I’ve moved this blog to www.DealerInternet101.com and am updating this site using WordPress.org’s self hosting method.

Check it out @ www.dealerinternet101.com.

Thanks,

Patrick Workman

patrickworkman@gmail.com

206-334-7495

AIM: ddcpatrickw

The reason my site looks different is that I have recently changed how it is being hosted.  Yesterday I changed from WordPress.com to WordPress.org.  What’s the difference??

WordPress.com is a free service that is a hosted solution, which means that there is no software requirement.  No downloads.  No installation or server configurations.  It’s all done for you on the back end, behind the scenes.  To set it up you go to WordPress.com, sign up, and away to go.  The limitations of this option is that you can’t do much in the way of customization or use the thousands of plug-ins available for WordPress on the Internet.  The option works great though and if you can use email, you can use WordPress.com.

WordPress.org requires a software download and some server space.  I signed up for a web server account at BlueHost.com, which was $6.95/month.  Then I fumbled around trying to get the software installed on my server.  WordPress.org claims a ‘5-minute install’ on their software, but that must be for people that are more computer literate than me because I spent an hour trying to get it working with no luck.  The nicest thing I discovered was the WordPress Instal4Free Team.  After going to the site, you give them your contact information and then they email you a list of questions about your account, your server space, and so on.  Then they go to your server and install the software for you….at no charge!  It was crazy!  I spent an hour trying to get the software working, contacted a free install service, and within 20 minutes, my WordPress.org blog was up and running.  VERY COOL STUFF!!! 

I’ve bought and read WordPress for Dummies and it has helped me walk through most of fumbling I’ve experienced.  I’d recommend this book to anyone interested in setting up and creating a blog as it is a really good introduction and resource.  In addition to the book, the Google Search bar on my Firefox browser has been a great ‘help’ menu.

I decided to go the WordPress.org route in order to learn as much as possible about this blogging platform.  In the upcoming days, weeks, months, and years, I will be experimenting with different plugins and themes to get DealerInternet101.com to look and feel the way I want it to.  My initial plan was to have a rating system for each vendor on the site that could be used to truly identify the best of the best with user generated content.  That is still my goal, but it is going to involve more fumbling to get the thing to work.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the content and that you participate loudly and often!

Where is your dealership listed on Google’s Local Business Center Listings?  Are you listed?

Google’s Local Business Listings are part of Google’s ‘Universal Search’ that is attempting to blend local information with news, images, and videos for search terms.  Below is slide from David Kain’s JD Power Online Internet Roundtable Presentation that does an excellent job of showing the difference between paid, vertical, and organic listings on Google:

Getting listed in the paid search is simple.  Launch a pay-per-click marketing campaign and see your dealership listed as soon as Google processes your payment.   This is why Google’s stock price is in the $600+/share range.

If you want your website to be optimized in the organic listings, it is crucial that your website is being indexed properly by the search engines.  If your website has crazy graphics, flames, or purple gorillas holding balloons singing ‘Coom-by-ya‘, chances are your website isn’t going to be ranked very high by the search engines.  Search engines don’t have optical nerves like you and I  to see images and animation and frankly don’t have enough time to listen to your dealership’s website.  Before you do anything on your website, make sure it is inline with Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

If a website yells on the Internet and the search engines (and more importantly, your customers) don’t hear it, does it make a sound?

BUT…with vertical search, getting listed is as easy as getting Google the information they require for your website.  Through Google’s Local Business Center, you are able to take control of your dealership’s information and make sure that each department is listed correctly.  If you Google your dealership’s city, state, and franchise and don’t see yourself listed, make sure you click here and take control of your dealership’s vertical search results ASAP.  In addition to Google, I also recommend going to Yahoo!’s Local listings and doing the same thing.

Another thing to be aware of are the reviews that are being posted by your customers about their experiences at your dealership.  It only takes a few negative reviews to turn a potential customer off on your business so make sure that your customer reviews are as positive as possible.  Don’t be afraid to reach out to customers that have left negative feedback in order to right any wrongdoing they feel that they have experienced at your store.

A few minutes spent on this simple task could result in more traffic, leads, and visibility in the future.

This is an interesting concept that I came across today that could be a great way for dealerships and consumers to ‘meet up’ virtually before meeting on the lot…

SeeToo.com is currently in Beta mode, but you can sign up as a Beta tester on their website. The basic concept behind SeeToo is a shared chat room where you can watch a video simultaneously with the person you are chatting with. Imagine being able to interact in the same virtual room as your prospects by just sending them a link and sharing video walk-arounds of vehicles you compiled. I think the coolest part of this technology is the way that you could interact with your prospects in a private environment to discuss their vehicle purchase needs in a personalized manner.

I use WebEx’s Meeting Manager to show dealerships what our Internet Marketing Solutions can do for them on a daily basis and have often thought that this technology would be extremely useful for dealership and consumer conversations. Instead of doing a basic talk-around of your virtual inventory, a SeeToo or WebEx type environment allows you to really connect with your customers to SHOW them the ins-and-outs of your products. These products and services are available today and dealerships that take advantage of these new virtual sharing environments will be able to stay that much further ahead of the competition. I expect to see more video sharing services like SeeToo come out in the future that will allow you to connect with your customers on a different level.

If you are utilizing a service like SeeToo or WebEx at your dealership, please let us know because I’d love to hear how they are working for you!

Company Name: Higher Turnover

Company Website: www.higherturnover.com

Founded in April, 2005

Location: Portsmouth, VA

Our Founders: Robert “Jake” Jacobson and Raymond Bonneau founded Higher Turnover in early 2005. Jake worked for Autotrader.com at the time and has held several sales positions within the automotive classified industry including both Autotrader.com and Trader Publishing Company. Ray is an accomplished software engineer and patent holder with full life cycle responsibilities on products with revenue in excess of $100 million.

Our Mission: To provide the highest quality professional websites for the smaller independent auto dealers in an effort to level the playing field with the larger dealers and without the larger costs normally associated. This will be done with 100% satisfaction in a format which even a first-time internet user is comfortable using. The end result will be tremendous savings of both time and money, enabling the customer to grow their dealership into the efficient money-making entity they’ve dreamed of since starting their business.

Our Customers: We work with dealerships of all sizes across the United States. Our focus is on independent dealers who have limited experience with online marketing and a limited budget, but still want a high level of training.

Our Products: Higher Turnover has 4 core products. First and foremost is custom website design for automotive dealers. Other offerings are inventory/lead management systems, eBay Motors listing applications, and search engine marketing. Our entire suite of products has been developed in-house and with a particular breed of dealer in mind: the dealer who needs things simple. Our system is easy to use for anybody, regardless of technical ability, and in addition to making lives easier, we also save dealers a tremendous amount of time/money.