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Searching for a new website provider

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#11
We are currently using dealeron. Though they are a relatively new company they do an amazing job. We made the switch from XI group about 6 months ago. We have seen an increase in traffic and even more of an increase in leads from our sites. Dealeron offers optimized URLs on inventory, optimized HTML title tags, optimized HTML descriptions, unique static page titles/ descriptions, and 301 redirect to name a few features. They constantly release new updates on their sites and now feature a blog directly on their websites. They also offer many other seo / sem, video integration, content, and social media services. Dealeron is definitely worth checking into. Best Regards.
 
#12
We've been with DealerOn for over 3 years now and had been with Cobalt and Dealer.com before making the switch. We saw our traffic dramatically increase without spending anything on paid search advertising and saw our leads increase by 3 fold over our Cobalt site and by more than double from the Dealer.com site. Their technology and approach is the best I've found and the organic search results haven't been comparable to any other company I've seen.

Needless to say I would definitely recommend them for a website.

Jason Motts
President
Abeloff Buick Pontiac GMC Nissan
 
#14
We switched from BZ (the absolute worst) to Dealer ON at the beginning of the year. We also have Cobalt as a factory site. Our results from Dealer On have been outstanding for SEO.

They work hard to increase your conversion rate (number of leads you receive). BZ was not good because of the Flash. We are currently getting over 600 leads a month just from our own website. With BZ we would get 60-70 per month and our Cobalt numbers are only slightly better than BZ.

They are also very responsive to making changes in a timely manner. We have been happy with them and would definitely recommend them.

Courtney Cole
Hare Chevrolet
 
#15
ghen said:
Cobalt and Izmo have the two best SEO I've seen
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Alex Snyder said:
Dude.....you need to look around more.
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I have to second Alex on this one. I have seen the majority of the platforms and I encourage you to look at what is out there in terms of SEO. Do they support individual metas per page as well as Search Engine Verfication Tags, do they include robots.txt with site map discovery, xml sitemaps, dynamic titles on vehicle details pages.. etc etc. Those are just some of the questions you should be asking your potential website providers from an SEO perspective.
 
#16
ChrisChatt said:
I have to second Alex on this one. I have seen the majority of the platforms and I encourage you to look at what is out there in terms of SEO. Do they support individual metas per page as well as Search Engine Verfication Tags, do they include robots.txt with site map discovery, xml sitemaps, dynamic titles on vehicle details pages.. etc etc. Those are just some of the questions you should be asking your potential website providers from an SEO perspective.
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There is a lot more to a website than just how pretty it looks. There also needs to be a lot of technical muscle behind it to do all those things you mention and more. A site has to have the looks, the brains, and most importantly, the ability to convert traffic to leads.

Brian Pasch's ASMA study did a good job of reviewing a lot of those SEO factors on the various platforms. I would recommend getting a copy of that study from him.

http://www.dealer-seo.com/car-dealer-inventory-modules-seo-ratings-report/
 
#17
Personally I try to stay away from the big guys, (no offense big guys). Too expensive, more often than not poor customer service, and generally a lot are behind the times a little bit. Some of these guys like dealer.com, dealer Impact and even cobalt have stepped it up a notch over the last year and a half or so but there are so many talented mid-level site providers out there that charge a fraction of what the big guys do and would be willing to bend over backward to make everything perfect for you. The money you save can be put on an ad words campaign, top notch SEO, additional sites etc.
I said mid-level above because although there are quite a few really talented smaller providers often times their control panel has limited functionality or is nonexistent. An Ism needs to be able to change things on the fly some times and with some sites unless you know code that isn't going to happen. You'll have to put in a ticket :(
There are so many factors involved it's tough to make a suggestion w/o knowing your store.
Another thing, some providers now can tie directly into your IMS, (Inventory Management System i.e. Homenet, Dealer Specialties etc). I've had this debate with several colleges about which is better, framing an inventory page into a site or using the site providers inventory page. There are benefits to both. If you find a provider that can tie into your "HomeNet" or "Dealer Specialties" software, you'll have the best of both worlds. There aren't too many out there. Look into Real Dealer Solutions in Ohio and Seritas in Mo and I'm sure there are some others out there but I'm not familiar with them or I wouldn't recommend them.
 
#18
@ajholland

This year the Pasch Consulting Group reviewed 34 automotive website platforms for their search marketing architecture and practical SEO strengths. Of the 34 companies, 9 stood out from the group and were given industry leadership awards. Three companies got special recognition for the leadership in key areas. The award winning can be viewed on this link: ASMA Award Winners

If you are looking for advice on any of the platform providers in the study, I would be more than happy to answer any questions you have. You can give me a call at 732-450-8200 to discuss your needs and marketing objectives because it does help refine the best platform choice from the top 9 companies.
 
#20
I wanted to give my feedback to you. I am the Business Development Director for Hare Chevrolet. We have been with BZ and Cobalt for numerous years. As a matter of fact our website by BZ under my direction was voted the number one website by Auto Dealer monthly in the spring of this year. One week later our Owner, Courtney Cole, said she wanted to change providers. WHAT??? And so we did... we partnered up with DEALERON from a referral from Brian Pasch for one main resaon SEO! Since the beginning they have been the BEST to work with. Any changes that we need they are right on top of. Any Specials that need to be up NOW, I can do them. Add a new video to our home page, give them about an hour. Indexing... wow! As far as BZ, I am not sure they even know we changed yet. I contacted them but have not heard a word in about 4 months. We still have our Cobalt site but our DEALERON site ROCKS! www.hareauto.com
 
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