I don't doubt that Cars.com and AutoTrader work better in major markets. I wouldn't have never considered dropping either, because they worked for me. I still haven't seen third party leads that close at over 3 to 6 percent. Leads from AutoTrader, Cars.com and my website performed at 20%. That was going through the same cradle to grave ISMs and not a BDC.
I was looking at some AutoTrader ads, in the metroplex, a few day ago. Honestly, most of those dealerships shouldn't expect any return. They either don't know what they are doing or are unwilling to put in the effort to be successful. For those, they should cancel.
The top position, in paid search, gets only 6% of the clicks on the page. Wonder why your bounce rate skyrockets when you start spending money in paid search? It's a damn ad and everyone knows it. That is like clicking on a banner ad. Does anyone do that more than once?
Once again another link to the Dataium Cars.com study: Link I don't expect anyone to comment (as before).
If you have spent the time to make your website sticky, SEO will work wonders. Website are only templates. If you haven't invested the time and effort, nothing will work for you.
I am retired and just purchased a new fishing boat and a truck to pull it. Last year, Social Security only went up about a percent. It is time that you working people start paying more. Gas and beer isn't getting any cheaper.
