Joe - you always make a good argument. You're 100% absolutely right about having to do combat with the people who want our money. Micro-sites are a perfect weapon in the arsenal for that, until they start fighting back with their own Micro-sites. I'm not sure if they would or not, but it would certainly go hand in hand with some of the direct vehicle campaigning they're doing. If they were to start doing something like that (and charging us for it), I could see $1,000/mo. for a micro-site becoming a good deal....especially if AutoTrader.com does it!
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To Micro-site or not to Micro-site?
- Thread starter Alex Snyder
- Start date
The way we deal with this opportunity is by testing microsites success in generating leads as compared to the actual dealers pages, (A/B Testing) which ever one over time performs better gets the directed traffic. Microsites can be a very well targeted tool and can often perform better but only when alligned well with the search terms that lead the customers there. More on this later. Great topic.
Mark Bonfigli
President, CEO
Dealer.com, Inc
www.dealer.com
Mark Bonfigli
President, CEO
Dealer.com, Inc
www.dealer.com
- Apr 30, 2009
- 58
- 0
- First Name
- Ralph
I have personally designed, deployed, managed and monitored ROI on well over 100 microsites and various other sites that may or may not fit everyone's definition of what a microsite is, or is not. I can personally attest that some of my microsites generated nothing more than a bunch of work getting them built and launched... followed by a big yawn and "so what" from any car buyers that found them. However, many other microsites I have produced have been huge ROI successes... Far beyond anything else I have seen in over 20 years of developing digital marketing tactics (yes, I was writing text ads on BBS's when most readers of this blog were still in diapers or grade school). I have enjoyed the same feeling that I imagine musicians get when they produce a hot record that becomes a runaway hit when a microsite gets indexed to the top organic position for search queries on a make and model, and then becomes the subject of viral marketing acceleration with what seems like unsolicited spontaneously induced links from blogs and enthusiast sites on a worldwide basis... And, THEN found out (like rockstars do the morning after) what a headache 100,000+ unique visitors and 1,200+ lead forms submitted monthly can be when they come in from 35 states and 4 countries! However, once you hit the jackpot with microsites they become like crack to an addict and you start scraping budgets and finding funding with creativity that makes a junky looking for money for his next fix seem less motivated... And then you have to deal with the pebble in the pond syndrome. Yes, you have to hire more Internet Sales Specialists (you think a web site is tough to manage?!?!?!), hire contractors to build more offices... Expand your BDC... Handle more heat and unwinds... Chase more stips... Do more dealer trades... Settle more commission disputes... Broker more split-deal and skating allegation dispute resolutions between your team and the salespeople on the floor... Yup, microsites can really suck! Heck, the microsites I conceived and produced white at Courtesy Chevrolet just about killed me! I was working on many days from 8AM till 11PM handling 5,000+ leads and phone calls each month and had to grow my staff to over 30 people on 5 teams, selling between 340 to 420 cars a month. Anyways... I am NOT BEING SARCASTIC! Be careful what you wish for and understand that out of every 10 microsites, 5 will probably be flops, 3 will generate a decent ROI and more than pay for the 5 duds, 1 will be notable and make you want to brag about it... And, if you are very lucky, brilliant or both, 1 will explode with traffic and leads beyond your ability to handle it and only then will you realize that chasing SEO stardom looks great until you get it!
Just remember this... Mircosites should be as unique as people's ideas, desires, wants and needs. Otherwise, you are probably better off with landing pages, deep links and subdomains within your primary web sites.
Pricing? In my opinion a good single micro site with photo galleries, specification pages, news stories, reviews and plenty of links into your main site's inventory and form pages should cost no more than $1,000 up front for design and production and no more than $200 a month for hosting, maintenance and support that includes updating and revisions. Without any support, a microsite should be had for less than $100 a month. Or, simply build them yourself using 1and1.com, NetSol, Yahoo or any of the other cheapies and then frame in or link to your forms and inventory from your primary sites. It really is a question of how valuable your time is and how much money you can beg, borrow or steal from everybody else's budget in the dealership!
Lastly, if you are not creative and do not ENJOY coming up with marketing concepts, deploying them and then spending a LOT OF TIME monitoring the results and making countless changes and adjustments... Then a microsite strategy is probably not for you. In fact, microsites are simply not the right way to go for every dealership... You gotta want to be a Digital Marketing Rock Star with a BURNING FIRE IN YOUR BELLY! I lobe watching an expert use a chainsaw to create a sculpture out of the remains of a tree felled by lightning, but you won't see me with a chainsaw... I like keeping my legs and arms attached! Don't mess with microsites unless you know what your doing and are willing to commit to learning ninja-level digital marketing management skills.
Here's my contact information:
Ralph Paglia
Director - Digital Marketing
ADP Dealer Services
cell: 505-301-6369
email: [email protected]
Also, there are many articles and forum posts on this subject at the professional community site www.AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com
Just remember this... Mircosites should be as unique as people's ideas, desires, wants and needs. Otherwise, you are probably better off with landing pages, deep links and subdomains within your primary web sites.
Pricing? In my opinion a good single micro site with photo galleries, specification pages, news stories, reviews and plenty of links into your main site's inventory and form pages should cost no more than $1,000 up front for design and production and no more than $200 a month for hosting, maintenance and support that includes updating and revisions. Without any support, a microsite should be had for less than $100 a month. Or, simply build them yourself using 1and1.com, NetSol, Yahoo or any of the other cheapies and then frame in or link to your forms and inventory from your primary sites. It really is a question of how valuable your time is and how much money you can beg, borrow or steal from everybody else's budget in the dealership!
Lastly, if you are not creative and do not ENJOY coming up with marketing concepts, deploying them and then spending a LOT OF TIME monitoring the results and making countless changes and adjustments... Then a microsite strategy is probably not for you. In fact, microsites are simply not the right way to go for every dealership... You gotta want to be a Digital Marketing Rock Star with a BURNING FIRE IN YOUR BELLY! I lobe watching an expert use a chainsaw to create a sculpture out of the remains of a tree felled by lightning, but you won't see me with a chainsaw... I like keeping my legs and arms attached! Don't mess with microsites unless you know what your doing and are willing to commit to learning ninja-level digital marketing management skills.
Here's my contact information:
Ralph Paglia
Director - Digital Marketing
ADP Dealer Services
cell: 505-301-6369
email: [email protected]
Also, there are many articles and forum posts on this subject at the professional community site www.AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com
The context of micro-site being used here is that of your domain-based, static, generic, impersonal template-produced website that links or directs visitors to your website.
While the idea behind this has promise, the application of such micro-sites ignores an important ingredient in today's marketplace - Consumer Engagement.
Squidoo Lenses make for a good use of what these allured to "micro-sites" are out to accomplish. For example...
The page in and of itself is only a member to a greater message. For instance, the page that lens directs visitors...
Similar in concept to micro site, but applied in a way more in step with many of today's customers.
-Ryan
While the idea behind this has promise, the application of such micro-sites ignores an important ingredient in today's marketplace - Consumer Engagement.
Squidoo Lenses make for a good use of what these allured to "micro-sites" are out to accomplish. For example...
Loading…
www.squidoo.com
The page in and of itself is only a member to a greater message. For instance, the page that lens directs visitors...
Loading…
www.yourmercedes.com
Similar in concept to micro site, but applied in a way more in step with many of today's customers.
-Ryan
- Apr 30, 2009
- 58
- 0
- First Name
- Ralph
Here's a few microsites worth checking out:
www.ChevyPride.com - A good example of a microsite covering topics you may not want on your primary site.
www.WeBuyChevys.com - Branded buy back campaigns work very well.
www.PHXfinance.com - A secondary finance microsite, probably better kept off your primary site. Another SpiFi example: http://nationalcars.est3.bzresults.net/ou/bronx-finance/index.do
www.Chevy-Malibu.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.Tahoe-Chevy.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.ChevyPriceQuote.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.ChevyGas.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.Tucson-Chevy.com - This is an example of a stealth microsite used to aggressively go after another market.
www.Phoenix-Chevrolet-Dealers.com - This is another stealth site designed to take market share from third party lead providers.
If anyone wants to see an example of a microsite with model specific landing pages, here you go:
Microsite index page: www.Scott-Robinson-Honda.com
Model specific landing pages:
www.TorrnaceHondaAccord.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaCivic.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicGX.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicSI.com
www.TorranceHondaCRV.com
www.TorranceHondaElement.com
www.TorranceHondaFit.com
www.TorranceHondaOdyssey.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaS2000.com
All of the above cost Scott Robinson Honda a one time $1000 setup fee and $595 a month for full hosting, support, updates, daily inventory data pulls and having Omniture SiteCatalyst hooked up to the back end... And, I provide consulting services to them as well.
www.ChevyPride.com - A good example of a microsite covering topics you may not want on your primary site.
www.WeBuyChevys.com - Branded buy back campaigns work very well.
www.PHXfinance.com - A secondary finance microsite, probably better kept off your primary site. Another SpiFi example: http://nationalcars.est3.bzresults.net/ou/bronx-finance/index.do
www.Chevy-Malibu.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.Tahoe-Chevy.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.ChevyPriceQuote.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.ChevyGas.com - This domain is available and the microsite shown is simply an example. The concept, URL and a custom design is available to the right Chevy dealer that would be willing to engage in a digital marketing research partnership and case study.
www.Tucson-Chevy.com - This is an example of a stealth microsite used to aggressively go after another market.
www.Phoenix-Chevrolet-Dealers.com - This is another stealth site designed to take market share from third party lead providers.
If anyone wants to see an example of a microsite with model specific landing pages, here you go:
Microsite index page: www.Scott-Robinson-Honda.com
Model specific landing pages:
www.TorrnaceHondaAccord.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaCivic.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicGX.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicSI.com
www.TorranceHondaCRV.com
www.TorranceHondaElement.com
www.TorranceHondaFit.com
www.TorranceHondaOdyssey.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaS2000.com
All of the above cost Scott Robinson Honda a one time $1000 setup fee and $595 a month for full hosting, support, updates, daily inventory data pulls and having Omniture SiteCatalyst hooked up to the back end... And, I provide consulting services to them as well.
- Apr 30, 2009
- 58
- 0
- First Name
- Ralph
Ryan's tactical application looks very interesting and may solve the maintenance and cost issues.
Ralph, I am more convinced than ever that you never sleep, we were out late last night, I know you had an early flight, and yet here you are on dealer refresh posting. You've gotta tell me your secret!
Hi to Jeff and Alex, it was great meeting you at the AAISP conference, I always have to check in on dealer refresh and ADM before I go to bed at night, there is always great information.
Jon
Hi to Jeff and Alex, it was great meeting you at the AAISP conference, I always have to check in on dealer refresh and ADM before I go to bed at night, there is always great information.
Jon
Ryan - I like Squidoo for doing stealthed stuff like you showed. We've got a few of those going on. Plus Seth Godin is behind Squidoo, and Seth is the marketing king!
Ralph - great comments, and they're so Ralphesque - lol. You had me laughing a few times. I think what you're trying to say is these micro-sites have been mishandled in some cases, but at the end of the day they're just a small part of the big puzzle. But, just like anything else, when they're not done right it can screw you up.
And Ralph - you never do anything small do you? ....I think you now hold the record for the longest Dealer Refresh post when adding up all the back-to-back comments you made....too funny. Thanks for posting, and I hope you stick around.
Jon - it was a good time and nice to meet you too.
Ralph - great comments, and they're so Ralphesque - lol. You had me laughing a few times. I think what you're trying to say is these micro-sites have been mishandled in some cases, but at the end of the day they're just a small part of the big puzzle. But, just like anything else, when they're not done right it can screw you up.
And Ralph - you never do anything small do you? ....I think you now hold the record for the longest Dealer Refresh post when adding up all the back-to-back comments you made....too funny. Thanks for posting, and I hope you stick around.
Jon - it was a good time and nice to meet you too.
quote of the day "ninja-level digital marketing management skills"
I would say I am about a yellow belt
great post by the way!
I would say I am about a yellow belt
great post by the way!
- Apr 30, 2009
- 58
- 0
- First Name
- Ralph
Alex is right... The reality is that the most effective digital marketing strategies for dealers are those that balance a blend of many different types of online marketing, web sites and lead generation sources with the right processes and people. Today's role of "Digital Marketing Manager" is a new one in dealerships and will continue to evolve and take on different shapes and scope at each dealership. The managers who weave the best tapestry of strategy, processes and tactics within their given budgets will be the top performers that get promoted and become more successful in their automotive careers. I know it has worked well for me so far, and for many others who have embraced the willingness to experiment, measure, review, make adjustments and monitor so the process can be repeated as an onging management practice leading to continuous improvement... There is a minor player out there that for many years has used this exact "kaizen" strategy. I think their name begins with a T and they make a few cars and trucks.
