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TAKE POLL More Important, SEO or 3rd Parties

ed.brooks

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Jan 15, 2010
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Ed
Earth Shattering stuff from the Moz blog - Why I Stopped Selling SEO Services and You Should, Too
  • Search "best headphones" - No product pages, all articles
  • Search "restaurants in Miami" - Not a single result on the first page is a restaurant's website.
  • Search "plumbers in San Francisco" - Not a single result on the first page is a website
Huh?!

They go on to make this recommendation:
The long-winded point I'm trying to make is this:

It's no longer just about optimizing your website for Google. It's about optimizing your presence across the web.

By understanding who our target audience is and where they spend their time, we can attack those platforms and build an organic presence.​
    • If you're an attorney, you need to be on sites like Avvo, Lawyer.com and Find Law because they dominate the SERPS
    • If you're a local business, Yelp and Thumbtack are crushing it right now
    • If you have an e-commerce store, get your product on as many platforms where your customers are as possible (including Pinterest)
    • If you sell large-ticket B2B services, SlideShare and LinkedIn are gold mines for connecting with C-suite executives looking for information
The list goes on and on...​

There is a place for third party sites.
 
The blog was thought provoking for sure. For auto dealers I think the one of the best takeaways was this:

#2: Create valuable content
If we go back to my first example, best headphones, the results are dominated by content that compares ratings and pricing for various headphones.

No one shares, engages, or links to products and services pages. The fact is, no one except for us cares.

Instead of trying to jam those pages with links, create a piece of content that delivers what Google (and users) want. By creating value with your content, you open it up to earning social media shares and powerful links from relevant sites.

If you want to compete against the big dogs for organic search real estate, content is your best option.

I don't want my only option to be spending $4-10k to get our product lumped in with all our competitors on a listing site. I'd rather get better at the same things they do to drive traffic.
 
It's no longer just about optimizing your website for Google. It's about optimizing your presence across the web.

Ed, this statement is correct. Dealers need to have a balanced approach to maximizing the visibility on the web. 10 years ago there were not so many choices. Today there are many ways in which dealers can connect with consumers. The missing piece to the discussion is the costs associated with each strategy.

Today, dealers have bloated third-party advertising investments yet some will tell me that they "have no budget" for video marketing, social media advertising, and other online strategies that have significant reach. So, while I agree that dealers need to be on third-party classifieds, they may want to consider reducing their ultra-premium packages and move funds around.

What is frustrating for dealers is that as the choices for advertising have expanded over the past 10 years and as consumers are using the Internet in new ways, the cost of third-party advertising has only increased. Their pricing models behave as if the third-party platforms are still the primary engagement points for consumers.

So it should come as no surprise that top line revenue growth at Autotrader.com and other third-party classifieds will be under pressure as dealers, who are now more educated and empowered, redistribute their marketing dollars to optimize their presence across the web.
 
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Ed, this statement is correct. Dealers need to have a balanced approach to maximizing the visibility on the web. 10 years ago there were not so many choices. Today there are many ways in which dealers can connect with consumers. The missing piece to the discussion is the costs associated with each strategy.

Today, dealers have bloated third-party advertising investments yet some will tell me that they "have no budget" for video marketing, social media advertising, and other online strategies that have significant reach. So, while I agree that dealers need to be on third-party classifieds, they may want to consider reducing their ultra-premium packages and move funds around.

What is frustrating for dealers is that as the choices for advertising have expanded over the past 10 years and as consumers are using the Internet in new ways, the cost of third-party advertising has only increased. Their pricing models behave as if the third-party platforms are still the primary engagement points for consumers.
And yet, the average dealer is still paying an Autotrader or Cars.com a monthly fee roughly equal to what they used to spend in newspapers for one day's advertising. I know these sites are a target for other vendors to find some potential revenue, but I would argue they are hardly 'bloated'.

...I don't want my only option to be spending $4-10k to get our product lumped in with all our competitors on a listing site. I'd rather get better at the same things they do to drive traffic.
Unfortunately it is very hard to get better at doing what they do for consumers; “In Winning the Zero Moment of Truth – ZMOT”, Jim Lecinski says consumers love comparison shopping online – but not just comparing pricing (although that is a part of it), comparing products, comparing dealerships and even comparing salespeople. Third party sites are perennially cited by consumers as being important and useful to their research and shopping process – even more than dealer websites.
 
And yet, the average dealer is still paying an Autotrader or Cars.com a monthly fee roughly equal to what they used to spend in newspapers for one day's advertising.

I'm puzzled why you are justifying 3rd party fees based on newspaper day rates in the past. This could be the weakest argument in defense of 3rd party fees that I have heard in the past year. Don't use that when talking to dealers. You will get thrown out of the office.
 
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I'm puzzled why you are justifying 3rd party fees based on newspaper day rates in the past. This could be the weakest argument in defense of 3rd party fees that I have heard in the past year. Don't use that when talking to dealers. You will get thrown out of the office.
I would be talking about the value my service brings to table.
As a side note, I wouldn't be attacking another line item on the budget as being "bloated" either. Just sayin... ;-)
 
Do we really have to drive home the point that real relevant, shareable content written by real people for real people to consume easily is best for SEO?

Jessica, no we should not have to re-state the obvious. It's just that the survey is flawed. Both SEO and 3rd parties have to be in a comprehensive online marketing strategy. So, aside from click bait, the conversion has be already discussed. Dealers need a balanced budget and the education to know how to measure the KPIs of each marketing strategy.
 
Jessica, no we should not have to re-state the obvious. It's just that the survey is flawed. Both SEO and 3rd parties have to be in a comprehensive online marketing strategy. So, aside from click bait, the conversion has be already discussed. Dealers need a balanced budget and the education to know how to measure the KPIs of each marketing strategy.
Yes @brianpasch, the "poll' was more Buzzfeed than Pew Research Center. And yes it was click bait. Yes, I do very much agree with you that a balanced strategy works best (so the best answer would be "None of the above"). And yes, I can see that this post struck a nerve with you.

My nerves are a little raw as well, from years of consultants and 'experts' (not you, but you know the players) constantly saying "third party sites are parasites, just replace them with SEO and PPC."

There is more to marketing than visibility and even "connecting with consumers" -- Purchase intent, perception of the dealership, etc. all come into play with ‘high involvement buying decisions’ like automobiles. Consumers love to compare and listing sites are made to help consumers do just that.
 

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Jessica, no we should not have to re-state the obvious. It's just that the survey is flawed. Both SEO and 3rd parties have to be in a comprehensive online marketing strategy. So, aside from click bait, the conversion has be already discussed. Dealers need a balanced budget and the education to know how to measure the KPIs of each marketing strategy.

I see what you're saying - you want a few more options.

Maybe the question of how would you divide of your spend for each area would be better, rather than a black and white. I can dig that.