Website marketing, lead conversion, and sales should be in a constant state of improvement. No design is perfect. No strategy is complete. The truly successful internet dealers of the world must be willing to put the time in to make sure they're best-positioned against their competition and offer a positive face that their customers can see.

The internet is now the first and last place most people go when buying a vehicle. They start their research there, and while there is still a good portion of people who refer to other venues, they normally end up on the internet before heading out to see vehicles.

Sometimes, they're on the internet while they're out seeing vehicles.

The only way to maintain a state of constant improvement is through testing. This isn't Star Wars - "The Force" does not apply here. One does simply know that their website is perfect. They have to test it.

With thousands of websites under our belt, we are still constantly testing, trying new things, and advancing our measures in the search for near-perfection.

True perfection can never be reached. That's probably a good thing - our work life might be boring otherwise.

It can be a challenge, but this infographic may help shed light on the best ways to test. Click to enlarge.

(Via: Monetate. Point of Reference: Doral Honda.)

Website marketing, lead conversion, and sales should be in a constant state of improvement. No design is perfect. No strategy is complete. The truly successful internet dealers of the world must be willing to put the time in to make sure they're best-positioned against their competition and offer a positive face that their customers can see.

The internet is now the first and last place most people go when buying a vehicle. They start their research there, and while there is still a good portion of people who refer to other venues, they normally end up on the internet before heading out to see vehicles.

Sometimes, they're on the internet while they're out seeing vehicles.

The only way to maintain a state of constant improvement is through testing. This isn't Star Wars - "The Force" does not apply here. One does simply know that their website is perfect. They have to test it.

With thousands of websites under our belt, we are still constantly testing, trying new things, and advancing our measures in the search for near-perfection.

True perfection can never be reached. That's probably a good thing - our work life might be boring otherwise.

It can be a challenge, but this infographic may help shed light on the best ways to test. Click to enlarge.

(Via: Monetate. Point of Reference: Doral Honda.)

The art and science of link-building has been growing in the consiousness of dealers for the last several months. The trumpet that a few of us have been blowing has started to make an impact in the industry as dealers and vendors realize the SEO benefits of quality inbound links to their sites.

It's starting to be a craze which is a good thing. As with any craze, there needs to be a word or two of caution attached. In this case, the words of caution were best illustrated by Google itself. It is against the rules to purchase links for the sake of increased page rank or rankings. Google has made this clear for years, and recently slapped its own wrist to make sure nobody thinks they're above their own rules.

It's not against the rules to purchase link placement. They've been very clear that sponsored links and advertisements are perfectly acceptible as long as they apply the "nofollow" attribute to the links. A company that the Google Chrome team hired to help with marketing didn't follow this rule and made purchases on Chrome's behalf of placement in articles about the browser. When word broke about this, Google acted swiftly and penalized itself in its own rankings.

Link-building is a challenging thing, which is why we've always relied on organic and networked links. We believe in quality content driving the links to sites through methods such as infographics, content writing, and social news promotion. We have never and will never buy a link.

You shouldn't either.

* * *

JD Rucker is Director of New Media for KPA, a Dealership Compliance company. KPA purchased TK Carsites, an Automotive Marketing Firm, in 2011 and continues to provide top-notch internet marketing service to dealers across the country.

The art and science of link-building has been growing in the consiousness of dealers for the last several months. The trumpet that a few of us have been blowing has started to make an impact in the industry as dealers and vendors realize the SEO benefits of quality inbound links to their sites.

It's starting to be a craze which is a good thing. As with any craze, there needs to be a word or two of caution attached. In this case, the words of caution were best illustrated by Google itself. It is against the rules to purchase links for the sake of increased page rank or rankings. Google has made this clear for years, and recently slapped its own wrist to make sure nobody thinks they're above their own rules.

It's not against the rules to purchase link placement. They've been very clear that sponsored links and advertisements are perfectly acceptible as long as they apply the "nofollow" attribute to the links. A company that the Google Chrome team hired to help with marketing didn't follow this rule and made purchases on Chrome's behalf of placement in articles about the browser. When word broke about this, Google acted swiftly and penalized itself in its own rankings.

Link-building is a challenging thing, which is why we've always relied on organic and networked links. We believe in quality content driving the links to sites through methods such as infographics, content writing, and social news promotion. We have never and will never buy a link.

You shouldn't either.

* * *

JD Rucker is Director of New Media for KPA, a Dealership Compliance company. KPA purchased TK Carsites, an Automotive Marketing Firm, in 2011 and continues to provide top-notch internet marketing service to dealers across the country.

If there's one thing that's constant in the technology world, it's change. We see it every day - what was once hot goes cold, what was once dying is reborn. I had a bad-prediction moment the other day when I had to backtrack on my opinion of the Windows Phone. The TK Carsites founder had purchased one a few months back and at the time I was (inwardly) laughing at him. I was wrong. Microsoft will be a player in the phone wars in the near future.

That's what happens in automotive marketing as well. It's my job to analyze the latest and greatest products and trends in online automotive marketing and make a decision as to how effective they'll be, what the ROI will look like, and how long it will be able to sustain. We did this in 2007 when we first started exploring social media, for example. At the time, Facebook was 1/5th the size of MySpace, but we made the decision to bet on Facebook making a push and forcing MySpace to the side.

The infographic below shows some of the trending topics that made the news in 2011. Some of them apply directly to automotive marketing such as Geolocation Apps and Mobile Photo Sharing. Others, such as Group Buying, have seen lukewarm success in automotive.

Of note is one of the predictions in 2012. Mobile commerce will become the norm. Dealers may wonder how that could possibly affect them - nobody's going to buy a car off their iPhone, right? The key (and the item we're looking very closely at with our R&D team) is the effect mobile devices will have on fixed ops sales and marketing. More to come on that. In the meantime, enjoy this infographic.

Click to enlarge.

If there's one thing that's constant in the technology world, it's change. We see it every day - what was once hot goes cold, what was once dying is reborn. I had a bad-prediction moment the other day when I had to backtrack on my opinion of the Windows Phone. The TK Carsites founder had purchased one a few months back and at the time I was (inwardly) laughing at him. I was wrong. Microsoft will be a player in the phone wars in the near future.

That's what happens in automotive marketing as well. It's my job to analyze the latest and greatest products and trends in online automotive marketing and make a decision as to how effective they'll be, what the ROI will look like, and how long it will be able to sustain. We did this in 2007 when we first started exploring social media, for example. At the time, Facebook was 1/5th the size of MySpace, but we made the decision to bet on Facebook making a push and forcing MySpace to the side.

The infographic below shows some of the trending topics that made the news in 2011. Some of them apply directly to automotive marketing such as Geolocation Apps and Mobile Photo Sharing. Others, such as Group Buying, have seen lukewarm success in automotive.

Of note is one of the predictions in 2012. Mobile commerce will become the norm. Dealers may wonder how that could possibly affect them - nobody's going to buy a car off their iPhone, right? The key (and the item we're looking very closely at with our R&D team) is the effect mobile devices will have on fixed ops sales and marketing. More to come on that. In the meantime, enjoy this infographic.

Click to enlarge.

Those who have been on the internet side of the business for a while might remember some email marketing fads that came and went. They were sleak, sexy, interactive, and got blocked by 90% of the spam filters by 2008. Alas, the days of "fun emails" were behind us.

Or were they? Video emails are making a comeback and frankly, I'm not sure what to think about it. There are several products out there in the market today that allow dealers to make quick videos of them talking directly to customers, doing short video walkarounds, or simply giving the personal attention that customers want to receive. I'm interested in hearing from the Driving Sales about the effectiveness of these.

Call it a personal research project. It's not something that KPA/TK Carsites offers, but if it's effective I'd love to look into it. What are your thoughts? What's your experience?

This question was sparked by one of the infographics that we promote through Hasai that hit my desk and made me start wondering how it translates in the automotive industry.

Click to enlarge.

Those who have been on the internet side of the business for a while might remember some email marketing fads that came and went. They were sleak, sexy, interactive, and got blocked by 90% of the spam filters by 2008. Alas, the days of "fun emails" were behind us.

Or were they? Video emails are making a comeback and frankly, I'm not sure what to think about it. There are several products out there in the market today that allow dealers to make quick videos of them talking directly to customers, doing short video walkarounds, or simply giving the personal attention that customers want to receive. I'm interested in hearing from the Driving Sales about the effectiveness of these.

Call it a personal research project. It's not something that KPA/TK Carsites offers, but if it's effective I'd love to look into it. What are your thoughts? What's your experience?

This question was sparked by one of the infographics that we promote through Hasai that hit my desk and made me start wondering how it translates in the automotive industry.

Click to enlarge.

We are very pleased to have the best dressed man in the automotive industry shedding light and sharing wisdom with dealers across the country on Wednesday at 9am Pacific, noon Eastern.

"Marketing is constantly evolving and new innovative ways of reaching your prospects are emerging, most recently with the rise of marketing via smart phones and tablets. Join Paul to learn about how to most effectively market your services and connect with your customers in the world of Mobile Marketing. Walk away from this webinar knowing how to develop a mobile “mailing” list, innovative ways to make your message stand out, as well as key components of a successful mobile marketing strategy."

Come see Paul in the morning on the TK Carsites Webinar. It's free!

We are very pleased to have the best dressed man in the automotive industry shedding light and sharing wisdom with dealers across the country on Wednesday at 9am Pacific, noon Eastern.

"Marketing is constantly evolving and new innovative ways of reaching your prospects are emerging, most recently with the rise of marketing via smart phones and tablets. Join Paul to learn about how to most effectively market your services and connect with your customers in the world of Mobile Marketing. Walk away from this webinar knowing how to develop a mobile “mailing” list, innovative ways to make your message stand out, as well as key components of a successful mobile marketing strategy."

Come see Paul in the morning on the TK Carsites Webinar. It's free!