Monday morning I am sitting at my computer with my peripheral vision on my twitter feed when I see @jimziegler tweet “Alpha dog is on the point”. Now I have seen this tweet before and not really thought about it too much until someone tweets back “jim what is the point?” Now to set this up for you people that haven’t sold cars in a dealership before the point is a place on the lot usually around where the customers park where all of the salespeople will congregate and wait for an up (if you don't know what an up is ask someone who sells cars, can’t explain every car term not enough time or room on this post).

That’s  when an interesting analogy occurs Jim’s tweet back “I am on social media communicating with my customers and friends” and it hits me Social Media is the new “Point” for your dealership, the “Virtual Point”.

Now instead of the salespeople out on the physical “Point” smokin and Jokein they are on the “Virtual Point” communicating and updating friends and customers on happening in the dealership and their lives, which if you have ever sold cars retail you would understand they are one in the same.

On this same day I read a blog post “Are You Building A Social-Ready Organization” in this pot the author Alan See Says “At a high-level social media marketing is about influencing the customer experience by engaging in dialogue with the customer in order to build a trusted relationship over time.”

Again I think back to my basic car training:

Step 1 – Meet & Greet , now look at Alan’s statement above “Influencing the customers experience by engaging in dialogue with the customer” same thing.

Step 2 – Establish Common ground – Now look at the rest of Alan’s statement “In order to build a trusted relationship over time” again same thing.

Now anyone that has ever sold cars knows that if you don't get these two you're not likely to sell the car and even if you do it’s a mini commission and a bad CSI survey.

So think about what you are doing if you are a dealership that is blocking your salespeople from Facebook would you block them from the lot and the “Point”? If you are a salesperson who is not using social media will you go to the dealership tomorrow and not get out on the “Point”

How are you looking at this?

Monday morning I am sitting at my computer with my peripheral vision on my twitter feed when I see @jimziegler tweet “Alpha dog is on the point”. Now I have seen this tweet before and not really thought about it too much until someone tweets back “jim what is the point?” Now to set this up for you people that haven’t sold cars in a dealership before the point is a place on the lot usually around where the customers park where all of the salespeople will congregate and wait for an up (if you don't know what an up is ask someone who sells cars, can’t explain every car term not enough time or room on this post).

That’s  when an interesting analogy occurs Jim’s tweet back “I am on social media communicating with my customers and friends” and it hits me Social Media is the new “Point” for your dealership, the “Virtual Point”.

Now instead of the salespeople out on the physical “Point” smokin and Jokein they are on the “Virtual Point” communicating and updating friends and customers on happening in the dealership and their lives, which if you have ever sold cars retail you would understand they are one in the same.

On this same day I read a blog post “Are You Building A Social-Ready Organization” in this pot the author Alan See Says “At a high-level social media marketing is about influencing the customer experience by engaging in dialogue with the customer in order to build a trusted relationship over time.”

Again I think back to my basic car training:

Step 1 – Meet & Greet , now look at Alan’s statement above “Influencing the customers experience by engaging in dialogue with the customer” same thing.

Step 2 – Establish Common ground – Now look at the rest of Alan’s statement “In order to build a trusted relationship over time” again same thing.

Now anyone that has ever sold cars knows that if you don't get these two you're not likely to sell the car and even if you do it’s a mini commission and a bad CSI survey.

So think about what you are doing if you are a dealership that is blocking your salespeople from Facebook would you block them from the lot and the “Point”? If you are a salesperson who is not using social media will you go to the dealership tomorrow and not get out on the “Point”

How are you looking at this?

Good News… I am seeing and hearing a lot more dealers thinking about using microsites and landing pages.

Bad News… I don't hear a lot about the strategy behind their use or what they intend to use them for.

It reminds me of the early CRM years when a lot of us rushed to get us some of that CRM without understanding how we would implement CRM in our store. I wrote an article for Dealer Magazine back then called “Just Because You Built It Doesn’t Mean They Will Come”.

“Just Because You have a Microsite, Doesn’t mean they will come”

If you are building a Microsite in WordPress thinking that it will have some magical SEO value and be so optimized that you will get all this traffic and somehow sell more cars as a result, I hate to be the one to break it to you but…

IT WON’T

All you will succeed in doing is placing property on the web that requires your time, effort and mone for you to try and rank, takes your focus off of the ball trying to get traffic to it, which ultimately produces very little. You become frustrated and just quit leaving the sites out there that you paid good money for to die in internet wasteland.

If you think you are going to use Microsites & Landing Pages as an offsite SEO mechanism to build back links.

“This is a tactic not a strategy”

Back links from you Microsite network are a good side benefit but they are not what Microsites and Landing Pages are for.

The best Microsites and Landing Pages are the ones that convert. Call them High Performance Landing Pages. High Performance Landing Pages have 4 characteristics. They are:

Engaging

Dynamic

Disposable

Aagile

An Engaging landing experience uses an arsenal of tools like flash, video, social media and pre-conversion segmentation to capture and keep the user’s attention and drive them through conversion.

Dynamic landing experiences are those that are highly context specific, perhaps even personalized with content based on where the user has come from, what they have searched on or what they’ve done in the past. They aren’t static, they are specific.

Most importantly, landing pages should be Disposable. The best online marketing campaigns employ continuous testing for continuous improvement and that means we can’t get too tied down to any one landing page concept. We can’t invest so much into a landing page that it becomes too expensive to trash it and move on if it’s not working.

Finally Agile Landing pages need to be conceived, executed and launched in minutes, hours or days. Not weeks or months. I hear dealers every day who can’t get Microsites or Landing Pages developed and launched in under 4-12 weeks. That’s too long… Way too long. A 4-12 week development cycle on a landing page probably means that too many resources are being spent on the page and you are paying a lot of money to have it developed - from IT to agencies to marketing resources, and it probably means it is no longer disposable as well.

So, take a look at your landing pages. Can you use the words engaging, dynamic, disposable and agile to describe them?

Good News… I am seeing and hearing a lot more dealers thinking about using microsites and landing pages.

Bad News… I don't hear a lot about the strategy behind their use or what they intend to use them for.

It reminds me of the early CRM years when a lot of us rushed to get us some of that CRM without understanding how we would implement CRM in our store. I wrote an article for Dealer Magazine back then called “Just Because You Built It Doesn’t Mean They Will Come”.

“Just Because You have a Microsite, Doesn’t mean they will come”

If you are building a Microsite in WordPress thinking that it will have some magical SEO value and be so optimized that you will get all this traffic and somehow sell more cars as a result, I hate to be the one to break it to you but…

IT WON’T

All you will succeed in doing is placing property on the web that requires your time, effort and mone for you to try and rank, takes your focus off of the ball trying to get traffic to it, which ultimately produces very little. You become frustrated and just quit leaving the sites out there that you paid good money for to die in internet wasteland.

If you think you are going to use Microsites & Landing Pages as an offsite SEO mechanism to build back links.

“This is a tactic not a strategy”

Back links from you Microsite network are a good side benefit but they are not what Microsites and Landing Pages are for.

The best Microsites and Landing Pages are the ones that convert. Call them High Performance Landing Pages. High Performance Landing Pages have 4 characteristics. They are:

Engaging

Dynamic

Disposable

Aagile

An Engaging landing experience uses an arsenal of tools like flash, video, social media and pre-conversion segmentation to capture and keep the user’s attention and drive them through conversion.

Dynamic landing experiences are those that are highly context specific, perhaps even personalized with content based on where the user has come from, what they have searched on or what they’ve done in the past. They aren’t static, they are specific.

Most importantly, landing pages should be Disposable. The best online marketing campaigns employ continuous testing for continuous improvement and that means we can’t get too tied down to any one landing page concept. We can’t invest so much into a landing page that it becomes too expensive to trash it and move on if it’s not working.

Finally Agile Landing pages need to be conceived, executed and launched in minutes, hours or days. Not weeks or months. I hear dealers every day who can’t get Microsites or Landing Pages developed and launched in under 4-12 weeks. That’s too long… Way too long. A 4-12 week development cycle on a landing page probably means that too many resources are being spent on the page and you are paying a lot of money to have it developed - from IT to agencies to marketing resources, and it probably means it is no longer disposable as well.

So, take a look at your landing pages. Can you use the words engaging, dynamic, disposable and agile to describe them?

We were all taught the 10 step road to a sale when we were little in the car business.

Step 1 – Meet and Greet: Walk confidently up to your customer, extend your hand and say “Hi Welcome to ABC dealership my name is Larry, and you are?” Firm hand shake look the customer in the eye.

Anyone who has ever sold a car knows the importance of this step. It sets the tone for the rest of you sales process with that up. Get it right you’ve got a 10x better chance of selling that up, get it wrong and you're up will immediately start looking for ways to bail.

Visitor landings are ups driving on to your digital lot. So what's your meet and greet like?

A confident, strong handshake viewed as trustworthy and engaging?  A wimpy, sweaty handshake depicting nervousness and mediocrity or the blow off like when someone puts out their hand, invites a handshake, and just as they’re about to shake hands, they lift their hand up quickly and says “syke!”.

In the digital world we live in today your ad is the invitation to shake hands — the extended open hand. Your landing page is the connection, the actual handshake. The “Hi Welcome to ABC dealership my name is Larry, and you are?” and sets the tone for a deeper conversation and / or purchase.

Are your landing pages wimpy, strong, or do they blow off potential customers? Here are three basic types of landing page meet and greets.

The sweaty palm (the deep link or single dynamic landing page)

Sending your traffic to a deep link or a dynamic landing page is easy, but it’s also wussy handshake, like a sweaty palm. Sure, there’s no work involved — you simply take the most relevant page on your site and send your paid traffic there. But when you invite a user to click on your ad with a specific message, and send them to an informational deep link that doesn’t clearly match the message of your ad, you disappoint the user and they lose confidence in you. Like when you meet someone with a sweaty, wimpy handshake.

The blow off (the home page)

Sending your paid traffic to your home page of your random access website is the ultimate in disrespect. For example you do a email or a search marketing campaign on special offer. Your email / ad is all about this offer and puts its hand out with the offer, but links directly to your home page — no mention of the coupon code to be found. SYKE! This is a complete blow off. You dangled the offer right in front user, only to disappoint them with no mention of the offer on your home page. Don’t stick out your hand unless you can deliver the goods.

The confident (the message matched experience)

Ah yes, the confident landing page. This handshake is well-designed and on-target. It’s slick and adapts easily to different people or segments. A confident landing page is message-matched, features high-quality design & delivers a great brand experience. This is the type of landing page that “Hi Welcome to ABC dealership my name is Larry, and you are?” and the type of landing page that delivers the goods and converts visitors.

Remember, first impressions count. Don’t blow off your potential customers with a wimpy landing. Put your hand out and deliver a great handshake.

We were all taught the 10 step road to a sale when we were little in the car business.

Step 1 – Meet and Greet: Walk confidently up to your customer, extend your hand and say “Hi Welcome to ABC dealership my name is Larry, and you are?” Firm hand shake look the customer in the eye.

Anyone who has ever sold a car knows the importance of this step. It sets the tone for the rest of you sales process with that up. Get it right you’ve got a 10x better chance of selling that up, get it wrong and you're up will immediately start looking for ways to bail.

Visitor landings are ups driving on to your digital lot. So what's your meet and greet like?

A confident, strong handshake viewed as trustworthy and engaging?  A wimpy, sweaty handshake depicting nervousness and mediocrity or the blow off like when someone puts out their hand, invites a handshake, and just as they’re about to shake hands, they lift their hand up quickly and says “syke!”.

In the digital world we live in today your ad is the invitation to shake hands — the extended open hand. Your landing page is the connection, the actual handshake. The “Hi Welcome to ABC dealership my name is Larry, and you are?” and sets the tone for a deeper conversation and / or purchase.

Are your landing pages wimpy, strong, or do they blow off potential customers? Here are three basic types of landing page meet and greets.

The sweaty palm (the deep link or single dynamic landing page)

Sending your traffic to a deep link or a dynamic landing page is easy, but it’s also wussy handshake, like a sweaty palm. Sure, there’s no work involved — you simply take the most relevant page on your site and send your paid traffic there. But when you invite a user to click on your ad with a specific message, and send them to an informational deep link that doesn’t clearly match the message of your ad, you disappoint the user and they lose confidence in you. Like when you meet someone with a sweaty, wimpy handshake.

The blow off (the home page)

Sending your paid traffic to your home page of your random access website is the ultimate in disrespect. For example you do a email or a search marketing campaign on special offer. Your email / ad is all about this offer and puts its hand out with the offer, but links directly to your home page — no mention of the coupon code to be found. SYKE! This is a complete blow off. You dangled the offer right in front user, only to disappoint them with no mention of the offer on your home page. Don’t stick out your hand unless you can deliver the goods.

The confident (the message matched experience)

Ah yes, the confident landing page. This handshake is well-designed and on-target. It’s slick and adapts easily to different people or segments. A confident landing page is message-matched, features high-quality design & delivers a great brand experience. This is the type of landing page that “Hi Welcome to ABC dealership my name is Larry, and you are?” and the type of landing page that delivers the goods and converts visitors.

Remember, first impressions count. Don’t blow off your potential customers with a wimpy landing. Put your hand out and deliver a great handshake.

This is a short post because you need to read evey one of the 32 proclaimations in this Manifesto. Then think before you post or comment ever again.

Proclaimation #1 - There are tools. There are people who use the tools. And then there are people who are tools. Know the difference. 

You can read the rest here http://bit.ly/socialmanif

Pay paticular attention to #19, #31 &#32

This is a short post because you need to read evey one of the 32 proclaimations in this Manifesto. Then think before you post or comment ever again.

Proclaimation #1 - There are tools. There are people who use the tools. And then there are people who are tools. Know the difference. 

You can read the rest here http://bit.ly/socialmanif

Pay paticular attention to #19, #31 &#32

For the past 2 days I have been in debate on dealerrefresh about online marketing numbers and conversion. It appears that my comments on what a website should convert at have caused a stir in the dealer community, enough so that I was called out on it and asked to back off. It also appears a label I have placed on a main website is causing some people heartburn.

This post will hopefully clear up a few things:

1.       Why I believe that the benchmark for conversion in online marketing should be 30% minimum.

2.       What the definition of a “Random Access Website” is and why they are the way they are.

3.       Why I believe that you should NEVER…EVER send paid traffic back to your main website deep-link or otherwise.

So let’s jump right into conversion percentages and benchmarks.

First let me start out by defining conversion – A conversion is any form submission, phone call (tracked from your online properties), email or chat session where good re-contact information was captured that would allow the dealership to follow up on the customer. I have yet to have anyone dispute this as a proper definition. If anyone has something that I am missing please feel free to share with the rest of the class. Make no mistake each of these actions can be tracked with absolute accuracy, do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

So how did I come to this 30% benchmark? Ok it starts with my own store were we track everything. We found that we could use the visitors query string data to determine intent and direct visitors to the part of our website that closest matched that intent and when we did so our conversion rate rose 377% to as of this morning 26%. We also found that by tracking and changing certain things about our eBay motors ads we got a higher conversion rate to as of this morning 17%. We also found that using Facebook marketing in ways that were geared to customer interests not so much to customer in market probability we got higher click through and as of this morning a 47% conversion rate, ironically add all of that up and average it and as I write this post we are an average of exactly 30% (there are some decimals there but I am rounding up) and we are a small independent used car operation with none of the brand help dealers have today.

Which brings me to phase 2 of my justification for a 30% benchmark.  I have personally analyzed hundreds of dealership websites over the last 9 months and come to the same conclusion I hear from a lot of dealers and internet personnel I talk to in the store. Branded terms (your dealerships name) drives over 60% of the traffic that comes to my website. I have met very few that will argue this stat, the ones that do say it is too low. Ok so now let’s do some math:

Average dealership website gets 3000 unique visitors per month. 60% came from the stores branded terms (dealership name) that is 1800 visitors whose specific intent was to find your dealerships website.

1800 x 30% = 468 is it too much to ask that out of 1800 visitors 468 engage the store in some way? Let me ask it another way.

If your dealership got 1800 visitors last month and your sales staff could only get 468 of the people who came in entered into your CRM system would any of them be still employed at the dealership?

Any way you slice this up it doesn’t make sense to say 30% is unrealistic. I don't care who you are.

The definition of “Random Access Website”, apparently this adjective has offended a couple of people in the auto community as this is the second post I have been called out on this term, in this last post the offended person even when so far as to Google the term.

A main website has random people that wonder into it from organic links (one of the problems with web marketing and SEO by the way, but that is another post) you have no idea how or why they are there and when they get there they can wonder randomly throughout your site, hence the term “Random Access” a site that is randomly accessed from anywhere by anyone and anyone can randomly go anywhere in it and yes this is basically all main websites. A main website is basically the Encyclopedia Britannica of your online presence you have everything including the kitchen sink in it. From inventory to job postings to press releases to Facebook and twitter links, is it any wonder that visitors become distracted, lost and just basically give up when it come to this maze of information?  I discussed this in depth in my post “Get outside your random access website” from Feb this year go there for more on the pitfalls of conversion in a main website.

Finally the above is a great lead into why you should NEVER…EVER send paid traffic back to your random access main website…EVER!

You should understand by now that your main website is so full of distraction that anyone coming there with a specific purpose will have to work hard to complete that purpose. People specifically looking for your dealership will work harder to get the information they want than others, not by much but harder none the less. I think we can all agree on that and that is why you see higher conversion form branded terms (your dealerships name). When you pay for a click you have to get something out of it sending that to a place where you know they are not interested in all the distractions around them, that doesn’t match with what they were searching for in the first place and make this work to find it, is a recipe for conversion disaster.  

Aside from the distraction factor of a deep-link here are some other reasons to use off site pages and microsites.

1.       Tracking and accountability – it is much…much easier  to track and hold marketing channels, ad groups and keywords accountable for results when you have separate landing experiences.

2.       Split testing – you cannot get to high conversion rates without testing and it is impossible to test in a dealership random access website today even a deep-link.

3.       Matching the message tightly with the ad and the landing. If you think you are doing this with a dynamic deeplink landing page that changes the picture and the header your sorely mistaken you will have to get much more relevant than that.

4.        Getting searched right out of an opportunity – time and time again I see deep-links go to inventory then the customer searches to find out you have 1 or 2 that’s not choice and you missed the opportunity before you ever got a chance to win the customer.

5.       With each off site page or Microsite you create another back-link for you main random access website helping its SEO value.

PPC is and will continue to get more competitive, it is imperative that you create a culture of continuous improvement in conversion for any traffic you are paying for and lets be real you're paying for all of it. Branded terms (your dealership name) comes from your traditional media advertising, organic links comes from SEO (that aint free! All dealerships are paying for this in some way or another), listing sites are costing you subscription & listing fees and obviously you are paying for every click in PPC. You need to track all of these and hold them accountable for conversion because conversion is indicative of what walks in the door…period. Off site landing pages and microsites help you track all of this very accurately and helps get more of what you are paying for.

I hope this clears it up for those who were unclear. For those that think I should “back off” sorry that just wouldn’t be me, can’t do it and for anyone this somewhat helps I’m glad. If I can clarify anything here or you need help contact me I will do all I can.

Cell – 281.455.3811

Email – lburce@micrositesbyu.com

For the past 2 days I have been in debate on dealerrefresh about online marketing numbers and conversion. It appears that my comments on what a website should convert at have caused a stir in the dealer community, enough so that I was called out on it and asked to back off. It also appears a label I have placed on a main website is causing some people heartburn.

This post will hopefully clear up a few things:

1.       Why I believe that the benchmark for conversion in online marketing should be 30% minimum.

2.       What the definition of a “Random Access Website” is and why they are the way they are.

3.       Why I believe that you should NEVER…EVER send paid traffic back to your main website deep-link or otherwise.

So let’s jump right into conversion percentages and benchmarks.

First let me start out by defining conversion – A conversion is any form submission, phone call (tracked from your online properties), email or chat session where good re-contact information was captured that would allow the dealership to follow up on the customer. I have yet to have anyone dispute this as a proper definition. If anyone has something that I am missing please feel free to share with the rest of the class. Make no mistake each of these actions can be tracked with absolute accuracy, do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

So how did I come to this 30% benchmark? Ok it starts with my own store were we track everything. We found that we could use the visitors query string data to determine intent and direct visitors to the part of our website that closest matched that intent and when we did so our conversion rate rose 377% to as of this morning 26%. We also found that by tracking and changing certain things about our eBay motors ads we got a higher conversion rate to as of this morning 17%. We also found that using Facebook marketing in ways that were geared to customer interests not so much to customer in market probability we got higher click through and as of this morning a 47% conversion rate, ironically add all of that up and average it and as I write this post we are an average of exactly 30% (there are some decimals there but I am rounding up) and we are a small independent used car operation with none of the brand help dealers have today.

Which brings me to phase 2 of my justification for a 30% benchmark.  I have personally analyzed hundreds of dealership websites over the last 9 months and come to the same conclusion I hear from a lot of dealers and internet personnel I talk to in the store. Branded terms (your dealerships name) drives over 60% of the traffic that comes to my website. I have met very few that will argue this stat, the ones that do say it is too low. Ok so now let’s do some math:

Average dealership website gets 3000 unique visitors per month. 60% came from the stores branded terms (dealership name) that is 1800 visitors whose specific intent was to find your dealerships website.

1800 x 30% = 468 is it too much to ask that out of 1800 visitors 468 engage the store in some way? Let me ask it another way.

If your dealership got 1800 visitors last month and your sales staff could only get 468 of the people who came in entered into your CRM system would any of them be still employed at the dealership?

Any way you slice this up it doesn’t make sense to say 30% is unrealistic. I don't care who you are.

The definition of “Random Access Website”, apparently this adjective has offended a couple of people in the auto community as this is the second post I have been called out on this term, in this last post the offended person even when so far as to Google the term.

A main website has random people that wonder into it from organic links (one of the problems with web marketing and SEO by the way, but that is another post) you have no idea how or why they are there and when they get there they can wonder randomly throughout your site, hence the term “Random Access” a site that is randomly accessed from anywhere by anyone and anyone can randomly go anywhere in it and yes this is basically all main websites. A main website is basically the Encyclopedia Britannica of your online presence you have everything including the kitchen sink in it. From inventory to job postings to press releases to Facebook and twitter links, is it any wonder that visitors become distracted, lost and just basically give up when it come to this maze of information?  I discussed this in depth in my post “Get outside your random access website” from Feb this year go there for more on the pitfalls of conversion in a main website.

Finally the above is a great lead into why you should NEVER…EVER send paid traffic back to your random access main website…EVER!

You should understand by now that your main website is so full of distraction that anyone coming there with a specific purpose will have to work hard to complete that purpose. People specifically looking for your dealership will work harder to get the information they want than others, not by much but harder none the less. I think we can all agree on that and that is why you see higher conversion form branded terms (your dealerships name). When you pay for a click you have to get something out of it sending that to a place where you know they are not interested in all the distractions around them, that doesn’t match with what they were searching for in the first place and make this work to find it, is a recipe for conversion disaster.  

Aside from the distraction factor of a deep-link here are some other reasons to use off site pages and microsites.

1.       Tracking and accountability – it is much…much easier  to track and hold marketing channels, ad groups and keywords accountable for results when you have separate landing experiences.

2.       Split testing – you cannot get to high conversion rates without testing and it is impossible to test in a dealership random access website today even a deep-link.

3.       Matching the message tightly with the ad and the landing. If you think you are doing this with a dynamic deeplink landing page that changes the picture and the header your sorely mistaken you will have to get much more relevant than that.

4.        Getting searched right out of an opportunity – time and time again I see deep-links go to inventory then the customer searches to find out you have 1 or 2 that’s not choice and you missed the opportunity before you ever got a chance to win the customer.

5.       With each off site page or Microsite you create another back-link for you main random access website helping its SEO value.

PPC is and will continue to get more competitive, it is imperative that you create a culture of continuous improvement in conversion for any traffic you are paying for and lets be real you're paying for all of it. Branded terms (your dealership name) comes from your traditional media advertising, organic links comes from SEO (that aint free! All dealerships are paying for this in some way or another), listing sites are costing you subscription & listing fees and obviously you are paying for every click in PPC. You need to track all of these and hold them accountable for conversion because conversion is indicative of what walks in the door…period. Off site landing pages and microsites help you track all of this very accurately and helps get more of what you are paying for.

I hope this clears it up for those who were unclear. For those that think I should “back off” sorry that just wouldn’t be me, can’t do it and for anyone this somewhat helps I’m glad. If I can clarify anything here or you need help contact me I will do all I can.

Cell – 281.455.3811

Email – lburce@micrositesbyu.com