Websites, SEO, SEM, Display, Social, Marketing

• Poll

Dealers are increasingly facing OEM compliance crackdowns that restrict their paid search and SEO campaigns to their assigned Area of Interest (AOI), preventing them from targeting or mentioning locations outside their territory—a rule that doesn't apply to traditional media like TV and radio. The core debate centers on whether these restrictions are justified, with participants concluding that the crackdowns are primarily driven by complaints from underperforming dealers who seek regulatory protection rather than improving their own marketing competitiveness. Key insight: OEM AOI enforcement is fundamentally a political decision made by dealer groups voting for these restrictions, not a consumer-benefiting regulation, and it creates an inequitable system where dealers can't pursue legitimate customers outside their territory based on specific inventory needs.

Ryan Thompson shares how Yelp's customer reviews, coupons, and service specials influenced his decision to choose a repair shop for a muffler replacement, highlighting a gap he noticed where many franchise dealership websites lack these engagement features. Jeff Kershner agrees that Yelp is gaining traction and warrants dealer attention, particularly due to its integration with Google Places, supporting Ryan's observation with traffic data. The key insight is that dealers should prioritize building a presence on review platforms like Yelp, as consumers actively use them in their purchase decisions.

Jesse expresses concern about his Ford dealership's website performance after comparing analytics from WebsiteGrader and Compete.com to a competing Audi dealer, wondering if switching to ClickMotive's platform would help. Respondents caution against over-relying on these comparison tools for local dealership markets and redirect the discussion toward conversion optimization—specifically improving Vehicle Detail Pages (VDPs) and content quality rather than chasing traffic metrics. The consensus is that converting existing visitors into sales through better product storytelling matters far more than incremental traffic increases from a new platform.

A dealership owner asks for blogging advice, and experienced professionals recommend using WordPress as a platform and posting consistently (2-3 times weekly). Key debate emerges around content strategy: while some suggest focusing on inventory, promotions, and OEM information for SEO benefits, others argue that personal stories, employee profiles, customer testimonials, and behind-the-scenes content actually drive reader engagement—emphasizing that dealership blogs succeed by being interesting and relatable rather than purely promotional.

Dealership marketers discuss best practices for launching monthly newsletters, with suggestions ranging from vehicle features and service articles to customer spotlights and charitable activities. The thread reveals a key tension: while newsletter tactics are easy to find, success requires time to develop an authentic dealership "voice" and should align with broader marketing strategy rather than defaulting to generic sales promotions. Several participants recommend email service providers like IMN to track engagement metrics and professionalize distribution, though cost and resource commitment are significant considerations.

Alex Snyder opens a discussion on how Google's evolving algorithms are increasingly incorporating social signals — reviews, likes, and personal recommendations — into organic search rankings, blurring the line between traditional SEO and real-world reputation. Replies from industry professionals and vendors explore the challenges of gaming social signals versus link farms, the rise of author influence rankings, and the uneven impact of social-driven SEO across different market sizes and industries. The key emerging insight is that authentic social engagement and quality content will matter more as Google integrates personal recommendation data to reduce manipulation and improve relevance.

A dealer seeking to launch an e-commerce parts and accessories business receives a vendor recommendation for New Perspective Web Solutions (NPWS), a company that provides turnkey solutions including shopping carts, payment processing, and catalog management, with proven success across multiple dealer brands since 2007-2008. The thread includes examples of dealer sites built by NPWS and anecdotal evidence of sustained business viability, though specific revenue figures and detailed cost information are not disclosed. The key takeaway is that established vendors exist to handle the technical complexity of launching parts e-commerce, reducing the barrier to entry for dealers considering this business expansion.

A Toyota dealer responds to manufacturer incentive cuts by implementing a comprehensive digital marketing overhaul, including website navigation optimization toward lead generation, enhanced review promotion (leveraging their strong Toyota President's Award record), detailed used car descriptions, and improved inventory feed management to ensure all vehicle options appear online. The underlying strategy is to compensate for reduced pricing incentives by maximizing digital visibility, customer testimonials, and lead capture to maintain sales volume.

Dealers discuss whether to use Black Book or Kelley Blue Book (KBB) trade appraisal tools on their websites, with mixed opinions on effectiveness. Several participants argue that automated appraisal tools—regardless of brand—often create customer expectations mismatches and actually hurt the sales process, with some dealers finding that simple contact forms without automated valuations generate better leads and closing rates. The emerging consensus is that human follow-up via phone call is more valuable than any automated tool, as trade-in evaluation requires professional assessment that customers ultimately expect from the dealer anyway.

Dealers discuss how to optimize follow-up processes for chat leads, which convert faster than traditional lead sources but often get lost in generic automated response workflows. The key insight is that chat leads require differentiated CRM handling—including chat transcripts attached to leads, disabling auto-responders, and implementing rapid human response systems (ideally phone calls within minutes rather than hours) to capitalize on the customer's high engagement and prevent the lead from feeling depersonalized by automation.

Dealers discuss creating "We Buy Cars" microsites to attract trade-ins and used vehicle inventory, with Chris Branum and Bruce Novicky sharing their recently launched examples (512sellcar.com and CarCashConnection.com) as working implementations of this marketing strategy. The thread demonstrates that this approach is an active trend among dealers, with CarMax cited as the industry benchmark, though the conversation remains preliminary without detailed performance metrics or strategic advice shared among participants.

Blake Arbogast partnered with DealerRater to expand their review platform into the RV dealer market, marking a significant step toward modernizing the RV industry's online reputation management. The thread celebrates this achievement as an important industry innovation, with community members congratulating Blake on the accomplishment. The expansion demonstrates how automotive review platforms are broadening beyond traditional car dealerships to serve other vehicle segments.

Google is retiring its $25 Tags product on April 29, 2011, prompting dealers to discuss the shift toward Google Places and Google Boost as the company's new focus for local business visibility. Users debate whether Google Boost will become the next paid service to differentiate listings, with concerns that if adoption becomes widespread, the competitive advantage will diminish since everyone will have the same "blue pin" visibility. The thread reflects skepticism about Google's product strategy while acknowledging that Boost's integration with Maps and Places makes it a logical successor to Tags.

A dealer discovered a 1959 photograph at Matt Saxe Chevrolet in Belle Plaine, MN showing an "Inventory Clearance Event" with 8 cars on display, prompting reflection on how dealership marketing tactics have remained fundamentally unchanged over 50+ years despite massive increases in inventory size and the addition of modern media channels like TV, radio, and internet. The post highlights the timeless nature of automotive sales promotions—suggesting that while the tools and scale have evolved dramatically, the core "clearance event" strategy dealers use today is essentially the same approach used in 1959.

A dealer manager asks whether creating a personal Facebook page (distinct from both his personal profile and the dealership's official page) would be an effective marketing channel for sharing incentives and dealership updates. Respondents generally discourage the idea, warning that it could dilute the dealership's main Facebook presence and create confusion, with consensus leaning toward alternative channels like a blog or LinkedIn profile instead.

A dealer's deceptive pricing practice—advertising a vehicle at $12,977 but requiring an additional $3,500 "cash or trade" fee to reach the true price of $16,477—sparked industry-wide criticism. The nearly unanimous consensus branded this tactic as unethical and harmful to the automotive industry's reputation, with participants noting it clutters sales teams with unproductive conversations and violates policies on major listing platforms like AutoTrader and Cars.com. The thread concluded that such practices represent a small percentage of dealers (estimated at 5%) who damage the industry's credibility through short-sighted schemes designed only to generate initial phone calls.

This thread discusses Google's updated approach to URL shorteners like bit.ly, goo.gl, and j.mp, which have become increasingly common on social media platforms like Twitter. The key insight is that as social search has grown in importance, Google now properly credits shortened URLs in search rankings rather than disregarding them as it previously did. The thread appears to reference a Google Webmaster Help video by Matt Cutts explaining how shortened URLs are now treated in SEO, though the full details are cut off in the original post.

Ryan Lucia seeks dealer feedback to design an effective roundtable discussion on live chat for an upcoming automotive marketing conference, hoping to keep it educational rather than vendor-focused. Respondents emphasize keeping the discussion focused exclusively on chat functionality—covering topics like effective greeting strategies, lead qualification, objections handling, chat's applications across sales/service/parts, and real-world examples through live chat demonstrations and transcript critiques. The consensus is that chat deserves dedicated attention as a critical but often misunderstood lead-capture tool, with participants recommending against diluting the session by adding SEO or conversion rate optimization topics.

Kevin Frye shares early results from a behavioral/contextual targeting display campaign averaging a $41 cost-per-click—significantly higher than traditional PPC campaigns—and solicits feedback from other dealers on whether this approach is worthwhile. Respondents debate whether display advertising should be evaluated differently than PPC (emphasizing branding and site-wide exposure over direct clicks), with some sharing comparable costs ($15-26 per click) from similar campaigns through vendors like ADP Digital Marketing. The key insight is that display advertising ROI depends heavily on conversion tracking beyond clicks and overall brand impact, making it difficult to compare directly to traditional SEM campaigns.