Auto Dealer Vision

GM Finally Trying to Go Green

JD Rucker — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 08:41:12 +0000

When even Ford is making the transition to helping the environment, it’s great to hear that General Motors is finally making the plunge. The market is ripe for green companies, not just from a consumer perspective, but also from a government perspective. Countries are starting to offer incentives for companies that are taking the initiative and trying to help the world’s environment. Better late than never, GM.

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Car Dealers and Search Engine Optimization

JD Rucker — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:05:08 +0000

Here are 4 tips for dealers trying to optimize their websites (or paying someone to do it) but the comments and debate that follows is even more interesting. The industry is finally starting to see the importance of search engine optimization, so it makes sense to offer automotive industry advice on the topic. For car dealers, the market is challenging, the competition is stout, and the knowledge level is moderate at best. Good auto dealers will read, listen, and perhaps even add to this wonderful discussion.

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Starting price of 2008 Toyota Camry is $23,600 in China

JD Rucker — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:02:05 +0000

Toyota announced in Beijing the price of their newest Camry. This may not seem like important news for this blog, but considering that the Camry is priced so differently in the United States, it makes you wonder if the eastern version is somehow higher quality. It doesn’t fit with economics, and it definitely doesn’t fit with the market. China is on pace to be the number 1 market in the world for automobiles, so why would Toyota start so high when logic would beg for a lower price rather than higher. Then again, I write a blog, Toyota sells millions of cars. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.

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Interesting Story about Dealing with Dealer Scams

JD Rucker — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 04:56:50 +0000

Found this. I’m not sure if it is completely accurate. Of all the dealers that I have known, I’ve never heard of one that would cave in the way that it was described. Most have very strong egos, especially those who are willing to sell cars the way that the story tells. It may be true, it may be exaggerated. Either way, it’s a very interesting story and one that can be a lesson for car dealers and car buyers alike.

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“Newest” Technologies for Car Dealers – YouTube and Blogs

JD Rucker — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:18:15 +0000

I was recently told by a source at a marketing firm specializing in automotive internet marketing that car dealers are normally 2-3 years behind the internet trends. I didn’t believe her, but here is a breakdown of her points:

1) When other industries were getting into eCommerce, dealers were still putting up single page advertisements as their websites with no inventory, just an address, a phone number, and a bunch of promises.

2) When most companies were switching from direct sales to internet sales, car dealers were starting to get leads. Until a couple of years ago, these leads were normally handed to a salesperson on the floor who was supposed to call, give as little information as possible, and get them to the dealership.

3) Now, as the blog-for-marketing trend is leveling out at its peak after 4 years of growth, car dealers are starting to ask, “What are blogs and how can I sell more cars with them?”

4) Again, now as YouTube and other video sites are so slammed with traffic and have been used for marketing for 2 years, dealers are starting to ask, “What is YouTube and can I sell more cars with it?”

I still didn’t believe her. She took me to a couple of well respected articles from the last couple of weeks, How to Sell Cars to the YouTube Generation, Automotive Blog Marketing, and Do Videos Really Help Sell More Cars. Then, she asked me how many dealer blogs I had seen that were made by the dealership.

After much thought, I could think of two. Considering blogging and car dealers are two of my bread and butter money-sources, it should been much higher.

What is it about the car business? I thought about it for a while and came up with two possibilities:

1) Dealers are trying as hard as they can to cling on the remnants of the “automotive glory quarter century” of 1970-1995, the days that they could easily make $3000-$5000 on the front end of a car deal.

2) The Internet scares them. With so much information and car buying tips out on the internet, they want to keep as much of a distance from it as possible.

3) Dealership decision makers are often too busy with today to mess with tomorrow. Since blogs and videos have a long-term effect that doesn’t usually yield immediate results, mixed with the pressures in a fickle industry that does not remember how good you were last month, you can see why they are reluctant.

Car dealers, please take these words to heart — the Internet is here. Either become knowledgeable about it and let it help your business or hire someone who already knows.

Auto Dealers Internet Marketing

Companies Using Certification to Mislead Potential Automotive Clients

JD Rucker — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 01:02:42 +0000

If you pay $50 to Yahoo and nothing to Google, get a small online manual, and take a test immediately for Yahoo and after 90 days for Google, you can become a “Google Certified Reseller” and a “Yahoo! Ambassador.” These terms refer to a person or companies status as having completed these “courses” and as being now prepared to help other people with their pay per click campaign. A handful of companies, especially certain automotive website design firms, are using these certifications to make claims to potential clients that they have an inside track to getting their websites ranked higher in the organic search listings. This is absolutely false.

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Dealers in the Midwest are Hard to Sell

JD Rucker — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 22:04:20 +0000

Here is an article about car dealer websites in the Midwest United States. They are often the hardest to work with from a web provider perspective because of lower percentage budgets allocated for the Internet. This article tells why.

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TK Carsites – 2007 Dealers’ Choice Award Winners

JD Rucker — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 06:27:44 +0000

It’s one of the most sought after awards in automotive website design. Why? Because it’s voted on by the dealers themselves. TK Carsites has won it 3 years in a row — the Best Website Design company in the United States.

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What Car Dealers Know about Content and SEO

JD Rucker — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 05:59:39 +0000

In an internet world where the competition is tight, the ultra-competitive automotive arena is not the environment where a dealer can expect to be completely ignorant about the internet and not be effected. I know it sounds like gibberish, but reread it and you’ll see. That is the thinking and the mentality behind many auto dealers’ perceptions of content for their website and search engine optimization of the same. It begs for more.

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Kelley Blue Book vs Black Book Online

JD Rucker — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:53:52 +0000

Car dealers are often faced with the dilemma of putting a trade evaluation tool on their website. It is best and less complicated to do appraisals in person, but if you do not offer one on your website, the consumer will just go somewhere else.

Kelley Blue Book and Black Book Online are the two top choices that car dealers use. They have advantages and disadvantages to consider — there is no clear cut winner. Check out this article that uses insight from someone who has tried both.

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