Automotive SEO

Once I showed the dealers how easy it was to fix their profiles and setup a process to get customers to post reviews, they were very thankful. They were not aware of the importance of Google Places but now they do so and they can inspect their listings.

Knowledge is power.

From this experience, I decided to remind all members of this community to run through this checklist and make sure that you are leveraging the full potential of Google Places. Let me know what you found when you looked at your Places page, and share with the community if this checklist helped you.

Automotive Advertising Resource For Dealers

Google Places is the best free automotive advertising resource for car dealers to increase online visibility, referral website traffic, and phone calls. Despite this opportunity, many dealers have not completed and optimized their Google Place data.

When you login into your Google Places Dashboard account it will tell you what percentage complete your data is currently. Make sure you edit your profile to achieve a 100% complete status.

Google Places Optimization (GPO) however goes further than having your profile data 100% complete.

You also want to optimize the consumer experience and enhance your brand message when consumers read your page. You also want to increase the opportunity to get MORE clicks to your Places Page than local competitors.

Google Places Optimization Checklist

Use this checklist to ensure that you have your Google Places listing optimized:

1. Enter your business name, address, and phone number so that it matches the primary information associated with the local phone company and your OEM website. Do not use a tracking number unless all OEM listings and all business directories are using this number.
2. Make sure that you enter your website address and test the link. You would be surprised to see how many listings still have http://maps.google.com or the OEM website.
3. Use all five “business category” tags, which include your OEM brand and the category “Used Car Dealer”. For example, if you are a Toyota dealer, make sure you pick "Toyota Dealer" as one of your 5 categories.
4. Complete the “Additional Information” section of the profile to include brands of goods that you sell and related services that include: tires, oil change, brakes, transmission service, and of course used cars.
5. Load 10 photos and stay away from photos of your building. Photos should show happy customers taking delivery of a car, your work in the community, OEM awards, or any brand enhancing images. Photos that will make people smile! Photos of your building will not help to engage your audience.
6. Load 5 videos and we recommend that three videos be actual customer testimonials. The remaining two videos can be a welcome to the dealership message and the final video to invite consumers to service their car at your dealership.
7. Set your “Service Area” beyond the default range of a 20-mile radius around your store location. For most dealers the range can be comfortably increased to 50 miles. Dealers near bodies of water can create a custom shape for their service area. If you need help, you can refer to this article I wrote on custom service areas.
8. Setup a process to get your customers to post reviews directly to Google Places. Your goal should be to get at least 30 reviews a month to be posted directly on Google Places. The Google Places App can help you easily achieve this goal. Between sales and service there are hundreds of customers that are completely satisfied with your dealership so ask them!
9. Invest $25 a month to enhance your Google Places listing with a Google Tag. This yellow highlighted graphic can advertise your monthly specials. Also, set a process to update your specials each month on Google Places because they will automatically expire in 30 days.
10. Once your have a strong number of positive reviews on Google Places, consider spending money to advertise your high marks from consumers using . Let your customers speak for you and drive more traffic to your website.

The good news is that once all of these tips are implemented, you can track the increase in impressions, clicks, and activity using Google Places activity reports. So login to your Google Places account and run through this checklist today.

Join Me at Boot Camp

I'll be sharing more ways for car dealers to leverage free online advertising tools and search optimization strategies at the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando, April 16-18th. I hope you can be part of that experience. http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

The 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp** is scheduled from April 16th - 18th in Orlando Florida. Last year the Orlando Automotive Marketing Boot Camp was a first class educational experience for car dealers. This year the Boot Camp promises even greater educational diversity.  The Boot Camp websites lists over 30 speakers and educational opportunities for the automotive community.

Click here to Download Brochure

Car dealers looking for the hands-on training, mentoring, coaching, and assistance with creating the structure, process, and innovative marketing plans should invest in sending key staff to the Boot Camp.

The Boot Camp Experience includes keynote speakers, round-table discussions, workshops, labs, and technology showcases. The programs will be lead by industry leaders, subject matter experts, and leading dealership employees.

Who should attend?  Anyone in a dealership that is making marketing decisions.  Anyone who is responsible for customer interaction and retention.  Executives and management professionals. The key point is that dealers should be sending both executives and front-line employees to learn together. 

The 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp has attracted industry leaders than will help dealers at all levels implement the next steps in their growth strategy. Boot Camp organizers have added workshops on important topics like Fixed Operations Digital Marketing, Social Media, Video Marketing, Location Based Marketing, Lead Management, CRM Processes, Phone Training Skills, and Reputation Management.

Changes In Automotive Advertising Strategies

The Boot Camp will have classes for dealers just embarking on their digital journey and enough meat for seasoned professional who want to increase their market share with new ideas. Best of all the program registration fee includes all classes, eight meals, and materials. The networking and relationships that are formed over these three days will last a lifetime. 

The real challenge for the automotive industry is this:  Will dealers invest in educating their employees?  PCG Digital Marketing surveyed hundreds of dealers to find that over 40% of respondents said that they did not have a line item for education in their budgets.  This is disheartening when you consider how much change the automotive industry has undergone in the last 10 years.

Boot Camp in Sunny Orlando

Dealers attending the Boot Camp would fly into Orlando on April 16th in the afternoon to participate in the evening kick-off reception on Saturday night. The Boot Camp will feature two full days of classes on Sunday and Monday to provide the strongest educational experience for all that attend. Dealers who invest in their employees and be rewarded 10X!

The 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp (#AMBC) will provide an early breakfast on Tuesday morning April 19th. After breakfast, attendees will be able to return home or participate in other automotive conferences scheduled in Orlando in April.

Boot Camp Hosted by Hilton Orlando

Attendees of the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will have discounted rates at the Hilton Orlando which is located on 6001 Destination Parkway, Orlando, FL 32819. PCG Digital Marketing has secured a block of 100 rooms for the Boot Camp at this discounted rate. Dealers are advised not to delay their registration so they can save money on these special room rates. The discount code is "PCG Digital Marketing" and the local phone number for the Hilton Orlando is: 407-313-4300.

** The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp is not associated in any way with the 10th Digital Dealer Conference or Horizon Communications.

Let me start by saying that successful automotive advertising platforms like Autotrader.com, Cars.com, and the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) provide marketing opportunities and branding solutions that should be considered in a comprehensive dealership marketing strategy.

In fact all three companies were awarded Dealer Satisfaction Awards this year by DrivingSales.com in the Used Car Advertising category.

Car dealers need to evaluate existing and new methodologies to connect consumers with the cars that they have for sale. The Internet has become more expensive to attract clicks than ever before as more dealers participate in Google Adwords and similar online marketing services.

When I look at local competition in the search engines for a car dealer, one consistent competitor appears. Dealers are under attack by their own OEM automotive advertising campaigns.

This can come from national advertising campaigns or Tier 2 regional advertising campaigns, and I have some examples to share below.

VDP Showing Manufacturer Ad Campaigns

Let me give you an example of what gets my blood boiling.

A dealer makes an investment to list their cars on automotive advertising websites for many reasons. One reason is that consumers, outside of their normal area of responsibility or PMA, may connect with a car that they have in stock. The key point here is that for out of area shoppers, their zip code would normally be a part of another dealer's PMA.

If you look at this example below, a Tier 2 Banner ad runs on the top and right side of this dealer's Vehicle Detail Page (VDP). The other areas are also advertising leaks, but not associated with a GM advertising campaign.

That's another topic called Dealer Centricity Scores that you should engage.

When you click on the top Silverado HD Banner or the right side Silverado banner, you are taken off-page to a Tier 2 Chevy website design for lead collection. If a consumer engages with this Tier 2 website, and completes a lead form, the lead most likely will not be sent to the dealer listed on this page, rather it will go to the dealer covering their zip code.

Does anyone have a problem with this model?

So the OEM endorsed advertising campaign or Tier 2 created advertising campaign, is working against this one dealer for any consumer outside of his market. It seems to me that this is just counter productive and is using the dealers inventory against him.

Should These OEM Ads Be On Your Page?

If a dealer is paying to list this car, on this site, why would he want an interactive Ajax banner ad running, that catches the consumer's attention, to drive them to another Chevy website?

Could you say that this dealer's advertising investment is funneling leads to his local competitors?

This is not limited to Cars.com as you can see from this Autotrader.com VDP. Once again, a national OEM sponsored banner campaign is taking prime real estate to drive consumers to the national Cadillac website.

Anytime a consumer gets to a national site, the dealer can not be assured that the lead will be routed to their CRM system. It's all based on zip code or consumer choice but the action was based on this dealer's advertising investment.

Inspect Automotive Advertising Investments

I'm not sure if any other dealers agree with me that this a topic that should be discussed at OEM Marketing meetings. A bigger issue to remind car dealers is to inspect their automotive advertising investments. When you take the time to inspect how your brand is being marketed online, many light bulbs start to go off.

Reminder to Save $100 by March 15th

Members if this community can save $100 off the registration investment for the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando, April 16-18th. To get this discount, you need to register on this special page setup for friends of Brian Pasch:

Discounted Boot Camp Registration

You will also be glad to know that the full color brochure for the event is now available for download. Read about the program, workshops, labs, and technology showcases that make up the Boot Camp experience. You'll also be glad to know that all 8 meals are included in your registration so you'll have ample time to network with your peers.

See you in Orlando!

Is it possible to increase online service appointments by 300%? I didn't think so but I found out that you can by making some simple changes to your existing website!

Can you increase total service appointments by 10-15% with an inexpensive change to your website? Yes you can.

What would your service business and profits look like if you achieved these improvements over the next 60 days?

Fixed Operations, one of the most significant profit centers for a dealership, is often left behind when digital marketing strategies are discussed.

When a dealer realizes this and takes action, the results can be stunning. Most of the online discussions regarding SEO, Video Marketing, and even Pay-Per-Click strategies deal with marketing new and used cars. It is time to wake up the sleeping giant and take our Fixed Operations marketing game to the streets.

Many dealers use direct mail and email to market to existing customers or purchase third party lists to attract new customers. However, the larger opportunity is the thousands of in market consumers that use the search engines to locate and shop for car service and repair facilities. Does social media play a role? Yes it does! The combination of traditional marketing and innovative digital marketing for Fixed Operations is a game changer.

Check Your Fixed Operations Visibility

Google rewards those who act first and publish optimized content on a particular keyword goal. Add to this fact that independent service organizations like Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Pep Boys, and Discount Tire have been left unchallenged by franchise dealers.

You can conduct a simple test in your own market by inspecting your own search visibility.

For example, if your dealership was in Boston, you would type in these searches to test your organic visibility:

• Boston Car Repairs
• Boston Tire Stores
• Boston Brakes
• Boston Oil Change

And type in these phrases to test your Pay-Per-Click (SEM) visibility:

• Tires Stores
• Discount Tires
• Oil Change Coupons
• Brake Stores
• Muffler Shop

Of course you can also add service searches that include your OEM brand. If you do a search for "Honda Brakes Queens", "Honda Radiator Queens", or "Honda Oil Change Queens" you can see that Paragon Honda is #1 in organic ranking for their service microsite. Fixed operations content publishing strategies can yield an annuity of leads with very low maintenance.

Google Instant will show you suggestions for what consumers are typing in your marketplace. How did your testing go?

• Is your dealership showing in the Paid Search area (SEM)?
• Is your dealership showing the the Google Places area?
• Is your dealership showing up for videos, press releases, blog posts, or microsites in the organic SEO area?

If Fixed Operations is a major profit center for dealers why is Google Adwords, Google Places, and Google Organics often a low priority in Fixed Operations budgets?

Thinking Out Of The Box

How many search optimized videos have you created to promote your service offerings?

Checkered Flag in Virginia Beach is a dealership that invests in video and their value messaging is strong. Check out their video enhanced landing page for their body shop:

Virginia Beach Body Shop.

When you start to publish videos on Fixed Operations, not only do you service landing pages come alive but your videos can also be found in organic Search. Here are two examples of videos that were created to increase search visibility for oil changes:

• Checkered Flag
• Rairdon Group

If you search "Virginia Beach Oil Change" Checkered Flag's video is on Google Page One. Search "Jeep Oil Change Seattle" and the same result occurs for Rairdon's video. These were the search phrases that these videos were optimized for.

For fun, search in Google: "Virginia Fiat 500" . You will find a video I recorded last week. Can you see how video marketing can increase the visibility for the cars you sell and the services you offer?

Any single video may be only viewed a few hundred times a year, but what happens when you publish a dozen videos, two dozen videos, each optimized for a particular keyword? The combination of videos, blogs, microsites and content optimization together can yield an annuity of leads and business for your Fixed Operations profit center.

Fixed Ops Marketing Workshop

At the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp I will be leading an extended session on Fixed Operations Digital Marketing. I will be sharing my proven marketing strategies specifically designed for Fixed Operations for the first time!

Attendees are advised to bring their laptop computers and a login to their website and/or microsite because changes that will be implemented right in class will start to improve dealership search visibility. As part of the workshop I will be demonstrating the tool, techniques, and strategies that can be implemented to:

• increase service appointments
• increase overall service revenue
• engage the independent service centers in your market
• Increase the paths to your dealership website for service inquiries

Fixed Operations Directors and Marketing Directors should be attending the Boot Camp and this is just one of the reasons why you should register. Your investment to attend the Boot Camp will be well rewarded in the next 60 days as dealers implement winning marketing strategies for SEO, SEM, Video, and online service appointments. Are you ready to make super-charge your fixed operations business model?

As an added opportunity for Boot Camp attendees, Rob Fontano from John Marazzi Motors in Florida, will be demonstrating his video marketing techniques in a separate presentation during the CAR-MERCIAL Technology Showcase. Learn from the best and find out why John Marazzi's video publishing strategy is a winning marketing investment. Video search marketing is affordable and scalable once you understand the strategy.

Boot Camp - April 16-18th in Orlando

Make the decision to invest in Fixed Operations Marketing and register for the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp today. April 16-18th in Orlando. http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com