Car Dealers: Get Yourself An Internet Department
If you don’t have this guy, you need this guy.
The irony of a blog post with a message of “Get yourself an Internet department” is that the likeliness of a dealer principal without an Internet department actually reading this post is very, very low. But that’s no reason not to write it.
I recently spoke with the general sales manager at a local dealership and he told me, “We don’t really have an ‘Internet department,’ per se.” I was shocked and appalled, but then again, online automotive marketing has been my profession for over half a decade now, and to a guy of my generation, half a decade is an eternity.
I asked him why he didn’t have one, and he said that they were doing fine with just the sales managers handing out the internet leads to the sales personnel. They may let a lead or two slip through the cracks, he said, but that’s no real concern. I told him his store’s online reputation is terrible, but he didn’t believe that had any effect on the real-world reputation.
It blew my mind a little bit, but I remembered that when I used to deal with a great many car dealerships on a regular basis, this was common thinking. Plenty of dealerships think that “Internet” just refers to “leads,” and that those “leads” are only worthwhile if they set an appointment over the phone to walk in and buy.
I remained calm, and I explained to him the following reasons why a dealership should invest in an Internet department:
- No leads at all should ever slip through the cracks. You never can tell which leads will buy right away and which are just window shopping until you actually converse with them. One lead that “slips through the cracks” just might be interested in that overpriced used hybrid that’s been on the lot for a hundred and fifty days.
- The overall quality of the leads is influenced by your online reputation. An Internet department can help maintain your online reputation to match the real-world reputation, which of course is spotless, I’m sure. If no one’s paying attention to online reviews, and if no one at the store is soliciting positive reviews, then your business will have to rely on repeat business and referrals, and guess how sustainable that is? (Hint: not very.) However, if you look trustworthy and reputable online, then online shoppers will start to flock your way, and you’ll pick up those all-important new customers. The leads you get will be more from the pool of shoppers looking to buy sooner rather than later, and they’ll be the ones who are easier to finance. They won’t be the bottom-of-the-barrel candidates, the desperate few who’ve tried other dealerships & couldn’t get a deal. You’ll catch the shoppers that are looking to get caught.
- Your competitors have Internet departments. It’s more than likely your neighboring dealerships, and the dealerships of the same brand just a few cities down the road, are up to date, certainly moreso than stores with no Internet department. They have strong online reputations, they handle all their leads and sell quite a lot of cars from shoppers who found them first online. If you don’t have at least one person in the store managing your automotive online setup, you are not a 21st Century dealership, and that will hurt you more and more as we move further and further into the 21st Century. It is indeed impressive if you’ve been in business for 38 years, but it doesn’t mean you’re invincible. They don’t hand out a gold watch after a certain point and say, “Congratulations, you can never go out of business now.” You still have to be as aggressive in business as you did when you first started. You still have to keep up. That basic principle hasn’t changed.
So get an Internet department already. Sheesh.
Send to KindleAutomotive SEO vs. Automotive SEM
According to this extraordinarily useful infographic from DealerRefresh, there is a war happening between SEO and SEM, and apparently it’s a war of attrition. The infographic does, of course, point out one thing I’m fond of pointing out: companies that use both SEO and SEM, together in balance and harmony, tend to have the most success when it comes to attracting more qualified traffic.
DealerRefresh: SEO VS SEM (Google) Infographic
It may be fun and filled with excellent data to know, but it’s not perfect. It’s cluttered and busy, and it perhaps may be erroneous in pitting SEO against SEM instead of with it. Given that it’s found on DealerRefresh.com, an automotive industry blog and forum, I was hoping to see some data that directly related to the automotive industry, which as we all know, has its own unique set of shoppers and buying processes. Luckily, the author gives us some additional talking points:
Few Questions:
- Are you seeing your Paid Search Ad Spend Increase (CPC)?
- Are you tracking your High Commercial Intent Keywords?
- Does your GM still not know the difference between a paid and organic ad? (fun question)
On top of those, I’ll add in my two cents with a few extra questions to ask yourself:
- Are your SEO and SEM efforts integrated, or pitted against each other? (If so, are you maybe spending more money than you need to?)
- SEO and SEM are only two ingredients in the stew – what are you doing with social media, especially in an era where social signals bear increasing relevance?
- Are you seeing increased leads from either SEM or SEO traffic? (Are you even tracking the correlation?)
Send to KindleSchema.org Microdata Markup for the Automotive Industry
Last month, Intrapromote’s own Caleb Dann wrote about Schema.org microdata markup for the food & beverage industry. If you’re in the food & beverage industry, this article is extremely helpful – especially if you’re a craft beer brewery, since evidently not many craft brewery websites employ microdata.
If you’re in the automotive industry, Caleb’s article is still helpful, but let me expand on it for the auto industry’s sake.
Why should the auto industry use microdata? There are plenty of reasons, but here are some immediate benefits:
- Possibility of rich snippets in search results – your actual search results could become more visually appealing, enticing Google users to click over to your website instead of anybody else’s.
- More complete information for your Google+ Local listing – appear more professional to G+ users, requiring less information-searching on their part, allowing them to advance to a point of readiness to reach out to your store.
- Accuracy of information – you’ll control the phone numbers, address, contact information, etc. that users see, so they don’t wind up trying to call a number that may no longer be in service and start their buying process with a negative view of your business before you even get a chance to talk with them.
The first link you’ll want to take a look at is Schema.org’s list of Automotive Business data code and descriptions:
http://schema.org/AutomotiveBusiness
That’s for auto in general – repair, parts, and sales. If you’re a dealership with an automotive retail service (independent or franchise), you can take it one step further with their Auto Dealer code & descriptions:
In my previous post on Google+ for automotive, I wrote this paragraph:
Google’s search engine in general can help you out if you’re willing to optimize your website to make sure that the robots know what your business does, who’s associated with it, how relevant it is to search queries, and so on.
This holds true in all aspects of building and optimizing your website. Microdata markup is an advanced tool for letting Google know who you are, where you are, what you do, and why you’re relevant to certain applicable search queries.
If you or your web developer haven’t got time to create the code from scratch based on Schema.org’s tables, here’s a handy free-to-use microdata generator:
http://www.microdatagenerator.com/auto-dealer-schema/
Read more from this series:
- Why keyword research and content strategies are different
- Why link development is different
- Why website architecture and online user experience matter more
- Google+ for auto dealers, mechanics/body shops, and auto parts stores
Send to KindleGoogle+ For Auto Dealers, Mechanics, and Auto Parts Stores
Google+ is here to stay. It’s part of life now. It’ll be bigger and more important this year than ever. And anyone in the automotive industry with a physical store to sell things from needs to know how to use it, and use it well.
There are plenty of resources available – luckily, Google+ help is widely available, and I’ll also provide some generally helpful links at the bottom of this article. For automotive industry retailers, though, here’s a quick breeze-through of what you need to be up to speed on (and why).
Profile
This is your individual profile. It’s been said many times recently, but it bears repeating. It is your individual profile.
This profile, even if you’re using it for professional purposes and think of it as your “business” account, is for individuals and Google is very clever about how they’re determining profiles that don’t look like a single person’s. Make sure that you keep a separation between you, the individual, and your business, the corporation. Use a headshot of yourself, not your corporate logo, and certainly not an OEM’s logo.
Why do you need this? Because the way Google+ is set up, you’ll need other users – potential customers – to be able to conveniently distinguish between adding you, the individual, to their circles vs. following your business’ Google+ Page.
Pages
This is where your business, full of multiple people, goes. Keep a profile for yourself and create a page for the business. Put your corporate logo here.
Multiple individuals (with their own profiles) can manage a business page; it depends on how you set it up.
Car salespeople, parts sellers, and mechanics all know how fluid this industry is. People transition from store to store with regularity. People remain the same, though, no matter where they work, so the continuity provided by an individual profile matters more than the activities of the business page. Likewise, businesses also stay businesses, and typically they don’t switch up their business model with much regularity, despite which individuals comprise their workforce. So a Chevrolet dealer should have a clear business page to inform users of that particular location’s Chevrolet business, and an AutoZone on one street corner will tend to remain an AutoZone on that street corner.
For using Google+ for SEO purposes and the difference between rel=”author” and rel=”publisher” please see the links at the bottom of this article. The short version: if you publish content on your website (other than your inventory listings), rel=”author” refers to the individual who wrote it, which connects to a Google+ Profile, whereas rel=”publisher” refers to the entire site where the content is being published, and connects with the Google+ Page.
Photos
Google+ has a very visual user experience, so sharing photos here is always, always a good idea. You can never have too much visual branding. I recommend having more of a personality with your photo sets than simply having different pictures of the sign out front – that’s where you can get creative.
You can also use photos strategically with geographic data, though. The more frequent your geo identifiers are across your photos, the stronger your location will factor into SERPs and Google+ Local listings.
Communities
For auto retailers, parts stores, and body shops, I recommend avoiding creating a Google+ Community based on your business and trying to pull activity to it. Unless your business already has enough of an active fan base to warrant its own fan club, you’ll probably find that getting people to join your community and create interesting discussions will be like pulling teeth.
You’d be much better served, I feel, by joining some already-established communities based on things that are not necessarily limited to your brick-and-mortar store. For example, if you sell Audis, join some Audi enthusiast communities. If you sell and install mufflers, join some auto garage communities. If you produce after-market stereo systems, find some entertainment communities.
The point of joining other communities is mainly to get yourself engaged with Google+ and to stay active. You’ll become familiar with it over time, just as you may have done with Facebook or any other medium. And eventually, when you’re comfortable and confident with Google+, you can make some meaningful interactions that may eventually lead to sales. But don’t waste your time trying to build your local store a Google+ Community – that’s what your Google+ Page is for.
Hangouts
This is essentially a free videophone conference calling service. It may serve no use to your business, or it may be just the thing you’re looking for. It depends on how you use them.
Hangouts can be used by auto dealers for an online, real-time walk-around of a new or used car that a customer far away may be interested in; they can be used by mechanics to demonstrate installing a particular auto part to a small class; there’s a whole world of opportunities for those who are willing to get creative.
Local
Google+ Local is the new Google Places. It’s your listing, set among all the other local listings of the same type, depending on the searcher’s query. This listing should be thought of more as an effect than a cause, meaning its presence and placement cannot be directly optimized, but rather are influenced by your business website, your Google+ Page, Yelp reviews, and the details you enter into the management backend of it. (Note: adding details does help, but this can only take you so far.)
Google’s search engine in general can help you out if you’re willing to optimize your website to make sure that the robots know what your business does, who’s associated with it, how relevant it is to search queries, and so on. This is the core of SEO. Google+ is another dimension of opportunities for you to inform Google who you are, what you do, where you operate, and why users should see you over everyone else.
And the auto industry is actually NO different from any other industry in this sense: those who master Google+ earlier will benefit more than the competition they leave in the dust. For more general information on how to use Google Plus, see these links:
Beginner’s Guide To Google+:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/beginners-guide-to-google/57988/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SearchEngineJournal+%28Search+Engine+Journal%29
How to Set Up a Google+ Page for Your Business:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-set-up-a-google-page-for-your-business/
Google AuthorRank Update For Brands (Internet Marketing Ninjas, via Slideshare):
http://www.slideshare.net/seosmarty/google-authorrank-for-businesses-relpublisher-pubcon
And, as always: if you want some help, feel free to reach out to us at Intrapromote!
http://www.intrapromote.com
Read more from this series:
- Why keyword research and content strategies are different
- Why link development is different
- Why website architecture and online user experience matter more
- Rich snippets/Schema.org coding for automotive
Send to KindleAutomotive Website Architecture And User Experience: Why It Matters More
A really interesting blog post came out today from HubSpot, an inbound marketing software and analytics provider:
How Inbound Marketing Aligns With the New Purchase Loop
HubSpot’s Purchase Loop Model
The gist is that the sales funnel is an outdated model, and the purchase loop is better. Better for what? Marketing, of course. It takes into account the inherent chaos of our smart-phone-enabled, internet-savvy lives, and it plans for emotional decisions, which, to some degree, all purchases are. The loop model allows for the real-world phenomenon of jumping back and forth from level to level – our Capitalistic quantum leaps, if you will – that the linear funnel model does not.
The main point here: forget about awareness, interest, desire, action. Now it’s openness, realized want or need, learning & education, seeking ideas & inspiration, research and vetting, and post-purchase evaluation and expansion.
The entire article is worth a read for anyone in any business anywhere, but I want to make special mention for the automotive industry: this should be the model everyone uses moving forward. I’m no economist, but I have to say, this model makes much more sense to me. I believe allowing for emotional shifts will help marketers keep up with consumers.
And cars are emotion-producing products. Just look at them. Look at those wheels. Those headlights. Listen to those engines. If the cars themselves don’t inspire any feelings of excitement, fear, or general happiness, certainly their price tags raise an eyebrow. Cars are the second-most expensive thing most people will ever buy.
I have been trying all week to put into words why website architecture and online user experience matter more to automotive shoppers and enthusiasts than most internet consumers. This new model helps me out.
See, because of the ever-looping nature of a loop, a starting point is irrelevant. There’s still a linear aspect in play, but it’s not as rigid. And automotive websites – especially for dealerships and auto parts stores – need to a) be able to accomodate every level of interest and purchase intent that shows up, b) outcompete their online competition, and c) do all this without being pushy. If a consumer feels pressured online, what are the odds of them ever setting foot inside your store? Pretty low, I’d wager.
So – in a world where the tsunami of interactive online media almost completely displaces the effectiveness of TV and radio ads, consumers are accustomed to feeling in control. You may guide them, but never push them. They need to feel like they got to that gooey chocolate “purchase” center on their own.
Speed matters. Internal linking matters. If a potential car shopper finds that site through Google search results, or through an easy-to-click Facebook link, or through a manufacturer’s well-designed website, there is an expectation of speed, good looks and available information set before they get there. If it’s too slow, or if they can’t easily find what they’re looking for, or if it looks amateurish, there is a “Back” button on their browser and it’s mighty attractive. The “Back” button makes it a zillion times easier to leave you behind online than to get up and walk all the way out of a brick-and-mortar store. And more often than not, dealerships and auto part stores rely on websites to simply get people into the store, let alone in a position to make expensive purchases. So if your website doesn’t cover all the bases – openness, realized want or need, learning & education, seeking ideas & inspiration, research and vetting, and post-purchase evaluation and expansion – while at the same time stepping up to the quality of the sites that got them to your site, then potential customers are leaving you behind.
This means that your website architecture must be easy to navigate (for both the consumer and the Google bots, which will improve your SEO rankings and get you more visits to begin with), it must provide high-level service for as many customers in as many different emotional states, and it must guide customers toward purchase without pushing them there, all the while maintaining and even building upon the emotional thrill of the automotive industry.
It’s tough work. I hope by embracing this new sales model, dealers will sell more cars, parts stores will sell more parts, mechanics will get more repair and maintenance business, enthusiast sites will spur more conversation, and so on.
Read more from this series:
- Why keyword research and content strategies are different
- Why link development is different
- Google+ for auto dealers, mechanics/body shops, and auto parts stores
- Rich snippets/Schema.org coding for automotive
Send to KindleAutomotive Link Development: How It’s Different
Before we jump into the automotive portion of this topic, let’s nail down one important thing. Link development is changing. Google’s got some new buzz about buzz over optimization. Here’s a very good article on co-citations vs. anchor text from Search Engine Journal, and don’t forget to follow Intrapromote’s own Bobby Pham for solid link-building advice.
Now – for the automotive industry, there are a few particulars. Much like automotive keyword research, you’ll probably find that link development is no different in a technological sense – it’s the human elements that set it apart. The automotive audience is unique due to its overlap of people shopping for cars (or for advice on how to buy a car) and people who aren’t in the market but are interested in the product anyway. This makes planning out your link development both easier and more difficult.
The automotive audience carries less overlap than PageRank competition would suggest, which is why I believe that it’s important when planning an entire online strategy to think broadly at first and then narrow things down to your target audience. Link development is not unlike the traditional sales funnel.
Plan outward-in.
The reason I wrote first about keyword strategy in this little series is that keyword strategy affects – and is affected by – the overall marketing strategy. It might be the most important part in planning, and certainly link development should come afterwards. And in the vein of thinking broadly and narrowing down, link developmental research should include first what words and phrases (both short-tail and long-tail) are being searched by internet users, and then what content is being created, and then what websites are good matches for link-building relationships. In other words: find your high-priority keywords and phrases, and then search those terms yourself to see what’s being said. You can take your cues from the first page of a search engine’s search results, because the vast majority of users don’t even click over to page 2. If it’s on page one, it’s probably being read.
And, per the Search Engine Journal article I linked to above, co-citations are taking a greater piece of the relevancy pie. This means that the thinking should be changed from “what links will improve my PageRank?” to “what links will better define my own website?” It’s broader and vaguer, but it’s a better starting point. Narrow it down from there. What websites mirror your own? Whose audience would benefit from a link to your website? Whose audience do you want coming to your website?
Again, I recommend adopting a sales-funnel-style methodology to link building for automotive sites. There’s tons of content, tons of competition, and the audience of buyers vs. the audience of lookers is vast. The good news is that the audience does, in fact, read the content and they do, in fact, click on links. So plan outward-in.
Build links for the website, not the business.
Watch out, because there’s an easy trap to fall into. One very, very important thing to remember for link development is that the proverbial bottom of the sales funnel is the goal is where you begin to execute your plan. Knowing the general automotive audience is important, but not as important as knowing your exact target audience. Take a look back at the content already on your website. Objectively, what does it look like? Link development will succeed when you focus on relationships between other sites and what your website appears to be about – which may not necessarily be what your business appears to be about. Car dealers care about getting buyers into the store, but dealers’ blogs shouldn’t reflect that. Enthusiast sites want to sell ad space to make money, but their content is not about the ad space, it’s about cars. Small, independent blogs may not even be monetized – they just find value in site traffic and on-page discussion, and you won’t find them blogging too often about how to get more traffic. Any of these sites might be worth linking to if your audience will find value there, and vice-versa.
Think like humans.
The nice thing about link building these days (and, increasingly, SEO overall) is that Google is getting better at thinking like humans, so webmasters should feel free to focus more on thinking like humans, which ultimately results in a more human-friendly web. So – automotive webmasters, my advice is to think like humans.
Read more from this series:
- Why keyword research and content strategies are different
- Why website architecture and online user experience matter more
- Google+ for auto dealers, mechanics/body shops, and auto parts stores
- Rich snippets/Schema.org coding for automotive
Send to KindleMeet Us At SMX Advanced June 11-12
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