Every month I try to bring value to our dealers by offering useful information that will help dealers stay on top of their internet strategies. Today’s topic is PPC (Pay Per Click)/SEM (Search Engine Marketing). With 2014 right around the corner and budget discussions starting, it’s time to get a better understanding of how your ad spend is being utilized and how to hold your vendor or in house marketers accountable! Did you know that 95% of car dealers today are getting cheated out of their ad spend? The biggest issue I see in the auto industry is companies taking advantage of car dealers because of the lack of knowledge car dealers have in this area. It reminds me of SEO (search engine optimization) companies 5 years ago preying on car dealers to spend money on something that could not be measured effectively. I have audited over 300 dealers and 95% of them have a failing grade when it comes to their digital marketing efforts. Thankfully today, PPC/SEM can be effectively measured and I’m going to show you exactly how … Continue reading →
Category: Benefits
VCC 60 day trial
Virtual Credit Consultant Complimentary 60 Day Trial on DealerLab websites. Virtual Credit Consultant is a one-of-a-kind software developed specifically for auto dealers looking to pre-qualify customers utilizing TransUnion credit scores without credit impacting the consumer’s credit score or history. This application is 100% mobile adaptive! For your complimentary 60 day trial of Virtual Credit Consultant (VCC), you will receive the Lite version of the software. The Lite version of VCC is used as a lead based application. With the Lite VCC, you will receive the contact information for each visitor who fills out the application, however, there is not a soft credit pull and therefore you will not receive any credit scores. As well as their contact information, VCC is customizable, and you can choose to require many additional fields such as Date of Birth, SSN, Down Payment, and many more. First – DealerLab/PGI will be integrating this technology onto your website starting November 1st, 2013, free of charge for 60 days. The Virtyal Credit Consulatant will be replacing our standard finance application on your website. All links that previously … Continue reading →
Your Website Is Broken and You Don’t Even Know It
Earlier this year I wrote an article titled, “SEM to Dealer VDP Pages Is Like Throwing Money Out of The Window”. This article created a small stir in the industry because of its title, although its true intention was to ask dealers to take a deeper look into their website solution. As of September 2013, 35% of all traffic that comes to a car dealer’s website is via a mobile device. 98% of those car dealers are paying for a BROKEN mobile solution and don’t even know it. Google predicts by the end of 2014, this traffic will be nearing the 50% mark. Mobile first, desktop second. This should be the focus for car dealers today and their internet strategy. Being in the industry and always keeping a close eye on our competitors, let me show you some examples of exactly what I am referring to. Let it be known I am not “picking on any one provider” – I am just reporting the facts that this is an industry-wide problem hurting dealers and costing them business. There are a … Continue reading →