News

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.

Are you looking for an inexpensive way to get training from top industry professionals on social media and mobile marketing?  Are you looking to leverage your time out of the dealership to achieve a maximum result? 

The Fall 2009 Digital Dealer Conference being held this November in Nashville will cover the latest trends in automotive marketing strategies.  Included on the 2009 Fall Roster are Stan Bradbury and Ralph Paglia, two experts in the field of advanced Automotive marketing strategies.

Social Media

Social media networking strategies have exploded among all businesses nationwide, and car dealers are no exception.   Social networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter are now considered must have staples of any successful marketing strategy. 

Ralph Paglia will be speaking at this year’s Digital Dealer Conference and will showcase actual dealership implementations of social media marketing and reputation management strategies. Attendees will learn how to measure performance and track the results required for increases in sales and profits.

Ralph Paglia is responsible for business development at ADP’s Digital Marketing Group.  Paglia helped establish strategic alliances for ADP with digital marketing enterprises such as Google, Yahoo!, KBB, Specific Media, Jumpstart, DealerRater, Ning and DoubleClick.   Ralph has over 20 years of automotive experience including Reynolds Consulting Practice Leader and several dealership management positions.

Mobile Marketing

Digital Dealer Conference attendees will also have the pleasure of learning from mobile communications expert Stan Bradbury.  Bradbury is the co-founder and president of Dealer Text Solutions, the first company to develop comprehensive text messaging solution for automotive retailers and service centers, and the co-founder of CallBoost, the leading provider of 1-800 vanity phone numbers to auto retailers.

Bradbury will lead a discussion entitled Get Ahead by Becoming a Leader in Mobile Communications, which will show dealers how to turn text messaging into the most value sales tool within their mobile marketing campaign. 

Book Now

This year’s Digital Dealer Conference takes place in Nashville, TN, November 1^st-3^rd.   Readers who book early can get invited to my Halloween Party in Nashville.

Car dealers who would like to learn more about the Digital Dealer Conference or wish to register to attend can visit http://www.digitaldealerconference.com for more information.

About the Digital Dealer Conference

The annual Digital Dealer Conference attracts hundreds of dealership attendees that are looking to learn more about Internet and technology-related issues.  Speakers who are experts in the field of Automotive Digital Marketing present seminars which help forward thinking dealerships stay ahead of the ever changing technology curve.   For registration or sponsorship opportunities, visit http://www.digitaldealerconference.com

The next Digital Dealer Conference is scheduled to run from November 1-3, 2009 in Nashville and registration for the event can be completed online at www.digitaldealerconference.com .  I will be coming back to speak at the conference for the second time; my seminar will be focused on Automotive SEO – Effective Content Strategies.

I had a great time speaking in Las Vegas at the last Digital Dealer Conference and I was honored to be invited back and recognized as one of the top 5 rated speakers at the previous conference.  Now that I have a better understanding for the format of the conference, I will be preparing some special surprises to make the seminar more interactive.

From the Digital Dealer Conference Website, the organizers include some feedback from participants that attended my last seminar that included:

• “Awesome!”
• “Brilliant”
• “Great presentation”
• “Best class I attended all day”

I’ll be working hard to live up to these high accolades.  I take it seriously that professionals take their time out of the office at a significant cost to attend these important conferences.  If anyone is attending the conference and would like to suggest topics that I include in my presentation, just give me a call or send an email to: info@paschconsulting.com

Cash for Clunkers Is A Perfect Content SEO Case Study

The PCG Digital Marketing has found great success with content based SEO strategies for car dealers.  We have been able to leverage content to increase the visibility for car dealers which translates into more traffic, leads and sales.  One of the greatest recent examples of Content SEO was our Cash for Clunkers microsite project.  The website was an experiment to see how content combined with our Automotive SEO strategies could work to create a nationally dominate website.

At the peak of the Cash for Clunkers frenzy, our website located at www.cashforclunkersfacts.com had over 120,000 unique visitors in one day.  Over the course of 60 days, the website had over 7 million page views from consumers, dealers and I suspect the NHTSA.  This is a perfect case study for the upcoming seminar to see how content based SEO strategies can propel a website to high visibility in the major search engines.

Renaissance Nashville Hotel

The 7th Annual Digital Dealer Conference will be held at the Renaissance Nashville Hotel located at 611 Commerce Street.  Conference room rates, while supply lasts, are $129 per night up until September 18th.  If you are attending the conference, I recommend that you book your rom early.

The Renaissance Nashville Hotel is located in the business district and is connected to the Convention Center. The conference hotel is within walking distance of the Sommet Center, LP Field, B.B. King’s Blues Club, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, Schermerhorn Symphony Center and Historic Second Avenue District.

This vibrant Nashville luxury hotel has a 24-hour fitness center in case sitting all day at seminars messes with your exercise schedule.  I just hope that their high speed Internet is truly high speed.  For additional information about the hotel, you can contact them at the numbers below:

611 Commerce Street
Nashville, Tennessee 37203 USA
Phone: 1-615-255-8400
Fax: 1-615-255-8202
Toll-free: 1-800-327-6618