Websites, SEO, SEM, Display, Social, Marketing

Anirban argues that car dealers need to optimize their websites for TV viewing, citing Google TV's web browser capability and Google's own recommendations for TV-compatible design. Respondents are skeptical, questioning the practical value and user adoption rates—noting that TV web browsing requires awkward text input, lacks user demand, and echoes failed past initiatives like Microsoft's WebTV. The thread reveals industry consensus that TV optimization is premature for dealers, with participants prioritizing more effective marketing channels over this unproven tactic.

Dealers and industry observers debate whether AutoTrader's partnership with MSN Autos will deliver the 'surge in shoppers' its ads promise, with many questioning MSN Autos' declining search relevance and clunky interface. The thread evolves into a broader AutoTrader vs. Cars.com comparison, with participants citing Cars.com's Yahoo partnership, Super Bowl advertising spend, faster customer service, and lower pricing as reasons to favor it. The emerging consensus is that AutoTrader charges significantly more while delivering comparable or weaker ROI, leaving dealers questioning whether the premium is justified.

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A Chevy dealership owner seeks help removing or demoting a bogus aggregator site (qxiu.com) that's ranking #2 on Bing/Yahoo for their dealership name and stealing their SEO visibility. While there's limited recourse against the scraper site itself, community members recommend contacting the domain registrar and aggressively building the dealership's own online presence through Google Places, social media, local directories, and quality content to out-rank the bogus listing.

A dealer posts an image of a Facebook inventory app interface and challenges the community to identify it. AVA Dealers quickly identifies it as AutoFerret's app, a product they resell, and the original poster confirms the answer. The brief exchange highlights how quickly product identification questions get answered in the DealerRefresh community and hints at growing adoption of Facebook inventory display tools among dealers.

Jarrett questions whether SEM/PPC campaigns actually deliver ROI for dealerships, noting his past spending on model-specific landing pages failed to convert local consumers. Joe Pistell provides the most concrete response, sharing that his in-house PPC campaign of 10,000+ keywords drives 20% of traffic while consuming only 7% of budget, suggesting that aggressive, well-optimized campaigns can be cost-effective—though the thread remains relatively short on detailed success metrics or best practices.

A new PPC advertiser asks why his Google Ads are appearing on the right side of search results rather than at the top, despite having no competition for his keywords. The experienced respondents explain that ad placement is determined by Quality Score (influenced by relevance and bid amount) and click-through rate rather than bid amount alone, and that right-side placements don't significantly underperform top placements. The key takeaway is that new accounts need time to build history and improve Quality Score, and success depends more on compelling ad copy and CTR optimization than worrying about physical placement.

Dealers express strong frustration over CarFax's new pricing calculator feature, which applies unexplained positive and negative adjustments to vehicle values based on history report factors, sometimes undervaluing inventory significantly below book value. Key concerns center on CarFax overstepping its core business (history reporting), lack of transparency about methodology, and poor communication to dealer customers about the launch. The thread ultimately splits between those viewing it as a harmful feature that damages dealer pricing and one dissenting view suggesting it could function as a useful closing tool if dealers understand how to position it.

A dealership group with separate BMW and Toyota/Scion franchises in the same market asks whether to use one consolidated Facebook page or separate brand-specific pages. Experienced multi-location dealers recommend a single page if resources are limited and brands are co-located, citing better content quality and reduced redundancy, though some suggest individual pages help prevent "wall flooding" and foster personal brand connections; the consensus leans toward consolidation when possible, with success depending on management capacity and customer preferences.

The thread discusses Google's Local Search feature and how it helps local businesses improve visibility in location-based queries. The original post references Google's official guidance on local search ranking factors and includes a video from Google's Product Manager explaining how the system works, using the example of searching for nearby coffee shops in a specific location.

The thread explores a Vivaldi Partners study on 'social currency,' which found that premium luxury auto brands like Mercedes, BMW, and Lexus naturally generate more social sharing and engagement than mainstream brands. Replies debate whether brand prestige drives social media success or whether dealership-level effort matters more, with one commenter noting that some Dodge dealers outperform luxury stores locally. The key takeaway is that while brand equity gives luxury dealers a head start, individual dealership initiative can still make or break social media results regardless of the nameplate.

Forum members enthusiastically praise DealerRefresh as an invaluable resource for automotive professionals seeking peer advice and vendor recommendations, with the original poster highlighting how the community solved the problem of professional isolation he experienced early in his career. A secondary discussion emerges about vendor hiring practices, with a female dealer manager criticizing some vendors for employing outdated "old car guys" who lack relationship-building skills and product knowledge, while acknowledging that quality vendors like Autotrader and DealerSocket stand out. The key insight is that DealerRefresh's value lies in its community of engaged, knowledgeable contributors who actively share expertise and build genuine professional relationships—a peer network that wouldn't have existed in the pre-internet era.

A Toronto dealer is troubleshooting why one location has a 1.5% website conversion rate versus their sister store's 2.9% despite identical platforms, brands, and city. The discussion identifies PPC campaign quality as a likely culprit (suggesting traffic audit after removing PPC data) while exploring other variables like location, inventory mix, lead source quality, and operational processes that could explain the performance gap between stores.

Marc McGurren inquires about AutoBreeze.com, a lead-generation intermediary platform offering free trials through February, and whether other dealers have experience with it. Responders mention comparable services like CarWoo (well-funded) and AutoPitch, while noting that these types of platforms tend to create price wars rather than sustainable business models. Marc ultimately remains skeptical, concerned that the margin-eroding competitive dynamics outweigh the benefit of incremental sales, though he acknowledges potential upside for his Dallas-adjacent market and plans to test it.

A new internet lead handler at a high-end used car dealership asks how to manage leads for vehicles that have already sold, currently responding by asking what customers liked about the sold car and suggesting similar alternatives. The key insight from the experienced response is that the root problem should be solved first—ensuring inventory updates online within a day of sale—and that used car shoppers looking at specific vehicles typically have narrow preferences, so suggesting alternatives based on what appealed to them is a reasonable interim strategy.

The thread debates whether Facebook "likes" are becoming as important as traditional Google PageRank for SEO, with Kevin Frye arguing that search engines are incorporating social signals into their ranking algorithms as a better measure of content quality than backlinks. While some members express skepticism about whether no-follow tags limit Facebook/Twitter's impact, Anirban counters that Google and Bing have officially acknowledged counting social signals among their 200+ ranking factors, making social engagement an increasingly important SEO strategy for dealerships.

Christian Ferrer asks the dealer community to identify and share the best resources for accessing dealer cooperative advertising funds available through manufacturers. The post invites ongoing community contributions to build a comprehensive, continuously updated reference list of coop dollar sources for automotive dealers.

Marc McGurren asks whether Callbright call tracking can be integrated with Google Analytics to track phone conversions on his microsites. Multiple respondents confirm this is possible through call tracking "pings" that trigger conversion events in Analytics, though LarryBruce and others note this provides limited value beyond the call tracking provider's native reports; Jerry Thibeau suggests Dynamic Number Insertion (DNI) as a superior alternative that links each unique phone number to individual customer browsing behavior, though it comes with technical tradeoffs.

Jeff Kershner solicits participation in a brief online survey about whether dealership owners/principals actively manage their dealerships' online reputation, with results intended for an upcoming blog post and conference presentation. The thread generates minimal engagement, with only two brief replies indicating the survey's ease of completion and a bump request for visibility. No substantive discussion or insights about reputation management practices emerge from the thread itself.

The thread appears to be a survey post by Jeff Kershner focused on dealership online reputation management, but the original content could not be recovered. Without the body of the post or replies, no key insights or conclusions can be drawn from this thread.

The thread is a vendor profile for Dealer.com featuring a mix of praise from satisfied dealers and complaints about the Search Marketing Upgrade Package's lack of transparency and ROI. A notable controversy emerged when a Dealer.com executive publicly referenced details of a customer's account in a forum reply, which drew criticism from a prospective customer who cited it as a dealbreaker. Despite the friction, most issues were ultimately resolved through direct executive outreach, with at least one complainant later praising the company's response.

Anirban discusses how trust-building becomes critical for e-commerce success, particularly when selling high-ticket items like cameras, TVs, jewelry, and watches—unlike low-priced products ($5-$25) that require less trust establishment. He emphasizes that in competitive online retail markets, especially for small businesses, website presentation and design sophistication are key differentiators that can help retailers outperform competitors and drive productivity.

TuneyFish created a feedback survey for attendees of Digital Dealer 9 (DD9), requesting participants to evaluate sessions and speakers while noting specific takeaways and implementation strategies. The organizer planned to compile and publish results after a month and encouraged sharing the survey link widely across email and social media. This was a straightforward request for post-conference feedback collection rather than a discussion thread.