Websites, SEO, SEM, Display, Social, Marketing

Automotive marketing professionals on DealerRefresh organized a collaboration group using Google Wave, sharing their account addresses and inviting colleagues to join. While some members immediately saw practical applications for website collaboration and team troubleshooting, others expressed skepticism about the platform's usefulness, questioning whether it offered real advantages over simpler chat tools despite its complex features.

Dean asks how other dealerships fund their BDC (Business Development Center) operations, sharing that his 28-dealership group currently uses a fixed fee model from each brand. The discussion reveals that the most recommended approach is to fund BDC operations from the advertising budget rather than charging individual dealerships or salespeople per lead, as the latter creates friction and is inconsistent with how other revenue-generating departments are treated.

Dealers asked whether manufacturers restrict geographic marketing territories, with responses revealing that policies vary significantly by brand—some allow statewide marketing, others enforce 100-mile radius limits, and most prohibit "exporting" sales outside assigned territories. A cautionary example demonstrated that aggressive out-of-territory digital marketing can generate short-term revenue but risks formal manufacturer penalties once discovered. The key takeaway is that dealers must understand their specific brand's territorial rules before launching regional marketing campaigns, particularly for paid search and digital advertising.

Shereef introduces Rebel Dealer, a video-centric marketing platform, and showcases Carleton Ford's video-heavy website as examples of how dealerships can leverage video content for storytelling and brand transparency. While commenters acknowledge that video's potential in automotive marketing is growing and appreciate the dealer principal's personal involvement in the videos, most found Rebel Dealer's execution overly complicated and painful to watch, though they praised Carleton Ford's simpler, more authentic approach. The thread concludes that video is a promising direction for the industry, but adoption remains limited and execution quality is critical to effectiveness.

Automotive dealers and vendors share overwhelmingly positive experiences with Dealer.com, praising the company's listening skills, flexibility, vision, and account representatives across multiple posts. Key strengths highlighted include customizable site-building tools, an impressive facility in Burlington, Vermont, and reliable vendor support. The main caveat is that Dealer.com's Canadian operations (handled by CanadaTrader/Auto Trader) have received notably poor reviews, suggesting a significant quality difference between their U.S. and Canadian services.

Dealers share mixed results from Cars.com's lead program, with success ranging from minimal (3 sales from 25 leads/month) to moderate depending on geography and follow-up effort. The consensus recommendation is to commit to a 3-month trial period, restrict geographic territory if needed, and purchase sufficient lead volume while providing aggressive follow-up before judging performance. Location relevance and dealership size appear to be critical factors determining whether the program justifies its cost.

Joe Pistell solicits feedback on a website visitor survey designed to segment shoppers by purchase stage and evaluate whether his used car dealership site helps customers accomplish their goals. Community members suggest practical improvements including adding options for repeat visitors, customers seeking maintenance specials, and post-purchase deal verification, along with recommendations to capture email addresses and use cookie-based random surveys for better data collection. The thread concludes with discussion of deployment strategy and best practices for expanding lead forms with optional follow-up questions to gather additional customer data.

Forum members discuss their experiences attending Digital Dealer conference sessions, with sburges2 praising presentations by Ray Fenster, Joe Webb, Jonathan Ord, and Brian Pasch for being genuinely helpful rather than purely sales-focused. The thread highlights frustration with automotive industry conferences that prioritize selling over sharing useful insights, while acknowledging that some presenters (particularly those without products to promote) delivered more value. The discussion ends with members expressing interest in obtaining presentation materials and asking whether sessions are recorded for later access.

Ryan Lucia announced he would be attending Digital Dealer Conference (DD7) and invited DealerRefresh members to meet him in person to discuss chat, SEO, internet marketing, and internet sales department structure. Jeff Kershner amplified the announcement by sharing the conference's Twitter handles and promoting a giveaway contest for Flip Mino HD video cameras for those who follow @dealerrefresh, while other replies devolved into off-topic jokes about nuclear weapons.

A dealer expressed frustration that Cobalt is charging a $100 setup fee to update their inventory feed after switching providers, while no other vendors impose such charges. The community consensus is that this fee is unjustified and reflects Cobalt's problematic billing practices, with users recommending dealers either push back for a refund/exception or bypass Cobalt altogether by using the Dealer Specialties frame-in option. While some acknowledged Cobalt's quality account advocates and features, the widespread nickel-and-diming approach was criticized as poor business practice.

Automotive professionals discuss improvements in BZ (a website platform for dealerships), noting that their SEO capabilities have noticeably improved, particularly in inventory module optimization with better page titles and URLs. However, experts identify significant remaining issues, including duplicated meta descriptions across inventory pages and weak SEO implementation on static pages, suggesting BZ still lags behind competitors despite moving in the right direction. The consensus is that while BZ's enhancements in both SEO and user experience are encouraging, the platform has considerable room for improvement in implementation efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

Alex Snyder posted a provocative thread titled "I love PORN!" to discuss how the pornography industry inadvertently drove internet innovations like better search engine algorithms, streaming technology, and bandwidth development—a point supported by several members but criticized by Shereef as tasteless and inappropriate for a professional automotive forum. The thread devolved into a debate about whether acknowledging technological contributions from controversial industries conflicts with personal values, with Shereef maintaining that credit shouldn't be given to "the worst industry on the planet" regardless of its technical side effects.

A dealer marketing professional advocates for using text sliders on dealer websites as an effective way to include SEO-rich content without consuming valuable page space. The key insight is that while visitors won't read lengthy text in sliders, they still provide searchable content for SEO purposes, allowing dealers to balance the need for keyword-rich material with clean, attractive website design.

The thread discusses recruitment and retention challenges facing dealerships, with the original poster arguing that compensation plans are misleading—promising high earnings that are either unattainable in competitive markets or unsustainable when achieved. A key concern raised is that recent industry layoffs have damaged job security perceptions, making young workers hesitant to enter automotive sales despite competitive-looking pay structures.

Alex Snyder praises Ford's pioneering approach to digital marketing, highlighting their storytelling website and video-rich vehicle pages, while other participants add examples like Ford's successful Fiesta social media campaign that generated millions of views and engagement. The thread consensus is that Ford leads the automotive industry in leveraging online marketing and social media at scale, though one dealer notes that even smaller dealerships should adopt similar (though less extensive) digital strategies. The key insight is that Ford has effectively demonstrated how manufacturers can use integrated digital, video, and social media marketing to drive awareness and sales in ways competitors had not yet matched.

Automotive industry professionals nominate vendors and individuals they consider the worst spammers in their industry, including Jim Ziegler, Aspen Marketing, ALDNews, Ralph Paglia, and various @cactussky.com senders. The discussion reveals frustration with aggressive email marketing tactics, unsolicited mailing lists, and companies that use questionable list sources to bombard dealership email addresses. The key insight is that "spam" in this context means any aggressive, repetitive advertising across multiple platforms and channels—whether technically compliant with opt-out requirements or not—rather than strictly illegal spam, with particular frustration directed at vendors who send to generic dealership addresses without consent.

Dan O'Neill from Heritage Honda initiates a discussion asking fellow dealers what marketing strategies and lead sources are driving sales, particularly following the Cash for Clunkers program in August/September 2009. The thread covers various lead generation tactics including email marketing, social media, paid search, chat functionality, and website optimization, with participants sharing ROI figures and conversion rates. The key insight is that dealership-generated leads (via owned websites and manufacturer sources) combined with improved response times and personalized outreach from management tend to be the most effective tactics for converting inquiries into sales.

A Ford dealer asks whether Google Analytics can be integrated with their Dealer Connection website to track traffic in real-time. Respondents confirm that Analytics implementation is technically feasible but requires contacting Ford support to install the tracking code, and clarify that Google Analytics typically reports data with a 4-24 hour delay rather than true real-time visibility. The key takeaway is that while Analytics integration is possible, dealers should manage expectations about reporting speed and be prepared to escalate requests with their manufacturer's support team.

Blake Arbogast questions whether customer surveys are worth the inbox clutter they create, with most respondents reporting poor response rates and customers likely deleting them unread. The discussion reveals tension between wanting customer feedback and the reality of email fatigue, though some participants suggest surveys can be valuable if properly designed, outsourced to third parties, and strategically timed rather than sent in high volume.

The thread discusses how keyword variations—specifically spacing and hyphenation differences like "preowned," "pre-owned," and "pre owned"—rank differently in search results, meaning dealers may miss potential customers searching with alternative phrasings. The author recommends prioritizing domination of one primary keyword variation before gradually expanding optimization to capture traffic from related keyword formats, while being cautious about implementation speed to avoid ranking drops.

Brent Palen seeks advice on Facebook advertising strategies for his rural dealership, and the community shares mixed perspectives on its effectiveness. Key recommendations include using Facebook primarily for **branding and retargeting** rather than direct lead generation, leveraging fan pages as SEO tools, and learning from competitors' approaches—though one participant dismisses Facebook advertising as ineffective overall. The consensus suggests Facebook ads can work for specific purposes like brand awareness and retargeting campaigns, but results vary significantly by dealership and strategy.

The thread debated whether dealerships should use automated email responders for internet leads, with the original poster arguing they're unnecessary if staff responds within 10 minutes, while most respondents countered that auto-responders are essential for immediately confirming lead receipt and building customer confidence. Key insights included that effective auto-responders should provide vehicle information, ask qualifying questions, and be personalized rather than generic, and that some manufacturers (Honda, Acura, BMW, Mini) actually require immediate responses. The consensus was that auto-responders are a valuable tool when properly crafted and paired with quick personal follow-up, particularly useful during off-hours and for under-staffed internet departments.