Dealer Mandated Sites

[CAORYAN]

Bandre,

Since you don't want this site to rank high for your dealership name use SEO to do otherwise. Meaning, use it as a micro site. Build it out to target a specific audience that your main site can't reach. Maybe a niche market.

This may be a bad idea because of restrictions with your Manufacturer.

You could always use canonical tags, no follow, etc... and do you best to keep it from the serps.

 

[DrewAment]

A few years ago, before GM monitored the domains, I worked at a dealership where we had control of the domain (just like you should) - we pointed the DNS at Cobalt....got the basic site up and running. Waited a few weeks, and then re-pointed the DNS back to our main site. We did this all so we could have a link from the manufactures site.

After about 6 months they caught on and really started watching the DNS records. So, I made the HomePage as bare as possible (quick loading) and put a little bit of script to automatically redirect to our main site.

Now, they REALLY monitor all those things - but I still have a few tricks.

Shooting from the hip a few of my dealers Cobalt sites get 1/15th of the traffic that the main sites get. Most of this traffic if the PAID PPC that GM is doing as part of the "free" site you get.

Do I really care about having the sites? Yes, just another thing to update
Do I keep it updated with specials and promotions? Yes - people do still come from manufactures site!
Do I spend more than 15min a month on them? If I am lucky.

Averages about 15 leads a month.

Do I see some of these in search rankings? Ya, and I am ok with that....2, 3, 4 links etc of Search Engines first pages. Just another way to get them to me. So a free site, that gets me a link from the manufactures site, that I spend 15/min a month on, that gets me 15 leads. Ya, I am ok with that.

My 2.5 cents.

 

[ghen]

Do I see some of these in search rankings? Ya, and I am ok with that....2, 3, 4 links etc of Search Engines first pages. Just another way to get them to me. So a free site, that gets me a link from the manufactures site, that I spend 15/min a month on, that gets me 15 leads. Ya, I am ok with that.

My 2.5 cents.

I absolutely agree here. I don't bother with my cobalt site at all except "do what the national campaign is". So the 147 leads I got last month from it just seem like bonus.

I really don't think there's a customer that finds my cobalt site instead of my main website that is so put off by the design that they don't fork over a lead since they're mainly coming from gm.com So, excepting paranoia, I have no reason to de-optimize the site.

 

[joe.pistell]

I absolutely agree here. ... So, excepting paranoia, I have no reason to de-optimize the site.

hahaha... "Paranoia"?
You IT wonks are so Left Brained... your so into ones-and-zeros, you've missed the visual clues and emotional ties that come from branding. Isn't it funny, you miss this for your own biz, yet you appreciate the experience of a Starbucks or a Panera Bread Cafe, both are branding masters.

Wouldn't you find it bizarre if you landed on a Starbucks site that didn't look like... Starbucks site?

The debate is not IF branding exists and has value, the debate is how intrusive the Cobalt site is the the dealers branding efforts.

 

[Alex Snyder]

The debate is not IF branding exists and has value, the debate is how intrusive the Cobalt site is the the dealers branding efforts.

Bingo! And that also is part of what I call the "customer experience" I mentioned earlier. The OEM's have their own "customer experience" plans that work on the Tier 1 and a little into the Tier 2 advertising that sells the new car. The dealers have to sell themselves at the Tier 3 level and this is a level we're experts at. The Tier 1 and Tier 2 advertisers play at the Tier 3 level just as much as the Tier 3 advertisers play at the Tier 2 and 1 level.

 

[ghen]

hahaha... "Paranoia"?
You IT wonks are so Left Brained... your so into ones-and-zeros, you've missed the visual clues and emotional ties that come from branding. Isn't it funny, you miss this for your own biz, yet you appreciate the experience of a Starbucks or a Panera Bread Cafe, both are branding masters.

Wouldn't you find it bizarre if you landed on a Starbucks site that didn't look like... Starbucks site?

The debate is not IF branding exists and has value, the debate is how intrusive the Cobalt site is the the dealers branding efforts.

Well I've at least added the PORTER logo to my cobalt site. It also has all my commercials at the bottom. As far as branding, that's as good as I need to keep the site on google page 1. Plus, any customers who came from chevrolet.com will appreciate the similarities in design.

 

[NTIV10]

I've embraced the cobalt site personally. I had to use a lot of css "cheats" and such to get it where I wanted it to be, but I have WAY more freedom with the cobalt site than with our dealership group's site. I now have a much neater, faster, and more attractive site than what I had before. But I am also willing to put a lot more work into the site than most people want to or are able to.