Automotive Internet Marketing
Search Engine Optimization
Brian Pasch, CEO
Pasch Consulting Group
Sponsored by
www.dealersedge.com
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Terms of Use
The contents of the document are not to be copied, mailed, transmitted via email or altered
digitally for any purpose other than to facilitate this webinar. All webinar attendees have permission
to print or keep an electronic copy of this presentation in downloadable PDF format for their
personal use and reference.
Anyone or company interested in reproducing any part of these materials must first contact the
author for permission. The logos, screen shots and graphics used in this presentation are the
property of the registered companies and permission to use those items must be obtained directly
by the rights holder.
Date of original publication: 3/10/2009. The screen shots presented in this webinar were taken
before March 10, 2009. Changes made to individual websites after 3/10/2009 will not be reflected
in this presentation.
© Copyright 2009 – Pasch Consulting Group
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Webinar Overview
Internet Marketing Opportunities
Testing and Measurement
Fundamentals: SEO vs. SEM
SEO Diagnostics on Your Website
Free Internet Marketing Strategies
Examining Your Competition
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Sneak Peak
Internet Marketing Topics
Powerful
Optimizing Leveraging Web Press Release
Blogging
Google Maps Directories Marketing
Platforms
Creating A Social Maximizing
Networking Satisfied Using Facebook Using Craigslist
Platform Customers
Marketing
Marketing
Outside Your
Using Video Bonus Tips
Nationally
PMA
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For everyone who sent in their websites to be used for
•
demonstration purposes during the webinar.
To Jim Muntz and Mike Bowers from DealersEdge.com for the
•
invitation to host this webinar.
At the end of the webinar….you will be rewarded.
•
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Webinar Guidelines
1. The strategies discussed in this webinar can be applied to any dealership and any dealer web
platform. In fact it can be applied to any web business.
2. There are no proprietary marketing recommendations in this webinar.
3. The websites that we look at together are chosen at random, or from those submitted and
companies that I am working in a consulting relationship.
4. When I review the existing conditions of any website, the purpose is to educate the webinar
attendees and offer helpful suggestions.
5. The guidance in this webinar is intended for people who want to be competitive on the Internet in
an ethical manner.
6. Since the topics that will be addressed have many layers and variants, this webinar is designed to be
a primer for future top specific webinars.
7. There are no secrets. Any good SEO consultant can reverse engineer another dealer’s online
marketing strategy .
8. Internet marketing strategies and opportunities are changing rapidly. In the coming months new
techniques may emerge which can shift the recommendations made in this presentation.
9. All things change. Remain vigilant with your Internet marketing goals.
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Leap Frog
“I will actually have all my ISM’s in my office for your webinar. (web provider) just gave me control
over my meta tags and I was curious what changes I should make to them (or if it even matters) so I
can leap frog my competition “. 3/10/2009
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Internet Marketing Opportunities
Traditional thinking Supplemental Thinking
Own one web property. Own multiple web properties.
Drive consumers to website via Drive consumers to their websites
newspaper, email, TV and radio. based on content they control.
Purchase web leads based on Design lead capture strategies that
performance. (Rely on 3rd party web they own and/or control.
content & marketing)
Distribute inventory to fee based 3rd Test new inventory distribution
party websites to generate opportunities.
additional leads.
SEO Doesn’t Sell Cars Establishes Internet marketing
budget and monitors visibility for
key search phrases.
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Testing & Measurement
Unique Phone#
Unique Web Phone Numbers
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– Who’s Calling
Unique Lead Form Subject Tags
•
Unique Email Addresses
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– PR
– Blog Posts
– Content Writing
Model Specific Landing Pages
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– SEM
– SEO
Google Analytics
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Proprietary Tracking
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– Example: BudURL
Unique Lead Tag
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Warning: “Semi” Techno Speak Ahead
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budurl allows you to track how many people visit your web pages.
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Instead of recommending your normal web page (url) in a web post,
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you will recommend a budurl.
You can measure which “posts” have the best net traffic patterns to
•
your web pages.
The advantage over Google Analytics is that you can tag each budurl
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with a comment to describe the post so its easy to see what is working.
Analogy: Color coded tickets to an event can show who sold them.
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BudUrl Example
Ford Dealer Example
For example, if you write a press release announcing your car service specials, the
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page link you would normally post would be something like this:
http://www.prestonford.com/coupons.asp?keywords=specials
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If you wanted to track visitors, you would replace this URL with a budurl that would
•
look like this:
http://budurl.com/forddealercoupons
If you click on both URL’s you will see that they take you to the same webpage.
•
The trick is that you can now log into your budurl account and see how many people
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clicked on your link. Each budurl can have a description – CRS help.
Application #1: This is also a great way to test interest in cars on Craigslist
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Application #2: Test Outlook Email campaigns that are small and outside of your
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normal CRM based email blasts.
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Fundamentals: SEO vs. SEM
The debate on the effectiveness of SEO vs. SEM can be better discussed by setting
up clear ways to measure the ROI of each channel. However, the perfect
measurement matrix really doesn’t exist. (Topic For Future Webinar)
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SEM Management Models
• Do it yourself
• Buy a bundled service
• Pay by the hour
• Paid Internet advertising has ability to burn through
cash if it is not setup properly.
• SEM requires disciplined testing to find the correct
ROI.
• Landing page design is an art form and has an effect
on quality score.
• Make sure you understand what is being done with
your campaign.
• Check your ads using this tool and not your browser.
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Warning: Real Techno Speak Ahead
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SEO Checklist – Just an Overview
Don’t Get Overwhelmed – This may not be a task for you.
Let me show you that it is not brain surgery to fix basic things.
• Are your website pages Google SEO compliant?
• Is your website properly registered on the best web directory
sites?
• Do you have balanced reviews on consumer websites?
• Is your sitemap registered with Google, Yahoo and MSN?
• Have you checked to see how many links you have pointing to
your website?
• Have you checked the links that point to your competitor’s
website?
Hands On Automotive SEO – This will be a beak-out webinar in the future
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SEO Diagnostic– Page Titles
Google Site Command
Format: site:www.website.com
Example: site:www.wow-toyota.com
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Google Search For:
site:www.wow-toyota.com
3/8/2009
Quick Diagnostic:
Duplicate Page Titles
Duplicate META descriptions
META descriptions could be stronger
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Checking Other Volunteers Page Titles
• Stevenson Chevrolet
• Stevinson Lexus
• Alpine BPG
Page Titles and META Descriptions are one of the easiest things
you can do to increase the organic visibility of your websites.
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SEO Diagnostic– Google Maps
Have you checked your Google Maps listing recently?
See
Review
Links
Notice How Consumer Reviews Are Now Integrated Into Google Maps
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Many Florida
dealers are
asleep
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What Do Your Reviews Communicate to Shoppers?
Popular Review Websites
• http://www.dealerrater.com
• http://www.insiderpages.com
• http://www.judysbook.com
• http://www.yelp.com
•http://www.merchantcircle.com
• http://local.yahoo.com
• http://www.citysearch.com
• http://www.superpages.com
• http://www.local.com
P.S. I don’t have any clients in Texas 22

Techno Speak Over
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Free Internet Marketing Strategies
Except for your Time…
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Free Internet Marketing Strategy #1
Google Maps
Google Maps represent a
•
free, highly visible Internet
listing.
Think of it as the Internet
•
Yellow Pages
Most often shows when
•
searches include city or state
names.
Takes minutes to update and
•
its free.
You can also work some
•
magic to get your map to
show-up for a broader list of
keywords
Numbers shown are for the past 30 days
Examples: St George Nissan
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Free Internet Marketing Strategy #2
Leveraging Web Directories
The goal of using these free directories is to:
Merchant Circle
Build quality inbound links
• Insider Pages
Create visibility for top search phrases
• Yelp
Leverage their content tools
•
Judy’s Book
Leverage their review tools
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DMOZ
Push competitors off SERP’s
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Yahoo Local
Always signup for the free basic listings. I don’t Spoke
recommend paid listings on the “yellow” websites for
YellowPages
car dealers; it may work some other businesses.
Yellowbook
Make sure all of these websites have correct
Yellowbot
information and live web links.
SuperPages
Why These? Volkswagen of Orland Park
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Free Internet Marketing Strategy #3
Powerful Blogging Platforms
Merchant
Circle
Fast
Wordpress
Company
Content
Delivery
Platforms
Vox Blogger
Merchant Circle Example Fast Company Example Wordpress Example 27

Free Internet Marketing Strategy #3
Wordpress Blogs / Microsites *
Wordpress software is free.
•
It allows anyone to create
•
content for the web with
tools as easy as Microsoft
Word.
The costs can vary but you
•
want to place the site on a
good URL, which you may
already own.
Hosting will run about $100 a
•
year.
When setup properly, Google
•
loves to index Wordpress
blog pages. http://www.infinitig37nj.com
Visibility for G37 cars
*Slightly off topic – not completely free since you need a domain and hosting, but close enough!
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Free Internet Marketing Strategy #4
Press Release Marketing*
www.prlog.org
www.1888pressrelease.com
www.free-press-release.com
www.prurgent.com
www.i-newswire.com
www.webwire.com
* Some of these services are free and some have small fees associated with
publishing a press release that can range from $1.00 - $25.00 29

Free Internet Marketing Strategy #4
Press Release Topics
• Internet Press Releases are different than traditional press releases.
• A special focus needs to be on Press Release Titles and Teasers.
• Don’t overstress on creating content, you can often repurpose
information sent to you by the manufacturers.
• Ideal candidates for press releases include:
• New model arrivals
• Special car incentives
• Community involvement
• Sale awards, Customer Service Recognition
• Customer Testimonials
• 300-500 words is an ideal target for press releases and always
include links back to your website, and not just the home page!
Good Press Releases = Traffic and Links
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Free Internet Marketing Strategy #4
Press Release Examples – Montclair Volvo Closes
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Google Search For:
Montclair Volvo
3/8/2009
PCG Blog
2 Press Releases
Dealer Website
MerchantCircle
Yellowbot
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Free Internet Marketing Strategy #5
Social Networking Platforms
If you wanted to create an online
community for your local brand and
dealership and felt that you had the
resources and energy to pull it off,
you can use a free platform called
NING.
This is an example of a NING
platform created by Ralph Paglia
founder of ADM.
You would use this platform to post
http://www.san-tan-ford.com
videos, articles, spec sheets, etc. that
your customers or brand owners
could utilize to build brand
awareness in your PMA.
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Combined Effect of Content Strategies
Can create
The combination of: additional listings in
• Web Directories Google Search and
• Blogging Platforms prevent competitors
• Press Releases from pulling
• Social Networks
customers away
from your website.
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Google Search For:
BMW Peabody
Map with
3/8/2009
Web Link
Company Website
Spoke Directory
PCG Blog Post
Yelp Directory
Used Car Microsite
Press Release
Merchant Circle
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Company Website
& Ebay Site
Google Search For:
Greg Bell Chevrolet
YouTube Video
3/9/2009
YellowBook
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Compare Visibility from Volunteers
Heyward Allen Toyota
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Greg Bell Chevrolet
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Don Joseph Toyota
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McFarland Ford
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Hampton Hyundai
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Swope Toyota (more)
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Outstanding Name Positioning
• John Marazzi Nissan (still room to improve)
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Google Search For:
Phoenix Honda Sale
3/8/2009
Fast Company Blog Post
PRLOG Press Release
MerchantCircle Blog
PCG Blog Post
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Google Search For:
St George Honda Sale
3/9/2009
Company Website
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Google Search For:
Infiniti G37 Arizona
Press
Release
3/8/2009
Vox Blog
Dealer Websites
Press Release
PCG Blog 40

Free Internet Marketing Strategy #6
Maximizing Your Satisfied Customers
• Car dealers have to deal with
negative reviews.
DealerRater
• They key is to balance those
with positive reviews. Insider Pages
• A concerted efforts to CitySearch
coordinate positive reviews will
have a great payoff. Yelp
• Do not positive reviews from Edmunds
your dealership and do not post
false reviews. JudysBook
• Companies like Dealerrater use YellowPages
IP tracking to combat fraud.
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Judy’s Book – New Player on the Block
• Every consumer can become a
contributor on Judy’s Book
• They can opt to setup their
own account and create their
own “book of reviews”.
• Many car dealers have not YET
been reviewed and the early bird
may be able to get positive
reviews prominently displayed.
• The format of the site is very
appealing. I have started to see
Judy’s book reviews on Google
Example: Circle BMW
Maps.
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Creating A Review Solicitation Email
Dear (customer first name)
I am very happy to hear that you are enjoying your car and that you had a
great experience at Bell Honda. If you would take a moment to share your
positive experience at Bell Honda with other consumers, it would be greatly
appreciated. We have listed a few websites that allow customer reviews to be
posted. We hope that your experience at Bell Honda will warranty a five star
review.
1. Dealer Rater
Site URL: http://www.dealerrater.com/dealer/Bell-Honda-review-1549/
Q&E: Click on “Rate This Dealer” in the center of the page. Fill out the “dealer
review form”. Be sure to complete the “Registration” form after the review form
in order to validate your post (read directions for activation). Registration is
completely free. Check the two boxes and “Submit Review”.
2. Yelp
Site URL: http://www.yelp.com/biz/bell-honda-phoenix
Q&E: Click on “Write a Review” towards the top, center of the page. “Sign up”
for an account; check your email to activate your account, return to the Bell
Honda page. Roll over the stars to 5th star and click to keep rating. Write your
review and click “Post”.
3. Merchant Circle:
Site URL: http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Bell.Honda.866-468-4068
Q&E: Click on “Write a Review” next to the yellow star icon at the top center of
the page. Fill in the form and click “Submit Review”.
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What About Facebook?
Facebook is an investment
•
in web communication.
This is the fundamental
•
challenge for car dealers.
Who is going to be the voice
•
of the dealership?
Who is going to monitor the
•
commentary?
How much time will you
•
invest each day?
What information should we
•
be posting and how often?
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New Social Networking Puzzles
Facebook Connect applications are now
•
allowing car inventory to be posted on
Facebook profiles.
Free Oodle listings are soon to be
•
appearing on Facebook.
Is Facebook a place to post cars?
•
What should a dealer Facebook page
•
contain? (hint: start simple)
Can Twitter or Oodle be used to
•
promote car sales?
There are many questions to be answered in the coming months once
we can collect more data. Stay tuned.
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Facebook Tagging & Ads
Paid Ads
here
Free Posts
and Links
Post from
car dealer
bookmark
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Adding Facebook Tags to Your Website
(This is a no-brainer – get on it!)
• Dealers can add a simple line of code to
any dealer webpage to enable a Facebook
tag.
• Images and text are automatically added
to a Facebook profile
• This kicks off a free viral marketing chain
of events.
Tagging Code
http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2F +
(website URL) + &t= + (Subject Title with the words
separated with a “+” sign.)
Example of live code:
http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.in
finitig37convertible.com&t=Infiniti+G37+Convertible+
Examples: G37 Convertible Chevy Corvette
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Off Topic - Teaser
• Can you use Facebook to be a branding engine for your dealership?
• Is Facebook advertising like having an Internet Billboard in your PMA?
• Does Facebook demographics allow car dealers to test marketing ideas?
This client’s brand logo and message was displayed on Facebook Pages 15
million times for a cost of $3,417.61. How could you leverage that visibility?
Would Age, Gender or Interests targeting help in additional to geo-location?
48

What About Craigslist?
There is no doubt that Craigslist needs
•
to be evaluated by your dealership.
There is some debate on how price and
•
model selection comes into play.
Referrer traffic places Craigslist often
•
near to the top by volume.
Bounce rates are high even when taken
•
directly to the car detail page.
Posting methods still have some bugs.
•
Page formatting still makes it a
•
cumbersome platform.
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Inventory Marketing Services
There are a number of services that can push your inventory to 3rd party
•
paid websites, Craigslist and other free classifieds websites like:
– www.vast.com
• http://autos.aol.com
• http://myride.com
– Google Base
– www.backpage.com
– www.Oodle.com
Check with your website provider because you may be able to feed these
•
free inventory distribution websites as part of your monthly fee.
When taking photos of your cars, consider adding a phone number, if
•
feasible. It can be very important. Example1 Example #2
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Using Video
Adding video to your website pages can increase visitor time statistics and it
•
has the potential to communicate your value proposition better than text or
photos.
This is slightly off topic because good video has more costs associated with it.
•
YouTube video and Podcast success stories for car dealers may be overblown –
•
everyone can’t have a beaver video TV series.
If you have the production capabilities to create customized videos, then you
•
should test creating videos titled to capture local search. Example for a Honda
dealer in Phoenix could be:
– Honda Civic Phoenix
– Honda Accord Phoenix
– Honda Hybrid Phoenix
Simulated video “walk around” using photos and “text to speech” conversion
•
are being tested in local markets with some early success.
This would be a great break-out webinar just dealing with data from Internet
•
car videos and how to leverage video assets.
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Free Video Distribution Websites
www.metacafe.com
•
www.youtube.com
•
http://video.google.com
•
http://video.yahoo.com
•
www.veoh.com
•
www.merchantcircle.com
•
52

Marketing Outside Your PMA
• Create a list of the towns and
counties that you want to
target .
• Discuss with your web host
how to added highly optimized
web pages. Pages should have
your town names in the:
– Page title
– META Description
– URL Name
• Pages should be rich in content
with those town names
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Targeting Beverly Hills
Notice
optimized page
URL, Title and
META
description
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Marketing Nationally
• Dealers can take advantage National Search Visibility
of national marketing
• Infiniti Extended Warranty
opportunities:
• Infiniti Warranty
– Extended Warranties
• Infiniti Parts
– Car Parts
– Used Cars • Toyota Extended Warranty Plans
• The Internet is still very • BMW Used Cars
entrepreneurial; the small
• Used Nissan Cars
guy can outsmart the big
guys. • Infiniti Used Cars
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Examining on Your Competition
Bonus Discussion
• Few marketing tactics on the Internet can be hidden.
• Website page coding and links are mostly visible.
• Use the “link:” command in Yahoo to see if your competitors
have found quality linking opportunities that you have missed.
• Use the “site:” command in Google to see if a competitors Page
Titles and META tags are better formatted than yours.
• Use tools like www.spyfu.com to see what keywords they are
buying in Google Adwords.
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Free Marketing Tools
Bonus Discussion
Create Sitemaps and RSS Feeds
•
– http://www.sitemapdoc.com
Check for Broken Links
•
– http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html
Automated Pings
•
– http://www.pingler.com
Google SEO Starter Guide
•
– Download PDF Booklet
Google Adwords Position Checker
•
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Recommend Industry Blogs
Internet Sales Professionals Share Ideas
• www.dealerrefresh.com
• www.drivingsales.com
• www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com
• www.ismintraining.com
• www.wardsauto.com
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Post Webinar Questions
Brian Pasch, CEO
Pasch Consulting Group
PO Box 159
Rumson, NJ 07760
brian@paschconsulting.com
732-842-4720
www.dealer-seo.com
www.paschconsulting.com
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