  This is often the first impression that a potential customer receives about your dealership, so it should be attractive.  Still, it is important to be functional as well as impressive.

One of the ways to do this is to build your website the way that you would want a website to look.  Don't think strictly like the owner of the site.  Think from the perspective of the customer.  Take their needs, goals, and expectations into account, then put it all into a neat and professional package.

A consumer should have no problem finding anything they are looking for in 2 seconds or less.  That should be the goal.  Some of the "professionals" say 6 seconds or 8 seconds or 15 seconds.  Overachieve.  Make it clear as day that "Here is our used car inventory", for example.

The overall look should be clean.  It should be attractive from the perspective that they won't be turned off by the site, but otherwise, think function, function, function.

Your customers will appreciate you for it and will reward you with more leads.

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Read more about automotive website design on this blog.

Search engine optimization is not an exact science. One web site may rank well for certain keywords, while another, similar web site may rank well for a completely different set of keywords. Car dealers must be able to identify the "money terms" for each search engine if they want their web site to be as successful as possible.

What are money terms? In short, they are keywords that have the proper mix of relevance and search volume. By relevance, I mean the terms that fall within a dealer’s geographic reach, as well as fit with their product offerings. Search volume is the number of times a particular keyword is typed into the search engines. The question now becomes: How do dealers identify their money terms?

For this exercise, we will look at Hoffman Ford in Harrisburg, Pa. In June 2007, they had a nice, new web site, but they weren’t seeing much traffic. After a quick review, it was apparent why: nobody could find them. They were virtually invisible on the search engines.

Paul Smith, business development manager at Hoffman Ford, talked to his SEO company. They defined goals and identified targets to go after, ranking them by priority. This list has become a blueprint for proper search engine optimization, as Hoffman Ford has joined the ranks of Ford Motor Company’s “National E-Commerce Elite” for three consecutive months as a result of these efforts.

Here are the priorities that they outlined:

• 1st Priority: Own Your Name
  

Regardless of how well a dealership ranks in major search terms, their best set of terms will be related to their own name. Those actively seeking you should be able to find you. They are your very best traffic sources.

Examples: “Hoffman Ford”, “Hoffman Harrisburg PA”

• 2nd Priority: Own Your Backyard

While owning your name is an absolute must, the best way to increase business is to be found by the people looking in your immediate area. There are nine Ford dealers within 15 miles of Harrisburg serving an area with a total population under one million. When these people are in the market to buy a new Ford, most will type in “Harrisburg Ford” or “Ford Harrisburg PA.” Why? Because people are becoming aware of what will get them the best results on the search engines. They know that if they type in what they want and where they want to find it, they’ll get the most relevant results.

Examples: “Ford Harrisburg”, “Harrisburg Ford”, “Harrisburg Ford Dealers”, “Ford Dealerships in Harrisburg PA”

• 3rd Priority: Presence in Competitor Cities

Once a dealer owns their backyard, they can start projecting their presence outward. Their primary targets should be cities where they have competitors. While Hoffman is on the east part of Harrisburg, they have a couple of competitors in Mechanicsburg, a suburb just to the west of town. Being listed first would be nice, but as long as a dealer can get on the front page of their competitors’ cities with terms like Mechanicsburg Ford Dealers, they will generate leads.

Examples: “Ford Mechanicsburg”, “Mechanicsburg Ford”, “Mechanicsburg Ford Dealers”

• 4th Priority: Specialties

Most dealers have something they can boast about. Some have the newest body shop in town, while others sell more accessories than anyone in the area. For Hoffman, their claim to fame was being the only Roush dealer in the area. Still, they didn’t rank for “Harrisburg Roush Dealers”. Today, they rank No. 1 on Google for “Harrisburg Roush Dealers” and “Pennsylvania Roush Dealers.” They also rank No. 3 in the world for the term “Roush Dealers,” which has yielded distant sales that they wouldn’t have had before.

Examples: “PA Roush Dealers”, “Pennsylvania Roush Dealers”

• Other Priorities: The Long Tail

The biggest “smoke and mirrors” sales technique used by many SEO and Web design companies is the long tail. Search terms that are very specific fall into the category of high relevance, but low search volume. If someone types in “2004 Chevrolet Cobalt Baltimore,” they are probably great candidates to buy your vehicles that match. The problem is that if only two people a year type that in, it isn’t worth much focus.

Dealers should consider the long tail keywords, but it should definitely be an afterthought. Focus on the money words first. The long tail keywords will naturally follow.

The most important advice in this column is that if a company approaches you touting their abilities to get their sites ranked for terms like these, they probably aren’t very good at what they do. These terms should be optimized naturally without the assistance of an SEO firm. The words convert, but they are too low volume to focus on and too easy to rank well for to be considered part of their “resume.”

Focusing SEO efforts on the “money terms” will increase traffic. The goal should always be to generate enough traffic, leads and sales to require a larger department. Proper SEO is a key factor in achieving these goals.

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Read more tips about Car Dealer SEO on this blog.

This article was originally published in the print edition of Auto Dealer Monthly, Vol 5, Issue 2.

With hundreds of vendors and thousands of products available for car dealers to be able to market their products online and off, it can be impossible for them to know for certain what will work and what won't.  There are slick, new products popping up every day.  Will they work?  Are they tested?  Are they a waste of money? In general, one "sure thing" in automotive internet marketing is also the product that most car dealers have the lowest level of understanding.  Search engine optimization works.  It's proven.  It can also be a waste of money if not done properly. SEO is the art and science by which a website is pushed higher in the search engine results pages for various target keywords.  Many claim proficiency.  Few possess what it takes to truly optimize a website in 2008 and beyond.  It isn't that there are a lot of companies trying to rip people off.  The problem lies in the algorithms of the search engines.  What worked yesterday may not work today (and yet it may work again tomorrow). In this blog, one of the topics we will cover is determining what real search engine optimization is, what it means to car dealers, and how to determine ways for people in the automotive industry to either optimize their sites themselves or identify companies that can truly optimize their sites for them.  We will cover other topics, but this is a "hot-button" in the industry right now and will encompass the majority of the posts here. First, a quick tip.  There are literally hundreds of variables that the search engines use to determine rankings for different keywords.  Any person or company who claims to have "inside information" or a "guaranteed method" is working an angle.  There are methods that work and others that don't, but even the most proven methods fall short at times. Just as few of you would fall for a "Be a millionaire in 90 days with our guaranteed wealth-building method", you should treat "Be ranked for any keywords in 90 days with our guaranteed SEO method" in the same league.  With that said, there are companies out there who will offer a money-back guaranty if their services do no achieve particular goals.  These are probably worth considering depending on the nature of the guaranty, but again, be very careful. Check out this blog often, as we will be posting tips and advice periodically.  In the meantime, here is a video by Matt Cutts from Google about myths regarding SEO. * * * Read more automotive SEO articles on this blog.