Outsourcing SEO

[Blake Arbogast]

I'm interested to see if people are completely working on SEO in house or outsource it to a company. Currently I am managing it myself with the help of Dealer.com.

 

[Brent Palen]

We are outsourcing to Dealer.com right now as well but I am looking into doing my own thing. I just got started as the ISM last April and am on a giant learning curve right now. I am toying around with the idea of supplementing what D.com is doing. There is a dealership here in KS that seems to own google right now so I am going to mimmick them a little. I can't remember what the Controller said they charge us but it seems hefty for the results I see.

 

[joe.pistell]

Brent,

Toss the name or URL of the competive dealership in KS and I'll look it over and see if I can toss you a bone or 2.

 

[Brent Palen]

www.davis-moore.com

Hope I'm not breaking the rules!

 

[Alex Snyder]

Nope - you're not breaking any rules.


We team with Dealer.com. They do the less direct stuff while we do more direct stuff.

We have some big stuff on the agenda for our new website and that includes some new pieces in the Dealer.com platform. After our launch it will be shortly afterward that you'll start hearing about these new things. Get excited guys!

 

[joe.pistell]

Brent,

This report is not a be all, end all, but it's simply a starting point to help you BEGIN your SEO voyage.

Website Grader - SEO Tool - Report For davis-moore.com

-vs-

Website Grader - SEO Tool - Report For holmauto.com


My friend, roll up your sleeves, you've got a long road ahead...

 

[joe.pistell]

They have 3x the inventory also.

David vs Goliath.
If I may over-simplify to hammer home the idea... Each unit in inventory is a web page, agreed? That page has a little bit of SEO attraction potential (make/model/trim/miles/option/comments/location etc...) . The more units you have in stock the more "SEO potential" you have. Also, the more units you have on the ground the LONGER you can hold your shoppers attention PLUS, he more units you have on the ground.

One last inventory size connection. Generally speaking, the more units a dealer has on the gound, the more traditional media they deploy AND the more well known is the brand.

All this means is you'll have to try harder to get them and work harder to keep them there.

 

[joe.pistell]

Food for thought: Site Comparison of davis-moore.com (rank #119,557), holmauto.com (#561,906) | Compete

The traffic data is sparse, but, it looks like a 10:1 advantage. NOTE: davis-moore has a 5:1 inventory advantage (750 units vs your 150 units), so a goal of yours is to close that 10:1 traffic gap.

GOOD NEWS!
You've got a lot of upside to your efforts.

SUGGESTION:
Get your management on board to see what you're up against, the upside of your efforts and to FUND your mission

 

[joe.pistell]

Job #1. Get Google Analytics on your site ASAP. its free, Have Dealer.com add it (it's a no brainer install). You will get a snapshot of what you have right now.

You can't measure progress without a starting point.

 

[Brent Palen]

Wow!!! Thats some great information! Thanks for the insight.

I do have a lot of work to do but am looking forward to it. Theres definately a lot of "opportunity" here for us. Look forward to hearing more from me.

Thanks again for the help. You guys have a great site here.