Ever since consumers started using the Internet to find product pricing and information on cars, third party lead providers have outperformed car dealers in reaching local consumers on the Internet.
Third party lead providers have been successful in getting their websites in front of consumers searching on the Internet and collecting their information and car buying preferences.
Their automotive advertising and digital marketing strategies have been beating car dealers at their own game for years.
In recent years, lead collectors have branched into the car inventory advertising business. Some of these models are free and others are paid services. Car dealers were not fully told what would happen when they gave their inventory to these national websites to advertise. They were told that it was good for their business and they believed that.
Once third party websites collect consumer information, these leads are then sold to multiple car dealers. The lead distribution process negatively affects the closing ratio of third party leads because multiple dealers are competing at the same time for the buyer’s attention.
As dealers have realized that their own websites are being pushed off Google Page One for popular searches, some dealers have decided to fight back. These dealers were looking to increase first party leads and exclusive leads that will increase their closing ratios and gross profit. They embarked on new Automotive Advertising strategies which have met with mixed success.
However, these same dealers have found that taking on third party lead collectors and advertising websites is a difficult challenge. Third party lead collectors have had a 10 year head start and their websites are highly ranked because of their age, traffic and the number of sites that link to their pages. Dealers’ biggest challenge is to find ways to increase links and traffic to their primary website.
Third Party Marketing Hurts Dealer Visibility
Third party lead collectors also have clever tactics to increase the visibility of their websites and grab leads from local consumers that are searching for a local car dealer. Some of these tactics include:
- Creating a business directory page for every car dealer in the United States. These optimized pages on the dealership name have lead collection forms which are sold to competitors.
- Establishing car dealer review program that has a review page for every car dealer in the United States. These optimized pages on the dealership name have lead collection forms and advertising from competitors.
- Publishing blind inventory listing pages for every car dealer in the US which appear to list cars from the dealer but in fact it lists cars from competing local car dealers.
- Creating website pages for every brand of car and every city in the United States which are optimized to appear when consumers type in broad searches for cars in the towns that surround a dealer’s location.
- Purchasing OEM keywords using Google Adwords to make their website appear to be local when in fact they are choosing keywords to benefit from local dealers advertising budgets.
- Advertising car dealer’s inventory and including ads from competitors and OEM’s to create multiple opportunities to capture leads and divert traffic using car dealer assets.
A car dealer’s most valuable asset is their brand name. Their business name is being used against them by third parties using clever search engine optimization strategies. For most car dealers, doing a search on their business name will reveal multiple third party lead collection websites on Google Page One.
Dealers who search for their OEM brand (make and model) and the local city name will also be shocked to see how many Adwords campaigns are targeting their store. This occurrence is not by chance and is not illegal; it’s just an eye opener on those who seek to leverage a dealer’s name and OEM brand for profit.
The second most valuable asset is a car dealer’s inventory. Dealers have been take advantage of by many so called “free” advertising websites that list car dealer inventory. These free advertising models promised greater leads and visibility for car dealers. Most have fallen far short of that promise and in fact are just generating advertising revenue for the website owner. By participating in some third party advertising models they have weakened their search dominance in their local markets.
Car Dealers Fight Back
Dealers have resorted to Search Engine Marketing (Google Adwords) to fight back against third party lead collectors but this can be expensive in most markets. As soon as spending stops so does the dealers visibility.
Dealers have also attempted to use Search Engine Optimization (Automotive SEO) to fight back but this is a long term strategy and third party lead collectors have a head start. Dealers often abandon SEO investments because they have measured results based on changes in their rankings over 30, 60 and 90 days. A strong SEO strategy is best measured in years not months. Third party lead collectors another edge; they are counting on dealers to be inpatient with SEO because it’s their secret weapon built over the past 10 years.
Webinar Outline
Car dealers wanting to increase first party leads are not without hope. Brian Pasch will guide car dealers on strategies that will allow them to increase first party leads and increase the search authority of their websites. The webinar will introduce new automotive inventory advertising solutions that add value, authority and visibility.
Brian will also share best practices for website optimization that can be implemented at no cost to dealers using their existing staff and resources. Don’t be one of the dealers that are defeated by third party attacks. Fight back and attend this important webinar.
On July 22, 2010 webinar attendees will learn:
- How to identify the sources that are attacking your dealership brand and equity.
- Establishing processes to resolve each source of attack.
- How to measure the effectiveness of inventory advertising vendors that may be pushing your website off Google Page One.
- How to create an offense strategy to regain Page One dominance for your local markets.
- How to create a defensive strategy against future attacks on your brand name and the cars you sell.
- How to increase high quality links to your primary website to increase its search authority.
- How to create powerful local advertising websites for the cars that you sell to compliment sales from your primary website.
To register, click here: Dealers Edge Webinar
Bonus
Dealers interested in have their websites reviewed by Brian Pasch prior to the webinar can send their primary website names to brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com with the subject DealersEdge Webinar Analysis. Brian and his team will review some elements of your search marketing authority and include some direct feedback prior to the webinar. Deadline for submissions is July 19, 2010.
