Social Media May Finally Become TRULY Relevant To Dealers In 2010

I’ve had a pretty long-standing disagreement with social media. There are far too many people on my side of the table (agency side) that use the confusion and hype of social media to sell ineffective products to car dealers. In my general session presentation at Digital Dealer 7, I had a whole section on ‘Do Social Networking Right, Or Don’t Do It At All.”

However, the integration of social media make it hard to stay out of the market too long. Here’s my thoughts: Read more »

Our Google Analytics Webinar was a great success. Well over 100 people attended, with many more requesting seats.

Don’t miss out on our next session, Search Marketing 101 – February 11th at 12:00pm. Space is limited. Register here for the Search Marketing 101 webinar.

Does your manufacturer require you to use a particular web provider?

If so, you may be in a position where you’re forced to use a web provider you don’t want to in order to receive benefits from the factory such as factory-generated leads or links on the manufacturer’s site. Many dealers choose to have two web-sites, one that the manufacturer requires and another that they feel is the best option to maximize their Internet presence.

The problem this creates is that search engines start indexing two competing web sites for the same business, which is confusing to consumers and negatively effects search rankings.

Here’s a simple solution.

Using simple text files and meta tags, you can ask search engines NOT to index your site. Combining that with a less descriptive domain name and you’ll be effectively removed from the search engines.

Here’s what you need to do:

Install a robots.txt file:

Robots.txt is a file that most web crawling robots read first to know what sections of a web site to index and what sections to avoid. It’s meant to prevent web crawling robots from indexing information not-necessary for search engines, such as forms, proxy directories and other techical stuff. However, you can use the file to ask a search engine web crawler to avoid your site entirely. It’s as simple as this:

Create a text file using a plain-text editor like WordPad. Include the following text in that file:

This file tells web crawling robots (all of them, indicated by ‘*’) to not follow any links in your site (any links, indicated by ‘/’ meaning root directory and all subdirectories).

Note: The robots.txt file is a honor-system. It will not prevent all robots, especially malware or security hacking robots, from accessing your site. However, it will prevent most search engine web crawling robots.

Change meta tags if your provider won’t install a robots.txt file:

If your web provider won’t install the robots.txt file, you can manually add a meta tag to each page that tells search engines to stay away. This isn’t as good as a robots.txt file, which covers the entire site with one file, since you’ll have to manually add this to EVERY page on your site. But if you have to, this is a good alternative. Simply add the following meta tag to each page on your site:

The content tag, NOINDEX, tells the robot not to index the page. The content tag, NOFOLLOW, tells the robot not to follow any of the links on the page, preventing the web crawling robot from following links on the page.

Stay under the radar:

I wouldn’t recommend that you call your web provider up and say, “I’d like to make sure your site is removed from search engines so I can use another provider.” Right now, we don’t seem to have much difficulty getting these changes made. However, if manufacturer-required web providers become keen to this, I’m sure they’ll stop the practice.

Got a thought? Like this post? Was this helpful to you? Leave a comment below.

I guess it’s tough working at an advertising agency and still being nice to one another. I found this lesson hung up on the wall of our creative director’s office, showing our creative people how to be nice to one another when critiquing each others work:

According to a new report from Borrell Associates monitoring the pulse of local ad spending by U.S. auto dealers, dealer associations, and manufacturers, US auto manufacturers will increase their online local ad spending by 14% in 2010, while new- and used-car dealers will increase their ad spend online by 8.6%. The total effect will result in an 11.4% increase in new-vehicle online ad spending next year.Overall, Borrell Associates predicts that US ad spend for new cars will rise to a total of $19.2 billion from the low of $18.4 billion in 2009, experiencing a 4% growth rate across all media. These numbers represent declines from 2008 spending, following a precipitous drop in automotive ad spend of 31% in the first half of 2009, during which Chrysler and GM declared bankruptcy and the recession forced a significant decline in new auto sales.

Online ad spend, says the report, which grew only 5.2% in 2009, will likely surpass all other media for new-vehicle advertising next year, driven by email, social networking and especially streaming audio and video campaigns, which will grow significantly.

Very, very insightful.

Recently, I wrote about the need to shift our thinking to a place that aligns with the “new” digital customer.

Here are some things we should have in place, to connect with them on their level.

Sit back and enjoy the ride
We have always been told to be in “control”. In today’s selling environment we need to let the customer do the driving, and have the good sense to sit quietly in the back seat, along for the ride.

Celebrate and respect the consumer
Everyone appreciates “recognition” and praise, it’s fundamental to our self-worth. We also want to be respected for who we are and what we think. The new “social order”, empowered with tools like “share it”, has created such an avenue for expression and needs to be incorporated in all our online communications.

Encourage engagement
If you current site does not ask the visitor to suggest, “ways to improve” or at the very least to fill out a survey, you will miss a golden opportunity, until now, unavailable. Remember, they can tell you the truth because their anonymous.

Facilitate connection
Remove any and all” required fields” on any “submission” link or form. This environment is meant to be an “open” source of information, not a place to “capture” it.

Be open and honest
In today’s economy, one of the prerequisites for success is transparency. The customer already knows as much, or has access to, everything we know. Let’s not try and kid ourselves any longer.

Listen and learn
Our newest “listening device” in this evolving ecosystem is analytics. They “hear” everything the on-line customer is saying about their web experience. Their lessons are invaluable.

Experiment
Have the nerve to try any approach that is supported by the math. Failure to change your on-line process will only result in the same numbers you are currently experiencing. Don’t like the math, do the opposite.

Activate and engage only where it makes sense
Ask the customer, at hello:  how, when and at what pace they would like to be contacted. The number one reason customers fail to connect with us, is that we are always on our agenda, not theirs.

Understand the relation between content and context
One of the quickest ways to have customers “bounce” is to direct them to irrelevant content or to take their intentions out of context. Site design, as well as, “sales “process must be dictated by the questions customers ask, not by
some “steering” methodology.

Most of all, Entertain, have your site be a place people can have fun, get information, interact, play, and have a reason to return, to buy. In the end if you follow any or all of this advise, one’s thing’s for sure, something’s going to change.

We get worse and worse news about the industry every day. February will be the lowest SAARS rate since 1982. Dealer profitability is at its lowest point since 1991. The stock market is below 7000 for the first time since 1997.

Notice anything similar about those facts? They all happened and we’re all still here.

Times are tough, there’s no denying it – but there’s a difference between thriving in this market and merely surviving it. We have dealer after dealer having relative success in this market. You don’t have to be any different.

The difference is attitude and  effort.

Attitude - If you are convinced the end of the world is coming to an end, it will – or at least the someone will take advantage of that fear. Take the fable of Chicken Little – while eating lunch, an acorn falls on Chicken Little’s head. Chicken Little thinks the sky is falling and she has to tell the King. On the way to see the King, Chicken Little finds animal after animal and tells them story of the sky falling. They’re all convinced and travel in a pack to see the King. A fox offers them help – and then eats the whole group. What’s the moral of the story? TURN OFF YOUR TV. The world is not coming to an end. Don’t be whipped into a frenzy by the wave of pessimism. Be a fox.

Effort - There is a new world in the auto industry. There are no more easy sales. There is less and less showroom traffic. Buyers are even more resistant than ever before. Fewer vehicles are going to be delivered. Money is tighter. These problems are going to create opportunities for those of us ready to take advantage of them.

There is less competition in the market. Weaknesses can be capitalized on. Competitors are retreating. Are you on the gas peddle or the brake? Being on the gas peddle doesn’t mean reckless or out of control – it means actively moving forward.

At my company, we have a philosphy about the common question of the glass being half-full or half-empty. This a question designed to classify people from all walks of life into two simple and distinct categories: an optimist or pessimist. We like to think there’s also the realist – the person who can see the glass for what it really is without sugar-coating or begrudging the truth. The realist sees that the glass has only reached half of its true potential and puts together plan to achieve full potential without letting emotion stand in the way of reason.

Think twice and develop a realistic, positive attitude. Realize times have changed are and set forth massive effort. Stop putting a spin on reality and maximize your potential.

I’m more than happy to let the competition dial it back while we stay on the gas pedal. Please do – it only makes my job easier.

It may sound like an infomercial, but it’s true – you can increase your paid search (SEM) traffic 30% by doing one simple thing – add Yahoo and adCenter to your campaigns. These two ad networks are overlooked by even the savviest search marketers.

For our clients, Yahoo paid search accounts for 25% – 33% of  paid search traffic  and adCenter accounts for 5% – 10%. If you’re struggling to add additional traffic to your search campaigns, these two search networks are your answer.

Adding Yahoo couldn’t be easier. Export your Google campaign to an Excel spreadsheet and email it to Yahoo, they’ll have someone enter the campaign for you. Yahoo even has staff that will take your call and help manage your campaign – a significant improvement in customer service over Google, who makes it difficult for even “qualified” companies and individuals (Google’s certification for larger advertisers) to get someone on the phone.

Take that same spreadsheet and upload it to adCenter and it will create the campaign for you. Dial the 800 number and you’ll be on the phone with a live customer service agent who will help get you going.

Using the exact same campaigns will get you a 15-20% increase. After that, you’ll need to learn how Yahoo and adCenter work to maximize the return. For a experienced search marketer, this should take no more than 30 days.