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Thinking of dropping Dealer.com

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#11
davidmoon said:
I've never been too impressed with Dealer.com's front end. It seems like if a dealer isn't constantly shoveling money into it, it gets old, stale and outdated quickly--and that's often is apparent to the consumer. And I hear a lot of gripes about value from dealers here.

Developing a site is a large undertaking. Perhaps a hybrid situation like Joe's might be something to seriously look into.

It's a shame that dealer.com doesn't have a Wordpress Engine that will put a little flexibility and power in the dealer's hands, but offer some of the benefits of dealer.com's response and data services.
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I agree 100%. In fact, I have talked about this a ton with our old Regional Internet Marketing guy. Dealer.com is past the point where they are going to earn new customers. Therefore, they really have nothing to innovate - save something that will drive a little extra money and long term contracts.

I need to look into Joe's hybrid situation. I am very familiar with wordpress, but I don't really know if it has the power to do everything I will need it to do. I believe Joomla or Drupal might be a little more robust - but I have very little knowledge about them. Not that I can't figure it out.

It is a huge shame that dealer.com can't integrate with wordpress - or at the very least allow me to install it on a sub-directory.

I do think that dealer.com is a great tool for a lot of dealers because most probably don't want the level of flexibility and ownership that I want. But, my goal is to pump every last lead I can out of my site and I can't do that with dealer.com at this point any more.
 
#12
jdolezal said:
I forgot to mention that our backend editing tool gives you access to all internal pages, adding pages, page titles, SEO, homepage ad rotator, etc. If you want a quick demo on our editing tool I'd be happy to show you.
Click to expand...

I just took a look at your site and I must say that I am surprised that I cannot easily find a portfolio of work or even one example of a website your company has designed. Just a little feedback.
 
Dominion DMS
#15
Clay,

You know I have an indie site. But what you don't know is I use to own my own web site building company. That being said, you sound like your more than capable of being your own project manager. Your projects will live or die on your ability to communicate your vision AND your organization skills will be tested too.

There are a ZILLION details to align to get your site rockin to your standards. Mod'ing WordPress into a catalog like presentation is possible but it's un-common so your degree of difficulty is higher than you'd might think. Remember, what ever you do technically has one mission... You are building a site to help your shopper complete a task. If you don't NAIL the UI (User Interface), you're in big trouble.

After you find a UI that you LOVE, then you've got to tackle the VDP (vehicle detail page). Actually, the VDP will be far easier than the UI.

IMO, if you were my assistant, I'd have you build a fully functioning WP site (as you visualize) on a different domain and let you experiment and learn about how easy its not.

WP resources:
designers: WordPress Rockstar Showcase | WeRockWP
Real Estate UI: WordPress Themes - Real Estate - Travel - Music - Celebrity -Fashion
More Goodness: StudioPress - Premium WordPress Themes
My fav guru: Yoast - Tweaking Websites
 
#16
MullerToyota said:
... my goal is to pump every last lead I can out of my site and I can't do that with dealer.com at this point any more.
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Ahh...music to my ears! But, be careful grasshopper, freedom from restraint means... IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT ;-)


Which leads us too..
"Just because it's a good idea, doesn't mean it'll work"

What I mean is by what measure do you think you'll produce more sales or more leads, or more return visitors, or more time onsite, or... Have you ever produced a page/site that has produced a lift in leads/sales? NOT a lift in traffic, a lift in conversions or metrics?

Know your mission and your weaknesses!
Is your mission to simply plug a WP site onto an existing site? Or, are you going to build one from the ground up?
 
Dominion DMS
#17
JoePistell said:
Clay,

You know I have an indie site. But what you don't know is I use to own my own web site building company. That being said, you sound like your more than capable of being your own project manager. Your projects will live or die on your ability to communicate your vision AND your organization skills will be tested too.

There are a ZILLION details to align to get your site rockin to your standards. Mod'ing WordPress into a catalog like presentation is possible but it's un-common so your degree of difficulty is higher than you'd might think. Remember, what ever you do technically has one mission... You are building a site to help your shopper complete a task. If you don't NAIL the UI (User Interface), you're in big trouble.

After you find a UI that you LOVE, then you've got to tackle the VDP (vehicle detail page). Actually, the VDP will be far easier than the UI.

IMO, if you were my assistant, I'd have you build a fully functioning WP site (as you visualize) on a different domain and let you experiment and learn about how easy its not.
Click to expand...

Joe thanks for the post and the links/resources.

I don't doubt for a second that this would be my biggest and most difficult undertaking as an ISM.

At the same time, I feel that it can elevate me to the next level of what I am trying to accomplish for my dealership.

I really appreciate you taking the time to give me some feedback and I am sure I will reach out to you and forum for some critique should I decide to take on this task.
 
#18
JoePistell said:
Ahh...music to my ears! But, be careful grasshopper, freedom from restraint means... IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT ;-)


Which leads us too..
"Just because it's a good idea, doesn't mean it'll work"

What I mean is by what measure do you think you'll produce more sales or more leads, or more return visitors, or more time onsite, or... Have you ever produced a page/site that has produced a lift in leads/sales? NOT a lift in traffic, a lift in conversions or metrics?

Know your mission and your weaknesses!
Is your mission to simply plug a WP site onto an existing site? Or, are you going to build one from the ground up?
Click to expand...

Well, I don't know that I necessarily want to go with a WP site - although it is territory that I am most comfortable with.

I am looking at building something from the ground up. I am looking at this from a very broad view right now.

I can't say that I have ever made a single page alone that has made a significant dent in our conversions. But, I can say that I have designed pages and landing pages in conjunction with email and PPC marketing that has increased conversions.

I think my ultimate goal is to do three main things:

1.) Reduce my cost of my website.
2.) Increase my conversions
3.) Be able to use the control I want to be able to make changes quickly and easily and then analyze the results to make further changes or implementations.

All three of these I feel I can do better with my own site.

I know that I can't do this alone. I will want to hire someone to help me design and implement everything I need before our contract runs out in a year and half before we go live. Meaning that I should have a lot of time to make sure that things don't go drastically wrong.
 
#19
Clay,

My small company is actually about to launch a private beta for dealer websites that provide what you are looking for. They are based off of WordPress and we have already committed hundreds of hours of programming to make WP more dealership CMS friendly.

I'm not trying to sell you on anything. Perhaps my solution would be just what you need, perhaps not. If it isn't I can certainly point you in the right direction should you chose to take the independent route. I'm sure I can learn as much from you as you could from me. PM me with whatever questions you have.
 
Dominion DMS
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