It's a question we often ask our dealers and something that we now ask the Driving Sales community. What's next?

There was a time when having a website meant little more than putting up an online billboard that said, "Here's where we are. Here's our number. Call or come by and let's talk." Now, the Internet is viewed by most dealers as the most important venue for delivering the message, grabbing the leads, and starting the sales process.

We now see robust websites with lots of tools, tons of pages, loads of inventory, and plenty of content. Search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing are important aspects for driving traffic. Social media has emerged as a tool for retaining customers as well as finding new ones.

Microsites have been around for a while but are really starting to become an important part of most dealers' marketing strategies. Goal-specific landing pages flood the web. Portals, hub sites, splash pages... all getting more attention.

So, what's next? Is it QR Codes? A lot of hype is surrounding them, but are they really the next big thing or a passing fad? Many dealers have mobile sites, but is there something more to mobile that is on the horizon, being used by cutting edge dealers today? Is social media continuing to grow in popularity to the point that we need a more comprehensive presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs?

Inventory posting services are becoming more innovative. So, too, are lead-vendors themselves, finding new ways to get more leads. Reputation management has been in buzz for a while, but what about reputation marketing (something we have up our sleeves)?

With so many "emerging" technologies and venues, we would love to know what YOU think is next. It could be one thing or many. It doesn't have to be new - search engine optimization, for example, has entered into a new phase with more dramatic changes to search than we've seen in a couple of years.

For the better of all of the savvy dealers in this amazing community, we encourage dealers, vendors, and industry professionals alike to chime in.

What's next?

It's a question we often ask our dealers and something that we now ask the Driving Sales community. What's next?

There was a time when having a website meant little more than putting up an online billboard that said, "Here's where we are. Here's our number. Call or come by and let's talk." Now, the Internet is viewed by most dealers as the most important venue for delivering the message, grabbing the leads, and starting the sales process.

We now see robust websites with lots of tools, tons of pages, loads of inventory, and plenty of content. Search engine optimization and pay-per-click marketing are important aspects for driving traffic. Social media has emerged as a tool for retaining customers as well as finding new ones.

Microsites have been around for a while but are really starting to become an important part of most dealers' marketing strategies. Goal-specific landing pages flood the web. Portals, hub sites, splash pages... all getting more attention.

So, what's next? Is it QR Codes? A lot of hype is surrounding them, but are they really the next big thing or a passing fad? Many dealers have mobile sites, but is there something more to mobile that is on the horizon, being used by cutting edge dealers today? Is social media continuing to grow in popularity to the point that we need a more comprehensive presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and blogs?

Inventory posting services are becoming more innovative. So, too, are lead-vendors themselves, finding new ways to get more leads. Reputation management has been in buzz for a while, but what about reputation marketing (something we have up our sleeves)?

With so many "emerging" technologies and venues, we would love to know what YOU think is next. It could be one thing or many. It doesn't have to be new - search engine optimization, for example, has entered into a new phase with more dramatic changes to search than we've seen in a couple of years.

For the better of all of the savvy dealers in this amazing community, we encourage dealers, vendors, and industry professionals alike to chime in.

What's next?

Those who use Facebook are there to interact with friends, find interesting content or breaking news, and generally get away from the drudge of day-to-day work and life. As a result, many who use sales as the backbone of their business, such as car dealers, find it challenging to get into the groove with how Facebook can be effective as a sales tool.

This Infographic by our friends at GetSatisfaction takes a look at the "sales funnel" and how it can be applied in Facebook. Despite common belief, Facebook is not an empty portal where everything gets lost in the black hole of lolcats and pictures of little Timmy sliding into 3rd base. It can be an extremely effective tool for taking people down the path towards the eventual sale.

Click to enlarge.

Those who use Facebook are there to interact with friends, find interesting content or breaking news, and generally get away from the drudge of day-to-day work and life. As a result, many who use sales as the backbone of their business, such as car dealers, find it challenging to get into the groove with how Facebook can be effective as a sales tool.

This Infographic by our friends at GetSatisfaction takes a look at the "sales funnel" and how it can be applied in Facebook. Despite common belief, Facebook is not an empty portal where everything gets lost in the black hole of lolcats and pictures of little Timmy sliding into 3rd base. It can be an extremely effective tool for taking people down the path towards the eventual sale.

Click to enlarge.

Over the last 4 years, we've seen the automotive industry change faster than any other. Even technology has enjoyed a more steady pace through innovations and mindset than the automotive industry from top to bottom. The way we sell, the way we market, and the way we do every aspect of business has transformed in so many ways that it's often hard to keep track of what's working and what's not.

Now, in 2011, one thing is emerging as a theme that tells the tale of success. Dealers are taking charge of their marketing in ways they haven't in the past. The game is much more complicated than it used to be. The Internet has forced business owners in nearly every industry to adjust. The car business has seen the most dramatic adjustments of them all.

Why It's You

The hands-off approach to marketing has, for many (including the savvy dealers on Driving Sales), gone away. Today, those wanting to be the best of the best don't simply contract with vendors and let it ride. They are tracking, monitoring, and getting involved with strategy in ways that are unprecedented. At TK Carsites, we're seeing this dramatic change just by the sheer bulk of people who watch our webinars on Wednesdays.

More dealers are joining every week. Those who have been to past webinars continue to come. It's a testament to the fact that "hands-off" is out the door. Our webinars are tutorial in nature. They aren't meant to pitch products or tease the possibilities. They are completely hands-on, teaching dealers best practices to use in social media, SEO, and general sales through websites and on the floor.

I was skeptical at first. When we launched a year ago I thought that it would certainly fizzle out once dealers realized the work involved in taking control of their Internet marketing. The exact opposite has happened, and I'm pleased to see it.

Conferences

As more dealers desire to learn to take control, they are attending the various conferences. Innovative Dealer Summit is on Wednesday in Colorado and if it's even half as strong as it was last year, it's worth a look. We will be broadcasting our presentation live on Ustream (details will be posted on the TK Carsites blog) at 10am Pacific Wednesday.

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp next month and Driving Sales Executive Summit in October are must-attends for dealers really looking to take it to the next level. Again, hands-on training is the key to both.

Are you there yet? Are you ready to be more hands-on with your marketing? Are you hiring the right people, the right vendors, and taking advantage of the many tools out there?

Are you ready?

Over the last 4 years, we've seen the automotive industry change faster than any other. Even technology has enjoyed a more steady pace through innovations and mindset than the automotive industry from top to bottom. The way we sell, the way we market, and the way we do every aspect of business has transformed in so many ways that it's often hard to keep track of what's working and what's not.

Now, in 2011, one thing is emerging as a theme that tells the tale of success. Dealers are taking charge of their marketing in ways they haven't in the past. The game is much more complicated than it used to be. The Internet has forced business owners in nearly every industry to adjust. The car business has seen the most dramatic adjustments of them all.

Why It's You

The hands-off approach to marketing has, for many (including the savvy dealers on Driving Sales), gone away. Today, those wanting to be the best of the best don't simply contract with vendors and let it ride. They are tracking, monitoring, and getting involved with strategy in ways that are unprecedented. At TK Carsites, we're seeing this dramatic change just by the sheer bulk of people who watch our webinars on Wednesdays.

More dealers are joining every week. Those who have been to past webinars continue to come. It's a testament to the fact that "hands-off" is out the door. Our webinars are tutorial in nature. They aren't meant to pitch products or tease the possibilities. They are completely hands-on, teaching dealers best practices to use in social media, SEO, and general sales through websites and on the floor.

I was skeptical at first. When we launched a year ago I thought that it would certainly fizzle out once dealers realized the work involved in taking control of their Internet marketing. The exact opposite has happened, and I'm pleased to see it.

Conferences

As more dealers desire to learn to take control, they are attending the various conferences. Innovative Dealer Summit is on Wednesday in Colorado and if it's even half as strong as it was last year, it's worth a look. We will be broadcasting our presentation live on Ustream (details will be posted on the TK Carsites blog) at 10am Pacific Wednesday.

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp next month and Driving Sales Executive Summit in October are must-attends for dealers really looking to take it to the next level. Again, hands-on training is the key to both.

Are you there yet? Are you ready to be more hands-on with your marketing? Are you hiring the right people, the right vendors, and taking advantage of the many tools out there?

Are you ready?

The most common questions dealers ask us when we talk about Power SEO for their websites that are not on the TK Carsites platform is, "How can we do it if it's on a website built by {some other vendor}?"

There are really two answers to the question, but the first is the most important. We build high-quality, relevant, well-indexed inbound links to dealers' websites. It's that simple. As many have stated, the search engines look at inbound links as "votes" and measures of authority for websites for particular keywords. The more high-quality links you have going to your pages, the better they'll rank.

I highlighted high-quality because there is a large distinction between the different types of links. Our success is hung on our network of properties that have been accumulating search engine credibility for several years versus the JohnnyComeLately link-building schemes that have no juice.

The key to offsite Automotive SEO is a combination of quality and quantity. Our network is huge and it has been seasoned over the years to be considered high-quality by the search engines. The addition of the Automotive Advertising Network to our product offering helps to make it even more powerful.

If it ever became necessary, we could propel sites to the top of relevant and important search terms on the merits of link-building alone. Luckily, the second part to the answer of the question makes it easier...

We have been working with the backend tools for all major website vendors (and most minor ones) for some time now and we're adept at taking the generic content on most websites and transforming it into SEO gold. If you see a site that is ranking very high for a lot of challenging keywords that is built by another vendor, call the dealership and ask them who does their SEO. You may be surprised.

Our recent webinar about "Do It Yourself Link-Building" shows dealers how they can use the same techniques to supplement their own SEO. We encourage dealers to take charge of their SEO and not leave it up to just any old vendor. With that said, I welcome any questions and inquiries if you want to see what TK Carsites can do for your websites.

The most common questions dealers ask us when we talk about Power SEO for their websites that are not on the TK Carsites platform is, "How can we do it if it's on a website built by {some other vendor}?"

There are really two answers to the question, but the first is the most important. We build high-quality, relevant, well-indexed inbound links to dealers' websites. It's that simple. As many have stated, the search engines look at inbound links as "votes" and measures of authority for websites for particular keywords. The more high-quality links you have going to your pages, the better they'll rank.

I highlighted high-quality because there is a large distinction between the different types of links. Our success is hung on our network of properties that have been accumulating search engine credibility for several years versus the JohnnyComeLately link-building schemes that have no juice.

The key to offsite Automotive SEO is a combination of quality and quantity. Our network is huge and it has been seasoned over the years to be considered high-quality by the search engines. The addition of the Automotive Advertising Network to our product offering helps to make it even more powerful.

If it ever became necessary, we could propel sites to the top of relevant and important search terms on the merits of link-building alone. Luckily, the second part to the answer of the question makes it easier...

We have been working with the backend tools for all major website vendors (and most minor ones) for some time now and we're adept at taking the generic content on most websites and transforming it into SEO gold. If you see a site that is ranking very high for a lot of challenging keywords that is built by another vendor, call the dealership and ask them who does their SEO. You may be surprised.

Our recent webinar about "Do It Yourself Link-Building" shows dealers how they can use the same techniques to supplement their own SEO. We encourage dealers to take charge of their SEO and not leave it up to just any old vendor. With that said, I welcome any questions and inquiries if you want to see what TK Carsites can do for your websites.

For the past 10 months, we have been travelling around the country as an executive staff, talking to current and future clients to get an understanding of what they are really looking for in a complete Internet marketing solution. We've taken this information and worked with leaders in marketing and strategy to harness what we know about automotive in an environment tempered by best practices in other industries.

The general theme that we've discovered is that dealers and marketing professionals agree on most (not all) aspects of Internet marketing, but one thing stood out as a clear "must have" across the board: integrating search, social, and website lead generation was the key to success going forward in 2011 and into 2012.

We have been doing this to gain an understanding of how to build and position the newest variation of our award-winning Power of 5 marketing platform to be unveiled in the Spring. What we learned is that "variation" was not appropriate. This is a complete re-imagination.

But that's not the point of this article. This knowledge that we've acquired has opened our eyes to how dealers should be positioning their Internet marketing strategies. Seeing your website, SEO, and social media as three separate activities is not the best way to take advantage of any of the three. An integrated strategy allows the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts.

When improving and implementing your strategies, keep this in mind. Keeping them as separate activities is not as effective. When you design or improve your website, ask yourself some questions:

• - Do I have a strong inbound linking strategy to compliment my onsite design and structure?
• - Is the message and design of my website a match for what I will be doing in social media?

When putting together your SEO strategy, ask yourself a couple of more questions:

• - Is my website designed with SEO in mind and how will I link to the pages that are best converting?
• - What can I do from a social perspective to enhance link-building and to take advantage of the social signals component of SEO?

Finally, when considering a vendor or internal strategy for social media, ask these questions:

• - How easy is it for people who visit my website to interact with me on social media?
• - Are my social pages properly optimized and are they going to enhance my search engine placement?

With these questions in mind, you'll be able to see the correlation between the three most important aspects of automotive Internet marketing.

For the past 10 months, we have been travelling around the country as an executive staff, talking to current and future clients to get an understanding of what they are really looking for in a complete Internet marketing solution. We've taken this information and worked with leaders in marketing and strategy to harness what we know about automotive in an environment tempered by best practices in other industries.

The general theme that we've discovered is that dealers and marketing professionals agree on most (not all) aspects of Internet marketing, but one thing stood out as a clear "must have" across the board: integrating search, social, and website lead generation was the key to success going forward in 2011 and into 2012.

We have been doing this to gain an understanding of how to build and position the newest variation of our award-winning Power of 5 marketing platform to be unveiled in the Spring. What we learned is that "variation" was not appropriate. This is a complete re-imagination.

But that's not the point of this article. This knowledge that we've acquired has opened our eyes to how dealers should be positioning their Internet marketing strategies. Seeing your website, SEO, and social media as three separate activities is not the best way to take advantage of any of the three. An integrated strategy allows the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts.

When improving and implementing your strategies, keep this in mind. Keeping them as separate activities is not as effective. When you design or improve your website, ask yourself some questions:

• - Do I have a strong inbound linking strategy to compliment my onsite design and structure?
• - Is the message and design of my website a match for what I will be doing in social media?

When putting together your SEO strategy, ask yourself a couple of more questions:

• - Is my website designed with SEO in mind and how will I link to the pages that are best converting?
• - What can I do from a social perspective to enhance link-building and to take advantage of the social signals component of SEO?

Finally, when considering a vendor or internal strategy for social media, ask these questions:

• - How easy is it for people who visit my website to interact with me on social media?
• - Are my social pages properly optimized and are they going to enhance my search engine placement?

With these questions in mind, you'll be able to see the correlation between the three most important aspects of automotive Internet marketing.