“Auto Dealers Biz”

Posts Tagged ‘“Auto Dealers Biz”’

Quick Steps to Website Optimization

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

Many of you rely on your website provider to handle the search engine optimization of your dealership’s site(s).Others reach out to credible SEO professionals or consultants to achieve high organic rankings in search.There are a few of you, though, that are in charge of this step yourself.Whether it is something you’ve personally decided to take on or simply do not have the budget to pay someone for outside, it is the role that is carved out for you.

Here are just a few simple, quick steps to optimizing your website.I am not breaking ground here.I am not getting too specific.I also do not want to make this sound easier or less important than it is.It’s a science.However, here are just a few places to focus your SEO efforts.

1)Understand your target audience to determine what keywords you want to optimize with.In other words, “car dealer” alone will not get you thrown onto the first page of Google (or first 10 pages).Make sure to mention in your multiple keywords your location and your brand.Proper keyword targeting is imperative to achieving a decent page rank.

2)Content is king.Whatever the keywords are, your content throughout your site should correlate.The more valid, strong content on your website – that is supporting the keywords – the better.Make sure to have dense body content and a good practice is to make sure it is able to be viewed by all visitors, not just hidden as keywords for the search engine spiders.

3)Title Tags – This could be the most important SEO tags on your site.Google and Ask Jeeves for instance support 60 characters in the title.Only a couple support 120.Choose the most relevant, important keywords in the title and ensure that every page has its own, unique title.

4)META Description Tags – All search engines take into consideration what your description tags are and use this information to help determine your page rank.Write strong descriptions with no more than 200-250 characters. Descriptions tell them what your website (and individual pages) are all about.A strong pitch and summary, if you will.

5)Market Yourself.Make sure you have a few links outbound and some very strong links inbound.Beyond social networking sites, make sure you have your providers linking back to you in some way.This popularity will help drive your SEO page rank.The more popular you are with other sites and visits, the higher your rank goes.Start getting your name out in the multiple business listing sites and blog accounts available to you.

As I mentioned, most website providers will do this for you (except the final step – that is always up to you).If they are managing your SEO, call them immediately and ask if you can review all that is written about you (and chosen for you by them).Much of this can be found in the back-end, but some may be hidden from you.If you are unhappy with the amount of content or wording, ask them to change it.You understand the car business likely better than someone who hasn’t sold a car so you can give them insight.At the same time, always listen to a true SEO professional, but still look out for yourself first and foremost.When all else fails, find a consultant or SEO vendor that can assist you in this.

How to Choose the Best Vendor for You

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Here is my most recent Tip of the Week for AutoDealersBiz.com. These are some industry-best questions to ask when interviewing vendor candidates.

The “best vendor” phrase is completely subjective because every dealer has different needs. The best vendor, if there is such a thing, may not be the right vendor for your dealership.

However, interviewing and selecting the vendor that will help you achieve your goals is a science that dealers must master. At my former dealership, every single vendor with something to sell would have to go through me first. I know that once the vendors met me, they weren’t happy with that structure because I understood how to properly interrogate them. Here is a li

st of some of the most important questions a dealer can ask to ensure they are dealing with a reputable company willing to meet the dealership’s needs more than their own.• How many dealers do you have nationwide?
• What local dealers use your solution?
• Do you feel another local dealer using you would have an adverse affect on the success (or effectiveness) of your solution/leads?
• Do you sell leads to my competition? (lead provider only)
• Where do you receive your leads from? In-house or external? Sites? (lead provider only)
• What are your terms? (Never agree to an auto-renew)
• Will you accept a month-to-month with 30 day notice of cancellation windows
• Will you promise in writing a “Guaranteed low price for market”? If another dealer signs with them at a lower price, they must adjust your monthly cost to match.
• What is the pricing? Look at hard cost (monthly fee x length of service + set up fees + training and support = $XXX product)
• Will you show a screenshot of your product? (Do not accept a power point or walk-through).
• Can I go see it live at another dealer?
• What are the set-up fees and support hours?
• How easy is it to change in the back-end? (Imperative for websites and online inventory management tools).
• Can I see a copy of the contract ahead of time and review it with our legal team? (Even if you don’t have a legal team).
• What type of initial and on-going training do you offer to ensure the success of your solution in my store?

Joe’s Favorite questions and talking points
• Tell me three things you wish your solution (lead provider/CRM/website/tool) offered.
• Which of your competitors’ solutions would you most like to sell? Why? – This is always hard for them to answer.
• Who’s considered the best in the industry? 99 out of 100 times, they will tell you they are. Bite your lip when you can’t believe the gall of them because your next question is…
• Who’s second best? –(my favorite question) I found my CRM by asking 10 other CRM companies this question. Eight said the same name. That’s who I went with.
• Tell me three things you like about your main competitor.
• Other than dealers that go out of business, why are you most commonly dropped as a solution?

By asking the right questions, you are preparing yourself for a long relationship with this vendor. I have several more, but these are the basics. Start out on the right foot by understanding their operations and knowing their faults. You will have to work just as hard as they are to improve your performance, regardless of the solution. It takes two to tango. A little interrogation from the outset goes a long way to making the choice of “best vendor”.

This weeks Tip is from Joe Webb of DealerKnows