Need a rep. - I tried calling the 800 number and no luck. Feel free to shoot me over some info on this- brianetuckeratgmaildotcom thanks Brian

Cars.com/ATC numbers shouldn't be hurt due to the fact that KBB has always had inventory listed. The only difference is that is was supplied by 3rd party sites and now you have to pay for it. Of their 13 million unique visitors, only about 8% actually clicked through to inventory. Cars.com and ATC have been going back and forth furnishing the inventory throughout the years. Neither one of them saw much added value for the dealers since such a small percentage clicked through to their sites.

Since we are a Showcase dealer on KBB, we signed up for the "showcase dealer only" period. It will be interesting to see the results, as well as if our cars.com/AT results suffer due to yet another classified vehicle listing service popping up on the web.

Jeff, do you know if the Webinar was recorded and if it's available somewhere online?

This was a GREAT webinar, seriously one of the best speakers I have heard online about this topic. I would strongly recommend ISMs, Internet Directors & Marketing folks to get on the upcoming JD Power Webinars.

I wanted to take the time to share a summary of the most important topic I took away from the webinar: The correlation between online car shopper "buzz" and Main Street actual dealership sales.

I was most surprised, as was JD Power, that the timeframe between folks saying they will buy a car soon online and the actual dealership purchase was so short. This was demonstrated with a Charted 3-month rolling average since Jan 2007.

In summary, does online conversation have anything to do with real car sales.... YES. JD Power proving this make all of us without the money & data smile, right Jeff.

- Jake

For more info on JD Power contact:

Todd Morin
Manager, Sales Operations
J.D. Power and Associates
Web Intelligence Division
303-217-8271
todd_morin@jdpa.com

See you guys there, you gonna be on this Jeff & Alex?

jake

good article!

That's what I replaced with Digsby - I definitely like Pidgin though. If I was only looking to keep up with solely my IM's, then I'd still be using it.

Pidgin for multiple IM's

Anthony - I love you man!

P.S. Anthony is a competitor of mine.

These are all great tools to help prospective customers find you. They also keep your name in front of current customers and owners. But does it really sell cars? I think not. Twittering, blogging, myspacing, facebooking these are all excuses not to pick up the phone and call your customers. What happened to call the people who are calling on you? I noticed on Alex's Honda website that he subscribed to a news feed that completely bashed Honda's newest car the Honda Insight. It was referred to as "The worst car money can buy". Now that screams buy me! Remember to watch which social networks you follow. That's just my two cents.

To easily update social networks I highly recommend trying www.ping.fm Some people in the automotive marketing industry are actually charging dealers for this FREE service. You can easily update up to 40 social networks by mobile phone, email and 3rd party apps.

Alex,

Nice review of Digsby; its really popular up here as well (the founders are from Roch)

(BTW - If you notice in that screenshot, I was streaming my Last.fm plays - not something I intended to do - should have been pushed to my personal account. Sorry for the noise)

Eric

Digsby is great. Been using it since it's first release. They got a whole lot more ad-ridden, so like you said, DECLINE everything but the Digsby agreement. Adium and Pidgin are other great multiple-network messaging clients.

I love Digsby, and Adium if you're on a Mac. Great post and resource!

Tim - where do you think I took that last picture from? I tried to take a picture in the "relax" room but it was too dark.

I was there for 2 days, and the conversation constantly circled back around to SEO. Right now, we are doing some work arounds to keep traffic increasing for us, but Rick told me the first step toward bigger things goes into testing today. Hopefully I'll be able to test things out next week! ....it is also the first step toward starting development on the new Checkered Flag.com!

Hey Alex,

I was there for the full tour the week after your visit. I too was extremely impressed with their offices. I met at length with most of the department heads. It is no secret that, in the past, I was NOT a fan of dealer.com. I have always disagreed with their SEO strategies (or lack thereof). I can say that after my visit, and many discussions about areas of improvement, I now think they're product is a great fit for 95% or more of dealerships out there. Rick is a genius - perhaps I am biased because it seems we think the same way. I was able to get a lot of insight and sneak peaks at the products that will be rolled out in the future and I can say with confidence that it is a bright one.

But I have to be me and provide objective criticism as well. They blew me away by changing a major pet peeve (url structure) on the spot and pushed that improvement out globally while I was sitting there. For those of you who don't speak geek, they changed am major facet to their SEO effectiveness and did so in an extremely impressive way (Rick couldn't wait to drop that bomb on me). BUT (and I won't completely blame ddc for this) there seems to be a real lack of definition as to what SEO or an SEO service is and what it should entail. SEO is clearly an area that they lack confidence in speaking about. Not one person gave me the same answer to the same questions. Of particular concern is the "Dynamic SEO" package. This product really has no perceivable value whatsoever. It is simply a way to generate gross profit by using the term SEO. No one seemed to have a clear definition as to exactly what you get with this product and when the SEO department head stated that it means that "We will look at the site at least once per quarter and adjust title tags if necessary" everyone in the room seemed surprised by this. This is an area they really need to address. This type of SEO should be standard with ALL websites. Title tags should be created properly from the beginning and not be duplicated (Their new platform ensures no duplicate tags). If you are going to charge a premium for a service like this, then there needs to be transparency. A premium SEO service needs to be just that - above and beyond the typical use of tags and content. It should included a PROactive approach to SEO not a passive one.

They simply cannot currently provide the custom approach to SEO we are seeking and as such we no longer use their service.

Again, I think their product is one of the best values out there. I think the majority of their staff is incredibly talented and hard working.

Alex, you left out the de-stressing area! The swings hanging from the ceiling are awesome! And the in house restaurant rivals some of the finer establishments in town! How about those GIANT cookies! LOL One thing is for sure, Dealer.com is an AWESOME place to work for! Any six-figure job openings for an SEO expert/Car-guy? LOL

Sincerely,

Timothy P Martell
Digital Marketing Director
Albrecht Auto Group

Marlboro Nissan | Marlboro, MA
Woburn Toyota \
Woburn Jaguar } Woburn, MA
Woburn Scion /
Infiniti of Norwood | Norwood, MA

(888) 251-3813

Thanks for sharing this, Alex. I've been getting up-to-speed on dealers' handling of social media, and have enjoyed the blog.

Alex,

Nice write up, and I too am on the jealous side that you got the HQ tour as well as getting a new design. I'm anxiously awaiting the finished product.

Thanks for the beautiful write-up Alex! As always, it was a pleasure to have you with us...

Mike

Good stuff Alex- Very curious about what you have up your sleeve!

BTW, does DDC offer training to dealers for the work environment? The gym looks like a perfect place to blow off some steam and alleve stress.

Alex’s post makes me think about having an Apple II in first grade and where it has gone since then. I am 30 and I have always enjoyed the evolution of technology. Like I enjoyed Oregon Trail then and COD4 now. People who are not productive do not keep their jobs. People who understand the role of tech in their work and personal lives, and use it wisely, will be successful now and in the future.

“doing a lot” and “being productive” are not necessarily the same.

This is so true. Some days I feel like I'm doing a million things at a time but not being very productive. But usually I'm helping other people be productive, so I guess that counts!