What automotive dealers can do in this economy

Posted on 06. Oct, 2008 by admin.

We just contributed to an artivle on Driving Sales that automotive dealers and marketers may find interesting…

Click here to read the article

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How frustrating it can be to buy a car

Posted on 30. Sep, 2008 by admin.

Seth Godin wrote a great article on his experience buying a car from a local dealer. We often wonder why all of the walk-in traffic to dealerships have pretty much died off, and customers are loving the Internet. As automotive marketers, we need to find more ways to create a better process internally, but to empower Internet shoppers to actually enjoy the process.

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10 surefire ways to waste your Automotive search marketing budget

Posted on 29. Sep, 2008 by admin.

Top 10 ways to Waste your Automotive search marketing budget

We have handled millions of ad impressions on our automotive marketing (pay per click) accounts for our clients, and have taken over our share of mismanaged accounts from other automotive web developers, mom and pop shops, and even major companies that state they are experts in search marketing for automotive dealers. Here is a quick top ten list of no-no’s, along with some great examples of how bad things can get when a car dealer just throws money at search marketing

10:  Buy outside of your dealership’s geographic area:

Every car dealer wants their customers, their competitors customers, and will go to great lengths to buy zones or marketing areas well outside of any reasonable area. Often, it’s a naive marketer that buys a 100 mile radius on new car leads. What’s the REAL CHANCE you will sell a NEW Chevy when a customer will have to drive past 53 other Chevrolet dealers on the way down? Used cars is another story. We have some great success stories of selling cars outside of the state, region, even country.

9:Buy keywords for models you do not sell:

Of course people are cross shopping vehicles. Yes you may put a Cayenne buyer into an FX45 but first and foremost, get the proper keywords before you even think about buying any other automotive keywords. Then, if and when you do buy competing models, closely watch the clicks, conversion rates to see if these are even turning into automotive leads or are just a wasted effort.

8:Buy generic phrases:

If you are buying phrases like “cars” and “used” then you have purchased a one way ticket to spend budget quickly. You will attract all sorts of crazy requests especially if you buy a “broad match” which may include such wonderful phrases as “cars for demolition derbies” and “used jeans just like Madonna”.  Automotive marketers beware but a click is a click to Google and they will charge you if you are not smart enough to prevent it.

7:Don’t match your ad to your destination page:

You ad says “Toyota Camry’s for $199/mo” and your landing page is a homepage that is still 3 clicks away from finding the Camry inventory. As a special bonus to your customer, they can’t find this $199 special because someone forgot to load it into your special offer section of your dealership’s website. Talk about a time waster. Another one-way ticket to find another dealer on Google is coming to a customer near you. Could you envision a situation where a customer walked into your showroom, asked about a Camry, and you walked him around your entire dealership, showed them the service department, F&I, and led them to a few doors which may or may not lead to a price on that car?

6: Make crappy boring generic ads

This is an automotive marketing staple. Boring, generic ads with no compelling reason to click on them. Sure it’s great you are on top of Google but that will not last long if you have a low click through rate, and customer’s are going to click on the ad that excites them. We run many automotive ads simultaneously and constantly make them compete to beat the next ad. This is why we can see a 15% or more click through rate on some ads and other dealers say that pay per click just does not work.

5: Spend too much on “gotta have it” keywords

I was at a dealership the other day, who shall remain nameless, who said “I have to win the word Honda”. I don’t care how much it costs, but anything Honda, I need to be #1 in paid search.”. This dealership would have put together a pay per click campaign that resulted in clicks on Honda motorcycles, Honda outboards, Honda used, Honda jet planes (yes take a look at them) and anything else. Plus he may end up paying $10 per click on competitive words. Insane.

4:Ignore Analytic reports and focus on traffic:

90% bounce rates on pay per click ads mean that 90% of your customers are leaving almost immediately. If you are not looking at analytic reports then you are spending money on the wrong keywords, ads, sites, etc. We just left a dealer who was buying the word “free” in their PPC campaign. Sure, tons of clicks. Duh. Bounce rate near 100%. Duh. I can’t even imagine how much they paid per click. Factor in the exit rates (what pages people are leaving from) and the new visitor ratio, and you can get a good idea of the best sources of traffic. Buy more good, buy less bad.

3:Let Google run your campaign

Sure it is easy and may be good to get you started, but Google suggestions will often just give you irrelevant phrases, or provide you with odd budgets. Buy what you need, leave the rest. Remember, Google wants to spend your automotive budget.

2:Spend too much per click

Sometimes, coming in 2nd is a good thing! When the price between being a first place listing and second place listing is $2.00 per click, it pays to let go of first sometimes. Often, we can buy several times as many clicks for our clients just by avoiding the “bid to win 1st” mentality. Sometimes, the “long tail” philosophy can lead to a boatload of clicks at a low price.

1. Buy your own name

Here is our favorite one of all, bidding on your own name. There is a very popular and well known automotive marketing company who can get dealers a ton of clicks and “phone calls” as well. It’s easy when you buy the dealers name. If you are already #1 with your own name (most dealers are) and there is no competition, the DO NOT buy your own name. They will find you for free. That is buying the cow, AND paying for the milk. It’s insane that a major, well funded business has built a business model around redirecting a dealers own traffic back to the dealer, and getting full credit for it. There are cases where you do want and need to buy your own name but in most cases, it is not necessary.

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Automotive SEO - get top Google listing in less than 3 hours

Posted on 26. Sep, 2008 by admin.

The Ultimate automotive marketing Test

Can you “win” an automotive keyword on Google in just a few hours. The answer is yes.

Automotive SEO is what all dealers want to know about.

Not being known for beating around the bush, we are going to give away a little dealer SEO secret. OK, it’s not a secret but a useful tool to help get both listed and linked to from some major sites on the Internet. These links turn into visits, visits turn into leads, and then your sales staff doesn’t call the client (kidding on the last part, we all know you call every lead within 15 mintes)

Automotive SEO and electronic Press Releases

Google likes fresh info. Write a press release, focus on a specific key phrase, and you can end up with a number 1 spot in Google. Better yet, add some clickable links on the press release (not all services allow this) and you can track the traffic. We recently had a dealer get over 300 visits on a very relevant phrase in Google using this automotive search optimization technique.

Optimize your automotive press release for search engines and humans

What? But isn’t a press release about press? Shouldn’t it be a 3 page story that builds the brand in the customers mind? Sure, if you don’t want to rank in Google. We aren’t suggesting you post a bunch of junk or keyword spam Google. But with the right release, sent to the right places, you can end up #1 in just a few hours. Don’t stick a release out there that says “Nissan dealer, Nissan Dealer, get your Nissan dealer info here”. It just won’t work, and even if it did, it would not last long. SEO isn’t just a quick trick. Write for both Google and your customers.

Just like this article has a specific purpose, to inform you about a great dealership search optimization technique, it does not mean you should over do it by repeating automotive seo over and over.

We run ePR campaigns for dealers 5 days a week. If you want to try one, let us know and you can do one at a low introductory rate.

Try this search for an example: automotive seo specialist

or this one Mazda6 Dealer (it’s nice when you beat the manufacturer)

or certified honda PA

or Certified Honda Quote (several Google listings if you count the blog)

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Automotive search marketing domination simplified

Posted on 26. Sep, 2008 by admin.

Alright, you want to dominate automotive search marketing right? Yeah or course you do. Take a number and line up with the rest of the car dealers, manufacturers, lead providers, SEO companies, and every other small and large business in America.

The good news is, you can become a dominant search engine marketing expert (or at least hire an automotive seo company such as us). The bad news is, it will take a lot of work, effort, time, sweat, and tears.

As with all automotive advertising, it can be broken down into a few simple parts (yes, go ahead and grill me if I left one out).

• The message

• The media

• The market

Many dealers leave one part, or several parts of this message out. (ie: Let’s buy tons of radio ads and only radio ads!)

In the automotive search marketing space, dealers want it all. They want to win all keywords, on all search engines, with every possible phrase that they can think of at all times under all conditions. Organic listings, paid listings, maps, videos, you name it. If it lists on Google, or Yahoo, my dealership should be there.

Can this be done? Sure given enough of the aforementioned money, time, effort. In reality it is unlikely to win every keyword, on every square pixel of the Internet.

So let’s get back to the point.

The message: What is your ad? What are you selling? Is it compelling enough to get a customer to take action? Do you have a generic “Visit my dealer, lots on sale, click here” sort of ad or are you posting specific hot deals on cars in stock with actionable information? What “keywords” are part of this message? The message is automotive marketing in it’s essense. Without a good message or offer, you are almost dead in the water.

The media: What search engines/networks/social sites/blogs/press release organizations do you have to choose from, and which are most important? Do you know? Have you tested them with a good message? Do you track them? What is the conversion rate from each source? Bounce rate? Which brings more “new visitors” than the other source?

The market: Who are you marketing to? Are you a Florida auto dealer trying to sell new Chevy’s to California? (Yes, we’ve seen it) Are you selling to a male or female audience? What is their demographic? Are you going for your backyard or DMA or east of the Missisippi? Whether you choose organic or paid search marketing for your dealership does indeed have an impact on the market.

All of the above are important questions that need to me asked whether you are setting up an automotive marketing search campaign, ppc campaign, writing an electronic press release, or even updating meta tags on your website.

We have found a nice combination of message, market, and media that works for automotive search. Stay tuned for the “map” of how to tie it all together.

automotive marketing map

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The most popular automotive marketing phrases

Posted on 16. Sep, 2008 by admin.

Over the next few weeks, we will be blogging about our successes and failures to market ourselves using the following top phrases

automotive marketing
internet marketing solutions for automotive dealers
automotive internet marketing solutions
automotive dealership marketing
advertising automotive marketing
advertising automotive
advertising automotive company
advertising automotive marketing
advertising agency automotive
automotive advertising
automotive search engine marketing
motorvations automotive marketing
automotive advertising company
automotive marketing plan
automotive online marketing
wireless automotive internet services
[automotive marketing]
[internet marketing solutions for automotive dealers]
[automotive internet marketing solutions]
[automotive dealership marketing]
[advertising automotive marketing]
[advertising automotive]
[advertising automotive company]
[advertising automotive marketing]
[advertising agency automotive]
[automotive advertising]
[automotive search engine marketing]
[motorvations automotive marketing]
[automotive advertising company]
[automotive marketing plan]
[automotive online marketing]
[wireless automotive internet services]
“automotive marketing”
“internet marketing solutions for automotive dealers”
“automotive internet marketing solutions”
“automotive dealership marketing”
“advertising automotive marketing”
“advertising automotive”
“advertising automotive company”
“advertising automotive marketing”
“advertising agency automotive”
“automotive advertising”
“automotive search engine marketing”
“motorvations automotive marketing”
“automotive advertising company”
“automotive marketing plan”
“automotive online marketing”
“wireless automotive internet services”

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What Makes a Good Car dealer website design?

Posted on 09. Sep, 2008 by admin.

What elements make a dealership website work?

Well this could be a huge list but let’s focus on a few things but start with the basics,

Very often, unless you are utilizing automotive landing pages, microsites, or squeeze pages, you are driving your Internet customers to your homepage. Of all pages on your site, which one needs to be the most convincing, the most compelling, with all the best deals, offers, and enticements that your dealership can offer? Yes, you guessed it right, the home page. Hook em on the homepage and they will move forward. The back button is only a half second away.

OK so what are the mandatory pieces of what should be on the homepage?

1) DEALS

2) PHONE NUMBER

3) INVENTORY

4) EASY NAVIGATION

This is in no particular order, but if you visit your website or any website for that matter, check to see if it has these basic elements.

Below is an example of a design that incorporates these pieces in a very clear manner.

dealer website designer

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Phone, Feet, and Fingers

Posted on 09. Sep, 2008 by admin.

If a customer calls and nobody answers, did they actually call?

Of course they did. But it got me thinking that we should be tracking all automotive calls. Let’s call them the phone, feet, and fingers. Customers can call you on the phone from your ad, your TV spot, you dealership’s infomercial, or your search engine marketing ad. They can move their feet, and drive their old car onto your lot, looking for the best deal on a new car. They can also use their fingers and type you an email, fill out a form, or somehow find you online, assuming you did some great automotive search optimization to get them there.

With all of these options available to your customers, do you provide them the tools to find your car dealership online? If so, are you tracking all of your automotive marketing dollars and tying it to these actions?

Phone, Feet, and Fingers.

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Track your calls- you may be surprised!

Posted on 03. Sep, 2008 by admin.

A large Honda switched over to a new PureDealer website. Upon PD’s guidance, they added tracking phone numbers to their site. The data received back in just half a month showed that their website was receiving phone calls on a 2 to 1 basis over email leads. This is a very large number considering how many email leads that this dealer was already receiving.

The next step is to seperate sales from service, and then track these calls to specific sources to better understand ROI of each Internet investment.

Although we cannot take credit for the tripling of the leads, their organic traffic went through the roof and is climbing during a time when other dealers are dropping.

Automotive call tracking definitely pays and helps you understand how to get a better ROI.

Of course, you can sign up for an inexepensive call tracking service with PureDealer at any time.

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Automotive ePress releases sell more cars

Posted on 02. Sep, 2008 by admin.

Working on a tight deadline, with the launch of the new Mazda 6, PureDealer put together a robust automtive SEM, SEO, and ePR program to drive traffic and leads to a local Mazda dealer.

Of all of the investments for this dealer, the most inexpensive cost and highest ROI was the e Press Releases.

Not only did the dealership rank #1 on Google for both  “Mazda 6 dealer” and “mazda6 dealer” , but this automotive press release, coupled with properly optimized dealer website webpages, helped propel the dealership to also receive a #3 NATIONAL ranking for that phrase.

PureDealer also drove the press release and automotive search engine marketing right to a specially designed landing page complete with a simple contact form.

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