I encourage dealers to create a process, in your dealership, to conduct a search on your dealership name each week to see if anyone is purchasing your business name in a Google Adwords competitive attack. Adwords (also known as PPC, Paid Search, or SEM) is a fast and efficient way for competitors and third parties to prey on the brand equity and awareness that dealers have created through traditional media investments. We have discussed this before in regards to POD Score and Google Page One Management.

I'd like to show two examples that I found this week that just defy logic and good business sense. The first example is Tier 2 advertising groups that buy the dealership name as part of their Adwords campaign. I am against having your regional ad group use your name in an Adwords campaign because those leads can go to another store.

Now if the agency that is operating the Adwords campaign is sloppy, they are buying any search phrases that contain the word "Toyota". It is a simple task to add a "negative keyword" to their list which would be your name. So if you see your regional OEM ad group (tier 2) ask them to omit your business name from their campaign.



In New Jersey, the competition is very strong for BMW sales and in the example above, the Tri-State BMW ad group is running ads on Open Road BMW's business name. I can guarantee you that this brand attack is generating leads for other BMW dealers in the state that are just 25 miles away. This is sloppy digital marketing from the Tier 2 agency and of course this lowers their direct website leads.

I think we all can agree that since the dealers name is the #1 organic search phrase that drives traffic to their website, this dealer does NOT need their Tier 2 ad agency to get in the middle of the consumer and their website. This is in reference to using their multi-million dollar brand name. The Tier 2 agency can buy all generic keywords they want to generate additional leads.

Edmunds.com Lacks Good Judgment

Is Edmunds at it again?

The DealerRefesh community has called Edmunds out in the past about buying car dealers franchise names. Edmunds is once again running Google Adwords campaigns that drive consumers to lead capture pages using a dealer's name. These leads are then sold to the dealer (if they are buying leads) and their nearest competitors.

Is Edmunds dealer centric or are they poaching on car dealer's brand equity? You decide.

Would you like Edmunds to be using your trade name to generate leads for your competitors like in these examples below?



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Contact At Once! and Motortrak Partner to Embed Dealer Chat in Automotive Websites for Mercedes-Benz Dealers

Atlanta, GA and Saddle River, NJ – November 16th, 2010 – Contact At Once!, LLC, the leading provider of dealer chat software that moves online lookers into live conversations with car dealerships, announced today a partnership with digital retail marketing specialist Motortrak. Motortrak is a leader in the provision of online automotive marketing systems across the globe and will now offer an integrated version of the ContactAtOnce! dealer chat software with their website solutions for Mercedes-Benz dealers. Dealers with Motortrak powered websites may now quickly and easily add the ContactAtOnce! chat solution to their website, to provide am discrete and convenient new way for busy online shoppers to contact the dealership.

Using real photos of the dealership’s sales people, the ContactAtOnce! dealer chat software personalizes a dealer’s website and helps online visitors overcome anxiety that can be associated with the vehicle sales process. The solution is easy for dealer sales personnel to use, and through the use of “presence aware” smart technology, it knows when dealership personnel are ready and able to chat.

“Dealers expect their websites to drive additional inquiries and sales by leveraging the latest technology to communicate with customers. Our approach is to integrate with best-in-class providers to ensure seamless integration and a strong ROI for dealers as well as a consistent network-wide and brand compliant approach that is so important for OEM website programs,” said David Cox, Chief Operating Officer of Motortrak. “Contact At Once! and Motortrak invested considerable time and resources to do just that and, as a result, Mercedes-Benz dealers no longer have to deal with the superficial integration and branding mismatch that typically exists when third party software is added to dealer websites.”

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“We’re thrilled that a global leader like Motortrak recognized the advanced capabilities of Contact At Once! and chose us as their chat solutions partner,” said John Hanger, President and CEO of Contact At Once!.

The integrated ContactatOnce! chat solution is available immediately. Motortrak customers should contact the US support team for more information.

About Dealer Chat Software Provider Contact At Once!, LLC:
Contact At Once! is the leading provider of industry-specific live chat software and presence- aware networks for the automotive, apartment, and real estate industries with over 10,000 active users. Adding ContactAtOnce! live chat software to a website typically improves the conversion of website lookers into conversations and appointments by at least 25%. The presence-aware networks powered by ContactAtOnce! connect businesses to the media websites on which they advertise, increasing the effectiveness of online ads while providing consumers with a better online experience. Contact At Once! is headquartered in Atlanta and more information can be found at Contactatonce.com.

About Motortrak
Motortrak is a specialist provider of online retail marketing systems to manufacturers and dealers world-wide. Founded in 1995, Motortrak has over 15 years sector expertise in the provision of highly customizable online marketing services and applications ranging from inventory management systems and B2B remarketing platforms to B2C services including dealer and OEM content management websites, used vehicle locators, social and mobile solutions.

Motortrak currently provides services in over 60 markets and 25 languages and has offices in London, New York and Melbourne. Clients include Ferrari, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz, Maybach, Penske Automotive Group and smart. For further information please visit www.motortrak.com.

Joe Webb posted this in the DealerRefresh forums earlier today.  I like it so much I had to put it here for your enjoyment.  Joe and Bill - great job!

After watching it, I sent it to a few O.G. Internet Managers, and people who were with me for a while at Checkered Flag.  Everyone responded with "that's so true" and some even said "he forgot to add CRM" but it made me realize there is a deeper message here.

If you're a vendor, consultant, traditional dealership manager, or manufacturer and have wondered why an Internet Manager you were working with is always multi-tasking (read:  A.D.D.) or really short with you....weeeeell......don't take it too hard.  This video shows you why.

Recently Google created a Tsunami of change by integrating Google Places into organic search results. Dealers called me to ask what I thought these changes would have to their Automotive SEO strategies. I was not quick to answer because I think that Google is still refining their balancing act of SEO, SEM, and Google Places.

With that said, I am feeling much better about the changes that are in play. I was worried that the new Google Places integration would start at the top of organic listings which would favor websites connected to a Google Places page. From what I can see, Google is still rewarding exact match domain names and highly optimized websites before the "mosh pit" (in green) is displayed.

In the example below, a broad search phrase like "Los Angeles Dealers" produces a list of car dealers that have Google Maps, but before those listings, three company websites appear.



In the search results shown above, you can see that an "exact match" domain with good content, links, and relevance PRECEDES the massive block of results shown in green that are enhanced by Google Places data. You can also see the other two websites that rank above the Google Places block are not slackers at all: Automotive.com and Cars.com.

Google SERP Find Exact Matches First

I've said this before and will repeat it again, Google always tries to present, on a search results page (SERP), the best matching assets in its database. Google, Yahoo, and Bing all weight exact matching domains very high as long as the websites have relevant content. Redirected domains that are not hosted will never appear in search results so all those parked domains you may own are not helping you. It may be time to get those parked domains on a real content publishing strategy!

Don't Forget The Stars

When Google integrated Google Places, the normal 8-10 organic listings were changed dramatically which created a "jump ball" once again in the search marketing Olympics.

I would like to remind all car dealers that they MUST develop a comprehensive Internet Reputation Management (IRM) strategy to increase participation of their clients to posted reviews. My recommendation is that a successful dealer should have TWICE the number of positive reviews "stars" of their nearest competitor. That may be harder in years to come but all dealers should have a few HUNDRED reviews posted from authentic customers.

Testing Search Results Start To Show A Trend

From recent testing that I have done, websites hosted on great domain names may actually have an edge over local car dealer websites. Take a look at the search listed below. The websites that Google felt were best matches and NOT in Google Places were listed first. Then the local dealers were listed.

Once again, the TOP websites above the integrated and enhanced Google Places organic listings are two heavyweight contenders UsedCars.com and Yahoo Autos. For the car industry, the bigger, more established inventory advertising websites could be getting more traffic because they are NOT in the green Google Places area and shown at the top of the page.



This trend continues as you type in even broader searches, and you can see that websites that are EXACT matching or that have high SEO inbound links on targeted keywords, appear on Google Page One before the Google Places block. So, in essence, Automotive SEO strategies are still in tact and dealers that have EXACT matching microsites with great content are getting a boost.

The Future Automotive SEO

Since I am an advocate of Automotive Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies, you would expect me to defend this marketing strategy but I will be the first to say that the changes with Google Places is still a dynamic event. I'll keep you posted on what I find and make recommendations to take advantage of opportunities I see.

Join vAuto for a Webinar on November 19

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Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/444183314

The reality of today’s market is that vehicles need to be priced right in order to drive traffic.  This means that you can not negotiate as much, or in some cases, at all.   Dale Pollak, a leading used car expert and best selling author, will present 4 practical strategies that will enable documentation to replace negotiation.  Using these easy techniques, dealerships can expect their profits to rise without sacrificing volume.

Title:       Documentation Replaces Negotiation: 4 Easy and Effective Strategies to Improving Gross Profit Presented by Dale Pollak

Date:      Friday, November 19, 2010

Time:      11:00AM – 12:00 PM CDT

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