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We have started the review of automotive website inventory modules and website platforms for the 2009 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) study.  We are very excited from what I have seen so far.

At the last Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas, I predicted in my Automotive SEO seminar that within the year, major platforms would include a blog into their base infrastructure. That has come to pass in just under six months.

WordPress Gaining Popularity

This week I had the opportunity to view two car dealer platforms that will release integrated Wordpress skins into their core technology. In one case, the WordPress technology was a menu choice off the main navigation with seamless integration. The basic WordPress functionality is in place with customized widgets for automotive services like lead collection.

The second vendor raised the stakes even higher with multiple WordPress skins at the touch of a button with the powerhouse kicker: SEO compliant inventory module PLUGIN for WordPress. This brings the concept of a microsite to the next level. A low cost WordPress website, that dealers can edit and expand, with live embedded inventory. Remember that Wordpress allows dealers to leverage their brand on multiple DEALER OWNED domains with affordable CMS technology.

Automotive SEO Is Maturing

Automotive SEO challenges are changing in our industry. Our automotive website report (2009 ASMA) which will be published on November 1st, will be a forward indicator that will highlight companies that are changing the rules for content based SEO strategies.

This is the topic that I will be discussing at the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville which runs from November 1-3rd. I hope you can come to my seminar and be the first to get the ASMA report. (www.digitaldealerconference.com)

It is my conviction that the reason why sites like Edmunds.com, Automotive.com and Motortrend.com dominate so many national page one search for car models is fundamentally about good content. Over 90% of car dealer websites do not have 5 paragraphs of well written CONTENT on any one car that they sell. They may have features, specs and option lists but no real consumer targeted CONTENT.

With that in mind, the fact the forward thinking website platform providers are adding WordPress technology into their base platforms will be revolutionary. With the free plug-ins available for WordPress, car dealers can start to create attractive CONTENT so that when they drive consumers to their website via PPC, social media or SEO, they have compelling content as well as an interactive experience.

Looking forward into 2010, the saavy website providers will take away the criticism that their platforms don’t have on the fly page creation. They will include blogging software integration to leverage content based SEO strategies. Once that happens, dealers will be moving toward a common ground of SEO compliance.

This begs the question: What will SEO consultants be doing then?

Not Just META Tags & Titles

Once our industry moves to providing website platforms that are fully Google SEO compliant, we can move on to more important factors that drive traffic and conversion.

Allowing car dealers to add unlimited content pages without programming knowledge is the next big thing. Once the tools are in place for car dealers to have MORE control over their SEO destiny, they will come to the realization that they never hired someone on their staff to write good content, let alone follow “data directed” SEO content writing.

In 2010, I predict that the most valuable hire that progressive car dealers will make is an Internet Marketing Writer that is focused on automotive content building for their brand in their PMA.

This can be an internal employee or a consultant that has a cost effective content development team. These “writers” will take the new content based SEO tools, like WordPress, to new heights. Dealers will start to dominate their local markets with well written content that delivers SEO benefits as well as conversion benefits when social media drives traffic to their websites.

So let me repeat that: Hire someone who can write and understand the basics of Automotive SEO

This new role will compliment that work that other staff members in the dealership are doing to attractive more consumers to visit the dealership website using social media, PPC or other traditional media. It will be an interesting evolution as car dealers wake up to the fact that they can attract consumers via organic search through better content and well targeted content.

Social media and traffic driving strategies will ultimately rely on platforms that can deliver good landing pages with easy to edit content that in the end, creates a call to action. WordPress can do this unlike any HTML editor on any platform today but it is NOT the only technology solution. There are other options, but that is top secret.

Get ready for major shifts in SEO tools for 2010…the strategies will not change…however the teamwork with SEO consultants and dealer staff will never be more important!

Will I be out of a job? Never…but my role will change in 2010 for sure!!

If you are going to Digital Dealer in Vegas, make sure you come to my Halloween Party on the 31st, known as the Pasch Bash.

I hate to waste time but there are some things that you have to plan for just in case they happen.  Life insurance is one of those things that needs advance planning.

For Automotive SEO being the first to act can often be tipping point for success.  This is one of those times where car dealers who act now, may be rewarded this summer with greater organic search traffic.

If you have not been paying attention to the Cash for Clunkers legislation that is being considered in Washington, you should start reading.  You can visit www.cashforclunkersfacts.com  and read the news posts on the website for a quick briefing.

Since the bill is not assured of passing, you have to decide if you want to invest a little time to start to optimize your website for the eventual searches that will take place if the bill passes.  If the bill passes, it is estimated that there will be a surge of new car sales ; 1.4 million cars are some estimates being tossed around.

Survey of Consumer Interest

From the chart below, Toyota, Honda, Ford and Chevy dealers already have a considerable edge in consumer interest. The Toyota and Honda rankings did not surprise me but I was pleased to see that Ford and Chevy are the 3rd and4th most popular brands consumers are interested in if the bill passes.

If you are one of these four dealers, there are many clear reasons why your website should start talking about this legislation.  You can use the data on this chart to start a content marketing campaign that says that consumers are acknowledging your brand’s success in creating fuel efficient cars that people want to buy.

If you are not selling one of the top four manufacturers consumers are considering, if they will get a $4,500 cash voucher, then your attack plan is different.   The real question is that if you have 30-60 days in advance of the bill being signed, what will you do to educate consumers that your brand sells fuel efficient cars that qualify for this voucher.

Cash For Clunkers Dealer Badge

Consumer interest is high so I thought that I would share this insight with my blog readers so at least a group of car dealers would be prepared, if the bill is signed.  I have created a Cash for Clunkers Participating Dealer badge which you can add to your website and blog to start to create an awareness with consumers who visit your website.

To get the code to add the badge to your website, follow this link:

http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com/bill/dealer-cash-for-clunkers-badge

This badge can be linked to a page that you create that outlines your support of the bill and that consumers who want assistance with purchasing a new fuel efficient car should contact you.   Your dealership should be the FIRST in your area to call yourself a participating dealer which will start to raise questions about the bill and how you can help.

If the bill never passes, you will still be capturing new leads from consumer searches about the bill in your state if your content is optimized properly.  If the bill passes, a flood of new cars sales will be up for grabs and who is going to get the most sales, depends on your readiness.

So you have created an Automotive Microsite. What are your next steps? 

All websites that you own should have a sitemap and if the site is a blog, it should have a self-generating RSS feed like WordPress and Blogger creates.

That said, I also suggest that you setup the best free measurement and diagnostic  tools that will help you fine tune your automotive microsite marketing strategy.

Sitemap and RSS Registration

First on the list  is to create a free Google Webmaster Tools account and register the website’s sitemap. By doing this you can be alerted when links are broken.  You will also get basic diagnostics on your website. Google Webmaster Tools will give you insight into how Google sees your website and will report common errors like duplicate META descriptions.

Now head over to Yahoo which has a tool called  Site Explorer . Open a free account and register your sitemap and RSS feeds. Here you can register both your sitemap and your RSS feed if you have one.  This tool also has a more reliable inbound link counters to see how many web pages are linking to your site.

Lastly, head over to Microsoft Bing and setup a Webmaster account where you can register your sitemap and get feedback from their search engine.

Add Google Analytics

As an Automotive SEO consultant, I can’t encourage you enough to take advantage of Google Analytics which is free and provides a great deal of information about your visitor traffic and what they are doing on your website.  Google Analytics combined with Google Webmaster Tools is a great toolkit for fine tuning your SEO and content development strategies.

To install Google Analytics you will need the help of your website developer because the Analytics code has to be added to the bottom of every web page.  In the WordPress Microsites that we create, it takes only a minute to add the code to the footer.php  file.  Once this code is in place, you will start collecting valuable data on the people that come to your site.

Register Your Blog

Now that you have registered your sitemap and RSS feeds with the major search engines and have data tracking installed, you should register the website or blog with a few of the better directories.

If you have a microsite with blogging built in like WordPress, Blogger or NING, I would recommend you register your site with Technorati. There are also great blog sites like www.blogcatalog.com and www.bloghints.com.  

Technorati

Create a free account on Technorati and then go through the process to “claim” your blog. 

Follow the steps below to get it right the first time:

1. Create a Technorati Account.
2. Choose to Claim Your Blog.
3. Enter the URL of your Blog.
4. You will be given a piece of code to add to a blog post.  It looks something like this:
5.             <a href=”http://technorati.com/claim/8254cgryhm” rel=”me”>Technorati Profile</a>
6. Highlight and copy this code to your clipboard.
7. Create a blog “post” and not a page on your site. 
8. Switch to HTML mode and paste in the code they gave you.
9. Save the post.
10. Now go back to Technorati and  click to verify your claim. Technorati  will go to your blog and find the snippet of code you just added to a blog post.
11. Once you are verified, complete the details about your site that Technorati asks.
12. You can go back to your blog and delete that post you made to verify the Technorati claim.

In addition with Technorati, you should register you blog with other blog directory sites.  These will create additional inbound links to your site.  If your microsite is not a blog, there still are a number of great places to register your new site for inbound links. 

The key is not to just create a microsite and “hope” that everyone will find you.  Jump start your Internet marketing success with quality links to your new microsite.  Here are a few proven places to register your new microsite: www.merchantcircle.com, www.aboutus.org and www.insiderpages.com.