The answer is both. Or, more correctly, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC), sometimes referred to as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), are both forms of online search strategies that dealers can utilize to bring more traffic to their web site. And when they are created in a synergistic way to address specific goals, PPC and SEO campaigns will boost rankings, increase conversion rates and result in more sales.

It’s important for dealers to understand how both of these strategies work, and even more important, how they can work together to improve online search results. If a dealer has these two strategies contracted to separate vendors, it creates an inherent balance that doesn’t work as well as if both are implemented and monitored side by side.

Free vs. paid
Forgive the primer but it seems that some confusion still exists with dealers thinking that SEO and PPC are the same. When a consumer types a search term such as “Chevy Silverado” into a search engine, the web sites listed on the left or main part of the search results page are known as “free” listings. Where a dealer is ranked is determined by how well his web site has been search engine optimized. The advantage of SEO is that the dealer doesn’t have to pay every time a consumer clicks through to his web site. For this reason, many dealers choose to only go with SEO, not realizing that will limit the number of consumers they reach.

On the right hand side of the search results page, there are “sponsored links” or paid ads that are a result of a PPC campaign. When a consumer clicks on the ad, they are taken to the dealer web site and the dealer pays for each click. A dealer may control his PPC budget in two ways: (1) by choosing how much he is willing to pay for every click, which then determines where he is ranked in the “sponsored links” section, and (2) by putting a cap on his PPC budget, such as $100 per day, which then eliminates the appearance of his ad after his daily budget has been spent.

The advantage of having both SEO and PPC is that it gives the dealer more market coverage. Different people search in different ways. One person may type in “Chevy Columbus,” while another may be more specific and type in “Chevy Silverado 1500 series truck new Columbus.” A synergistic search engine campaign will ensure the dealer has presence in both types of searches, in a way that balances his budget.

One example of a strategy to accomplish full market coverage is to implement a SEO campaign for shorter terms, such as “Chevy Columbus,” while implementing a PPC campaign for the very specific and longer search term. The reasoning behind this is that the person looking for a very specific type of truck is a more qualified lead than the person just browsing a generic brand. Paying for a longer, more specific search string is more likely to result in a conversion, i.e., a click-through turning into a lead submission.

Strategy is key
Speaking of strategy, a dealer should have one, and the search marketing firm that he hires should know what it is. What are the dealer’s goals? What does he want the campaign to accomplish? Does he want customers to visit the lot or make a phone call? Does he want to focus on his new inventory or pre-owned, or on special finance? If he’s a multi-line dealer, what brands does he want to focus on? Does he want more service appointments?

Creating an effective search marketing campaign is so much more complicated than simply coming up with long lists of search terms in various combinations. A search marketing firm should be able to create a PPC and SEO strategy based on the dealer’s specific goals. They should also be able to explain to the dealer how the strategy addresses each of his goals. This is where automotive-specific experience is very helpful. Chasing a search term such as “Chevy” without regionalizing it is worthless to a dealer.

The case of the missing web site
One thing I hear often from dealers is their frustration at being ranked in the top 10 one day, and then the next day they drop out of sight completely. This is because search engines constantly change their algorithms on how sites are indexed, viewed and how sites are ranked. Therefore, a “set it and forget it” mentality is not an effective approach when it comes to search engine marketing. SEO terms that are effective today will not be effective tomorrow. A marketing firm should be constantly monitoring, updating and resubmitting the dealer web site to the various search engines in a way that keeps the rankings near the top.

Having a synergistic PPC and SEO campaign can help in this regard. The search term results from the paid ads can be analyzed, and then implemented into the SEO strategy. For example, PPC reports can be broken down into very detailed information, such as which search terms resulted in the highest conversion rates. A savvy marketing firm will take this information and implement it into the SEO campaign to help boost the “free” rankings.

Dealers should understand the differences between SEO and PPC; yet also understand that when implemented together, these two strategies can work synergistically to attract more consumers to their web site. Having one without the other, or having them implemented by two different vendors, results in a search strategy that is both ineffective and incomplete.
Todd Swickard is president and CEO of Auto Dealer Traffic, one of the fastest growing search engine marketing companies in the automotive market. With more than 10 years experience in automotive Internet marketing, Swickard’s expertise developed with some of today’s top-rated corporations as they were getting their start. Auto Dealer Traffic offers complete SEM programs including pay-per-click, search engine optimization and local search. ADT can work on any platform with any provider.

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“I can’t believe I’m saying this but, as your advertising agency, I think you should just save your money…at least until we get the fundamentals taken care of first. “

Oh yeah…the fundamentals.  Ugh.

I seem to be having that conversation more and more these days.  I think it might be because – given the current state of our industry - dealers are looking for the latest “magic bullet” to spark sales.  “What’s working, Tim?” “What are your dealers having success with?”   I’ve got to tell them that my best dealers are just sticking to the fundamentals of car sales:  They are managing their inventory well; they are hiring well and constantly training their people; and they’re advertising core product on a consistent basis with a consistent message.

Nothing fancy.  A very simple formula…but one that can be hard to follow and stick to.  Oftentimes, it’s so much easier to throw money at the problem…to get your ad agency to design some colorful ad…or slick TV or radio spot.  Or more and more these days, pump money into Search Engine Marketing or “do something on the ‘net”.  But…ultimately…when the traffic does come…you’ve got to be good at the fundamentals in order to close it.

Consider your inventory:

Is it the RIGHT kind?  Is your new car inventory stocked with the best sellers?  Do you have an ample supply of the cars that move fastest?  What about some price leaders…are you able to get those?  With all the sophisticated software packages available these days there’s no reason to “wing it” or “go with your gut” when managing your inventory.  Everyone has the ability to know everything you need to know about one’s new and used inventory mix.  Best selling models.  Most appropriate pricing per model per market.  Avg turn.  Buy the software.  Use it.

Is it clean and displayed properly?  Is the inventory lined up in a way that’s logical and easily accessible to the customer and that “steps them up” in options and price?  Are the advertised vehicles prominently displayed either on the showroom floor or right outside so that customers and salespeople alike can easily access it?

I know…this sounds pretty obvious.  Are you doing it?  I am constantly amazed at the number of dealer lots I go on where there is no “rhyme or reason” to the way the inventory is laid out.  New and used all mixed together…or not clearly defined.  Brands mixed together.  The owner’s sports car/motorcycle/boat (choose one) on the showroom floor.

Consider your salespeople:

Now, I know finding good people is hard.  In fact, it’s a never ending process.  Are you always looking for the best of the best…or simply someone with a pulse?  Do you have enough for your sales goals.  (I know you’ve got some studs but really you need about 1 for every 10 cars you intend to sell.)  When you hire them, are you continually training them?  You’ve spent all this time, energy and money on them…you can’t afford to have them fail due to neglect.   Are they neat, clean, dressed appropriately?  Do you allow them to smoke right out front of the building (You do?  What are you thinking??!)  Your people are probably your biggest expense. Require your greatest effort. Are the (literal) faces of the organization.  Make them great.  ‘Nuff said.

Have you looked at your showroom lately?

“Uh…what about my showroom?” you say.  Well, is it clean, bright, and well organized?  We all know that car buying is emotional.  What kind of emotion is your showroom stirring up?  Is the place happy…peppy…fun?  Or is it a morgue?  What about sales collateral and point of purchase?  Is it nicely displayed and relevant…or faded, torn and from the sale two months ago?  It makes a difference.

It’s your money.  You spend all that cash to bring people to your home…make sure there isn’t dirty laundry over the sofa and dirty dishes in the sink.

NOW, we can talk advertising.

Don’t.  That’s right, don’t advertise unless you’ve got a pretty good handle on the above.  I realize your task will never be completely done….the business being what it is…salespeople being what they are, etc.  We should all strive for constant and never ending improvement. Kaizan and all that.    But advertising…any advertising… is doomed to fail if the above isn’t handled too.  I’m not being altruistic…believe me – I want your money - I just want to hedge my bet that my divinely inspired campaign will produce the results promised because all of the other basics are taken care of.

When we do get around to advertising.  Let’s make sure we do it consistently…with a consistent message…on a consistent medium.  (More on that in another article. Hint:  Most dealers’ and messaging isn’t.)  And that our core message is across everything we do.  The best financial planners advocate choosing quality, proven mutual funds and dollar cost averaging for their clients…nothing too sexy, no fads, no jumping in and out or timing the market.  In good times and bad.   

This is exactly what you need to do with your advertising for long term success. 

Call me to continue the conversation, tell me I’m full of it…or just to wrap about the biz.

Okay, so I’m dating myself, but I thought “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits was a pretty cool song.  That Mark Knopfler could sure could belt it out…but I digress.  Seems like dealers are have been humming that tune a lot recently…or something similar.  Instead of “Money for Nothing, Get your Chicks for Free”, it goes like this:   Spots for Nothing, Get your Ads for Free!  Or at least that’s what their local media reps are telling them they can get if they let them do the production instead of an agency.

Maybe it’s the economy…sales are soft…but come on people!…nothing’s free and besides, you get what you pay for.  “But Tim, the cable company is doing the spots for nothing.”  Oh really, check again…I’m willing to bet the cost of production is wrapped up in an inflated price for the spots.  Or how about the paper, do you really want the staff artist to pick up your ad right after he/she is finished with your competitors?  Sure, it’s free…but what’s the real cost.  It’s hard enough standing out in a crowd with 10 pages of car ads to fight against.  Don’t you want to make sure your ad is different from the others??  How likely is that going to be if the same artist at the paper is doing a lot of them?  I’m just saying….

Call me to continue the conversation, tell me I’m full of it…or just to wrap about the biz

 I routinely visit my clients’ (and their competitors) websites in the course of my daily work for quality control purposes, to compare our offers against the competition and to make sure we have consistent messaging throughout our campaigns.  When doing so,  I can’t tell you how many times I see the message above along with its twin:  Site/Page under construction.  It’s disheartening.  I mean, how hard is it to update a page on a site??  Dealers:  Why do you spend the thousands of dollars that you do on digital marketing tools and your websites, and then not make every effort to keep all the information displayed timely and accurate?  This is like buying ad space in the paper and then having the whole page blank with only your name at the footer…or a 30 second spot on TV with just “fuzz”.  Sounds pretty wasteful, huh?

I know.  I know you’re busy or distracted.  I really do.  But it’s little stuff like this that separates the winners from the losers in tough economic times like this.  You’ve got to take advantage of EVERY opportunity to get your message across…and leaving pages blank or out of date is just throwing away money.   I know dealers that routinely update and change out offers every day…the search engines like it and it makes it look like there’s a lot of activity going on – just like rotating inventory on your lot. 

Ideally, you can hold a current member of your staff accountable for website updating.  But, if you think that person needs to be talking to customers and selling cars – not updating a site – at least get your ad agency to do it.  A client once asked me with everything going digital/mobile, what the agency’s role was going to be.  I think this kind of task, for one, might be it.  After all, your website is just another communication channel – like TV, radio or print – and agency’s typically manage your message in those mediums…so why not the web as well?  That way you hold someone accountable, you stand a better chance of getting it done and make sure your messaging has some continuity.  Besides,  truth be told, agency’s are all looking to make up lost revenue since your kid has taken over doing your spots on his iMac….so they’d probably jump at the opportunity and do a great job for you.

I really don’t care who does it but make sure it gets done…otherwise you’re wasting money and ticking people off by not giving them the relevant, current information they seek…and, no, they probably won’t check back later.

Call me to continue the conversation, tell me I’m full of it…or just to wrap about the biz

As the World Wide Web was pioneered commercially in the early going, the universe of those who used it and understood it and its vast potential was a fairly small group. We could use terms and create terms to define new, never-before-done activities. As more and more people gravitated to the Web, terms that many of us felt were fairly well defined morphed into something completely different. Some might offer that the terms evolved. I believe they were compromised. I chalk it up to the fact that the Web was and is still new. The lack of definition spurred its growth but also left room for misinterpretation.

Case in point: around 2000 or so, the Web became a place where experiences were chronicled in great detail with each new leg of a journey, or experience, as part of a larger event. Each new entry was carefully logged in great detail. They were diaries. The purpose was for entertainment, education, or even preservation of history. They were called “blogs,” or short for Web logs. The best and most vivid example that stands out in my mind was a blog called “Where Is Raed?”—a web log where the bombing in Baghdad was carefully chronicled in great detail that tightly gripped all those who read it.

It would seem that the people who liked the buzz word (one of those words that are fun to say, or maybe has a hipness to it) created alternative meanings for it and the original meaning has now been lost. No longer are blogs web logs that chronicle an experience; they are no longer diaries. They are ecolumns of a sort. While most readers would read this post and consider it a “blog”, I generally consider this post an ecolumn. Perhaps that’s being old school, but I prefer to preserve the meanings of terms.

It is important to retain meaning and context around the terminology that drives what is still a very new medium. Last week, I attended and spoke at the Digital Dealer Conference in Orlando, Florida. As I listened to one speaker, she defined behavioral targeting in a way that is not even close to the meaning that exists for behaviorally targeted advertising. I cringed.

Behaviorally targeted advertising, she would lead us to believe, is synonymous with demographically targeted advertising. I looked around the room at the 600 plus people in attendance and shook my head. Now those 600 plus people had an incorrect perception of what behaviorally targeted advertising really is. Perhaps the speaker didn’t understand behaviorally targeted advertising. Perhaps companies who don’t provide a means for behavioral targeting need to hijack the term to convince advertisers that they offer something that they don’t. I’d like to think that the error was a lack of understanding.

True behavioral targeting tracks behaviors of users in a group and aligns advertising to the actions the users are taking. The best behaviorally targeted advertising is tied to a registered user. Frankly, the number of media outlets that can serve true behaviorally targeted advertising is very small—perhaps less than five.

I hope that somewhere along the way, the 600 plus misperceptions that were created are corrected. I know I’ll be doing my part to preserve the terminology and understanding of what behavioral targeting means.

It’s a phrase that’s been uttered by all business owners for over a decade now when they decide to “get serious” about their operations…”We need a web site”. While very few auto dealerships today forego an interactive presence, my opinion is many of them do not maintain a website that engages and enables the purchase process.

DO’s:

Humanize

As mentioned above, anyone can get a web site but it takes some extra effort to make your site enjoyable and somewhere that your clients might actually want to visit. Photos of more than just vehicles can help. At the very least you could postphotos of your key personnel along with contact e-mails should a user prefer to contact a specific sales person or service tech. Dealers have been featuring thank you letters and testimonials in their waiting rooms for years but few have taken the extra effort to post those personal letters showing customer appreciation online and thus exposing them to a much larger potential audience. Another idea is to take photos of your customers when they take delivery of their new vehicle and post that on the web site as well. One idea I saw on a dealer web site was to feature a tab labeled “Ladies Only” and the link led to photos and contact information for all of their female sales people.

Accolades

Does your brand currently feature a Car of the Year? How about won your OEM’s top annual award? Been named a “Best Dealership” by a local publication or news outlet? Do you have a much-anticipated new model slated to arrive shortly?

Unique Offerings

There are certain services that many dealers offer but should be mentioned no matter what if you offer them. They include: Service loaners, free service shuttle, rental car service, Car Fax Report with pre-owned purchases, business centers in service areas, free wifi, cafes, etc. Beyond those offerings, does your store offer something unique that your competitors can’t match? How about free car washes for life? Online service scheduling? 24 Hour Roadside Assistance? An Exchange policy? One of the best examples of properly leveraging a unique dealership offering recently was a store in the Seattle area who offers free car washes for their customers. This is a nice, inexpensive perk and they even took it a step further by offering a live web cam on their web site so the customer can check on the current line for free car washes…Brilliant in my opinion!

Common Sense

If you have a Toyota, Chevy or Saab store, odds are that someone surfing your site is looking for a Toyota, Chevy or Saab…Resist the urge to advertise pre-owned Hondas and Toyotas as specials if your destination site is for another brand. While it may sound obvious, you need to make sure that you have a working phone number, preferably a tracking number that will allow you to listen to your calls for “quality assurance”.

DON’TS:

Instant-play Video or Other “Unsolicited” Sounds

A common user turn-off occurs when marketers either try to engage the user by featuring video that starts with sound without the user’s knowledge. While instant play video increases the odds that a user will engage with your site, odds are much higher that they are surfing the site on company time when they aren’t supposed to. Nothing guarantees someone will jump off your site more than unsolicited sounds except if you encourage them to leave by offering them a link to another 3rd party site. Why would you spend thousands of dollars advertising your web site only to offer them an easy way to leave?

“Call for Price”

Another user turn-off is when someone clicks on a “Specials” link and are greeted with “Call for Specials” or a blank “Welcome to Our Specials Page” messages. You have provided an expectation for the user and failed to deliver already cementing the perception in the customer that they are dealing with a dishonest car dealer. This also relates to the listings of your new and used inventory…The average web shopper has likely already been to an OEM web site or a web pricing site, so trying to entice them to “Call for price” is more likely to shuttle them on to your competitor who has their pricing clearly listed on their web site than entice them to pick up the phone…The allure of the website is all about convenience and anonymity and “Call for price” ends up being a major turn-off for the user.

Dead-End Links

Along the same lines of the phantom pricing and specials, dead-end links are another frustration for the user. Don’t have a link on your site and fail to provide the goods promised! That can be both a dead link that goes nowhere but also one that doesn’t provide useful information. One example of this could be a link for a “Collision Center” which provides locations, but the nearest being over 350 miles away…Information not too useful for a local client!

Confusing Contact Information

Tracking phone numbers are useful for gauging the effectiveness of a particular marketing campaign and even better for evaluating the quality of the way your phones are answered. Problem is that many tracking numbers only work in local area codes or counties. If you have a large luxury franchise that sells vehicles outside of your local trading area, you may run into the issue of web site customers trying to reach the store from an area not covered by the tracking number.

In today’s world of cell phones, calling a toll free number isn’t as much of an issue as it was in the past so it makes sense to have both a tracking and local number on your home page. In summary much of what I’ve covered above may seem like simple common sense, but I am constantly surprised how often these mistakes are made.

that everyone is convinced that it is a life-giving force to businesses that seek to operate any sort of enterprise

in an online environment.  That’s good.  It is important.  My fundamental concern is that many people are led to

believe many things about SEO that are half-true or false.

 - Debunking SEO -

I have had many favorite myths come up in discussions about optimizing search engine results.  I have two that

battle for the top spots on all-time hits of SEO miscommunication.  “We’re SEO compliant” is way up there for me.  So,

what does being SEO compliant mean?  What would one be complying with?  Is there some SEO International Code of

Conduct to which we must all adhere?  Layering in technical and legalistic jargon is, in my opinion, a ploy to

complicate something that can be easily understood, in the hopes of frightening the less informed

into thinking SEO is a legal requirement, or something that only a highly-trained Ninja SEO fighter can help them with.

My other favorite is, “We have special relationships with Google and Yahoo! for our SEO.”  So, let me get this

straight: Google and Yahoo!, two publicly held companies which, as part of a public trust, provide carefully

written search algorithms that screen, parse and spider content to provide their users with the most relevant,

reliable and trusted search results for users, have now decided to carve out a special deal with someone to give

them a pass to the front of the line?  Right.

- Simplifying Understanding -

I find that many people believe SEO to be a mystic level of consciousness that has been imparted only to a select

few by Al Gore himself.  News flash! SEO isn’t a secret formula, a piece of code or a script known only to a few

select programmers.  It is true that SEO does require that the correct key words be included, that meta data be

carefully placed and that indexes and architecture be of a type that will accurately reflect the subject matter and

content of the site.

However, we should never forget that the search engines are carefully reviewing a site’s content.  It doesn’t

matter how many technical tweaks and tricks are applied to a site.  SEO is about the content of a site.

When a web hosting company offers, “We provide search engine optimization,” my first question is always, “Oh. Well

how many writers do you have in your company?”  SEO is about providing textual content that search engines spider

and parse to connect a web user to the best match for their query or search string.  Without a meaningful content

strategy as a major part of SEO, all other efforts will fail to yield long-term results.

I also find that many people doing SEO work focus on the quantity of search results rather than the quality of

search results.  If you’re a Chevrolet dealer, you want all the people who are interested in obtaining information

about the Cobalt model coming to your site. Having users coming to your site to understand metallic elements that

can be used for coloring ceramics does nothing for you as a dealer or the user searching for information.

A site that truly wants to be optimized will do its best to provide meaningful text that connects with the market

they are trying to reach and that wants to reach them.  Trying to trick or game the system may provide a short term

gain, but making absolutely sure that the content on the site is deep and relevant for the products or services

being offered is a long-term approach that should be the goal of SEO.  Job #1 for any website should be to make

certain the content on the site is well defined and targeted to segments.

SEO is part science, part art, but more than anything else, it’s work — and a lot of it.  SEO is also some of the

most important marketing a company can undertake — to position its representative online enterprise in ways that

are focused on the segment they are trying to reach.  If the approach sounds old fashioned, perhaps that is the

point.  Just because the medium is new, the rules are still the same: Position the product or service to a targeted

segment that will engage the market and influence consumer behavior.

The first SEO work a site should do is on content.  Search engines will reward the work by bringing potential

customers who are researching the products and services provided by the enterprise.