Join em or beat em either way is a win

I have been toying with the idea of using wordpress for dealer micro sites for quite sometime now and finally broke down today and set one up.  It is designed to help a dealer generate leads the 2009 Ford Escape Hybrid and my friend Alvin Newton has one set up for the Saburu Impreza.  After speaking with my programmer tonight about recoding a plugin to send adf/xml leads to a dealers crm/ilm we brainstormed on using wordpress as a full fleged car dealer website and may be real close in bringing this about.

This may be the way to go to offer dealers a very low cost way to build an online presence that does not require a contract or a monthly bill for the website itself.  Basically it would just be some core file changes to wordpress to set different levels of permissions and to pull in inventory listings.  Then the dealers only cost would be their inventory solution which if they use a lot service company or do it themselves it will be really easy but eventually we would look to use a solution like AutoWebEngine which can poll a dms or pull a feed from from a lot service.

So for a basic install with limited design work a dealer will be able to have a full functioning website for less than $1500 with minimal mothly cost for hosting less than $10.00 a month and if they want top end design work it could be done for around $1000.  So they could get a high end website launced and ready to go for less than $2500.

The only downside would be content, they would have to do it themselves or hire it out as well.  Still even if they used a content service they should be under $4000.  I should have this ready to goto market by the end of first quarter 2009.   This will be a huge win for the dealer community when it happens.

What will be great about using wordpress as the CMS is that once the site indexes the SEO will be instant as I proved with a post a couple weeks ago about dealer search engine marketing.  Basically that post is still beating a website vendor for their name and product descriptions, which should be unheard of.

I have had a couple vendors approach me for white label SEO service for their dealers websites but none have entered into serious negotiations with me yet.  One of the mid size players has even offered me a reseller agreement but I would not sign it because they also wanted a no compete, not going to happen.  Now if they wanted to contract me to consult for them or provide white label SEO with a decent minimum then it may be possible for them to get a no compete out of me but without consideration I am not going to give up development plans just for the right to sell a product.

Another vendor did want me to consult them on thier platform but they wanted a NDA.  Meaning I could not list them as a client or a reference.  However they did not want to pay the fee I felt was warranted to give up that right.

I will give it until the end of the year before I start the development of an inexpensive website solution for car dealers to see if all of the cross talk means anything.  I will either join up and help a vendor market themselves and their clients or go it on my own and take business from them.  Either way it is a win, because my craigslist solution for car dealers is really catching on like wild fire and I am picking up clients daily, except over the holidays.  The good thing is I will have a client list in place no matter which direction I go.

car dealer websites, automotive digital marketing, 2009 ford escape hybrid, saburu impreza

Good Things Can Come from Perceived Negatives - re Dealer.com

A few days ago I blogged here about my interaction with dealer.com and over the weekend finally made contact with one of their executives. He reached out to me and we had a meeting of the minds sort of. It was relatively a short conversation but now there is a different level of respect I believe.

I was invited to visit their office in Vermont and offered a demo of their search marketing platform. I am looking forward to the demo of their product and it was expressed that they wanted feedback on the pros and cons of it.

Currently I manage $15,000 a month in pay per click advertising budget for dealer clients and affiliate arbitrage and use a myriad of keyword research tools and competition spy tools that dealers and consultants should use if they are serious about using pay per click to market a car dealership. So I would be interested to see what value their tool provides to dealers that use it.

I believe they have a genuine interest in providing value for their dealers and understand that automotive seo is not a set it and forget process or free. Maybe they will want to take advantage of my white label seo solution (<< site is intentionally sandboxed and not finished, clients come first over personal marketing) or request my services to consult their seo department.

It was quite easy to show that SEO does not take ages and my example actually did better than I imagined beating out dealer.com for their product description. I figured my site would come in second or thrid given that it is on a crappy .info domain and has ZERO authority. This shows that the dealer.com site needs seo help as well. A web vendor should never be able to lose their name and product description searches.

Chances are the post about the dealer.com seo challenge may loose it's rankings because I have better things to do with my time than keep a post ranked to prove a point, the point was made and delivered. Providing value to my clients comes first, even though that post did open the door with a large dealer group (22 rooftops) to help them drive more online traffic to their stores.

Humility in the auto industry is almost unheard of. Sure I love to pound my chest because I pwned a big corporate vendor just as they like to claim they are the best with the products they offer and pound thiers. Online interactions should be give and take and pave the way for mutual fulfillment of goals and that requires humility from all parties. That is the biggest lesson learned here.

There is tons of room for growth in this regards in the auto industry, at all levels, and using education as a marketing tool will win if the education you are providing is accurate. We all have to learn to be brutally honest about our own products and services. Misguiding potential or current clients in the education process is a recipe for disaster. Even worse than that is believing what you are preaching is gospel without really knowing the facts yourself.

Is it negative or an education?

I have been accused of being negative recently by people I would not expect it from.  It may be because I called unintelligent marketing and sales techniques "A House of Cards".  While I understand how that could be considered negative to some, especially the ones who build them.

My intention was not to be negative but really to show that many of the big vendors in the automotive digital marketing arena only design products that are only semi effective or claim mastery of a process they cannot implement.  To that extent they are building a house of cards that is easily toppled when more effective processes and techniques are used.

The big corporate structures make it impossible for them to adapt fast enough and deploy effective strategies.  Just because they can't do something well they pitch that it cannot be done.

Because I poked a big hole in a recently presented myth people I respect accused me of being negative, for using the words "House of Cards".  Sure my personal marketing tactics are aggressive, I do not have the benefit of a huge marketing budget, but they are effective as well are my techniques.

I consult with a handful of dealers across the country and my product is auto dealer web traffic using very effective means.  It is accomplished using aggressive dealer SEO, craigslist and various link building campaigns.  I even use pay per click for car dealers for certain types of campaigns.  The thing is each dealers situation is different and market climate requires different techniques.  Nothing is cookie cutter.

To be sucessful in my opinion is to provide value first and become a partner with the dealership and be nimble enough to change direction when need be.  Build the foundation first and build long term relationships!!

Is what is good for the goose good for the gander? Dealer.com Debacle

I love social networking but I hate it when misinformed people preach things as gospel. I recently had an interaction at my favorite automotive social network and saw a comment from a Dealer.com executive that just reeked of BS. What is even worse is I gave him a link to his post for search engine marketing to help drive traffic to them and that is when good intentions turned into garbage.

The original post I did talked about ways to drive online traffic to car dealers but I stand by the fact that search engine marketing is a very expensive way to drive traffic to a dealership. However they did not like me referencing them in that extent.

The comment was made by their executive that SEO "takes ages" where as search engine marketing is instant and allegedly more effective than SEO. This is just not true and I did a fun blog post to show how easy it is to get almost instant search engine rankings without buying them and pointed out that #9 in the SERPs is more effective than #2 paid listing. See it at Dealer.com Search Marketing vs SEO.

After I did the mild jostling blog post I was contacted by a different executive with dealer.com with an offer to educate me on search engine optimization. I did not realize that I was that inept at SEO and my theories are wrong. But low and behold that post is already winning terms that Dealer.com should have and never get pushed out of the top spot.

[Dealer.com loosing dealer.com search engine marketing]

Dealer.com is worried about losing their search terms however they encourage dealers to buy their competitors names. I guess they are concerned that it may cost them business when holes are punched in their sales pitches and they realize they are the ones that need an education. I doubt they will contact me to train them even though I would probably work cheaper than most SEO trainers. Why is it ok for their clients to do it but not ok when other automotive vendors do it?

Now other bloggers are picking up my post. Some are republishing it and other are referencing how dealer.com lost their keywords and I did another post about the dealer.com search marketing holes.

Dealer.com left me a message that was unprofessional in tone and nature offering me an education in SEO. I called them back and was talked down to still, I terminated the call. Guess they don't like it when people show others the light and will not put up with intimidation tactics.

It is the car business an egos are strong and the big players try to bully people. They are picking the wrong market environment to try that in. Now they will get beat down by the little players in the automotive niche. Kinda like a hundred midgets on a bear. There will be some bloody midgets but they will win and force the bear into submission. I got plenty of bandages and do not care.

dealer.com, search engine marketing, seo, sem

Getting Reconized Without Even Trying!!

Lately I have been doing a lot of work at an automotive social network helping build the content base.  The task is never ending.  It is fun to watch a site grow in ways that you would not expect.  One thing I did not realize due to my affiliation there people recognize me as an authority on automotive SEO.

It surely is not based on the seo of the site that I work for it is based off the content that I have published regarding SEO principals and calling out smoke and mirrors from vendors in the niche.  Most in the car business just do not get it at all including the ones that claim they do.

Today I got an unexpected request from someone I have never met due to our connection at www.plaxo.com.  It actually floored me to say the least.  I guess that is a benefit of trying to maintain a strong social presense.

One thing that really gets me though is the true lack of understanding of how the longtail can really benefit car dealers and how owning terms like Cincinnati used car dealer or New Jersey car lots can provide more value to the dealer in the quality of traffic they recieve than owning terms such as special finace.

Hopefully the industry will have an awakening and I will be a part of it.

Some things are better done in private

I have received flack from people in the automotive industry over pages I controlled on squidoo.com, I have since transferred them to someone who is learning affiliate marketing.  They are starting their squidoo empire on concentrating of special financing terms in the automotive industry.

Just based on interactions I have had from a dealership employee regarding Tulsa special financing over pages I controlled is what prompted me to make the transfer and get out of the automotive affiliate marketing arena.  It is a tough decision for me, but managing the top automotive blog, regarding automotive marketing, has caused me to make this decision.

That affiliation will undoubtedly propel my place in the automotive industry to the next level.

squidoo.com, automotive blog, special financing

Brand Dilution - Overcoming It

Almost daily I get calls from non decision makers in the auto industry asking for advice and help. Tonight I had a long talk with one of my best friends, who I met online, about maximizing my presence. One thing is that I have found is that the people who sign the check in the car business are not the ones looking online for answers.

One of the biggest things I took away from this conversation is sometimes you have to give a lot to take a little. This is ok and is how things work and it produces good karma. He attributes that to being one of the top Suzuki Auto dealers in the US.

In the past I was very giving with my time and knowledge and have realized that people will suck as much of it as you are willing to give. While at the same time they are put off when you ask for a return of a favor or even money. Free consulting makes you a broke consultant and I am tired of doing that while at the same time some of that has to be given freely to get your name in front of other that do sign the checks.

Now instead of diluting my brand I will concentrate on a focused direction to show people how to market their business locally and make my services available to them.

brand building, paul rushing, suzuki auto