Tag Archives: Honda Dealer

Expert SEO - How to Spot Reputable SEO Firms and Avoid the Scams

Posted on 25. Feb, 2009 by admin.

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automotive search engine marketing
Choosing a reputable SEO Firm can be daunting, with so little knowledge available on what to look for. So the goal of this article is to give you the four key scams to watch out for, when searching for a reputable SEO Firm:SEO WANNA-BE’S

Search engine optimization is one of those unknown fields that has no established standards. Anyone can say they are an SEO or can do SEO work, but that does not mean they have the talent, time or tools to produce any results. There are also programs that claim to help search engine ranking. They do not work either. Period.

An easy way to spot an unknowledgeable SEO or a web designer who poses as an SEO is to ask them if they optimized your site when they designed it. They will answer, “Oh yeah, I optimized it.”

That is equivalent to saying, “Oh yeah, I’ve been working out.” Working out and SEO are never one time events. They are always on-going projects.

SEO SUBMISSION SCAMS

A lot of companies will also call people and tell them that they will submit their sites to 2000 directories, which will build their search engine ranking. It is a form of link campaigning–albeit lopsided and one-dimensional. The problem with these “auto-submissions” is that the directories to which they are submitting have safe-guards in place to reject these kinds of mass submissions. Now, here is the scam: the company has technically done what they promised they would do, SUBMIT your site, even though 99% of those submissions will be rejected and thus be of no use to building a client’s search engine ranking.

SEO KEYWORD SCAMS

Another prevalent scam in the industry is for SEOs to try to gull you into letting them pick the phrases to dominate. For instance, say you are a car dealer and your website is: www. myhondadealer.com

A scam SEO will come to you and say, “We can get you a #1 ranking for ‘Honda Dealer selling used Hondas in small town Nebraska” They can probably do that for you. Unfortunately, none of your potential clients are going to Google and typing in that phrase.

More sophisticated SEOs will come to you and tell you, “I will try to get you the ranking ‘Honda Dealer New Jersey.’” That sounds like a wonderful phrase to dominate, but their data has told them that no legitimate SEOs are going after that phrase; because, again, while it might sound good, very few people are actually typing that in. People may actually ne using either ‘Big City Honda dealer” or ‘Big City, NJ Honda’

What a legitimate SEO will do (like we do here) is to show you the actual data. We will show you the exact numbers of how many people per month are searching for the product or services you offer and what exact keyphrases they are typing in. We won’t go after any of the silly phrases above. We will show you the data AND LET YOU CHOOSE!

BLACK HAT SEO

There are short cuts that can be used to quickly build a ranking. These shortcuts involve “spammy” techniques that are referred to as Black Hat SEO. One of these techniques includes overloading a website with keywords. This works temporarily, but once the Google algorithm figures out what the site is doing, they will banish the site to what is referred to as “the Google sandbox.” This simply means that the site is marked to never be allowed to have a good ranking in the system and you will need to get your shovel out and dig your way out.

SEOs will sometimes do this because it is the easier than doing the work the honest way. In the long run, the hard, honest way is more effective and far more safe, but it does take longer. A few years ago BMW of Germany hired an SEO firm. This SEO firm applied some black hat techniques and Google found out. BMW of Germany was banished by Google and the auto giant spent the next few years and millions of dollars wooing Google to allow them back in to the system. Google finally agreed, but unless you have millions of dollars and the power of a automotive giant, you have to be careful to choose a Reputable automotive SEO Firm.

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Checklist for Internet Marketing Success for Dealers

Posted on 03. Feb, 2009 by admin.

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checklist 300x199 Checklist for Internet Marketing Success for DealersUse this Automotive Internet marketing “cheat sheet” to see how your dealership is performing on the Internet. Are you conquering all of these areas and performing automotive internet marketing as well as your competitors? Although success or failure in these areas could imply that you need improvement, it does necessarily mean you are not an expert in your marketing area since so many other businesses and dealerships are failing to execute even a small portion of these requirements.

We built this simple checklist and refine it as needed to determine the “health” of a dealership’s website or marketing efforts. Many car dealers feel they have everything handled, or have concquered all that is available online but the truth of the matter is they usually have much to learn or are not succeeding in one area or several.

Take a look through the following and rate yourself, or we can perform a rating for you.

Automotive Internet Marketing Success Checklist

New Vehicle Marketing Checklist:

  • Google search displays client franchise with state name (Chevrolet dealer NJ)
  • Google search displays client franchise with County name (Honda dealer Bergen County, NJ)
  • New Vehicles Featured on website Homepage
  • Google Search displays  ad to dealer’s website for a model name (Honda Civic)

Used Vehicle Marketing Checklist:

  • 90% of their Used cars on Craiglist:
  • Preowned Vehicles Featured on website Homepage
  • Preowned Specials are on dealer website
  • Google Search displays link to website for used, franchise, state (certified Honda Delaware)
  • Google Search displays ad to dealers website for used model search (used Ford)

Automotive Brand and Reputation Marketing Checklist

  • Client’s name is found in #1 position on Google
  • Dealer Rater /Rip Off report is not on Google page one
  • Negative reviews not found on Google page one
  • Is your business listed in all yellow page directories? Yellowpages.com, yellowbot.com, superpages.com, local.com, etc

Online Marketing Link Checklist:

Dealer Website Marketing Checklist:

  • Internet Savings coupon on site
  • Current Ad on site
  • Video player on site with compelling video or youtube video
  • New Car Specials on Site
  • Used Car Specials On Site
  • Service Coupons on site

If one of several of these areas are lacking then you may be missing out on some great conversions of traffic into leads. When you are looking for an Automotive Internet Marketing expert, make sure they are looking at all of these areas. If not, contact PureDealer at 609 977 5050

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Think Small for your Automotive Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Posted on 31. Dec, 2008 by admin.

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Silverback%20Gorilla%20471065 Think Small for your Automotive Marketing Search Engine Optimization (SEO)The big automotive marketing companies think big, act big, make big deals with the manufacturers. Major marketing contracts are negotiated on the manufacturers (dealership’s?) behalf and the best automotive website and marketing solutions are chosen based on some factors that occur behind closed doors without dealership involvement, intervention, or say in the matter.

However, when the big marketing company represents YOU and also ALL of your local competitors, who benefits the most? How does the Internet, Google, the manufacturer, and this big automotive internet marketing company decide who will rank #1 on Google for “Honda New Jersey” or “Houston Honda Dealer”? You paid your money just like the other 10 guys in your market, but why is the other guy beating you in the search results when you have made the same investment, paid the same bill, to the same manufacturer or vendor?

Who will get the #1 spot? Will it be the big Chevy dealer or the little Chevy dealer who wins in Google? Is money a factor, luck, favoritism? Is it first in first on top?

Well, some of these questions can be put aside because here are some good points to ask the “big web developers” or “largest automotive marketing firms” in the US when they ask for your business…

A few questions to ask the Large automotive marketing companies

1) How do you get me ranked higher than my competitor, when we both use the same exact site and SEO?

2) Am I allowed to choose the phrases I want to win in the search engines and if so what exactly will you do to ensure that I get there, and how much will it cost?

3) What comes for free and what is extra, regarding search engine optimization and SEO-based keywords?

4) What can I do, and what tools are at my disposal to self-manage my destiny on the Internet or has my fate already been decided when you signed the deal with automotive-marketing-company.com?

These are some tough questions that will make the big guys squirm because they really, truly have no alternative but to dodge the question or provide you with some lip service. “You’ve always been my favorite, you’re the best, we will get you #1 for what you need”, etc etc”. Just sign here on the dotted line… They are hoping you do not check, forget about it, or in a few months will let you know they are working on it, hoping to buy more time. Chances are good that your personal account rep will have left within 6 months anyway so all feelings of the sweet whisperings will slowly turn into a feeling of rage.

The Benefits of a smaller automotive marketing company are large:

1) We serve you, the client and do not have major conflicts of interest like the 500 pound gorillas do.

2) We can hand-craft a marketing plan that matches your exact needs to sell the cars you want to sell.

3) We move fast, have no red tape to cut through, and are on the forefront of the most current marketing techniques because we use them for ourselves. We talk the talk and walk the walk.

4) We do not have to cater to the manufacturers and limit your website, microsites, pay per click marketing, or automotive Search engine optimization to specific demands (unless co-op is involved of course)

Picture yourself for a moment inside a supermarket, in front of the ice cream freezer. There are 40 choices but the flavor is only vanilla. Who determines which vanilla ice cream container is placed in front? When you choose a major automotive web site marketer who also handles 39 other dealers in your DMA, what is the likelihood that you will be the ice cream in the front of the freezer?

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