Great topic Alex.

We have found that the best way to utilize microsites, and to keep the consumer confortable within the confines of your dealer branded site is to incorporate the two. By delivering the consumer directly to the page they asked for, they can still convert at a high rate, or click to another area within the site quickly and easily. We have went beyond A/B testing on this issue and have shown proven results.

Example:

Google - 2008 Chevy Tahoe Cincinnati

The first organic listing is for Jeff Wyler Chevrolet. When you click on the link, you don't go to the home page or inventory, but rather to a page designed specifically for the Chevy Tahoe customer. It includes all of the information on researching/buying a new Tahoe, Tahoe video/pics, plus links to specific pages on Tahoe service or parts. Pages like these convert very well, plus allow consumers to navigate to any other page within the site.

These pages can also be used for SEM campaigns.

James Kovacs
ClickMotive
www.clickmotive.com

Hi Everyone,

This question is for the "experienced micro site developers". Have you ever witnessed a site of yours generate a great deal of leads in a short time and then all of a sudden die out ? Do a lot of your micro sites generate a stable amount of leads over time ? Or do you need to keep adding to your portfolio ?

Thanks

Joe - what about offering a delivery service coupled with some kind of "do the deal from your house" ad campaign? Flat bed deliveries aren't that much - we do them all the time with our highline franchises.

If microsites can generate a good ROI, its good. If not, don't do it. Generating leads is not enough anymore in this current business climate.

I'm always reminded by dealers - "Wayne, if we're not selling cars, none of what you are doing really matters."

"Moral of the story? If you are a Honda dealer selling cars in Torrance, you are VERY OK when acquiring URL's that contain "TorranceHonda" in them!"

What if you are a Ford dealer in a small town 20 minutes from, let's say...Knoxville, TN? Would it be ok, in your opinion, to use KnoxvilleFordF150.com or FordFocusKnoxville.com in order to draw web traffic from a more metropolitan, more heavily populated area??? Does that infringe upon the Ford dealers who are actually INSIDE Knoxville city limits?

I like this thread, I have already learned quite a bit!

Ralph P. and the group, I’d love your opinion on a microsite project.

Topic: Adjoining Market Microsites.
This whole concept needs one of two "engines" to drive commerce. #1) is large amounts of population in adjoining markets
#2) Enormous inventory

We're a number2 dealer (aka big fish in small pond). I’ve got 3 microsites on the drawing table built specifically for SEO'ing into the rural regions that surround me.

IMO, because we have no brand established in these markets and we're far away, I need to get the surfer comfortable with contemplating a long distance transaction into a strange place. I am thinking that we'll profit from having a "point man" or a go to person assigned to the region (read: microsite). This sales rep should have a personal connection to the region so the rep can demonstrate local authority making our caller more at ease. We'll create an personal intro video and assign the rep a toll free# to a cell phone. We'll make any deal we can to the 1st dozen buyers to create Local Testimonials (with photos/videos) to help that shopper visualize a successful transaction.

I assume that I am not the 1st person with this concept, I'd like to benchmark, can you think of another dealer that has done this? The URLs?

Any other ideas/examples?
Joe

Hi Ralph,

Thanks for the reply. Does it matter what the extension is ? .net, .org, .info etc... ?

In regards to the post below... During my consulting visit to Scott Robinson Honda when we developed the strategy and acquired the URL's, I had an AHM eBusiness executive with me as an observer. He had no problem with the URL's because they were geographically localized to the community that is in the dealer's primary area of responsibility. The URL acquisition was not the reason I brought Honda management with me, but it sure made the dealer principal more comfortable with the URL acquisitions with the factory guy present. Since 1994 I have bought THOUSANDS of URL's for many dealers, and for my own purposes. In my opinion, the acquisition o keyword laden URL's is an important aspect of an effective microsite strategy. I have been to court, deposed, sued... won and lost several cases. I get attorneys calling me all the time as both an expert witness and to testify on "customs and practices" in the auto industry. I have reviewed nasty, threatening letters from just about every car company in America... And, I have had Mike Devereaux at GM come to my dealership in person, with his entourage to discuss my store's acquisition and use of over 350 URL's that GM decided they wanted us to transfer... When the dust settled We kept them, and used them is a responsible and legitimate manner. I am not sure that all the battles I have fought on the URL issue have been worth the time and energy, but when you win it feels great! When you lose because of intimidation tactics and unfair business practices, it does not. If anyone ever gets in a jam, or a pissing match with an OEM, give me a call or write and I can refer you to an experienced attorney.

Oh yeah, one last thing... We did buy www.TorranceCarMax.com and www.CarMaxTorrance.com while I was at Scott Robinson Honda... One quick visit to the URL's will show you what the dealer decided to do when he got the letter from Carmax's Legal Eagles!

Moral of the story? If you are a Honda dealer selling cars in Torrance, you are VERY OK when acquiring URL's that contain "TorranceHonda" in them! And the same applies to just about every other make and location... BUT... What If you are a Hyundai dealer in Tucson and you already own www.HyundaiTucson.com when Hyundai decides to come out with a new model called a "Tucson"? Yummy... Let me be THAT Dealer!!!!
======================================================
Hi Everyone,

I'm new with dealerrefresh.com and I have one issue regarding micro sites. Whats does everyone think about the trademark issues regarding these domain names ? For example,

www.TorrnaceHondaAccord.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaCivic.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicGX.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicSI.com
www.TorranceHondaCRV.com
www.TorranceHondaElement.com
www.TorranceHondaFit.com
www.TorranceHondaOdyssey.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaS2000.com

Notice the terms "Honda Accord", "Honda Civic SI" etc.....

Don't those terms belong to Honda Motor Company ?

All comments and opinions are welcomed.

SCM

How many micro sites does one need to expect to build before they starting seeing results in search engines ?

You don't get it. Listing a site into "Google's Webmaster Tools" is submitting it to Google. Especially if you listed a site map for them to spider.

Nobody has said that they will not help your site rank for other terms. That should be one of the primary reasons to have one unless it is unbranded to "trick" people into submitting a lead.

You keyed in on "Special Finance Tulsa" not being a high competition keyword and got your feathers ruffled. It may be a very highly competitive part of your business but it just does not have much search volume. You will never get the search numbers out of google for any term. Tools like Word Tracker do help estimate them. Google will help you measure the amount of traffic though for your keywords.

What is the amount of traffic you get for the search term "Special Finance Tulsa" that converts to leads then to sales. That is the real value of having those keywords and it all can be done in Google Analytics. (Measuring ROI on Search Terms)

One of the benefits for having two pages on the front of the serps for that term you will capture most of the traffic from the occasional search. Kudos...

you just dont get it, thats ok. you read into it what you want to but just go back and read between the lines. You might be able to fiqure it out. Wait let me help you again, from five websites covering 20 keywords or phrases I rank 1 to 3 for those terms, which are relevant to what Google has told me, not word tracker whew. I have nothing to do with Riverside Nissan as they are sonic automotive. Being involved in Google webmaster tools has nothing to do with submitting sites to search engines, geezzz. Last but not least I will try one more time, Micro sites assist my main website in search engine rankings for search terms that did not rank well for before. Next.

Sorry your smarter than me, my bad

Correction the number two site is for Riverside Nissan on the Reynolds web app. Not sure it that is related or not. It looks like you helped seo a non existent web application...

My Bad

If you have listed your site in the "Google Webmaster Tools" then you have submitted it to Google. Also using google analytics may even be a form of submission but that is subjective.

Wordtracker shows no search volume for "Special Finance Tulsa"

The Number 2 listing which is your website is a error page.

A person shopping for a car with bad credit is not going to google "Special Finance Tulsa". "Bad Credit Car Loans in Tulsa" or "Buy a Car in Tulsa with bad Credit" may be more appropriate. Granted the market may be very competitive but the search term is nil except for the few that have been performed after reading your retort.

With that being said I am glad it is working for you well. I hope my competitors try to rank for nil search terms while I go after their name.

I have to disagree with you Paul, Special finance in Tulsa or Oklahoma for that matter is a very competitive market. I think you have again missed the point of what these micro sites do for the main website. You are so correct in that SEO is not rocket science, hence you are able to do it in a limited degree, but you are incorrect with your statement that search engine submissions are the cornerstone of SEO, as I have never submitted any site to search engines, if you have quality links and proper content the spiders for the search engines will find you and rank you higher and find you more relevant than if you submit them. This last statement comes from Google themselves you can hunt for it yourself on you tube if you like, Most of what I do comes directly from Google as I believe that if you follow what they tell you then of course you will succeed as they control what is relevant. In retrospect all of my search terms, links, and websites come from what I have learned directly from Google webmaster tools, analytics and Yahoo search. Also with the amount of visitors I receive on jimgloverchevy.com and the quality leads that are submitted I think I have succeeded were many others fail. Thank you again for you time and comments.

Well the term "Special Financing Tulsa" is very non competitive and 6 links is probably all that is needed to get it there. Even the terms you referenced above are super non competitive and are not even worth worrying about going after. All you have to do there is "bait" the spiders to your site to rank for those very low competition search terms.

SEO is not rocket science. Anchor text links in, directory submissions and search engine submissions are the cornerstone of a SEO strategy.
It has to be done in a way to make it appear natural to keep the site out of the "sandbox".

One of the things that is ignored in much of the automotive seo out there is that most sites do not anchor out to authority sites to build search engine trust. But that is a different subject completely off this topic. If you wish to discuss it more it is not hard to find my contact info.

Whats needed in your opinion ? Is it a lot of anchor links back to your site ?

although if you look at this site


there is only 6 anchor links according to Yahoo. So how diffucult can it be ?

Well those example are really an effort to push a product. IMHO

The SEO/SEM are the biggest factors. Just learning how to make a page/site with a point and click tool does not even start to scratch the surface of how to get it in the SERPS.

Paul

Hi Paul,

I understand where your coming from. With microsites is it just a "wait and see" type of site ? The reason why I ask is because when I search for "Torrance Honda Pilot" or "Torrance Honda S2000" in google I can't see where these sites are coming up in the google search results. Please advise.

You cant be stopped from advertising something you have in inventory. If that were the case then a Chevy dealer could not advertise used Fords.

There are so many ways to attack keyword in online marketing. You can actually get sites or pages to show up using competitors names easily. All done in a way that could not cause you any problems other than the phone call from them bitching about it. If you are going to go through the effort to do it.

As far as using trademarks in domain names it is up to the trademark holder to enforce the claim. Then you deal with it when the situation arises.

Paul

"""""@SCM

Fair use comes in to play. As a dealer of those products they are probably granted a license to use those terms anyway.

Paul""""

What if your a used car dealer ?

and

"probably" is a very large word to use ....

@SCM

Fair use comes in to play. As a dealer of those products they are probably granted a license to use those terms anyway.

Paul

Hi Everyone,

I'm new with dealerrefresh.com and I have one issue regarding micro sites. Whats does everyone think about the trademark issues regarding these domain names ? For example,

www.TorrnaceHondaAccord.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaCivic.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicGX.com
www.TorranceHondaCivicSI.com
www.TorranceHondaCRV.com
www.TorranceHondaElement.com
www.TorranceHondaFit.com
www.TorranceHondaOdyssey.com
www.TorranceHondaPilot.com
www.TorranceHondaS2000.com

Notice the terms "Honda Accord", "Honda Civic SI" etc.....

Don't those terms belong to Honda Motor Company ?

All comments and opinions are welcomed.

SCM

FOR SALE:
Here are some undeveloped URLs in my inventory.

--GMcertifiedSale.com
--GMcertifiedClearance.com
--OfficialGMcertifiedSale.com
--GM-Certified-Dealer.com

--GMauthorizedSale.com

--FORD-VS-CHEVY.COM

--RockSolidChevrolet.com
--RockSolidChevy.com

I am house shopping, so everything has a price! I had plans to turn these into MFA sites (Made For AdSense Sites).

Interested parties can contact me via Jeff K or Alex, or email me: joepistell[at]gmail.com

thnx,
Joe

Hello Eric

"are you actually getting clicks for that search phrase?" Wow, Yes yes yes, I actually get clicks for that search phrase. Not hundreds of course but enough to make it worth my time and dollars and it is just not just one search term, I have five micro sites (I will be building more) all of them are optimized for 3 to 5 keywords which show up in top three in those results. Also what is more important I think is the fact they are all linked together and linked to our main website. In doing this it has brought the website up in rankings on all search engines for search terms that we never showed for. For instance I wanted Jim Glover Chevrolet to show up when someone typed that phrase or close to it and now Jim Glover Chevrolet shows up right at the top.

These Micro sites are just a small part in a big picture and they play an important role in that they generate clicks and are key in SEO. They cost me very little money (less than 400.00) and the pay back is quick, now its just pure profit.

I am pretty sure I know what I am doing as I have been involved in internet sales for over nine years. Currently our store does not purchase any third party leads and our website had over 11,000 unique visitors in March 2008. This month we will have generated over six hundred leads from our website, with three hundred plus credit applications. I have four Internet sales managers and I believe they get to many leads as it has been proven I miss business. In the next couple of months we will add three more Internet managers as we are growing rapidly. But thanks for the advise I will look into adding more to my main website!!!!

There are many opinions here at dealer refreash and I read them all. I think we have some very professional people here and it is great to here from some of the best like Ralph Paglia, Jeff Kershner, etc. Really sorry to have missed the automotive digital marketing in Florida, I probably missed out on some great ideas, I believe that you will always pick up something from training, I was hoping everyone was going to share more here, hint hint. Thank you for the comment and your time.