There is one simple truth that must be recognized by all dealers. That is that the Internet plays a major role in how today’s automotive consumers research and purchase vehicles. Never before in the history of auto sales has there been a faster, more efficient way to get your brand in front of such a large audience. The Internet isn’t going away. It’s the way business is done these days.

One aspect of doing business on the Internet is making sure that your dealer website is visible to large quantities of vehicle shoppers. There are a few different strategies that can make this happen; however, the only one that has real long-term benefits is Search Engine Optimization (commonly known as SEO).

Looking for a refresher on SEO basics? Read this.

So, what is the true cost of doing SEO?

Perhaps the more relevant question is what is the cost of NOT doing SEO? I’d add to that by asking what the point of having a website is if you’re not willing to take any measures to have it show up in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)? The simple science is that a website that returns no results (traffic, leads, etc.) is also a waste of your hard earned dollars.

Over the years, I’ve observed many dealerships who have consistently moved from one website vendor to another in an effort to get the lowest price. I’ve also observed the lowest priced vendor’s quality of work - it often stinks! Allow me to demonstrate.

A few years ago we were working with a dealership who was ranking on the first page of SERPs for some of the most competitive keywords for that region.  For whatever reason, they chose to make the shift to a new provider in the middle of the night, without notice to us. While they certainly ended up saving on their monthly website bill, that switch inadvertently cost them thousands because the new vendor had their site “re-optimized” for the right city, BUT in the wrong country. This dealer’s website disappeared from the search results. That dealer ended up moving back to my company to have us repair their web presence.

I’m not telling you this to plug my company's SEO services. I’m hoping however, that it demonstrates that in most cases, low price also translates to low quality. The name of the game is to get your dealership in front of as many people as possible. If you’re not showing up in SERPs, you’re not moving metal. So again, what is the cost of NOT having your site SEO’d?

At the 2012 Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, Rand Fishkin, CEO of MOZ.com, said that he would choose the process of SEO over SEM (or PPC) any day of the week. His studies indicated that the quality of click-through traffic on organic search results was far superior to any click that came by way of pay-per-click advertising.

Fishkin pointed out that another advantage of SEO is that it provides a long-term solution for greater visibility. With pay-per-click advertising, the moment you decide to turn off the cash, your website vanishes from the listings. We’ll focus on SEM and PPC in an upcoming article.

In conclusion, I’d like to reiterate that the Internet is the way to do business this day in age. Every day millions of automotive consumers are going online to research products. This research helps them shape their purchase decision.

By focusing on a solid online strategy, you can place your dealership in front of thousands of people in your local market. Doing so enhances your ability to form relationships, help shape opinions and lead potential buyers to your dealership. The sooner that you adopt the truth that the Internet is the way business is done today, the better off you’ll be. Invest in yourself and your online presence so that you can reap the rewards.

Have questions about automotive SEO? I’d be happy to help. Send me your questions in the comment section below and I’ll answer you back!

There is one simple truth that must be recognized by all dealers. That is that the Internet plays a major role in how today’s automotive consumers research and purchase vehicles. Never before in the history of auto sales has there been a faster, more efficient way to get your brand in front of such a large audience. The Internet isn’t going away. It’s the way business is done these days.

One aspect of doing business on the Internet is making sure that your dealer website is visible to large quantities of vehicle shoppers. There are a few different strategies that can make this happen; however, the only one that has real long-term benefits is Search Engine Optimization (commonly known as SEO).

Looking for a refresher on SEO basics? Read this.

So, what is the true cost of doing SEO?

Perhaps the more relevant question is what is the cost of NOT doing SEO? I’d add to that by asking what the point of having a website is if you’re not willing to take any measures to have it show up in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages)? The simple science is that a website that returns no results (traffic, leads, etc.) is also a waste of your hard earned dollars.

Over the years, I’ve observed many dealerships who have consistently moved from one website vendor to another in an effort to get the lowest price. I’ve also observed the lowest priced vendor’s quality of work - it often stinks! Allow me to demonstrate.

A few years ago we were working with a dealership who was ranking on the first page of SERPs for some of the most competitive keywords for that region.  For whatever reason, they chose to make the shift to a new provider in the middle of the night, without notice to us. While they certainly ended up saving on their monthly website bill, that switch inadvertently cost them thousands because the new vendor had their site “re-optimized” for the right city, BUT in the wrong country. This dealer’s website disappeared from the search results. That dealer ended up moving back to my company to have us repair their web presence.

I’m not telling you this to plug my company's SEO services. I’m hoping however, that it demonstrates that in most cases, low price also translates to low quality. The name of the game is to get your dealership in front of as many people as possible. If you’re not showing up in SERPs, you’re not moving metal. So again, what is the cost of NOT having your site SEO’d?

At the 2012 Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, Rand Fishkin, CEO of MOZ.com, said that he would choose the process of SEO over SEM (or PPC) any day of the week. His studies indicated that the quality of click-through traffic on organic search results was far superior to any click that came by way of pay-per-click advertising.

Fishkin pointed out that another advantage of SEO is that it provides a long-term solution for greater visibility. With pay-per-click advertising, the moment you decide to turn off the cash, your website vanishes from the listings. We’ll focus on SEM and PPC in an upcoming article.

In conclusion, I’d like to reiterate that the Internet is the way to do business this day in age. Every day millions of automotive consumers are going online to research products. This research helps them shape their purchase decision.

By focusing on a solid online strategy, you can place your dealership in front of thousands of people in your local market. Doing so enhances your ability to form relationships, help shape opinions and lead potential buyers to your dealership. The sooner that you adopt the truth that the Internet is the way business is done today, the better off you’ll be. Invest in yourself and your online presence so that you can reap the rewards.

Have questions about automotive SEO? I’d be happy to help. Send me your questions in the comment section below and I’ll answer you back!

This past week, I made the risky move of upgrading to the newly released Windows 8 operating system; Microsoft’s bold attempt at upgrading their OS which has kept the same fundamental functionality for more than a decade. While slightly hesitant to upgrade before a service pack was available, I ultimately chose to take advantage of Microsoft’s limited time $39.99 upgrade offer. Talk about utilizing the "urgency" close right?

As I’ve played around with the new OS for the past few days, I’ve made some observations that may turn out to be a prediction of a new technological frontier for dealers who are looking to kick things into high gear... or I may just be out to lunch. Whatever your opinion may be, just go with me on this for a minute.

New Windows 8 Features

The most noticeable of all the new features for Windows 8, is the shiny new start screen which really acts as a dashboard to your most visited apps. Though some critics complain that Windows 8 is optimized for tablets, I haven’t had any problems finding my way around with a mouse.

Microsoft has redesigned the UI for many of their apps and have included some new apps, all of which come with a very streamlined and integrated experience. Among my favorites are the new music player app which comes loaded with the ability to stream full length music and a new “smart dj” tool that automatically creates a playlist based on an artist genre of your choosing.
 

How Dealers Could Benefit From Windows 8

Thanks for listening to me ‘nerd out’ for a second. Let me get to how car dealers could actually use Windows 8 to leverage new business and reach larger groups of car shoppers in their own home.

What got me me thinking was the newly added “Store” app which allows users to browse from a variety of both paid and free applications. Simply select the category of app you wish to download and you have the ability to select from hundreds if not thousands of apps to have installed on your PC. If you know your way around the app store or play market, this will be quite easy for you.

Imagine what would happen if you created a Windows 8 app that was compatible on both desktop PCs and Windows tablets? There has been a lot of talk around whether or not Dealers should develop iPhone and Android apps vs. keeping with mobile websites, but think about the doors you could unlock by tapping into an even larger traffic source!

Let’s talk numbers. By 2008 (according to Forrester), there were 1,000,000,000 (Billion) PCs in use with a forecast of 2 billion in use by the end of 2015. It took 27 years to reach the 1 billion mark and will only take 7 years (from 2008) to reach 2 billion. If that’s not simply incredible to you consider that the average number of PCs needing to be sold year after year since 2008 is 142,857,142 in order to reach the forecasted target by 2015.

Now, have you purchased a new PC lately? Don’t they come pre-loaded with a Windows operating system? According to Amazon, every new PC sold between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013 will receive a special upgrade offer of only $14.99, thus placing Windows 8 well within the reach of hundreds of millions of people.
 

Just To Get The Juices Flowing

Consider how many of the 142,857,142 PC buyers this year are also in the market to purchase a vehicle or are at least conducting some level of vehicle research. I’ll tell you what - that new Microsoft ‘Store App’ is pretty fun to navigate and somehow sucks you in just like Apple’s famed App store and Android’s Play Market, so imagine what competitive advantage you’d have by placing your dealership and your brand in front of the masses.

I envision a personalized shopping experience filled with user reviews, dealership videos, blogs and news. Since the app is installed on the personal computer, (and I’m just thinking out loud here), imagine if there was a way to have your app send notifications to your potential customer's calendar, email, social networks and more. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg and if done strategically, dealers could tap into a massive market of vehicle shoppers.

To take it one step further, though Windows 7 and 8 tablets don’t contribute much to tablet sales as of current, Windows 8 tablets are forecasted to help tablet sales increase by 4% according to Gartner. Apple still remains king of the mobile arena with roughly 60% market share, however,with an estimated 117,000,000 tablet shipments in 2012 alone, 4% works out to 4,680,000 (4.68 million) Windows 8 Tablet shipments and that is more than enough users to inject your dealership with some serious prospects.

In closing, let me say that there are many, many avenues to help drum up new business. I had the pleasure of attending Lon Safko’s keynote at AutoCon in which he enlightened us on the various social media marketing opportunities from Facebook to Second Life. I swear - by the end of his presentation there were multiple silent explosions in people’s heads, followed by smoke trailing out of their ears.

The point is that there are sooooo many ways to prospect for new business and technology, whether revamped or emerging provides you with more ways to reach out to potential buyers than ever before. Windows 8 is just another example of something you could use to leverage new business for your dealership.

What do you think? Kindly leave your comments below. Happy developing.

This past week, I made the risky move of upgrading to the newly released Windows 8 operating system; Microsoft’s bold attempt at upgrading their OS which has kept the same fundamental functionality for more than a decade. While slightly hesitant to upgrade before a service pack was available, I ultimately chose to take advantage of Microsoft’s limited time $39.99 upgrade offer. Talk about utilizing the "urgency" close right?

As I’ve played around with the new OS for the past few days, I’ve made some observations that may turn out to be a prediction of a new technological frontier for dealers who are looking to kick things into high gear... or I may just be out to lunch. Whatever your opinion may be, just go with me on this for a minute.

New Windows 8 Features

The most noticeable of all the new features for Windows 8, is the shiny new start screen which really acts as a dashboard to your most visited apps. Though some critics complain that Windows 8 is optimized for tablets, I haven’t had any problems finding my way around with a mouse.

Microsoft has redesigned the UI for many of their apps and have included some new apps, all of which come with a very streamlined and integrated experience. Among my favorites are the new music player app which comes loaded with the ability to stream full length music and a new “smart dj” tool that automatically creates a playlist based on an artist genre of your choosing.
 

How Dealers Could Benefit From Windows 8

Thanks for listening to me ‘nerd out’ for a second. Let me get to how car dealers could actually use Windows 8 to leverage new business and reach larger groups of car shoppers in their own home.

What got me me thinking was the newly added “Store” app which allows users to browse from a variety of both paid and free applications. Simply select the category of app you wish to download and you have the ability to select from hundreds if not thousands of apps to have installed on your PC. If you know your way around the app store or play market, this will be quite easy for you.

Imagine what would happen if you created a Windows 8 app that was compatible on both desktop PCs and Windows tablets? There has been a lot of talk around whether or not Dealers should develop iPhone and Android apps vs. keeping with mobile websites, but think about the doors you could unlock by tapping into an even larger traffic source!

Let’s talk numbers. By 2008 (according to Forrester), there were 1,000,000,000 (Billion) PCs in use with a forecast of 2 billion in use by the end of 2015. It took 27 years to reach the 1 billion mark and will only take 7 years (from 2008) to reach 2 billion. If that’s not simply incredible to you consider that the average number of PCs needing to be sold year after year since 2008 is 142,857,142 in order to reach the forecasted target by 2015.

Now, have you purchased a new PC lately? Don’t they come pre-loaded with a Windows operating system? According to Amazon, every new PC sold between June 2, 2012 and January 31, 2013 will receive a special upgrade offer of only $14.99, thus placing Windows 8 well within the reach of hundreds of millions of people.
 

Just To Get The Juices Flowing

Consider how many of the 142,857,142 PC buyers this year are also in the market to purchase a vehicle or are at least conducting some level of vehicle research. I’ll tell you what - that new Microsoft ‘Store App’ is pretty fun to navigate and somehow sucks you in just like Apple’s famed App store and Android’s Play Market, so imagine what competitive advantage you’d have by placing your dealership and your brand in front of the masses.

I envision a personalized shopping experience filled with user reviews, dealership videos, blogs and news. Since the app is installed on the personal computer, (and I’m just thinking out loud here), imagine if there was a way to have your app send notifications to your potential customer's calendar, email, social networks and more. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg and if done strategically, dealers could tap into a massive market of vehicle shoppers.

To take it one step further, though Windows 7 and 8 tablets don’t contribute much to tablet sales as of current, Windows 8 tablets are forecasted to help tablet sales increase by 4% according to Gartner. Apple still remains king of the mobile arena with roughly 60% market share, however,with an estimated 117,000,000 tablet shipments in 2012 alone, 4% works out to 4,680,000 (4.68 million) Windows 8 Tablet shipments and that is more than enough users to inject your dealership with some serious prospects.

In closing, let me say that there are many, many avenues to help drum up new business. I had the pleasure of attending Lon Safko’s keynote at AutoCon in which he enlightened us on the various social media marketing opportunities from Facebook to Second Life. I swear - by the end of his presentation there were multiple silent explosions in people’s heads, followed by smoke trailing out of their ears.

The point is that there are sooooo many ways to prospect for new business and technology, whether revamped or emerging provides you with more ways to reach out to potential buyers than ever before. Windows 8 is just another example of something you could use to leverage new business for your dealership.

What do you think? Kindly leave your comments below. Happy developing.

Contrary to what the title of this article suggests, I am not going to write about how not to close deals. Rather, I will focus on some of the simple steps to the sale that often go overlooked that prevent more deals from being closed. In vehicle sales, the amount of units you push directly affects the amount of money you collect so it’s crucial to keep yourself in check so that you can constantly strive to kick your sales up a notch.

This weekend I spent some time shopping around for a new laptop for work. I knew (within a ballpark) what I would need and had done some research. Does this sound familiar to any vehicle shoppers you have met recently?

After conducting some research, I began to go to the retail outlets that I knew carried the product I thought I was looking for, but found myself moving from store to store because I couldn’t find a professional salesperson that was really willing to take my money. Based on what I experienced, let’s take a look at a couple of sales fundamentals that ultimately lost the deal for these salespeople.

Lack of Listening Skills

In the first store, the “salesperson” (otherwise known as the order taker) didn’t ask any questions to properly find out what product would suit my needs. He was only simply willing to talk about the product that I thought that I wanted/needed. Every time I would try and talk, he was more interested in cutting me off to tell me about the promotional offer that would accompany my purchase.

I think you’d agree that the first fundamental rule of selling is to ask relevant questions and then keep your mouth shut. In other words, you have two ears and one mouth. Use them proportionately.

No Solutions

The second store actually did a great job at fact finding to determine the best product for me, but had no ability to create solutions that would work suitable for me. I realized that oftentimes, the reason that real solutions aren’t provided (especial in the world of retail), is because sales people don’t know what they can or cannot do. I personally believe that there is a solution to every problem - even if at first it doesn’t appear to work for the customer, there can always be consensus made and deals closed.

My business partner and myself went out of our way to ask questions that we figured would solve our own problems, however, the salesmen just didn’t appear to know enough about the “can and can’t do’s” that store #2 ultimately lost the sale.

Conclusion

Store #3 earned my business and closed the deal because they both asked relevant questions and listened to my answers and also provided solutions to the problems that I had pre-sale. They wanted my money and were willing to come up with a way to take it from me.

These may seem like pretty simple sales fundamentals, but believe you me - they are not being utilized as well as you might think, especially for being fundamentals. How well do you listen to your customers? How well do you know the dealership “can and cannot’s” so that you are able to provide the best solutions for your customers?

If not closing deals is on your agenda, stop practising the fundamentals. If you’re interested in kicking things up a notch, try re-introducing the fundamentals back into your current sales process with greater force than ever and you will be well on your way to closing more deals.

Thoughts?

Contrary to what the title of this article suggests, I am not going to write about how not to close deals. Rather, I will focus on some of the simple steps to the sale that often go overlooked that prevent more deals from being closed. In vehicle sales, the amount of units you push directly affects the amount of money you collect so it’s crucial to keep yourself in check so that you can constantly strive to kick your sales up a notch.

This weekend I spent some time shopping around for a new laptop for work. I knew (within a ballpark) what I would need and had done some research. Does this sound familiar to any vehicle shoppers you have met recently?

After conducting some research, I began to go to the retail outlets that I knew carried the product I thought I was looking for, but found myself moving from store to store because I couldn’t find a professional salesperson that was really willing to take my money. Based on what I experienced, let’s take a look at a couple of sales fundamentals that ultimately lost the deal for these salespeople.

Lack of Listening Skills

In the first store, the “salesperson” (otherwise known as the order taker) didn’t ask any questions to properly find out what product would suit my needs. He was only simply willing to talk about the product that I thought that I wanted/needed. Every time I would try and talk, he was more interested in cutting me off to tell me about the promotional offer that would accompany my purchase.

I think you’d agree that the first fundamental rule of selling is to ask relevant questions and then keep your mouth shut. In other words, you have two ears and one mouth. Use them proportionately.

No Solutions

The second store actually did a great job at fact finding to determine the best product for me, but had no ability to create solutions that would work suitable for me. I realized that oftentimes, the reason that real solutions aren’t provided (especial in the world of retail), is because sales people don’t know what they can or cannot do. I personally believe that there is a solution to every problem - even if at first it doesn’t appear to work for the customer, there can always be consensus made and deals closed.

My business partner and myself went out of our way to ask questions that we figured would solve our own problems, however, the salesmen just didn’t appear to know enough about the “can and can’t do’s” that store #2 ultimately lost the sale.

Conclusion

Store #3 earned my business and closed the deal because they both asked relevant questions and listened to my answers and also provided solutions to the problems that I had pre-sale. They wanted my money and were willing to come up with a way to take it from me.

These may seem like pretty simple sales fundamentals, but believe you me - they are not being utilized as well as you might think, especially for being fundamentals. How well do you listen to your customers? How well do you know the dealership “can and cannot’s” so that you are able to provide the best solutions for your customers?

If not closing deals is on your agenda, stop practising the fundamentals. If you’re interested in kicking things up a notch, try re-introducing the fundamentals back into your current sales process with greater force than ever and you will be well on your way to closing more deals.

Thoughts?

It has been an amazing week here at the offices of AutoVelocity™. We are seeing many exciting things take place in the industry and it's awesome to be a part of it.

As I sit in my office this morning and do my routine check up on our clients websites, I am noticing a growing trend in the industry which I think deserves some attention. I'm not going to waste any time beating around the bush because dealers' need to know the truth - especially before too much damage is done.

How many websites do you have?

The fact of the matter is this: If you have more than one website for your dealership that almost entirely duplicates the content of another one of your websites, STOP!!! You may not realize how much harm you are doing to your online marketing efforts.

Without getting too technical, let me just sum this up by saying that GOOGLE (and other search engines) LOATH YOU! It sounds harsh, but it's the truth. 

At face value, it may appear that having more than one website would allow you to soak up more digital real-estate thus getting you in front of a larger traffic source, but that is simply not the case. You are accomplishing absolutely nothing!

Not Like Traditional Advertising

I know what's going on here. Having worked in print media for almost 10 years (and being around the print industry most of my life), I know that via that medium you can reach more people by running the same ad in a variety of publications or magazines in multiple locations. 

The internet is not like traditional advertising. Using traditional advertising logic will not work here. The web is a new arena which requires dealers to adapt or perish. Okay, maybe that's a little harsh - you get the picture though.

Google's Purpose

Allow me to quote from one of our eBooks, "Three Automotive Digital Marketing Tips" that I'd greatly encourage you to download if you haven't already done so.

Google's primary objective is to deliver search results that are 1) most relevant to what searchers are looking for, and 2) as close to their physical (the searchers) location as possible. Their algorithms are constantly scouring the web to find content that resembles what people are searching for and then deliver it. This can put the odds in your favor, depending on what your move will be from now on.

With that in mind, if you have a duplicate website kicking around the web all you are doing is confusing the heck out of search engines, and most importantly your customers.

Rock and a Hard Place

The thing about duplicating content across multiple sites is that you really put Google between a rock and a hard place. You are forcing them to make a decision of which site to give credit too albeit increasing the chances that they will just give up and not rank any of your websites. The object is to get your site more visibility, not take it away and that's essentially what you are doing by having duplicated websites on the internet.

How to make it work

If you want to increase productivity (and profitability), let's take a look at how you can turn things around for your ultimate advantage. There are instances when having multiple websites is a good thing.

Microsites

A microsite is a separate domain that has laser focus on one topic. For example, if you wanted to increase the exposure of one of your make and models, you could start by creating a microsite that focuses on nothing but that make and model. Do this for every make and model you have. In this way, you can have multiple web entities soaking up web traffic without doing yourself harm.

Keep it focused

Don't succumb to the temptation of placing your entire inventory on your microsite.

Keep the site and the information on it focused to just one topic. Doing so will allow you to reach more targeted clusters of consumers and draw them to your full blown dealer site using strategically placed (soft sell) calls to action.

Conclusion

Here's my final plea: Stop with the madness! Stop doing yourself more harm than good! If you have multiple websites that are really just duplicates of your primary website, GET RID OF THEM! The end-of-the-day initiative is to increase profitability by selling more vehicles, products and services. 

The web is not like traditional advertising where having your ad placed in various publications in multiple areas is the way to get to attract more people. One main website is all you need and if you want to ramp up the exposure a little, talk to your web provider about creating some targeted microsites.

Attract more qualified traffic, sell more vehicles.

It has been an amazing week here at the offices of AutoVelocity™. We are seeing many exciting things take place in the industry and it's awesome to be a part of it.

As I sit in my office this morning and do my routine check up on our clients websites, I am noticing a growing trend in the industry which I think deserves some attention. I'm not going to waste any time beating around the bush because dealers' need to know the truth - especially before too much damage is done.

How many websites do you have?

The fact of the matter is this: If you have more than one website for your dealership that almost entirely duplicates the content of another one of your websites, STOP!!! You may not realize how much harm you are doing to your online marketing efforts.

Without getting too technical, let me just sum this up by saying that GOOGLE (and other search engines) LOATH YOU! It sounds harsh, but it's the truth. 

At face value, it may appear that having more than one website would allow you to soak up more digital real-estate thus getting you in front of a larger traffic source, but that is simply not the case. You are accomplishing absolutely nothing!

Not Like Traditional Advertising

I know what's going on here. Having worked in print media for almost 10 years (and being around the print industry most of my life), I know that via that medium you can reach more people by running the same ad in a variety of publications or magazines in multiple locations. 

The internet is not like traditional advertising. Using traditional advertising logic will not work here. The web is a new arena which requires dealers to adapt or perish. Okay, maybe that's a little harsh - you get the picture though.

Google's Purpose

Allow me to quote from one of our eBooks, "Three Automotive Digital Marketing Tips" that I'd greatly encourage you to download if you haven't already done so.

Google's primary objective is to deliver search results that are 1) most relevant to what searchers are looking for, and 2) as close to their physical (the searchers) location as possible. Their algorithms are constantly scouring the web to find content that resembles what people are searching for and then deliver it. This can put the odds in your favor, depending on what your move will be from now on.

With that in mind, if you have a duplicate website kicking around the web all you are doing is confusing the heck out of search engines, and most importantly your customers.

Rock and a Hard Place

The thing about duplicating content across multiple sites is that you really put Google between a rock and a hard place. You are forcing them to make a decision of which site to give credit too albeit increasing the chances that they will just give up and not rank any of your websites. The object is to get your site more visibility, not take it away and that's essentially what you are doing by having duplicated websites on the internet.

How to make it work

If you want to increase productivity (and profitability), let's take a look at how you can turn things around for your ultimate advantage. There are instances when having multiple websites is a good thing.

Microsites

A microsite is a separate domain that has laser focus on one topic. For example, if you wanted to increase the exposure of one of your make and models, you could start by creating a microsite that focuses on nothing but that make and model. Do this for every make and model you have. In this way, you can have multiple web entities soaking up web traffic without doing yourself harm.

Keep it focused

Don't succumb to the temptation of placing your entire inventory on your microsite.

Keep the site and the information on it focused to just one topic. Doing so will allow you to reach more targeted clusters of consumers and draw them to your full blown dealer site using strategically placed (soft sell) calls to action.

Conclusion

Here's my final plea: Stop with the madness! Stop doing yourself more harm than good! If you have multiple websites that are really just duplicates of your primary website, GET RID OF THEM! The end-of-the-day initiative is to increase profitability by selling more vehicles, products and services. 

The web is not like traditional advertising where having your ad placed in various publications in multiple areas is the way to get to attract more people. One main website is all you need and if you want to ramp up the exposure a little, talk to your web provider about creating some targeted microsites.

Attract more qualified traffic, sell more vehicles.

Having a new custom website built specifically for your dealership can be a very exciting thing. There's only one problem - it isn't showing up in search engines. You dissapointedly pick up the phone and contact your website provider or search optimization partner and say, "I find my site for [this], but what about [this], [this], and [this]?" 

It all comes down to content. Search engines read the 

content (including) keywords of your site and then determine where to include your website in search results. Content can make or break your search engine ranking. There are also a couple different types of content that contribute to your website visibility - visible (what can be seen on your site), and invisible (things that take place in the code of your site). 

Googles Primary Objective

Having a new custom website built specifically for your dealership can be a very exciting thing. There's only one problem - it isn't showing up in search engines. You dissapointedly pick up the phone and contact your website provider or search optimization partner and say, "I find my site for [this], but what about [this], [this], and [this]?" 

It all comes down to content. Search engines read the 

content (including) keywords of your site and then determine where to include your website in search results. Content can make or break your search engine ranking. There are also a couple different types of content that contribute to your website visibility - visible (what can be seen on your site), and invisible (things that take place in the code of your site). 

Googles Primary Objective