Automotive SEO

The Fall Conference season has come to a close and before you know it, February's NADA Convention will be starting.  Just before NADA this year, I will be conducting two days of Automotive Digital Marketing training in the Napa Valley.  This is a perfect time to hone your dealership's 2011 Digital Marketing Strategy and then attend NADA to see the latest from top vendors and educators in San Francisco.

You are invited to join with other Automotive professionals at the PCG Digital Marketing Workshop to be held February 2-3rd in the Napa Valley.  (Fly into San Francisco on Tuesday February 1st)

Attendees will fine tune their 2011 digital marketing strategies with the help of Brian Pasch and special guests who are industry leaders in their field.  The PCG team will also be in attendance sharing their knowledge and providing hands on training.

Members of the Automotive SEO Study will be in attendance. Study members will be sharing their personal success with my 16 week training program so this is a must for SEO advocates, dealer principals, and e-commerce directors. Attendees will learn exactly what their peers have done to succeed!

2011 Automotive Marketing Strategies

If your dealership wants to move the needle in 2011 with proven digital marketing strategies, this workshop is a must. Lock in your attendance today because seating is limited. 

In addition, the timing for the PCG Digital Marketing Workshop could not be better. On Friday, February 4th we'll leave the Napa Valley in the morning on a charter bus and head to the 2011 NADA Convention in San Francisco.

The workshop will be a great way to prepare your minds and marketing strategies before you head to NADA. Convention details and registration can be found at: 2011 NADA Convention

We highly recommend that you combine our SEO Workshop program with the opportunity to experience the numerous educational opportunities at the NADA Convention. I will be conducting three seminars at the NADA Convention. Join the brightest minds and educators in the automotive industry in San Francisco this year.

Registration Fees

The registration fee for the PCG two day workshop is: $850 which includes:

• Breakfast and Lunch on Wednesday February 2nd
• Breakfast and Lunch on Thursday February 3rd
• Access to all workshops on Wednesday and Thursday
• Thumb-drive with all workshop materials to use at your dealership
• Copy of Automotive SEO Study book
• Wine Tasting Tours and Transportation on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon.
• Transportation on Friday to the 2011 San Francisco NADA Convention
• Face to face time with Brian Pasch and PCG Digital Marketing experts.

Additional Considerations

1. Hotel Rooms - We have negotiated a discounted rate of $139 a night at the Napa Valley Marriot Hotel. Conference attendees must call to reserve your rooms at this discounted rate. We will provide you with a discount code once we receive your workshop payment. Attendees are free to stay at any hotel they wish, room rates are not included in your registration fee. We recommend that you fly in on Wednesday afternoon and check out on Friday morning, which will be two nights.
2. Evening Meals - We have arranged for two group meals on Wednesday and Thursday Night which will include bus transportation to and from the restaurants, wine, food, tax and tips. If attendees want cocktails, it would be billed directly on a separate check. Attendees can also opt to go out for dinner individually which is why the dinner package is optional. Dinner Package for Person is $120 for both nights.
3. Transportation to NADA - We will be arranging for bus transportation for the group on Friday, February 4th to depart at 9:00 am and head to San Francisco. The bus will make stops at the major conference hotels. If you would like to come with us on the bus, it will be included in the conference fee.
4. Rentals Cars - We don't think you will need a rental car since we'll have buses for meals at night and if you are going on your own, you can get a taxi. That being said, a rental car would be good if you plan to do your own scouting of Napa at night. Since guests will be coming in at different times, we will provide attendees with companies that can drive them from SFO airport on Tuesday out to the Marriot. Aside from that cost, the rest will be included in your fee.
5. Flight Recommendations - Please schedule your flights to arrive on Tuesday, February 1st. Workshop attendees can gather informally on Tuesday evening in the hotel. When booking your flight consider arriving in the morning or early afternoon on the 1st to allow for inclement weather that might delay a flight. February is an unforgiving month for weather and flight delays so early arrival is better.

Book Your Attendance Now

We encourage you to sign-up early because attendance will be limited to give all attendees personalized attention. To register, click here:  Napa Workshops

For the past two years, the fall Digital Dealer Conferences have been scheduled in Las Vegas (2010) and Nashville (2009).  The DD conference joins a very busy fall conference schedule.

In the fall you have the JD Powers Roundtable Conference, Blog World, and the DrivingSales Executive Summit.  On a side note, the 10th Digital Dealer Conference is scheduled for Orlando on April 19-21, 2010.

Attending all four fall events is considered by many as the automotive networking olympics; reserved for the very strongest in the industry. Strong in the sense that if you can attend all of these events, back to back, and still get to the airport on your own strength, you are an industry superstar.

With automotive advertising budgets under tremendous change, attending these events can really fine tune a dealer's advertising strategy. The October conference lineup is demanding and exhausting. Spending 10 days in Las Vegas is draining but the amount of information you can take back to your dealership is worth the trip.

I would expect the 11th Digital Dealer Conference to head back to Las Vegas or Nashville in 2011. As soon as the official dates are published, I will update this post with the exact dates. The Digital Dealer conferences have been growing in attendance each year which confirms that high quality educational seminars are needed in our industry.

Selecting Automotive Conferences

One of the challenges of scheduling four conferences in the fall is choosing which one to attend. It should not be a surprise that dealer employees have limited budgets to attend a Fall conference. They do not have the time or funds to attend multiple venues. When the automotive social communities started to discuss how to pick "one" event, if you could only afford to attend one, arrows started to fly.

Those discussions, both public and private, escalated rivalries amongst show promoters. Some claimed that these discussions were filled in inaccurate facts and were prejudiced. For some speakers that meant that they were forced to choose sides and not participate in other competing conferences. 2011 will certainly be an interesting year in the automotive events market. Less than 10% of the automotive dealerships in the United States attend the aforementioned Fall conferences each year.

There is tremendous room for growth in the years ahead if we can motivate the automotive community to create budgets for education and training. The industry desperately needs high quality, live education programs. With dealership participation so low, all trade show companies should try to work together by creating events that are scheduled evenly throughout the year.

Regional Automotive Training

Creating bi-monthly, regional educational events will also help to increase dealership participation. Having educational seminars and mini-conferences in different areas of the country, will also encourage more employees of car dealers to participate on their own dime. In 2011, I will continue to encourage, develop, and participate in regional automotive educational events in 2011 because it is what the industry needs to grow and remain competitive.

The reason we need regional events is simple; budgets for education are non existent or minimally funded. Regional events would make travel costs reasonable and may allow many attendees to drive to the event. The big annual conferences also play an important role. With 6-8 regional events a year and a few annual conferences, the participation in digital marketing education will increase.

That will be great for the industry and the vendors that create products to serve car dealers.

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Be careful what you wish for!  This is all that I can say to car dealers as the latest automotive website platforms will go on display at the 9th Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas. I will also be speaking at the conference on Wednesday October 13, 2010 at 3:30 pm.

PCG Digital Marketing has been blessed to see most of the latest technology from the automotive industry's top website development companies. PCG will be presenting the Automotive Website Awards (AWA) on October 12th, which recognize the top website platforms that serve car dealers. From our perspective, Content Management Services (CMS) will be the buzzword of the year for car dealers seeking a competitive edge.

Most major website platforms are introducing an open CMS architecture to allow dealers and consultants to add and edit content as needed.  The ability to add content will increase the opportunity for dealers to strengthen their search visibility but it will not be without its challenges.  The simple fact is that car dealers do not have the training and resources to create effective content.

Automotive Content Services On Demand

It's ironic that after years of frustration that automotive website vendors did not include enough rich content on car dealer websites, dealers now find themselves at a loss to utilize CMS platforms.  PCG Digital Marketing is at the front lines of automotive content development an dealer education on this important subject.  We foresaw the dealers would have a problem with creating strong content and we have developed a solution to offer progressive car dealers.

PCG Digital Marketing will be offering automotive website providers and car dealers Content on Demand services which will feed the hungry monster this industry has cultivated.  Car dealers who would like regular monthly content added to their CMS platforms can contract with PCG to ensure that the content is provided in a timely manner. The content would also be written to assist a car dealer with their search marketing goals.

Since PCG is a leader in Automotive SEO strategies, the content development will have many goals.  To engage the consumer and provide value and at the same time creating content that will be visible for popular Google searches.  Recently a PCG client demonstrated this technique for a search on "2011 Honda Accord Miami".  Brickell Honda was able to use content publishing strategeis to increase the likelihood of consumers finding their dealership in a crowded Miami Honda market.

For additional details on Automotive Content Services visit: http://www.automotivecontentservices.com

Automotive Content Publishing

In addition to Automotive Content on Demand services, PCG is also educating dealers how to leverage the power of the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) to publish content locally, regionally, and nationally.  Members of the AAN are allowed unlimited press release publishing on the network of websites that span all major cities in the United States.  In addition, content can be published on network sites to create value back-links to car dealer websites to increase their search authority and traffic.

In addition to content publishing, AAN members receive unlimited leads from the network as their car inventory is published in the network of websites that appear on Google Page One for popular search phrases.