You don't get it. Listing a site into "Google's Webmaster Tools" is submitting it to Google. Especially if you listed a site map for them to spider.

Nobody has said that they will not help your site rank for other terms. That should be one of the primary reasons to have one unless it is unbranded to "trick" people into submitting a lead.

You keyed in on "Special Finance Tulsa" not being a high competition keyword and got your feathers ruffled. It may be a very highly competitive part of your business but it just does not have much search volume. You will never get the search numbers out of google for any term. Tools like Word Tracker do help estimate them. Google will help you measure the amount of traffic though for your keywords.

What is the amount of traffic you get for the search term "Special Finance Tulsa" that converts to leads then to sales. That is the real value of having those keywords and it all can be done in Google Analytics. (Measuring ROI on Search Terms)

One of the benefits for having two pages on the front of the serps for that term you will capture most of the traffic from the occasional search. Kudos...

you just dont get it, thats ok. you read into it what you want to but just go back and read between the lines. You might be able to fiqure it out. Wait let me help you again, from five websites covering 20 keywords or phrases I rank 1 to 3 for those terms, which are relevant to what Google has told me, not word tracker whew. I have nothing to do with Riverside Nissan as they are sonic automotive. Being involved in Google webmaster tools has nothing to do with submitting sites to search engines, geezzz. Last but not least I will try one more time, Micro sites assist my main website in search engine rankings for search terms that did not rank well for before. Next.

Sorry your smarter than me, my bad

Correction the number two site is for Riverside Nissan on the Reynolds web app. Not sure it that is related or not. It looks like you helped seo a non existent web application...

My Bad

If you have listed your site in the "Google Webmaster Tools" then you have submitted it to Google. Also using google analytics may even be a form of submission but that is subjective.

Wordtracker shows no search volume for "Special Finance Tulsa"

The Number 2 listing which is your website is a error page.

A person shopping for a car with bad credit is not going to google "Special Finance Tulsa". "Bad Credit Car Loans in Tulsa" or "Buy a Car in Tulsa with bad Credit" may be more appropriate. Granted the market may be very competitive but the search term is nil except for the few that have been performed after reading your retort.

With that being said I am glad it is working for you well. I hope my competitors try to rank for nil search terms while I go after their name.

I have to disagree with you Paul, Special finance in Tulsa or Oklahoma for that matter is a very competitive market. I think you have again missed the point of what these micro sites do for the main website. You are so correct in that SEO is not rocket science, hence you are able to do it in a limited degree, but you are incorrect with your statement that search engine submissions are the cornerstone of SEO, as I have never submitted any site to search engines, if you have quality links and proper content the spiders for the search engines will find you and rank you higher and find you more relevant than if you submit them. This last statement comes from Google themselves you can hunt for it yourself on you tube if you like, Most of what I do comes directly from Google as I believe that if you follow what they tell you then of course you will succeed as they control what is relevant. In retrospect all of my search terms, links, and websites come from what I have learned directly from Google webmaster tools, analytics and Yahoo search. Also with the amount of visitors I receive on jimgloverchevy.com and the quality leads that are submitted I think I have succeeded were many others fail. Thank you again for you time and comments.

Well the term "Special Financing Tulsa" is very non competitive and 6 links is probably all that is needed to get it there. Even the terms you referenced above are super non competitive and are not even worth worrying about going after. All you have to do there is "bait" the spiders to your site to rank for those very low competition search terms.

SEO is not rocket science. Anchor text links in, directory submissions and search engine submissions are the cornerstone of a SEO strategy.
It has to be done in a way to make it appear natural to keep the site out of the "sandbox".

One of the things that is ignored in much of the automotive seo out there is that most sites do not anchor out to authority sites to build search engine trust. But that is a different subject completely off this topic. If you wish to discuss it more it is not hard to find my contact info.

Whats needed in your opinion ? Is it a lot of anchor links back to your site ?

although if you look at this site


there is only 6 anchor links according to Yahoo. So how diffucult can it be ?

Well those example are really an effort to push a product. IMHO

The SEO/SEM are the biggest factors. Just learning how to make a page/site with a point and click tool does not even start to scratch the surface of how to get it in the SERPS.

Paul

Hi Paul,

I understand where your coming from. With microsites is it just a "wait and see" type of site ? The reason why I ask is because when I search for "Torrance Honda Pilot" or "Torrance Honda S2000" in google I can't see where these sites are coming up in the google search results. Please advise.

You cant be stopped from advertising something you have in inventory. If that were the case then a Chevy dealer could not advertise used Fords.

There are so many ways to attack keyword in online marketing. You can actually get sites or pages to show up using competitors names easily. All done in a way that could not cause you any problems other than the phone call from them bitching about it. If you are going to go through the effort to do it.

As far as using trademarks in domain names it is up to the trademark holder to enforce the claim. Then you deal with it when the situation arises.

Paul

"""""@SCM

Fair use comes in to play. As a dealer of those products they are probably granted a license to use those terms anyway.

Paul""""

What if your a used car dealer ?

and

"probably" is a very large word to use ....

@SCM

Fair use comes in to play. As a dealer of those products they are probably granted a license to use those terms anyway.

Paul

Hi Everyone,

I'm new with dealerrefresh.com and I have one issue regarding micro sites. Whats does everyone think about the trademark issues regarding these domain names ? For example,

www.TorrnaceHondaAccord.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaCivic.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicGX.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicSI.com
www.TorranceHondaCRV.com
www.TorranceHondaElement.com
www.TorranceHondaFit.com
www.TorranceHondaOdyssey.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaS2000.com

Notice the terms "Honda Accord", "Honda Civic SI" etc.....

Don't those terms belong to Honda Motor Company ?

All comments and opinions are welcomed.

SCM

FOR SALE:
Here are some undeveloped URLs in my inventory.

--GMcertifiedSale.com
--GMcertifiedClearance.com
--OfficialGMcertifiedSale.com
--GM-Certified-Dealer.com

--GMauthorizedSale.com

--FORD-VS-CHEVY.COM

--RockSolidChevrolet.com
--RockSolidChevy.com

I am house shopping, so everything has a price! I had plans to turn these into MFA sites (Made For AdSense Sites).

Interested parties can contact me via Jeff K or Alex, or email me: joepistell[at]gmail.com

thnx,
Joe

Hello Eric

"are you actually getting clicks for that search phrase?" Wow, Yes yes yes, I actually get clicks for that search phrase. Not hundreds of course but enough to make it worth my time and dollars and it is just not just one search term, I have five micro sites (I will be building more) all of them are optimized for 3 to 5 keywords which show up in top three in those results. Also what is more important I think is the fact they are all linked together and linked to our main website. In doing this it has brought the website up in rankings on all search engines for search terms that we never showed for. For instance I wanted Jim Glover Chevrolet to show up when someone typed that phrase or close to it and now Jim Glover Chevrolet shows up right at the top.

These Micro sites are just a small part in a big picture and they play an important role in that they generate clicks and are key in SEO. They cost me very little money (less than 400.00) and the pay back is quick, now its just pure profit.

I am pretty sure I know what I am doing as I have been involved in internet sales for over nine years. Currently our store does not purchase any third party leads and our website had over 11,000 unique visitors in March 2008. This month we will have generated over six hundred leads from our website, with three hundred plus credit applications. I have four Internet sales managers and I believe they get to many leads as it has been proven I miss business. In the next couple of months we will add three more Internet managers as we are growing rapidly. But thanks for the advise I will look into adding more to my main website!!!!

There are many opinions here at dealer refreash and I read them all. I think we have some very professional people here and it is great to here from some of the best like Ralph Paglia, Jeff Kershner, etc. Really sorry to have missed the automotive digital marketing in Florida, I probably missed out on some great ideas, I believe that you will always pick up something from training, I was hoping everyone was going to share more here, hint hint. Thank you for the comment and your time.

I can see where having a micro-site may help a dealer index additional pages in the SERPS, add a few extra incoming links and possibly grab a few extra leads.

My opinion is much like Alex's; its going to create a lot of extra work - especially for those who don't have an organized online strategy already in place. The micro-site is not going to be your panacea.

Lindsay - stay away from anyone pitching you a 2k/mo. micro-site. For that price, it should prospect, close & deliver the car for you. The whole site shouldn't cost you more than ~$2500 - and that includes design, 1yr. hosting and key word optimization.

Frank - are you actually getting clicks for that search phrase? I see so many dealers being shown how "successful" their site is for a particular phrase. Its great to be #1 for a search term - but only if that phrase is ever searched by more than the just the company optimizing for it...

If you're going to spend the $$, I suggest putting it back into your main site to improve the style, functionality & overall usability. I'm sure everyone can find at least one or two pages within their site that isn't as effective as it should be. (I know I've got 'em)

Alex, good post...way to get people thinking.

Eric

Wow... Micromedia Sites... Very cool. The URL and landing page you constructed remind me of some of the ones Alvin puts together based on video clips.

Use Micro Sites Combined with SEM For Best Results from Dollars Spent:

It is true these days with all the different car dealers using SEM as a way to advertise and drive more clicks to there websites is costing more and more every month. You have to be smart about the way you use your monthly budget for SEM.
Micro Sites and SEM combined, is What I find to work best at Courtesy Chevrolet in San Diego Ca. First of all having Micro Sites, and More Micro Sites is going to set you apart from the competition over a period of time. Where I am going with this is get into the idea of having Micro Sites to help generate more online leads, incoming phone calls, and walk-in traffic to your dealership. Micro Sites are all about branding your name and dealership. Micro Sites are very low over head, usally consits of a build fee, and yearly hosting cost. Once they are built they are yours and with good content, you well get good SEO over time and they will do the advertising for you with out any SEM.

SEM campaigns and Micro Sites are what I have been practicing for a couple of months now. For example GM came out with the GM Military Discount Program this month. I built a GM Military Discount Micro Site and used some of my SEM Budget to drive prospects to the site. From April 9th - April 23rd I Have received 46 leads from this use of SEM and Micro Site. Example of Micro Site: www.GMMilitary-Discount.com Out of the 46 leads we have made 3 deals, and 1 working with a closing ratio of 6.5%. We spent $748.00 on that campaign at an average of %16.00 per lead that we own and not a third party. Cost per unit sold was $249.00. To make this work you have to be on your game. Another campaign I do that works well for us is our Courtesy Tent Sale Micro Site. We have a tent sale once a month so the week of the tent sale I create an SEM campaign to that Micro Site tha generates 20-30 leads for the tent sale event. Example of Tent Sale Micro Site: www.CourtesyTentSale.com. Please feel free to contact me for more information on this result driven practice.

Micro Sites by NewtonDigitalMarketing.com

Special Pricing for ADM Members!!
e-mail me mailto:[email protected]

Alex is right... The reality is that the most effective digital marketing strategies for dealers are those that balance a blend of many different types of online marketing, web sites and lead generation sources with the right processes and people. Today's role of "Digital Marketing Manager" is a new one in dealerships and will continue to evolve and take on different shapes and scope at each dealership. The managers who weave the best tapestry of strategy, processes and tactics within their given budgets will be the top performers that get promoted and become more successful in their automotive careers. I know it has worked well for me so far, and for many others who have embraced the willingness to experiment, measure, review, make adjustments and monitor so the process can be repeated as an onging management practice leading to continuous improvement... There is a minor player out there that for many years has used this exact "kaizen" strategy. I think their name begins with a T and they make a few cars and trucks.

quote of the day "ninja-level digital marketing management skills"
I would say I am about a yellow belt
great post by the way!

Ryan - I like Squidoo for doing stealthed stuff like you showed. We've got a few of those going on. Plus Seth Godin is behind Squidoo, and Seth is the marketing king!

Ralph - great comments, and they're so Ralphesque - lol. You had me laughing a few times. I think what you're trying to say is these micro-sites have been mishandled in some cases, but at the end of the day they're just a small part of the big puzzle. But, just like anything else, when they're not done right it can screw you up.

And Ralph - you never do anything small do you? ....I think you now hold the record for the longest Dealer Refresh post when adding up all the back-to-back comments you made....too funny. Thanks for posting, and I hope you stick around.

Jon - it was a good time and nice to meet you too.

Ralph, I am more convinced than ever that you never sleep, we were out late last night, I know you had an early flight, and yet here you are on dealer refresh posting. You've gotta tell me your secret!

Hi to Jeff and Alex, it was great meeting you at the AAISP conference, I always have to check in on dealer refresh and ADM before I go to bed at night, there is always great information.

Jon

Ryan's tactical application looks very interesting and may solve the maintenance and cost issues.

Here's a few microsites worth checking out:

www.ChevyPride.com - A good example of a microsite covering topics you may not want on your primary site.

www.WeBuyChevys.com - Branded buy back campaigns work very well.

www.PHXfinance.com - A secondary finance microsite, probably better kept off your primary site. Another SpiFi example: http://nationalcars.est3.bzresults.net/ou/bronx-finance/index.do

www.Chevy-Malibu.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.

www.Tahoe-Chevy.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.

www.ChevyPriceQuote.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.

www.ChevyGas.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.

www.Tucson-Chevy.com - This is an example of a stealth microsite used to aggressively go after another market.

www.Phoenix-Chevrolet-Dealers.com - This is another stealth site designed to take market share from third party lead providers.

If anyone wants to see an example of a microsite with model specific landing pages, here you go:

Microsite index page: www.Scott-Robinson-Honda.com
Model specific landing pages:
www.TorrnaceHondaAccord.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaCivic.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicGX.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicSI.com
www.TorranceHondaCRV.com
www.TorranceHondaElement.com
www.TorranceHondaFit.com
www.TorranceHondaOdyssey.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaS2000.com

All of the above cost Scott Robinson Honda a one time $1000 setup fee and $595 a month for full hosting, support, updates, daily inventory data pulls and having Omniture SiteCatalyst hooked up to the back end... And, I provide consulting services to them as well.