Websites, SEO, SEM, Display, Social, Marketing

A Polk/AutoTrader study confirming the internet as the dominant influence in vehicle purchases sparked debate among dealers over two key stats: 97% of buyers said social media didn't influence their decision, and print advertising continued to decline in relevance. While some saw the social media finding as vindication to avoid the channel, others pushed back on the methodology, questioning whether buyers surveyed months after purchase could accurately recall what influenced them online.

Automotive professionals debate the validity of a Greystripe study claiming 80% of smartphone users shop for cars, with critics pointing out the tiny sample size (851 users, representing 0.00001% of the smartphone market) and short timeframe (3 months vs. 6-month average sales cycles). Despite acknowledging the study's methodological weaknesses, participants reach consensus that dealerships should still implement mobile websites today, as the broader trend toward mobile shopping is clear and changing rapidly.

A dealer group questions whether .co domains can rank effectively in Google search results after launching a used car inventory site on a .co domain and ranking #110 for their target keyword. The limited responses suggest skepticism about .co domains' SEO viability, with one commenter recommending .net as a superior alternative and expressing doubt that .co will prove competitive for search rankings in the near future.

Dealers debate whether CarMax's EasyShop—an online platform that lets customers complete much of the purchase process remotely before visiting the store—represents the future of automotive retail. While most agree the industry needs modernization and greater customer control, opinions split on whether sight-unseen buying will actually gain traction, with some viewing EasyShop as primarily a productivity tool that streamlines the sales process rather than a true disruption. The key insight is that dealers must adapt to give customers more autonomy in the buying journey, though implementation approaches vary significantly between brands.

Brian Pasch asks DealerRefresh members for feedback on Digital Air Strike, a marketing company featured in Dealer Marketing Magazine, to learn what services they provide to dealerships. The thread receives minimal responses—one member mentions briefly speaking with their COO, another compliments their company name, and the COO himself responds by inviting direct contact. The thread doesn't contain substantial user reviews or detailed information about the company's services, making it primarily an introduction rather than a peer evaluation.

Jason asks for JavaScript code to dynamically display different phone numbers based on traffic source (e.g., Google vs. direct visitors) to track SEM/SEO campaign conversions. Multiple respondents recommend dedicated call-tracking services like Century Interactive, Marchex, and Mongoose Metrics rather than custom coding, as these platforms offer dynamic number pools, analytics integration, and professional tracking infrastructure. The consensus is that while technically feasible through server-side code or referrer variables, outsourcing to a specialized vendor is the more practical and reliable solution for dealers seeking accurate conversion attribution.

Ryan Thompson discusses his discovery of Contest Burner, a WordPress plugin for running viral social media contests, which Grant Cardone subsequently used for his own promotional contest. The thread debates whether contest marketing is an effective strategy for car dealers, with Ryan arguing that properly-targeted contests (like free oil changes) can generate qualified leads and followers, while davidmoon counters that most contest participants are prize-seekers outside the dealer's local market and that conversion rates are poor compared to other marketing methods.

This thread features automotive professionals sharing Google's April Fools' Day jokes from 2010, including fake products like "Blimp Ads" for AdWords, Gmail Motion (composing emails via body language), and Google Autocompleter. The posts are lighthearted reactions to these pranks, with participants laughing at the absurdity of the fictional features. No serious marketing insights emerge—the thread is simply a brief moment of humor among industry peers.

Jeff Kershner from HookLogic hosted a well-attended webinar on improving lead-to-show conversion rates, emphasizing that driving more customers to the showroom floor directly increases vehicle sales. Due to the high attendance, many attendee questions went unanswered during the live event, so Kershner opened this forum thread to address follow-up questions and made the webinar recordings available via YouTube for those who missed it.

Dealership professionals debate whether gamification—applying game mechanics to enhance customer engagement—is a viable marketing strategy for automotive retail. While one faction argues it's already effective (citing examples like Nissan's competitive fuel-efficiency tracking) and could differentiate dealerships in a crowded market, skeptics contend it's more of a branding distraction than a sales tool at the dealer level, especially online where prospects want straightforward information and pricing rather than additional barriers to purchase.

A forum user inquires about the typical pricing structure for pay-per-lead marketing services in automotive dealerships. The thread seeks practical cost information from dealers currently using these lead generation services to help benchmark expenses.

The thread examines the fallout after a New Media Strategies employee accidentally posted a profane tweet from the official @ChryslerAutos account, leading Chrysler to fire the agency. Commenters debate whether outsourcing a brand's social voice is fundamentally flawed, contrasting Chrysler's hands-off approach with Ford and GM's more internally-driven social media leadership. The key consensus is that brands—including dealerships—must maintain direct, high-level ownership of their social media presence rather than delegating it entirely to agencies.

A dealer shares ListHD, a free tool for posting high-quality images of vehicles on Craigslist, which he discovered while searching for solutions to Craigslist's image size limitations. The poster reports that the relatively new service works well for his purposes. The key takeaway is a practical resource recommendation for dealers looking to improve their Craigslist vehicle listings with larger, better-quality photos.

A Buick GMC dealer seeks recommendations for quality new car leads to supplement weak inventory from GM's internal lead program, specifically asking about Edmunds. Respondents confirm Edmunds delivers accurate leads (sometimes through AutoUSA), while cautioning against Autobytel due to mismatched customer intent—leads often convert to used car shoppers rather than new car buyers. The emerging insight is that lead quality varies significantly by provider and that customer intent misalignment is a major pain point worth vetting before committing to a service.

A Walpole Mitsubishi employee discovers their dealership's entire inventory has disappeared from CarGurus and seeks help from the community. The issue is traced to a feed problem with Autobytel, their inventory data provider, rather than a CarGurus-side issue. The key takeaway is that when inventory stops appearing on third-party listing sites, dealers should contact both the listing platform and their inventory feed vendor to pinpoint where the breakdown occurred.

A GM wants to add an auto-playing video spokesperson (an animated character) to the dealership website, prompting the poster to ask the community for opinions on their effectiveness. The overwhelming consensus from experienced marketers is strongly against auto-play spokesperson videos, with multiple participants citing increased bounce rates, poor user experience (especially for office browsers), and the general staleness of this tactic. The key takeaway is that videos can be valuable for dealership websites, but only if they feature custom content, avoid auto-play, and require user action to watch—making the GM's proposed approach counterproductive.

A dealer describes a frustrating experience where all of his company's Google Places listings entered compliance review status after making changes to accommodate a store relocation and duplicate listings for multi-brand locations. After months of unsuccessful troubleshooting and guideline adjustments, a Google sales representative revealed that the account had accumulated too many red flags from revisions, requiring him to delete all old listings and create them fresh in a new Google Places account to resolve the issue. The thread highlights the difficulty of managing Google Places listings for multi-location automotive dealers and the limited accessibility of Google support for resolving complex account issues.

Anirban attempts to explain how off-page SEO and quality backlinks influence Google search rankings, but the thread quickly derails into meta-discussion about his poor writing formatting and community members questioning whether his posts are genuinely original or spam-posted across multiple forums. No substantive conclusion about PageRank links emerges, as the conversation focuses instead on Anirban's posting habits and credibility rather than the technical SEO topic he introduced.

A Toyota dealer asks whether making phone numbers mandatory on website contact forms would improve lead quality, acknowledging that many leads from Dealer.com lack phone numbers and are harder to contact. Responses vary, with one dealer reporting success by making the field optional (increasing both submissions and phone number capture by 19%), while another found requiring phone numbers actually improved overall lead quality with minimal impact on submission volume. The consensus suggests testing the requirement, as the trade-off between lead quantity and contactability depends on individual dealer circumstances.

Dealers discuss Cars.com's upcoming Dealer Reviews feature launching March 15th and debate whether to attend a 4-hour Reputation Management Online Conference featuring 12 workshops on review management strategies. A Cars.com representative clarifies that attendees can drop in and out of sessions and access recordings on-demand, while another user notes the conference is worthwhile and directs readers to an exclusive DealerRefresh interview about the new product. The overall sentiment suggests cautious interest in Cars.com's review solution as a visibility opportunity, though dealers are weighing it against alternatives like DealerRater.

Ryan Thompson promotes the Auto Remarketing Used Car Conference in Toronto on April 12th, noting it's a rare quality conference option for Canadian automotive professionals with notable speakers like Brian Benstock and Dale Pollak. He invites fellow Canadians interested in attending to connect with him for a meetup and references a blog post he wrote with additional details. The thread addresses a gap in the Canadian market for quality industry conferences and facilitates networking among professionals in the region.

The thread discusses the impact of Google's Farmer algorithm (Panda update) launched in late February and its effects on website rankings, with the original poster asserting that high PageRank backlinks remain a critical ranking factor despite the algorithm changes. The poster argues that quality backlinks are more important than other factors like bounce rate or content quality in maintaining search visibility. The thread appears incomplete, but the key insight is a claim that PageRank backlinks continued to be a dominant SEO ranking signal even after Google's major algorithm update.