Brand new to the industry- HELP!

[Billy B]

Hey Emily!

Welcome to the jungle, as others have eluded to here... lol

It's definitely a jungle, but if you can build up your senses to easily see who the fakes are (this will take time) you'll eventually be able to cut through the noise, work with good, ethical people and drive great results...it's a SUPER rewarding space to work.

Would love to talk shop with you if you're still with the dealership!

 

[Carluminati]

We are for profit Emily. Everything you do, is to make the dealer profit. At the end of the day: you have to justify your existence. Your salary, plus everything you spend on digital must show a handsome profit, or were just spending money. I'm not a fan of CDK, IMO go with Dealer inspire. They will handle most of the SEO, it's not hard. Pay attention to page titles and make sure every page has a unique meta description, Google doesn't care about keywords. Implement a very good long term follow up process and email campaign for every lead, and try to segment leads for different campaigns. Get a service like Constant Contact as most CRM fail in the email side. Set up Google analytics correctly. Hire a good SEM company like Pure Cars to set up your AdWords, Display network, retargeting, pre-roll video. Learn how to sell cars. Never think you know it all. Add conversational chat like DRIFT to your website and integrate into your email script. Make the dealer take you to Digital Dealer events, so you both have skin in the game. Learn your core dealership products, cars, service lingo, and always make sure the dealership blows up balloons on Saturday. I have 20 years in your position, no year will be the same as the previous. Look outside automotive tech companies for solutions. Martech 5000 has over 5,000 tech companies dealers can use, yet dealers can only think inside the auto tech box. Be brave.

 

[GerryFoster]

IMO: SEO isn't to be automated, and to be successful, CAN'T be. also IMO the vendors offering you SEO are really likely to automate/ KW stuff. You're way better off doing it yourself, and following the best practices you can find readily available across the net and with the moz.com beginner guides.

The hardest challenge for me has been getting analytics set up effectively...which is still a struggle. ESPECIALLY with CDK sites, as they dont have a goddamn thank you page.

 

[Eric Miltsch]

@EmilyJSpellman -

1. Start slow - you're opening yourself up to get flooded with requests from all the experts, gurus & visionaries
2. Start with Local SEO - the dealership GMB is often not optimized to capture & track local traffic (CTA UTMs, categories, Products & Services link, posts, review quality/quantity/velocity, connected to your Google Ads account, all locations verified if multiple rooftops are included, etc)
3. Be cautious of stand-alone solutions - many of the solutions you'll come across don't include an omnichannel approach or may not play well with other strategies
4. You said the magic word - transparency. Be cautious of those not willing to work within GA reporting.