Let me assure you that anyone who has taken my Automotive SEO classes or attended my workshops, the strategies that these unnamed SEO companies implemented is NOT anything I would have recommended.

I made a video to help car dealers understand that good Automotive SEO strategies are compliant and effective. If you have any doubt, I’ll give you a few recent search marketing goals that I implemented.

Search these phrases and find the fingerprints of PCG and the AAN on some of the hottest new organic search goals which results in Google Page One results:

• Fiat Dealer
• Fiat 500 Dealers
• Fisker Dealers
• Fisker Karma California
• Fiat 500 Virginia
• Fiat 500 DC

Please focus on good content on your website, blogs, and microsites. If you have not seen the new AAN Content Syndication Dashboard, get a demo. Dealers need an authentic content generation and syndication strategy.

Watch The Automotive SEO Video

Automotive SEO is just a part of an overall effective digital marketing strategy; it is not the holy grail. Just don’t run from SEO investments because a few bad apples got the media to pay attention to digital marketing strategies!

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Can you increase total service appointments by 10-15% with an inexpensive change to your website?  Yes you can.

What would your service business and profits look like if you achieved these improvements over the next 60 days?

Fixed Operations, one of the most significant profit centers for a dealership, is often left behind when digital marketing strategies are discussed.  When a dealer realizes this and takes action, the results can be stunning.  Most of the online discussions regarding SEO, Video Marketing, and even Pay-Per-Click strategies deal with marketing new and used cars.  It is time to wake up the sleeping giant and take our Fixed Operations marketing game to the streets.

Many dealers use direct mail and email to market to existing customers or purchase third party lists to attract new customers.  However, the larger opportunity is the thousands of in market consumers that use the search engines to locate and shop for car service and repair facilities. Does social media play a role?  Yes it does! The combination of traditional marketing and innovative digital marketing for Fixed Operations is a game changer.

Check Your Fixed Operations Visibility

Google rewards those who act first and publish optimized content on a particular keyword goal.  Add to this fact that independent service organizations like Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Pep Boys, and Discount Tire have been left unchallenged by franchise dealers.

You can conduct a simple test in your own market by inspecting your own search visibility.

For example, if your dealership was in Boston, you would type in these searches to test your organic visibility:

• Boston Car Repairs
• Boston Tire Stores
• Boston Brakes
• Boston Oil Change

And type in these phrases to test your Pay-Per-Click (SEM) visibility:

• Tires Stores
• Discount Tires
• Oil Change Coupons
• Brake Stores
• Muffler Shop

Of course you can also add service searches that include your OEM brand.  If you do a search for “Honda Brakes Queens“, “Honda Radiator Queens“, or “Honda Oil Change Queens” you can see that Paragon Honda is #1 in organic ranking for their service microsite.  Fixed operations content publishing strategies can yield an annuity of leads with very low maintenance.

Google Instant will show you suggestions for what consumers are typing in your marketplace.  How did your testing go?

• Is your dealership showing in the Paid Search area (SEM)?
• Is your dealership showing the the Google Places area?
• Is your dealership showing up for videos, press releases, blog posts, or microsites in the organic SEO area?

If Fixed Operations is a major profit center for dealers why is Google Adwords, Google Places, and Google Organics often a low priority in Fixed Operations budgets?

Thinking Out Of The Box

How many search optimized videos have you created to promote your service offerings?

Checkered Flag in Virginia Beach is a dealership that invests in video and their value messaging is strong. Check out their video enhanced landing page for their body shop:

Virginia Beach Body Shop.

When you start to publish videos on Fixed Operations, not only do you service landing pages come alive but your videos can also be found in organic Search.    Here are two examples of videos that were created to increase search visibility for oil changes:

• Checkered Flag
• Rairdon Group

If you search “Virginia Beach Oil Change” Checkered Flag’s video is on Google Page One. Search “Jeep Oil Change Seattle” and the same result occurs for Rairdon’s video. These were the search phrases that these videos were optimized for.

For fun, search in Google: “Virginia Fiat 500” .  You will find a video I recorded last week.  Can you see how video marketing can increase the visibility for the cars you sell and the services you offer?

Any single video may be only viewed a few hundred times a year, but what happens when you publish a dozen videos, two dozen videos, each optimized for a particular keyword?  The combination of videos, blogs, microsites and content optimization together can yield an annuity of leads and business for your Fixed Operations profit center.

Fixed Ops Marketing Workshop

At the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp I will be leading an extended session on Fixed Operations Digital Marketing. I will be sharing my proven marketing strategies specifically designed for Fixed Operations for the first time!

Attendees are advised to bring their laptop computers and a login to their website and/or microsite because changes that will be implemented right in class will start to improve dealership search visibility.  As part of the workshop I will be demonstrating the tool, techniques, and strategies that can be implemented to:

• increase service appointments
• increase overall service revenue
• engage the independent service centers in your market
• Increase the paths to your dealership website for service inquiries

Fixed Operations Directors and Marketing Directors should be attending the Boot Camp and this is just one of the reasons why you should register.  Your investment to attend the Boot Camp will be well rewarded in the next 60 days as dealers implement winning marketing strategies for SEO, SEM, Video, and online service appointments.  Are you ready to make super-charge your fixed operations business model?

As an added opportunity for Boot Camp attendees, Rob Fontano from John Marazzi Motors in Florida, will be demonstrating his video marketing techniques in a separate presentation during the CAR-MERCIAL Technology Showcase.  Learn from the best and find out why John Marazzi’s video publishing strategy is a winning marketing investment.  Video search marketing is affordable and scalable once you understand the strategy.

Boot Camp – April 16-18th in Orlando

Make the decision to invest in Fixed Operations Marketing and register for the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp today.  April 16-18th in Orlando.  http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com

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Automotive SEO experts JD Rucker, Ananth Godavari, and Brian Pasch will be among industry experts at the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.   With recent changes in how Google displays organic search results, these three experts will share with car dealers how to adjust their SEO strategies to best leverage these changes.

Automotive SEO and Reputation Management strategies go hand in hand with the recent integration of Google Places data into organic search results.  The team of SEO experts will discuss Google Places optimization as well as current developments for integrating customer reviews into the sales and service process.

The 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will be held at the beautiful Hilton Orlando from April 16-18th. The Boot Camp will attract car dealers from the United States, Canada, England, and Australia. In addition to these Automotive SEO thought leaders, the Boot Camp will attract leaders in paid search (SEM), social media, lead management, reputation management, customer services, and winning sales processes.

The 2011 Boot Camp offers car dealers an intimate setting for education, interaction, and personalized coaching.  The conference will include ample opportunity for networking since all meals are included in the Boot Camp agenda and registration fee.

2011 Automotive Boot Camp Speakers

The Boot Camp has invited dealers who have implemented winning digital marketing and operations processes at their dealership to share their knowledge with attendees.  In addition, the Boot Camp has attracted active leaders in the automotive industry that are passionate about dealer education.  As snapshot of the speakers scheduled for the Boot Camp include:

• Rob Fontano – eCommerce Director at Marazzi Motors
• Erin Touponse – Director of Communications for the Harte Auto Group
• Tracy Myers – GM at Frank Myers AutoMaxx
• JD Rucker, Director of New Media at TK Carsites
• Paul Potratz – COO Potratz Advertising
• Andrew DiFeo – GM at Hyundai of St. Augustine
• Timothy Martell – Internet Director Albrecht Auto Group
• Eric Miltsch – eCommerce and Social Media Director Auction USA
• Jerry Thibeau – CEO of Phoneup Ninjas
• Alex Snyder – Product Development at Dealer.com
• Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing
• Jeff Kershner- Director of Marketing Younger Motor Cars
• Glenn Pasch, COO of PCG Digital Marketing
• Gary May, CEO of IM@CS
• Keith Shetterly – Automotive Industry Consultant
• Matt Murray, Director of Digital Marketing at Dealer.com
• Sean Wolfington, Partner Tier 10 Marketing
• AJ LeBlanc – Co-Founder of CAR-MERCIAL

Boot Camp Registration

Register for the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp by visiting this link: Conference Registration. The registration fee is $895 per person which includes all 8 meals during the Boot Camp.

The registration fee also includes all materials, event access, and online marketing resources posted after the Boot Camp is completed. Attendees are advised to fly into Orlando by 1:00 pm so that they can enjoy the kick-off round table discussions with industry experts which start at 4:00 pm.

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The Boot Camp provides hands on tactical training for Internet Marketing, social media, lead management, phone handling, video SEO, reputation management, Google Places optimization, blogging content creation, as well as Automotive SEO.

Workshop Leaders Include Dealer Principals

This year’s workshop leaders include dealer principals and dealership employees that have stood above their peers in achieving excellence in their dealership’s digital marketing and sales strategies. Workshop leaders include Jeffrey Kershner, Andrew DiFeo, Darren Haygood and Timothy Martell.

The Boot Camp is also attracting popular speakers with specialized skills including Jerry Thibeau, Brian Pasch, Sean Wolfington and Alex Snyder.

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp delivers the knowledge skills dealers need to create, execute and manage effective dealership processes.  New to this year’s program will be added seminars on back-end marketing; how to better handle phone calls and leads to maximize lead conversion. The boot camp is perfect for General Managers and Internet Sales Managers. Last year, Boot Camp attendees posted rave reviews of their investment of time for this event

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp is very unique and effective because participants receive preparation materials in advance of the class and come fully prepared to engage in actual demonstrations.  Participants use their own accounts during the classes so that they can then continue to work with them on their own long after the boot camp.

Save on Registration For One Week Only

Learn more about the Boot Camp and register online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com .  Dealers can save $100 on registration fees by registering during February 1-7, 2011, which coincides with the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference and 2011 NADA Convention.

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The Automotive SEO study is currently in session and began on September 1, 2010.  The study runs until January 1^{st ,}2011.    The study includes 100 dealer professionals who are being trained and coached on how to use content publishing, link building, social media, video, PDF brochures, and automotive networks to improve their Google Page One results for popular consumer search phrases.

100 Dealers Participate in Automotive SEO Study

The 100 dealers have been given access to winning digital marketing strategies, training videos, marketing outlines, tutorials, and websites managed by PCG Digital Marketing and DrivingSales.com to enhance the results of their work. In return, members in the study are going to share the results of their work at the 2011 NADA Convention and will be included in a whitepaper being prepared by PCG Digital Marketing and DrivingSales.com.

“The Automotive SEO Study is the first of its kind”, according to Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing.   “The partnership with DrivingSales.com, the leading automotive social media community, is consistent with founder Jared Hamilton’s goal to provide digital marketing curriculums and best practices to assist automotive retailers with online advertising and communications.”

Monthly updates during the four month study, as well as the final results, will be shared with members of www.DrivingSales.com. Car dealers interested in the results of this study should create a free account on Drivingsales.com and follow the progress of their peers through the interactive blogs and dealership forums.

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Eric Mayhew is the Manager of Advertising Products at Dealer.com, the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry, and will be instructing two classes on Google Pay-Per-Click fundamentals. 

The first class, Google Adwords Fundamentals, will demonstrate how dealers can leverage paid search to create a comprehensive search marketing solution.  This first class will be a hands-on setup of a Google Adwords campaign and a review of the many parameters that dealers can use to create effective marketing campaigns.   This class is a MUST for dealers that are outsourcing their PPC since it will help their understanding and inspect what is being done (or not done).

Next, Mayhew will be leading a class on Adwords strategies to help dealers understand if they have been wasting money in PPC.  In this class, attendees will learn to develop a targeted keyword strategy for their dealership that is also free from waste.

A complete description of Mayhew’s classes can be found online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/instructors/

Mayhew will be among 5 Automotive Marketing experts who will be sharing best practices and hands-on skills training.  The roster of speakers also includes JD Rucker, a leading automotive social media expert and CMO of TK Carsites, Paul Rushing and Brian Pasch, respected leaders in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, and Tim Jennings, an 18 year veteran in the automotive industry who will be leading classes on video optimization online for increased traffic and sales.

The full roster of speakers and class descriptions can be found online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/instructors/

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will be 2 hours in length and offers attendees 10 hands-on classes which will deliver the abilities dealers need to understand, manage and catapult their online marketing strategy to the next level.  Every participant will be required to bring a laptop since the boot camp will feature hands on skills training.  This will enable participants to take back to their dealership and implement what they learned in class.

Registration is limited to 75 seats per class and is filling up quickly.  Automotive Principals, General Managers, General Sales Managers or Internet Sales Managers are encouraged to register online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/paypal

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Attendees to the class will learn how to optimize videos of model walk-arounds, customer testimonials and incentive pricing specials at this highly informative Video SEO training and hands-on workshop.

Learn more about their class by watching the short intro video below:

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A January 21^st Internet Marketing webinar hosted by Pasch and DealersEdge.com will present valuable insight to help dealers allocate Internet ad budgets more effectively and efficiently. 

 Topics to be covered during the webinar include:

•  Latest trends and best strategies in Dealership Internet Marketing for 2010
• How to measure the ROI from the various Internet Marketing Options available
• If Social Media is a useful advertising medium for your dealership
• Are Twitter and Facebook generating any real business for auto dealers
• How much staff time is needed to effectively implement a Digital Marketing plan
• The really big issue – What percentage of my budget should be allocated to digital marketing techniques and opportunities.
• And much, much more…

According to a recent survey underwritten by PCG, a significant number of auto dealers will be increasing the percentage of their ad budgets devoted to Internet Marketing and other non-traditional media in 2010.

The same survey found that 40% of dealers surveyed had less than 20% of their ad budget allocated to digital marketing in the past. With so little previously spent on Internet marketing, and many large increases planned – many dealers will need some coaching on where and how to allocate these new Internet Marketing investments.

On January 21^st Brian Pasch will answer these questions and disclose the best Internet marketing opportunities that are worthy of dealer interest.  Dealers will learn how to allocate their advertising budgets properly to take full advantage of the most proficient opportunities on the net.

The 90 minute webinar will be recorded and a download of the entire program will be made available to every attendee at no additional charge – So dealers can review the marketing suggestions and share it with fellow dealership managers and marketing planners.

Registration is $298 and can be completed online at: http://www.dealersedge.com/pasch

The Pasch Consulting Group is also co-sponsoring an Automotive Marketing Boot Camp on February 12^th in Orlando, one day prior to the official start of the 2010 NADA Convention.  The one day hands-on skills based training will include classes in social media, search engine optimization, video marketing, pay-per-click marketing and microsites.

Automotive professionals looking to enhance their 2010 digital marketing strategies are encourage to fly into Orlando a day early and attend the Boot Camp.  The event will be held at the Rosen Centre Hotel adjacent to the Convention hall.

Boot Camp classes will be lead by the industry’s leading experts in all categories, including Brian Pasch, JD Rucker, Eric Mayhew, Paul Rushing and Tim Jennings.  Pasch is also taking appointments from dealer professionals who want to meet with him to discuss digital marketing strategy development for 2010. 

Complete information on the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp can be found online at: http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com 

About the Brian Pasch and the Pasch Consulting Group

Brian Pasch is a veteran marketing expert and a noted expert in the field of Automotive SEO and Internet marketing. His career has spanned both management and technology roles.

He continues to lead research into Digital Marketing platforms. PCG continually tests new digital marketing strategies which can provide a cost effective channels for business advertising and lead generation.

PCG works for and with an ever-growing number of auto dealers and dealer groups from all over the country to maximize results of their digital marketing efforts.

http://www.dealer-seo.com

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Seating for the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp is limited to 75 attendees to offer a small and intimate classroom setting.  Registration is required and the few remaining seats will be offered on a first come first serve basis for the remaining registrants. 

Automotive Principals, General Managers, General Sales Managers or Internet Sales Managers are encouraged to register online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/paypal

Six Automotive Marketing leaders have come together to lead this one day series of classes for automotive professionals who want to hone their skills and knowledge in Automotive Digital Marketing. 

The Boot Camp will cover important elements of automotive digital marketing strategies: social media, blogging, video, microsites, link building, content creation, SEO and pay-per-click marketing.    Every participant will be required to bring a laptop since the boot camp will feature hands on skills training.  This will enable participants to take back to their dealership and implement what they learned in class

Instructors include JD Rucker, a leading automotive social media expert and CMO of TK Carsites. Paul Rushing and Brian Pasch, respected leaders in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, will lead classes on microsites marketing and digital marketing strategy.  Tim Jennings and Matt O’Such will lead seminars on video marketing and optimization. Eric J.B. Mayhew, Manager of Advertising Products at Dealer.com, will lead a class on managing and leveraging Google Adwords to increase sales for your dealership.

The combination of these industry leaders will give attendees a firm grasp on the most effective digital marketing strategies for 2010.  Dealers are encouraged to send 2 employees so that they can cover all of the courses offered at the Boot Camp.

Complete class descriptions can be found online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/instructors/

About the Brian Pasch and the Pasch Consulting Group

Brian Pasch is a veteran marketing expert and a noted expert in the field of Automotive SEO and Internet marketing. His career has spanned both management and technology roles.

He continues to lead research into Digital Marketing platforms. PCG continually tests new digital marketing strategies which can provide a cost effective channels for business advertising and lead generation.

PCG works for and with an ever-growing number of auto dealers and dealer groups from all over the country to maximize results of their digital marketing efforts.

http://www.dealer-seo.com

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At the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp in Orlando, I will be conducting a workshop on how to create powerful link building strategies for your automotive websites; primary and your microsites. Every dealer should have over 1,000 links to their main site and hundreds of links to their microsites over time.

If you build them manually, using a well thought out plan and leveraging high PageRank websites, you will see that your website and microsites will start to rank ahead of your competition.  Attendees to the Boot Camp will also get some exclusive free links from websites that I have compiled and in class we’ll create new links that will help with your Automotive SEO strategy.

Links Create Votes For Your Website

When you create a blog or a microsite and post a well written article, there is no immediate reason why the search engines should respect your new site or the content of the article. Sites that have already established search engine “respect” can see their new articles on Google Page one very quickly, think CNN or the Huffington Post.

One way to establish respect for the content on your microsite is to start a link building strategy. In simple terms, a hyper-link from a good website pointing to your home page or article is a “vote” for your microsite. The word(s) that are hyper-linked and the title tag of that hyper-link helps to establish what the vote is about.

If you have a blog article about Nissan Extended Warranty plans and you are able to build links from other reputable websites to this specific article with hyper-linked text like:

• Nissan Extend Warranty
• Nissan Warranty Plans
• Car Warranty Plans
• Nissan OEM Warranty Plans
• Nissan Security Plus Warranty Prices

then you have created votes for a few combinations of what consumers may type into Google to find your page. The more links to your microsite or blog from reputable sources with good tags is beneficial for your organic search rankings. The challenge is to find the best places to create these external links. The related challenge is how to insert links that the search engines will follow.

I don’t want to get too technical but when you find places to post a comment, a blog entry or a new story, with a hyperlink in the text, some of these websites will intercept the hyperlink and add a “nofollow” tag. This tells the search engines no to grant any link “juice” from the main website to your blog or microsite. So not all links are equal and you have to “view the page source” to see if they are adding the “nofollow” tag. If the site is add a “nofollow” tag look elsewhere.

Link Building Company Scams

I get about 5 emails a day from companies claiming to be able to build high quality links from India, the UK or some remote destination for a few hundred dollars. Some of these companies confuse the issue by claiming that they are ISO certified and offer a wide range of “reputable” services. The majority of these emails are scammers and more importantly, companies claiming to understand Automotive SEO when in fact they do not.

If you want to build quality links to your main dealer website or any website that you own to increase its rankings, you need to be able to verify that the links that are being considered by the search engines. Let me say that again. If you hired someone to build links to your website, you should be able to find them using the Yahoo “link:” command. The Yahoo link command works better than the Google link command, just accept that for now.

Also, if you want to find good places to create links, check out all your competitors websites using the Yahoo “link:” command and see which websites are pointing to their domain. You will find a number of sites that you never heard of that you may be able to create an account and create a similar post, directory entry or comment.

You snoop by going to Yahoo.com and in the search box type: link:www.autodealer.com , where “autodealer.com” is the website of your competitor. Take a look at the “inlinks” to see which websites have links to their site.

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