News

On June 25, 2009 the stakes to be in the Cash for Clunkersadvertising game just got higher.  Google Adwords costs skyrocketed over 1000% in a matter of days; I was able to get my ads in position one, Google page one for 12 cents a click,  before Obama signed the bill. 

The only consistent advertisers for the term Cash for Clunkers in the prior weeks was Edmunds.com and our company for www.cashforclunkersfacts.com.  Now the page is filled with Pay-Per-Click ads from national brands; some have good ads and others do not.   I’m surprised that some manufacturers have PPC ads going to landing pages that just suck.  

I think GM and Ford are doing to best job  with Cash for Clunkers landing pages right now and Mazda is one of the worst.  Their landing page doesn’t even mention the CARS program.

Automotive Microsites

Our advance planning was rewarded us well which shows that WordPress automotive microsites can compete with the big boys if you plan in advance.  In fact one day our website received over 70,000 vistors and is now averaging over 40,000 visitors a day.  This is good news because the program has not even started and we are on Google Page One, in the top spot for the term “Cash for Clunkers”.

We are also at the top of the search results for other related phrases like:

• Cash for Clunkers Florida
• Cash for Clunkers Ford
• Cash for Clunkers Chevrolet
• Cash for Clunkers Toyota
• Cash for Clunkers Fort Worth

First Responders Get Rewarded in Automotive SEO

Brian Pasch has been advocating for the last two months that dealers get a jump start on the bill through blog articles on Automotive Digital Marketing, Driving Sales, Automotive SEO as well as this website.  Few dealers were willing to step out in advance of the bill becoming signed into law.  Those who took my advice are at the top of organic search results.

We were the first company to come up with a marketing logo to help car dealers communicate with consumers about the upcoming legislation.  Today, hundreds of car dealers are using our marketing logo to draw attention to the program and get consumers to call.  We have offered to use of the logo to as many companies related to the auto industry as have contacted us for permission.  Dealers can download logo here.

You can go to Google and Type “Cash for Clunkers Phoenix” and see that Bell Honda is #1 in the state for ALL brands.  If you type into Google “Honda Cash for Clunkers Arizona“  you will see that Bell Honda is #1 again.  Hats off to Travis Holt for his foresight into planning ahead for strong Honda car sales in Arizona.

Budget For SEO and SEM

Car dealers know that the official start date of the CARS program will not be until the end of July.  That gives dealers approximately three weeks from today to put in a plan that can have some real search visibility by the end of July.

Dealers should consider building an organic marketing plan today as well as budgeting for an SEM campaign.  We have seen some impressive SEM ideas from ADP that dealers should consider.  You can contact Ralph Paglia about ADP advertising packages that can be up and running quickly.

The PCG Digital Marketing can assist dealers with on-site and off-site SEO strategies like press releases, blogging and dealer profile pages on www.cashforclunkersfacts.com. A dealer profile page is optimized for your brand, state and city.  Here are two examples of dealer profile pages:

• http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com/dealers/california/nissan-cars/los-angeles
• http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com/dealers/texas/chevy-cars/fort-worth-chevrolet-cash-for-clunkers 

In the end, our marketing plan was to educate consumers and to motivate those with an old clunker to get in and buy a new car with the limited time offer that CARS presents to consumers.  If you need help implementing an effective online organic marketing plan, call us at 732-450-8200