The 2011 ASMAs are broken out into three categories:

• Vendor Solutions
• Industry Best Practices
• Industry Leadership

2011 ASMA Winners

• Dealer.com (Best Social Media Software)
• Brickell Honda (Best Online Reputation Management)
• Lebanon Ford Lincoln Mercury (Best Facebook Engagement)
• Scott Monty, Ford Motor Company (Automotive Social Media Leadership)

The 4^th annual Automotive Website Awards (AWA) are created by PCG Digital Marketing, recognized leaders in automotive digital marketing strategies.  For 2011, PCG Digital Marketing recognized the industry’s best website platforms across five different categories: design, technology, search marketing, mobile websites and mobile applications.

The Automotive Website Awards seek to provide car dealers with an unbiased evaluation of automotive website platforms and integrated search marketing tools.  The 2011 AWA study included a review of over 50 automotive website providers.

This year’s published study includes 160 pages of valuable information regarding automotive website platform choices, search marketing performance, design, technology, social media and mobile applications. The report is the industry’s reference guide for the best in automotive website technology, design and marketing.

Dealers can purchase the 160 page buyer’s guide to help them with their purchasing decisions in the year ahead by visiting the official AWA website.

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Jason discussed the benefits that dealers can realize today from business intelligence tools based on consumer shopping behavior on the Internet.

The level of detail of each Internet consumer varies based on Dataium’s relationship with the websites the consumer visits.  Dataium has partnered with OEM’s, dealers, social media platforms, and automotive website providers to place their tracking code on their websites.  

Google on the other hand provides free data on “assisting websites” as part of Google Analytics Multi Channel Sales Funnels, which I will discuss in greater detail in a minute.   The data that Google Analytics would provide is at a basic level, like “consumer A” visited YouTube and then Craigslist prior to hitting a dealer website. The software can then help you define the top Conversion Paths taken by consumers which is very valuable information for prioritzing your advertising investments. 

The Dataium code is designed to identify and track consumer behavior at a higher level of detail.   Dataium tracking would know which specific pages on a website were viewed.  Tapping this data to create automated actionable business rules in a dealer’s CRM system will change the face of sale sales, service, and digital marketing.

Recovering Leads In Your CRM System 

One application of cloud based business intelligence tools I considered was helping dealers recover value in the thousands of leads that their sales staff have marked  “unworkable” or “dead” in their CRM system.  This ia a major CRM challenge for dealer principals since their BDC has such power over marking leads.

Each month dealers receive new leads to work directly from their website or through 3^rd party providers. I don’t have to remind dealers that sales professionals love to cherry pick leads. Consumer leads that are past their “prime” are left alone for more promising, current month leads. 

If human labor was not involved, wouldn’t it be powerful to be notified that when your “unworkable consumers” are back online shopping for a car somewhere else?

How Big Is The Potential Network?

Imagine if this network of websites included Autotrader.com, KBB.com, Cars.com, Ebay.com, Edmunds.com, Motortrend.com, OEM websites, automotive chat communities, and website that could provide actionable data like banking or credit websites.   

Imagine a day when your sales team is notified that former customer Ms. Jones, that was marked unworkable in your CRM, took 3 minutes to view the product pages for a 2012 Jeep Wrangler on Jeep.com today.  Imagine how the sales process will change if the notification also reported that Ms. Jones had also visited Autotrader.com today and viewed nine Vehicle Detail Pages (VDP) on 2010 and 2011 used Jeep Wrangler. 

What would your chance of reconnecting with this in-market shopper prior to this new type of automated tracking and business intelligence tools?  Slim to none. 

Imagine the power of a phone call that comes from your sales team, triggered by this data, that starts with, “Ms. Jones, I know you contacted our dealership a few months back about a Jeep and I was just calling you back to see if you are still in the market and if we can assist you?”

Smart Data Warehousing Powers Dataium Model

The key to making this concept work is to connect thousands of websites that collect consumer information.  As consumers submit lead forms, their IP address is associated with a data record.  Most lead forms have basic contact information, phone numbers and email addresses.

If you have access to enough consumer data you can start matching this data back to consumer records and activity on other websites.

In addition to lead forms, cookies left on the consumer’s browser can provide websites with a rich data stream of which websites the consumer previously visited.  This concept creates a data warehouse that will change the face of online sales.  Read ahead and let’s see how this may play out.

Changing The Costs Of Customer Engagement and Retention 

Dealers can’t afford to call their aged leads with the hope they will find the 2-3% of the list that are still in the market for a car.  Dealers can’t afford to call their existing customers back every month asking if they are in the market for a car.

The day is quickly coming when dealers will be notified when their customers and prospects are engaging in automotive shopping behavior. This alert will allow them to insert their business back into the sales cycle.

Automotive sales professionals attempt a timely and compelling response to a consumer who submits a lead form on their website.  Imagine the quality of initial engagement that could be achieved if the lead came with the consumer’s previous online shopping behavior. 

In the near future, a lead coming into the CRM system will include rich data.  For example, it could report that the consumer had visited Chevrolet.com and looked at a 2011 Chevrolet Silverado.  It could inform the dealer that the same consumer visited Kelly Blue Book and requested a trade-in estimate for a 2003 Silverado.

Would you change the way you initially greeted a consumer if a richer dataset was available?  I bet all dealers would shout affirmatively: yes!

To some degree it is here today and greater advances will be announced in the coming years.  Dataium co-founder Jason Ezell stated that approximately 5,000 dealers have their tracking code installed on their websites. 

Although he did not include all the data partners in the Dataium network, his model immediately triggered a thought about Autotrader.com and their recent acquisitions.  Could they build a powerful competing business intelligence model exclusive to their customers? 

The Future of Automotive Digital Marketing

As automotive websites become standardized and commoditized by OEM regulations, it will be more important for dealers to have a rich set of business intelligence tools and automated CRM that assist them with communicating with consumers more effectively.

A well designed website with a compliant SEO structure and the ability to easily update photos, specials, and content will be the norm and no longer cutting edge.  This year, the number of website platforms that are Google SEO compliant have significantly increased.  Dealers have demanded better websites and the vendors have responded, but as you will read, that conversation is last year’s news.

Companies who offer only website platforms to dealers should take note of the massive changes that are coming.  I predict more consolidation will occur in 2012, which will narrow the field of companies providing websites to dealers.  Reason will be simple.  Data analytics and smarter CRM processes will be the key focus for car dealers and not the shiny object of a “compliant” website.

The Appeal of OEM Website Contracts

I finally understand why companies like Cobalt, ClickMotive, and Dealer.com are so motivated to obtain long term OEM website contracts that mandate their technology for franchise dealers.  

These contracts enabled the contracted companies to offer business intelligence tools that the OEM’s could use to measure and compare dealers and understand consumer online shopping behavior. 

The unique advantage that OEM platform providers have is that they can track on-site inventory searches, page views, and see which paths led to a form being submitted or a call being made.  The internal site data and lead tracking is not available to outside analytics companies like Google.

Having access to data across a network of thousands of individual OEM dealer websites is powerful. Access to OEM franchise data is not golden ticket it once was.  The real win for vendors and dealers will come from aggregated data from dealer websites and third party sites that influence automotive sales and service decisions.    

The automotive industry in the coming years will be extremely focused on developing alerts and CRM event triggers during the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).  Google defines ZMOT as any websites that consumers visit prior to contacting a dealer that influence their buying decision are included in the ZMOT.

The second part of this article will discuss the players that may be seeking to claim bragging rights to being the first to deliver a rich set of data and business processes for dealer CRM systems based on ZMOT behaviors. 

Is there a competitor lurking in the shadows that is ready to take a bit out of Dataium’s lunch?  Maybe…but that will have to wait for Part II of this article.

Brian

Brian Pasch, CEO

PCG Digital Marketing

Text PCGedu to 75674 get information on our upcoming conferences

Brian Pasch

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This year PCG is adding awards for Automotive Social Media solutions and best practices.  The 2011 ASMA awards will be presented in conjunction with the AWA awards in Las Vegas.

PCG Digital Marketing has released the list of awards that will be presented at Caesars Palace Hotel which recognize the best products, services, and technology serving the automotive industry.

• Four Companies will receive the Automotive Search Marketing – Peak Performance Award
• Six Companies will receive the Automotive Search Marketing – Pinnacle Award
• Two Companies will receive awards for Mobile Website Platforms
• Three OEM’s will receive awards for Automotive Mobile Website Design
• Four Companies will receive Technology Innovation Awards
• Two Companies will receive Social Media Technology Awards
• Two Dealers will receive Social Media Engagement Awards
• One Individual will receive the Lighthouse Award.
• One Online Community will receive the Lighthouse Award.

2011 ASMA Awards

• One company will receive an ASMA Solutions Award
• Two dealers will receive an ASMA Best Practice Award
• One OEM will receive an ASMA Social Media Leadership Award.

Reserve Your AWA Ceremony Tickets

If you will be in Las Vegas in October, we encourage you to join fellow automotive professionals at the AWA awards ceremony.  Tickets can be reserved online by visiting this page:  AWA Ceremony Tickets.  The ceremony will include a cocktail reception and hors d’oeuvres so that everyone in attendance can congratulate the winners.

If you have any questions regarding the ceremony, please contact Carrie Hemphill at 732.450.8200 ext 2.

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The award ceremony is scheduled on Friday October 7, 2011 in Las Vegas.  Tickets for the awards ceremony must be reserved in advance since the awards and cocktail reception is a popular event for the automotive industry and seating is limited.  Tickets can also be reserved by calling Carrie Hemphill at 732.450.8200

40+ Automotive Website Companies Reviewed

This year over 40 companies will be included to the 160+ page report which assists car dealers select the website platforms and related technology to best support their online marketing goals.  The 2011 AWA ceremony will include awards for mobile websites which are a mandatory part of any competitive automotive digital marketing strategy.

For the first time PCG Digital Marketing will also be presenting the Automotive Social Media Awards to set the bar for the emerging vendor community offering Social Media tools and technology for dealers.

The list of companies that will be included in the published AWA report on October 7th includes, in alphabetical order, are:

• ADP/Cobalt
• All AutoNetwork
• Auto Fusion
• Auto Jini
• Auto Lot Manger
• Auto Revo
• Blu Solutions
• Captive Lead
• Click Motive
• Dealer Car Search
• Dealer E-Process
• Dealer Fire
• Dealer Impact
• Dealer Peak
• Dealer Specialities
• Dealer.com
• DealerHD
• DealerOn
• Dealerskins
• DealerTrend
• Driving Force
• eBizAutos
• eCarList
• Fresh Input
• GS Marketing
• Higher Turnover
• Izmo Cars
• Jazel Auto
• K3 Automotive
• Liquid Motors
• MJMI
• Nexteppe
• Promaxonline
• Pure Dealer
• Reynolds & Reynolds
• Search Optics
• SEO Sport
• Smart Web Concepts
• TKCarsites
• VinSolutions
• Wilson Software
• World Dealer
• Xspond.com

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Dealers are constantly asking me how they can drive more “In Market” or “Relevant Fans/Likes” to their Facebook pages. It is in the question itself that dealers go wrong. Social Media isn’t a trick. You can’t approach it by prejudging the value of one fan or like over another. If you are determined to fight this truth then save yourself the time and investment. You will never be successful with Facebook Marketing using this approach.

The Right Question

How do I drive more fans/likes to my Facebook Page? The short answer: Hire Wikimotive to do this. The long answer: You’ll need to hire 10 social media professionals and provide them with access to a number of ISP portals. Then have them create a few hundred Facebook accounts. They will need to work about 60 hours a week for a year to a year and a half engaging with people all over the country and becoming their friends. Once all of those accounts have a few thousand friends, you can begin inviting people to your fan page and you will begin to drive fans in high volume to your page.

Can you drive fans to your page without this huge investment? Sure, but it will take years. Remember, this is the car business. It’s a numbers game. You can have the best Social Media guru in the business writing awesome content on your Facebook page every day, but if no one is seeing it there will be no ROI. Thousands of people must WANT to visit your page every single day. You want them addicted to your page so every day they will visit your page, have a laugh or answer a question and get their daily fix. That is how you create powerful brand awareness. That is how you market to them without the target ever being aware that they were marketed to.

The Rebuttal

But my dealership is in Cincinnati! Why do I care about someone liking my page that lives in Houston, TX? Answer: Circle of Influence. Circle of what? Wikimotive’s most successful Facebook Marketing dealership is Marlboro Nissan. At the time of this post their fan page has 13,406 fans that like their page. Their fans are from all over the United States and some who take part in the pages daily content are even from other countries. Marlboro Nissan consistently sells over 20 cars a month as a result of their Facebook page because of the Circle of Influence of the page’s fans.

What does this mean, Circle of Influence? Well the average Facebook user has 130 friends. Do the math (13,406 x 130) and Marlboro Nissan’s daily content has the potential to reach 1,742,780 people. Most dealer fan pages have between 300 and 600 fans. That’s a reach of 39,000 to 78,000 people. It takes a huge circle of influence to drive a significant number of consumers into your store on a consistent basis.

But you still haven’t told me why that fan in TX will be a sale in Cincinnati! Well that takes us back to the circle of influence. Many people have relatives or friends who live in other parts of the country. They are part of that circle of influence. Case in point: Just yesterday Karen Kaster, from Westford, MA, came to Marlboro to pick up her prize, an iPad she won by solving a very difficult challenge question on Marlboro Nissan’s fan page.

After chatting for a while I asked how she became a fan of Marlboro Nissan’s page. Her response was all too common: “My brother lives in Indiana and is a fan of the page and he knew the answer. Since he wasn’t eligible to win the prize and he knew I was here in MA, he called me and told me to join the page. So I did!”

I congratulated Karen and wished her well when she said, “well actually, my husband needs a new car…” An hour later she was driving her husband’s Christmas present home, a brand new Nissan Altima. The point of the story isn’t that you need to give away an iPad to get a car sale.

There are many other examples of people who came in because an out of market relative told them about our store because of our FB page. But it is because of the circle of influence that the individual fan that may live outside of the dealer’s market is a strong influencer upon people they may know who live in the dealer’s market. Remember, just like car sales, it’s a numbers game. The more people you can influence, the better your chance to create a sale and promote brand awareness.

#2 The Wrong Content

“The snow is coming! It’s a great time to come down to XYZ motors and buy a new Ford Explorer! Get your 4×4 before the snow sets in!” “Right now at ABC Auto Sales the new 2011?s just came in and we have 0% financing for a limited time!”

“We just took in a great trade! An 8 year old accord with only 20k on it!” Does this sound like the crap your dealership is posting on their Facebook wall? Congratulations, you’ve discovered the #1 way to lose fans and alienate potential consumers.

People don’t spend time on Facebook so they can search for all the advertising they just fast-forwarded past on their Tivo or DVR. Facebook is supposed to be fun. It is a distraction – an escape. I mean if you really think about it, why the hell would anyone who isn’t in the car business have any interest at all in liking a dealership’s fan page anyway? They wouldn’t! Unless it was fun! Unless it was different! Unless there was that something that differentiated it from the usual crap dealer’s propagate.

Remember, they already know you’re a car dealer. Your page is named “XYZ Motors”. If they actually clicked on your page, you’ve just succeeded. They already got marketing. They saw you’re name. Give yourself a pat on the back. Now reward them for coming there. Give them something they want! Talk about something fun or entertaining or controversial – WHATEVER YOU WANT EXCEPT THE CAR BUSINESS OR SALES AND OFFERS!

The best way to keep them involved with things that are socially relevant is to ask questions! Why questions? Because a question needs to be answered! Give a prize away once in a while when some one answers correctly! You’ll train them in the value of answering questions! That will keep them coming back. You never know when you might get a chance to win something! Now they’ll tell other people, “hey you won’t believe what XYZ motors is doing right before Christmas! They’re giving away that widget that everyone wants! No really, there’s no catch they’re just giving them away if you can figure out this puzzle or riddle, etc”. Bottom line give them a reason to be there. Then give them a reason to come back.

#3 The Wrong Reason

Dealers are always looking for that magic bullet. “If I just get this new marketing program going, the up bus will come rolling in and we’ll sell!” A successful Facebook Marketing strategy isn’t going to help you sell more cars if you don’t already have a well-trained sales staff.

If they can’t get people in the door; if they’re not treating people right once they come in; if they’re not following up; if your store doesn’t have a strong commitment to their online reputation, then all Facebook will do is show more people why you suck and give them a forum to share stories about just how bad you suck.

Facebook Marketing is what to do when you’ve got a strong foundation and you’re looking to add incremental business; when you’re looking to enhance your brand awareness; when you’re looking to be more than “just another dealer”. If you’re looking for a quick fix, this isn’t it. It took 93 days to generate $153 in gross profit for Marlboro Nissan. It takes commitment and a long-term strategy. It takes fighting the temptation to try and advertise on the wall when that one of a kind car that should be worthy of being posted there just came in. There is no car, no incentive; no special that is worthy of being posted on your dealer’s Facebook wall.

Specials belong on a specials tab written in FBML – NOT THE WALL. Should I repeat that? THERE ARE NO ADS ON THE WALL…NONE…NEVER…EVER.

Successful Facebook Marketing requires that the dealer be humble enough to admit that they don’t already know how to do it and that it will take a long term commitment to be great at it.

Timothy P. Martell, President
Wikimotive

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But, I don’t want to offend anyone.”

Those are the most common words when I tell clients that they can express their opinions on social media, even on their business pages. It seems that being neutral on everything is the way of this politically correct world and that social media is no exception.

Bulls… (I’m so passionate about the topic I nearly cursed for the first time on this blog).

The Middle is False Sincerity

Walking down the middle on a topic is not noble. In most cases, it seems indecisive. If you live in Oklahoma City, chances are you are either an Oklahoma Sooners fan or an Oklahoma State Cowboys fan. Pick one. If you’re a business in Oklahoma City, there is nothing wrong with supporting your team even from a business perspective.

It can actually help, believe it or not, because even Oklahoma State fans can appreciate that you love your Sooners. To support both evenly is insincere and people will know it.

Be Respectful and Professional

Even if you support the Sooners loudly and proudly, that doesn’t mean you go negative on the Cowboys. Being extreme and picking a side does not give you a license to lose professionalism. Had the Cowboys beaten the Sooners in football this year, supporting the Sooners does not mean that you wouldn’t congratulate the Cowboys.

“Congratulations to the Oklahoma State Cowboys for beating our Sooners this year. We’ll see you again next October! The revenge-wagon will be rolling up and down the halls at (your business) in 2011.”

A post like that will likely get replies from both sides. On Facebook, replies means that you have discussion. Discussion means that your post will be present on more pages and will move up in people’s news feeds. Moving up in people’s news feeds gets more impressions for your page. More impressions for your page… you get the picture.

“Congratulations on excellent seasons by both the Cowboys and the Sooners.”

Boring. Fail. No engagement will come.

What to (Maybe) Avoid

Local news, local sports, national events, holidays, and industry-relevant news – all of those make for perfect discussion points on your pages and through Twitter. Some businesses that are willing to “go extreme” will still avoid politics and religion. That’s fine.

It’s also fine to express yourself if you so choose. Don’t let silly “rules of thumb” get in the way and make you gun-shy. If you have views and you’re willing to back them up, the notion that you MUST avoid politics or religion from a business perspective is ludicrous.

There are risks. Few things polarize people more than the two taboo subjects, and there is a chance that you can get some backlash. I’m not recommending that you go far right or far left on your social profiles. I’m telling you that if you are passionate and willing to accept the potential consequences of doing so, don’t let a social media guru tell you otherwise.

Business is business, but it’s in how we handle ourselves in our real lives that determine how deep we’re willing to go in that business when it comes to truly polarizing issues. Follow your heart (yes, it’s cliché, but it’s true) and don’t walk down the middle on issues that you’re comfortable discussing in real life.

Just because everyone else avoids the topic doesn’t mean you have to.

JD Rucker
Director of New Media
TK Carsites

http://www.tkcarsites.com

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It is exciting to see the wave of change that will be coming to automotive websites in 2011 and TK Carsites is part of that Tsunami.

TK Carsites was a dual award winner in the 2009 ASMA Awards and so we were very interested to see how they have improved on their website platform. This article is not a full review of their technology however TK CarSites will be evaluated in the 2010 AWA Whitepaper that will be released on October 12, 2010 when the award winners for Search Marketing, Design and Technology are announced.

Readers of my blog know that in recent weeks the concept of POD Score™ has been developed to place score on the control a dealer has on Google Page One for a search on their name. This score was developed to help car dealers understand the importance of managing Page One results since it impacts all car dealer advertising investments.

We had a chance to see the latest updates and strategies on the TK CarSites Power of Five technology which gives car dealers a primary website and four additional microsites. These microsites can be created to increase fixed ops revenue, used car sales, car financing, or any profit center the dealer wants targeted. Car dealers using the Power of Five technology control more Google Page One listings because all sites are also optimized for the dealer’s name.

Power of Five in Action

A popular example of the Power of Five in action is to conduct a search for “Marlboro Nissan” in Google. In addition to their main TK website appearing one Page One which is www.marlbornissan.com, you can also see other TK sites that include www.nissan-service.net, www.nissancarsmass.com, and www.usednissanboston.com. The control of Page One is shown below in red:

TK Carsites is not the first to utilize microsites for car dealers but they are the only vendor we reviewed this year that has a pre-packaged microsite solution offered as a standard marketing strategy for car dealers. In this example, Marlboro Nissan controls Google Page One with the remaining spots being taken up by the social media accounts, blogs, and their Dealerrater page that show hundreds of positive reviews.

In the past year TK Carsites has continued to update their inventory listing module which is search engine friendly. Years ago TK has a framed inventory solution that was not search engine friendly so for dealers that have not looked at their technology recently, there has been many changes worthy of a second look.

One of the other things that impressed our team was their move away from custom flash sites which has two benefits. One, flash technology is not support on all mobile devices and secondly, it has lowered the costs of TK Carsites products to car dealers. According to TK, their websites which once had a premium for custom flash programming, are now streamlined to give dealers flexibility of design and a much lower cost.

Keyword Targeted Home Page Banners

Another feature that we liked on the TK Carsites home page was the ability to have customer banners based on what the consumer searched. For example, if a consumer typed into Google “2010 Altima Boston” and arrives on a TK website, the home page banner can show the dealer’s current Altima sales promotion or lease payment. According to TK, this has increased page views and lead conversion by taking consumers right to the offer page and inventory listings.

As we reviewed a number of TK CarSites examples, we found that the navigation was clean and the quote forms required minimal data from a consumer. Studies by PCG Digital Marketing has shown that putting too many fields on quote forms reduces conversion so we liked the simplicity of their website designs and their efficient use of space.

TK Carsites has a reputation of building websites that leverage the power of Automotive SEO strategies to generate unparalleled search visibility . From what we have seen with their current platform, anyone looking to upgrade their Page One visibility should keep TK Carsites on their short list of vendors to call.

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PCG Digital Marketing has invited members of the design industry to participate in the judging process which will enhance the automotive website review process.  PCG Digital Marketing is proud to welcome Steven Mautone and Michael D. Arsenault to the review panel for the 2010 AWA Design awards.

Steven Mautone is a front-end Web developer and production manager with a passion for mobile computing. He holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from the Medoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame as well as a Masters of Science in Management Information Technology from Indiana University, specializing in Web Content Management Systems.

Steven has previously worked in the Digital Media departments for BBC America and Showtime Networks in New York City, and is now the owner of inverted® Web, a Web development and interactive marketing firm located in Miami. Steven currently teaches Web Design and Multimedia Design in the School of Communication at the University of Miami.

With a background in information management and system design, Steven’s vision for Web development focuses on a strong content strategy with consistent information architecture and interface design.

Michael D. Arsenault

Michael D. Arsenault is the Chairperson of Graphics Design at the Digital Media Arts College located in Boca Raton, Florida. 

Michael is responsible for the supervision and maintenance of all faculty members in his departments and also maintaining and developing of the Graphic Design (MFA, BFA), Advertising Design (BFA), Foundations curriculums (BFA), and all Professional Certificate Programs.

2010 AWA Awards Presentation

The 2010 AWA awards presentation is scheduled for Tuesday morning, October 12, 2010 at 8:00 am at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.  Tickets for the awards presentation can be purchased by contacting Carrie Hemphill at PCG Digital Marketing at 732.450.8200 extension 2.

For additional information on the 2010 Automotive Website Awards at http://www.automotivewebsiteawards.com

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Members of the automotive industry that would like to attend the awards breakfast should follow the guidelines below:

1. All attendees MUST be pre-registered since seating is limited.

2. The breakfast will be sold out so walk-in attendance will not be permitted.

3. If your company is listed below, you are entitled to two complimentary tickets for the event, as long as the attendees are members of your company and they register with Carrie Hemphill By October 4, 2010.

4. If your company is listed above and you need to purchase additional tickets, contact Carrie Hemphill by October 4, 2010. Tickets to the breakfast are $45 per person and you can reach Carrie at 732.450.8200 ext 2.

5. If you would like to attend and are not an employee of the companies listed above, please contact Carrie Hemphill at 732.450.8200 to purchase your tickets.

6. The breakfast reception holds 75 people so we expect that between the companies being considered for the awards plus industry press, media and dignitaries that the 2010 AWA Awards Breakfast will be sold out quickly.

Members of the Automotive News Media can request press passes from PCG Digital Marketing by supplying the appropriate credentials.

We are encouraging the CEO of the companies being considered to attend the breakfast along with the head of the website development team. This will allow PCG to take meaningful photos of the awards being presented to the winning companies.

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Over the past two years I have witnessed the industry move away from 100% Flash websites and this has impacted Dealerskins’ cutting edge moniker.

In the early days of Flash based websites, the Adobe technology was a hindrance for obtaining strong organic search visibility.  In effect, the original Dealerskins Flash websites were not easily optimized using proven Automotive SEO strategies.

In the past, my reviews of the Dealerskins platform from an SEO perspective have not been flattering to say the least.

Today, I will be the first to raise a toast to the website “Phoenix” that has risen with renewed focus that will surprise its former critics.  This bird is hungry and hunting!  Existing Dealerskins clients are in for a nice surprise and according to company executives; Dealerskins has a great new story to tell!

This is not a full review of the Dealerskins SEO architecture and search marketing strengths of the new platform but a peak at what is coming.  The latest technology from Dealerskins will be included in the 2010 Automotive Website Awards, which will be presented on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 8:00 am at the Mirage Hotel.

Moving Towards A Primary HTML Platform

The first point to acknowledge is Dealerskins’ willingness to rebuild their CMS platform and technology while keeping their existing customers in business and thriving.   That is not an easy task! The platform that we reviewed in August is a bridge to their full Content Management System (CMS) release that will be announced in the coming months.

The development team at Dealerskins should be congratulated. Their current hybrid Flash and HTML platform actually performed better in our search marketing architecture analysis this year than many of their peers.  In short, this is NOT your parent’s Oldsmobile.

Automotive Inventory Optimization

The current Dealerskins website technology fixed the biggest complaint that I had in the past; their inventory module was practically invisible to the search engines and not in conformance with my SEO best practices.

The new Dealerskins platform has optimized website pages for every car in inventory with unique page titles and META descriptions for each car.  I also liked their breadcrumb menu on each inventory page shown below:

You can see an example of their new inventory page by visiting this link for a 2009 Volkswagen Routan.  The final version of their optimized inventory technology will be unveiled in their next CMS release but the current version is performing very well in our testing.  I would like to see more car details integrated into the inventory URL string.

In an interesting balancing act, the Dealerskins design team kept the Flash navigation menus to add some sizzle while adding HTML navigation links and editable text areas on key website pages.   In the near future, the Dealerskins homepage will be 100% Flash free which will resolve any complaints of operating systems that are not Flash friendly.

The addition of HTML content pages will also increase the search visibility for existing Dealerskins customers.  According to the company, approximately 50% of their existing customers have been converted to the new platform.

Website Administrative Tools Lagging For Content

The administrative tools for car dealers do not currently allow dealers to add their own content pages on the fly.  A call to customer support will create as many blank pages that a dealer needs and then a dealer can add or edit content.    In the final version of the platform, more robust content editing tools and a blog are scheduled to be included.  As car dealer focus more on content writing in 2011, a robust content publishing platform will be a requirement for success.

The Dealerskins platform includes their own analytics technology that provides an independent audit for car dealers who have hired third party companies to run their Adwords or SEO campaigns. Their development team addressed a common concern of dealers who are paying thousands of dollars a month only to trust their vendors are being truthful about traffic, clicks and lead reports they send.

Marketing Intelligence and SEO Ranking Tools

The Dealerskins team also demonstrated some of their impressive digital marketing tools which included built-in SEO ranking reports and something that dealers should look at called the “Psychic Sales Tool” (PST).   The tool shows dealers all the pages and cars that the consumer visited on the Dealerskins website prior to submitting a lead.  PST gives the dealer more information about any shopper before they contact them.

HTML 5 Mobile Sites

Dealerskins has also created attractive mobile websites that are based on the new HTML 5 standard.   You can see their slick mobile technology by visiting www.gentiliniford.com from your iPhone.  The mobile interface is one of the best that I have seen and very fast.

The Silence Is Broken

The previous silence from Dealerskins?  They were hard at work surveying their customers and getting their new release out the door to customers.

Car dealers using the old Dealerskins platform are encouraged to give their account manager a call and see about the upgrade path to this more powerful website technology.

Hats off to Dealerskins for moving to address the most immediate needs of their user base.  According to the Dealerskins team more features and enhancements are coming, so listen up when your Dealerskins representative calls.   SEO pundits will not have the DS dog to kick anymore!

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This article is not a full review of the latest VinSolutions platform but in just a few weeks the 2010 Automotive Website Awards will be presented along with our 150+ page report on the search marketing strengths of 45 website platforms.  The awards ceremony is scheduled for October 12, 2010 at 8:00 am.  The awards will be presented at the Mirage Hotel in  Las Vegas at an industry breakfast hosted by PCG Digital Marketing.

The VinSolutions Website Platform

VinSolutions is a juggernaut; adding new functionality to their platform at a blinding pace to stay ahead of the competition.  The demonstration that we sat through showed our team just how busy VinSolutions developers have been over the past year.

The first thing that hit our team was the home page design and the ability to configure the page to meet the dealer’s marketing objectives.  We liked the way the home page was divided into regions and how simple it was for the dealer to change the home page banner and calls to action.

Since the majority of organic searches deliver consumers to the home page, the VinSolutions design templates seek to direct traffic to the right place with the least amount of clicks.   The home page quick links felt “just right” to satisfy the most common search tasks that consumers have when shopping for a car.

Search Marketing Architecture

Since the 2010 Automotive Website Awards (AWA) will focus on design, technology, and search marketing, we took extra time to delve into the foundations of our work which is the Automotive SEO architecture of the website.  We were pleased to see strong URL designs for all pages on their website and their inventory detail pages were some of the best that we have reviewed this year.  Hats off to the VinSolutions design team.

One of the most exciting developments to witness was how each car detail page was targeting up to three local cities.  We are a firm believer that car dealership websites need to be optimized for the key towns in their PMA.

The VinSolutions inventory module was ahead of its peers in achieving an automated solution for targeting multiple local communities for search.  We also liked the clean design of the car detail pages which are the primary pages visited by ready to buy consumers.

Where VinSolutions broke new ground was to integrate customer sales and service data to automatically create website pages optimized for the town where the customer lives.

This was a very impressive content feature and has powerful potential for content publishing.  Without any extra effort from the dealer, content pages can be created that target popular geo-based keywords for sales and service for cities that surround the dealership.

VinSolutions Mobile Integration

VinSolutions also demonstrated an attractive mobile application, which was easy to navigate, and integrated with their backend CRM tools.   The VinSolutions development team has been hard at work to create a seamless consumer shopping experience, whether they choose to access a dealers website via their mobile device or desktop computer.

One of the strongest aspects of the VinSolutions digital marketing platform is that it is a complete end-to-end software suite.   VinSolutions provides software and technology that starts with the dealer’s ability to photograph their inventory and load it in real-time all the way through the lead management, sales, and customer service.

VinSolutions Summary

VinSolutions is a comprehensive website platform that stands alone in its ability to deliver an integrated digital marketing solution for car dealers. Automotive retailers who seek the simplicity of having a single point of contact for their digital marketing needs will find that VinSolutions has the potential to make them smile.

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This summary is not a full review of the SEO architecture and search strengths of the new platform.  A full review will come when PCG Digital Marketing presents the 2010 ASMA Awards and Study Report on October 13, 2010 in Las Vegas. 

It is hard to improve on a product that has so many strengths but Rick Gibbs, CEO of Dealer.com, has managed to inspire his team to greatness.  One of the highlights of the presentation was the demonstration given by Eric Mayhew who is the chief architect behind their TCD Platform (Total Control Dominator).  The Dealer.com TCD platform is truly one of the most important automotive advertising tools that car dealers can utilize for digital marketing success.

TCD is best described as a car dealer’s personalized digital advertising dashboard. TCD directly communicates with Google, Yahoo and Bing paid advertising networks so car dealers can adjust Pay-Per-Click budgets and targets without being a Digital Marketing Geek. 

TCD is Google Adwords on steroids! 

(If I had to rename the product I would call it Total Competitor Domination.)

Dealer.com TCD digital advertising platform takes business operating rules and translates them into actionable tasks in Google, Yahoo and Bing’s paid advertising network. One rule could be to advertise all off-make used cars as soon as they come into stock.  

Another rule could be to start a weekend advertising campaign which offers a $2,000 reduction off of MSRP on select new models starting at 5:00 PM on Friday. Google Adwords out of the box is not designed for the average Internet Sales Manager to operate proficiently and in many cases, self-managed Adwords campaigns can be very costly to dealers.

In the screen shot above, a dealership executive or Internet Sales Manager can easily see their current cost per lead and current balance.   Need to make a change? Slide the $ button to increase or decrease spending.  The Marketing Focus panel allows high level adjustments of spending by marketing focus.   Do you want to increase the distribution of spending in your current budget to include “Used Vehicles”?  Simply click on stars 1 - 5 to activate those keyword goals.

Innovative Phone Number Tracking

Dealer.com has integrated phone number tracking with all Pay-Per-Click campaigns.  You may not be impressed by that fact since other companies offer similar services.  However, Dealer.com takes it to the next level by scraping all pages on the dealer’s website that has a phone number and replacing it with the PPC tracking number.  This includes all custom text content pages created by the dealership staff or advertising agency that may have embedded different phone numbers.

This creates more accurate PPC campaign metrics so more calls can be attributed to their true source of visitor engagement.

What is brilliant with TCD is that once campaigns are setup, these high level executive controls can really keep the dealer engaged with digital advertising success.  I could write a 20-page report on the unique benefits of TCD but that is not the focus of this overview.  Suffice to say that Dealer.com clients have a distinct advantage in automotive digital advertising if they choose to leverage the power of TCD.

Automated Integration of Dealer Inventory

TCD is the leader in integrated car inventory management that is seamlessly connected to Google Adwords as well as Yahoo and Bing PPC services.  Pay Per Click advertisements can utilize information in the dealers DMS about any new or used car in stock.  (See graphic below) Dealers who use PPC campaigns for used cars will save significant setup time if they compare the time it takes to create campaigns for individual used cars.

Behind these well-designed executive level controls is an amazing drill down user interface that can control every detail of a Google Adwords campaign from inside TCD.    In the graphic above, dealers can decide what time slots to allocate their paid advertising dollars.

This panel also provides check boxes to turn on or off their powerful integrated inventory advertising features. Other automotive website providers can operate Google Adwords from inside their administrative panel but offer little in terms of user interface and integrated business intelligence rules.

Dealer.com has even enhanced the Google Adwords platform by adding new geo-targeting functionality that even Adwords does not provide.  Dealer’s ability to create custom advertising “bands” could not be easier with the custom interface provided by TCD.  What this means to potential critics is that TCD does not “dummy-down” Adwords so proficient PPC experts will not be held back.

It is hard to capture my excitement for the TCD platform because there is nothing on the market more perfectly designed for car dealers who believe in paid digital advertising, aka Pay-Per-Click (PPC).  I tip my hat to Eric Mayhew, TCD’s chief architect, because not too many people can claim that they reinvested Adwords functionality for the automotive industry.

One more kicker that Eric added to TCD put a smile on my face.  Dealer.com looks at the top organic search phrases that bring consumers to a dealer’s website and that produce leads.  If these keywords are not in the current Adwords campaigns, they can be automatically added.  Slick!

 Those that don’t believe in the benefits of PPC will be out of business shortly.  Why?  Because Automotive SEO strategies cannot place a car dealer on Google Page One for broad search terms like “Toyota Camry,” “Used Cars,” or “BMW Dealer.”  As long as consumers continue to use broad search phrases, dealers will need to invest in Pay-Per-Click advertising campaigns to stay on Google Page One.

Managing OEM Incentives

Dealer.com announced a new integrated Incentives Manager package after the 2009 ASMA Study was completed. This month we had the opportunity to drill down into the features of this add-on product.  Car dealer websites are notorious for having “specials” pages blank and clumsy integration of manufacturer incentives.  Normally, these incentives are not listed on inventory pages where consumers spend the majority of their time on a car dealer website.  Go figure!

With Dealer.com Incentives Manager, dealers can leverage direct incentives data streams to their dealership website.  These incentives can be controlled to integrate with car inventory listing pages as well as car detail pages.  Attempting to integrate incentives manually is impossible and that is why this feature is a great value to Dealer.com customers. Since consumers “shop price” as part of their online purchasing decision, having the lowest price in real-time can make a big difference in lead volume.

Not to dwell on the TCD platform again, but Dealer.com can also take the real-time OEM incentives and create PPC campaigns that advertise their current programs.  This is another innovation that is ground-breaking and a time saver for dealers who like to advertise OEM incentive programs and be first to market.

Automotive SEO Architecture

Once again, the Dealer.com administrative management tools show careful consideration to the skill levels of car dealer employees. The user interface to change SEO Page Titles and META tags continues to be a breeze.

One of the nicer elements of editing pages in Dealer.com is that once you are in editing mode, you can navigate through the website using the same menus that visitors use.   This may not seem important but it is a time saver. Try matching website pages to cryptic back-end file naming conventions and before you know it, you can waste hours of your time.

The Dealer.com Page Builder tools continues to grow with more widgets (see graphic on right) to create pages on the fly.

The Page Builder tool is intuitive and customers do not need to call technical support to create a blank page to edit. 

One limitation in the current version of the software is that custom pages cannot be placed more than two levels down in the navigation tree.

Content is King

Consumers search for answers and recommendations for the questions that are top of mind and car dealers need to build content on their websites to meet this need.  Dealer.com has a multi-pronged approach to adding content; video blogging, integrated car reviews, and consumer reviews. 

The video blogging feature creates optimized blog pages for each car in stock with unique text and META tags based on the audio script for the vehicle.  This feature creates a large number of content pages that are indexed by Google which has many benefits from an SEO perspective.

Consumers who purchase a car from a Dealer.com dealer can add their comments on the car that they purchased.  Dealer.com will compile and leverage these positive consumer comments on similar cars in stock.  Over time, this feature will allow car inventory pages to have more content and targeted keywords to increase the authority of their website pages.  This is another example of Dealer.com’s leadership in applying proven Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies.

Dealer.com offers a blog with their base platform which is a customized WordPress installation.  This was also added after last year’s ASMA Awards.  This move further reinforces the automotive industry’s growing love affair with content building tools.  I’ve been preaching that all dealers need to have content writers as part of their advertising budget.  Dealer.com’s latest platform offers many ways to leverage content writers and third party SEO companies.

Fixed Operations Marketing

Lastly, Dealer.com and DriverSide made an announcement in April 2010 which an excerpt has been included below:

The two companies are partnering in an exclusive agreement to launch a series of products for new and used car franchises, the first of which will add robust fixed-ops content to Dealer.com’s industry leading platform. A full line up of further Fixed Operations and service marketing products will follow in coming months.

We agree with Dealer.com that the next area of opportunity for car dealers is in Fixed Operations SEO and digital marketing. Dealer.com has tightly integrated customer data into their product offering for targeted direct marketing.  The Fixed Operations package can also be integrated into TCD to drive more service revenue via PPC.

Summary

We look forward to testing the new content management features in the latest Dealer.com platform as part of the 2010 ASMA Study.  The product development team at Dealer.com should be recognized for not resting on the laurels and delivering a cutting edge product.  Bravo!

Dealers searching for a well integrated digital advertising platform that masters Pay-Per-Click (PPC) marketing and integrates a powerful Search Engine Optimization (SEO) infrastructure should get a demo of this stellar performer.

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This is a very promising trend and will make attending the upcoming October automotive conferences critical for any car dealership looking to significantly grow their business in 2011.

The XIGroup, owned by Dominion Dealer Solutions, is no exception. The latest XIGroup platform we reviewed showcased many features that will surely please their user community as well as attract new customers. This article is not meant to be a full review of the XIGroup website technology.  The XIGroup platform will be included in the 2010 ASMA Report that will be published on October 13, 2010 which recognizes and awards the leaders in automotive search technology.

Focus on Data Quality

I was impressed with Joe High, General Manager of XIGroup, who made the presentation because his focus was not the same as other companies that we have reviewed as part of the 2010 ASMA Study.  Joe started his presentation with a focus on the quality of data presented on car dealer inventory pages.

Inventory pages are the most popular pages used by consumers when visiting a car dealer website.  XIGroup has leveraged automotive data from Data One to create what Joe High considers the highest quality car detail data in the industry.   You don’t have to look hard to find car dealer website with inaccurate data for options and configuration data by VIN Number.

I was also impressed how easy the car detail pages could be configured to give car dealers the ultimate granularity in how their cars are presented online.  In the screen shot below, you can see that dozens of features can be turned on or off on a car listing page to make the consumer experience powerful.

XIGroup Administrative Tools

In fact, this degree of customization is integral in the entire platform.  I give XIGroup high marks for their back-end administrative menus on how easy it was to change website features. Some car dealer website platforms have so many features that dealers can get lost in finding configuration settings.

The XIGroup administration controls were clean and followed a user interface design that even novices could follow. The menu design is a hybrid between “old-school” menus that dealers like and new navigational aids that the next generation of dealership employees demand.  Shown below is one master menu that controls some of the user configuration options:

One of the most interesting features was their rules based engine.  Dealers can quickly update inventory  pricing, tags, call-outs, visibility based on business rules.  If dealers wanted to add a “special” tag on all cars in inventory over 30 days, that can be done in one click.  Dealers who want to take any car out of inventory without waiting overnight for a new feed can do so quickly.  The rules based inventory management features will save dealers a lot of time when compared to manual editing.

Consumer Friendly Car Listing Pages

Another feature of the XIGroup platform is that all car photos can have a custom overlay with the dealer’s information.  Photos on a car dealer’s website look so much better when a consistent photo overlay is used.  This is branding 101! The XI platform can automatically take plain photos and dress them up with the dealers phone number, website address and logo.

The integration of car photos and videos is very smooth and the car detail pages are very clean and attractive.  I like that consumers can bookmark cars, save them and create a side by side comparison.  This feature is useful when consumers find similar new cars in stock that have significantly different prices.  The tool can show them how the installed options change their delivered cost.

In the screen shot below, you can see where I highlighted in red the two visual navigation controls that are visible on car detail pages:

XIGroup SEO Functionality

The new XIGroup platform has one of the strongest page editors on the market and gives dealers full control over SEO Page Titles, META Descriptions and Keywords.  Their platform allows dealers to create unlimited content pages and these pages can be placed on multi-level nested navigation menus.

XIGroup is one of a handful of website platforms that offer specific upgraded packages for Automotive SEO.   Their offerings to car dealers who want managed SEO include Basic SEO, Enhanced SEO and SEO Elite, which are all priced very reasonably.   These packages are what I would consider “On-Site” SEO and on-site optimization is a very important part of the overall success of any car dealer’s website.

XIGroup Websites Summary

In conclusion,  XIGroup hit the bull’s-eye for dealer usability and consumer shopping tools.  Their new platform does a great job of providing a robust feature set that can be easily controlled by dealership staff; especially those that do not have a technical background.   With their mobile platform offering and a new website architecture, XIGroup  website technology demands a closer look.

We look forward to testing this new platform as part of the 2010 ASMA Awards and rating their search marketing strengths.  Results of our review of 46 automotive website platforms will be announced on October 13, 2010 and published on www.asmaawards.org.

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Last year DealerFire was one of the nine award winning companies in the 2009 ASMA Study. (download a copy) It is clear that DealerFire has not been resting on their laurels with the amount of new products coming to market and their Engine 5 platform.

This is not a full review of their website technology however on October 13, 2010 their technology will be part of the 2010 ASMA Study.  This year PCG Digital Marketing will review 46 website platforms and recognize the leaders in a number of categories.

If we had an award last year for the best graphically designed websites , DealerFire would have been a frontrunner!  Our team universally agreed that DealerFire sites stand out from the crowd on their design merits. The consumer facing website controls are well thought out and reduce clicks. Dealers looking to break  away from the typical website interface, should take a look at DealerFire technology.

Some of the newest updates to popular automotive website platforms include the ability to change designs, colors and page layouts on the fly.  DealerFire already has the ability and they have improved on the flexibility of those changes this year. Their core technology has a number of design themes that can be selected and each theme has modules and components that can be used to create customized pages.  We were shown many of their new features on their demo site located at: http://www.customdealerwebsite.com

DealerFire Mobile Leadership

DealerFire has one of the strongest mobile platforms we have seen with SMS / Text to mobile integration and one of the cleanest presentations for the iPad.   Car detail pages allow consumers to save the car information to their mobile phone.  You can see the call to action box on the right column in the   screenshot below. The presentation on my iPhone was very clean.  When the dealer calls, this feature makes it easy to discuss the car with data handy in front of the mobile user.

The team at DealerFire has also embraced social media by releasing Facebook inventory and coupon tabs for Dealer Fan pages.  I like the idea that the coupons are synchronized on the website and Facebook. An active Facebook community  manager could leverage these coupons nicely online.

DealerFire SEO Openess

In regards to Search Engine Optimization, their backend tools allow full editing of Page Titles and META tags.  The administrative tool allows users to drop in Webmaster Tools and Google Analytics Code for full transparency of site data and traffic.   The company also strives for full W3C Compliance and has sitemaps for both the text pages and a separate video sitemap.

Since content is king, DealerFire has chosen to integrate a WordPress into their base website package which is a smart choice.  WordPress is the platform that I prefer and the WordPress blog can be configured either as a sub-domain or as a sub-directory.

There were a number of features that we thought created a better call to action, specifically I liked the ” adopt a car”  feature.  Cars in inventory can be assigned to different salespersons so that on a car detail page a photo and phone number appears offering assistance. See screenshot below in the green boxed   area.

Another feature we liked was the ability to show inventory counts by model in the drop-down navigation menus, which can be turned on or off with a click.  The website nicely integrates video and has some nice hooks for YouTube users. 

The team at DealerFire is clearly passionate about their automotive advertising platform and we look forward to putting it to the test with our ASMA  evaluation team. Dealer looking for a personalized website and hands on customer service experience, should call over the DealerFire and schedule a presentation.

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When Mike McKenzie, Supervisor of Web Design, said that it was a ground up rebuild, he was not joking.

This blog post is not a full review of their SEO architecture and search strengths; that will come when we publish the 2010 ASMA Awards and white-paper on October 13, 2010.  That said, BZ customers who are on their old platform should know that some great changes are on the way.  On of the customers that is using their new platform is Seeger Toyota.

BZ Results Creates A Widgitized Platform

The BZ Results Virtual Dealership 2.0 is a powerful platform that allows dealers to create a fully customized website using simple drag and drop widgets, similar to how WordPress works.   Dealers can select from a number of “layouts” ( as shown above) and then within each layout, they can pick a theme.   Think of themes as the color palettes and textures that your website can use.

For any layout and theme, dealers are presented with a number of universal widgets within the base build and dealers can create as many custom widgets as they like.  These widgets are CSS aware so that when they are dropped on to a page, they blend into the color palette and theme.

Widget examples are Contact Forms, Maps, Videos, Slideshows, Text Boxes, Inventory Lists, Search Boxes, Specials, Twitter Feeds, RSS Feeds, etc..  Critical widgets like inventory listing modules can be configured to the nth degree.  This will allow dealers and marketing professionals to create landing pages that can meet any business need.  The widgets for inventory had many customizable features that will make creating PPC landing pages very easy.

The process of customizing any existing page or adding a new page is straightforward and all pages can be edited for their SEO Titles, META descriptions and permalinks.  This represents a new attitude in BZ Results which once felt that they had to do everything for the dealer.  I like the fact that I can help a BZ customer directly with a custom on-site SEO strategies which in the past I could not do.

Today, their new platform is built on empowering the dealer to create a customized customer experience.  If the dealer doesn’t have the skills to customize their site, Mike reminded me that BZ has staff to do that work for the dealer.

Another nice feature was that dealers can create their own custom forms, slide-shows, change navigational menus, and even microsites. Yes, the new platform will launch new microsites on a new domain or sub-domain with simple tools.  This will keep all content and technology under one control panel.  (Now BZ is gunning at me!)

BZ Results Provides an Asset Library

As part of the new site architecture, BZ customers can store all their digital assets in a library that can be used in the future.  You can see from the Assets list on the right, that BZ has made sure that dealers can easily create, store and reuse their digital assets.

Dealers can also store common external and Internet links in the asset library (see Links on right) to use within their websites or as part of their content writing strategies.

I liked this feature especially when dealers rely on third party website partners that have cryptic links that may change over time.  By storing the link in the asset library, external links can be edited in one central place and be updated site-wide.

Another cool feature is that these assets can have a start and end date so that coupons, incentives and web pages can start on a predetermined schedule.

BZ Results Virtual Dealership 2.0 Summary

The new BZ automotive website platform is best described as “empowering”.  The system is a dramatic change from a closed platform for design and SEO to very open.

The design team at BZ has leaped ahead of many competitors in the marketplace on design and flexibility.  It will be interesting to see how the site indexes as well as being subjected to our search criteria.

In the meantime, if I was a BZ Results customer under a long contract, you should be calling to get your site upgraded.

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The process of reviewing car dealer website platforms has started in earnest for the upcoming 2010 ASMA Awards.  The 2010 Awards will be announced at the 9th Digital Dealer Conference and Exposition on Wednesday October 13, 2010.

Today we had a demonstration of Reynolds & Reynolds latest website technology. This blog post is not a full review of their technology.  However. the thought of a candidate for the “Most Improved Website Platform” award came to our mind.  We may create this category this year for the ASMA awards as we see how some of the other major players perform based on last years results.

If you are a Reynold’s client, you may still be on their old platform because according to Joshua Muller, Product Planning Manager, about 25% of their dealer base has been upgraded.  If you have not been upgraded, I would place a sales call immediately. After witnessing the upgrades and enhancement to their platform on today’s webinar, it is clear Reynolds took the 2009 ASMA Report seriously.

Last year, Reynolds website technology lacked a search optimized inventory module that could be customized by dealers for SEO.  Their technology lagged the field and it is clear that the Reynolds Web Solutions team is aiming high this year.

Reynolds Creates A Competitive SEO Framework

Their new inventory module in WebMakerX^© 2.0 had all the right user interface designs and features to completely optimize their inventory pages.  Reynolds has raised the bar this year by being the first vendor I have witnessed who allows dealers to change the SEO Titles, Descriptions and keyword tagging on their dynamic inventory pages.  Normally, changes to SEO tags is limited to static pages and changes to inventory pages require a custom programming ticket to be filed.

In the photo below, you can see that their user interface can change SEO tags on static pages, like most vendor platforms.  The new twist is that the dynamic inventory pages ( called Vehicle Page-Level Tags by Reynolds)  can also be customized which can lead to some serious A/B testing to see which SEO tags work the best.  This is very important for dealers who operate in cities with common names that match other cities in the USA or if other dealers share their business name, like “Classic Chevy”.

Other Improvements

This year Reynolds has added a fully functional WordPress blogging module as a sub-domain of the primary URL.  This is a smart decision because it assists dealers with Google Page One Management.  The blogging module also allows dealers to use popular plug-ins so the SEO functionality of the blog is not weakened.

The page builder tool is very strong editor.  I asked the Reynolds team to test our CarPort App JavaScript  to see if the editor blocked or changed the code, and it didn’t.  The page cleanly displayed a feed of cars which members of the Automotive Advertising Network (AAN) can leverage to advertise their cars on blogs and social media portals.

One very slick feature was that the website menus can have up to 4 nested menu levels.  The menu nesting is a key feature that is needed for car dealers who plan on heavy content development.  Some website platforms limit menus to one level which makes creating dozens or eventually hundreds of content pages messy from a menu standpoint.

More To Come

The full review the new Reynolds WebMakerX^© 2.0 platform and 45 other website platforms will be included in the 2010 ASMA report.  We will keep readers updated on some of the platforms we review along the way to give you some insights into the dramatic changes the industry is undergoing.

If you are considering purchasing a new website platform, you’ll be able to review the results on October 13, 2010 which may help you make a more educated purchasing decision.

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The website platforms of all companies in this year’s study will be put through a series of tests and the results compiled and published in a whitepaper for the automotive industry.

The automotive website platforms that excel in various categories will be recognized in the report as well as select companies being chosen to received the coveted ASMA award of excellence. 

In 2009 35 website companies were reviewed and only 9 were selected to receive an ASMA award.   Three of the nine companies had the distinction of being a dual award winner.  Last year’s dual award winners were Dealer.com, TKCarsites.com,  and DealerTrend.com.

The 2010 ASMA awards ceremony will be held On Wednesday October 13, 2010 at the 9th Digital Dealer Convention & Exposition.  PCG is sponsoring the conference cocktail reception where the awards will be presented to an audience of over 1,000 automotive professionals.  The Digital Dealer Conference is the largest automotive conference and exhibition specifically focused on digital marketing and technology.

List of Companies in the 2010 ASMA Study

The companies that will be included in this year’s ASMA whitepaper , in alphabetical order, are:

For additional information on the 2010 ASMA visit: www.asmaawards.org or call Carrie Hemphill, ASMA Coordinator, at 732.450.8200.

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Applications received between August 3-6th will be assessed a late fee of $300.

Applications after August 6th will not be accepted.

If you work at car dealership and love your website platform, make sure your website vendor enters to be part of this annual award of excellence. We will be once again selecting the best website platforms to assist dealers with their search marketing needs.

Digital marketing is THE place for growth in spending in 2010 and 2011 and the 2010 ASMA report will assist car dealers in selecting a platform that will reward that increased investment with a stronger ROI.

ASMA Vendor Features Grid

Some questions have been asked by automotive website vendors about the extended list of website platform feature questions in this year’s application.  In the 2010 ASMA report we will be creating for the first time a master grid of website features and applications offered by vendors.

For example, some vendors offer Video SEO and some do not. Some offer unlimited page building and other don’t. Some offer integrated chat and others do not. There is no master list that lines up platforms and features, but there will now, as a bonus in the 2010 ASMA report.

We also added some functionality questions that do not affect SEO like integrated CRM. We were asked why this question was included and our response is that it enhances the features grid. It is not being asked to add any weight in the award selection process for integrated CRM.

A few vendors offers their own CRM product and others use third parties. This does not impact the search visibility of a website but having that feature column will help dealers compare vendors for specific criteria they may be interested in.

ASMA Award Integrity

The 2010 ASMA report is unique in that it combines vendor provided data as well as independently verified data by our ASMA review staff. The report is funded by PCG Digital Marketing and is wholly managed and owned by PCG.  Here are some additional points of clarification:

• If vendors do not submit an application for the awards it does not mean that the ASMA team will not perform  an analysis from public information and our own testing. In this case, the vendor has chosen not to clearly answer the matrix of questions about their products.
• We will review ALL vendors again who were in the 2009 ASMA report regardless of their formal participation and application submission. Any vendors that did not feel that their platform was accurately represented in 2009 should participate in the formal application process.
• Without vendor particpation in the application process, the ASMA team may be reviewing old technology. This is because we will pick websites at random unless otherwise dictated from formal applications.
• If there is a question on the application you do not want to or cannot  answer – leave them blank. If any question you feel would compromise your technological advantage, leave it blank.

Our independent analysis and honest reporting has won the respect of the automotive industry and this year will be no different.  Each year the ASMA study and awards will seek to be relevant to the needs of car dealers and the changing landscape of the automotive industry.  We encourage all members of the automotive community in website design to participate.

ASMA Applications can be obtained by contacting Carrie Hemphill at: 732-450-8200

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Automotive website companies or their automotive advertising agencies are encouraged to contact Carrie Hemphill, ASMA Award Coordinator, to request the application and data entry forms via email.

ASMA Application Deadline: August 2nd

Participants in the 2010 ASMA Awards must submit their application by August 2, 2010.  This deadline is for all companies that plan to particpate and submit their technology and questionnaire.

The completed ASMA data form with all survey data completed is due by August 27, 2010.  The 2010 ASMA will be expanded to include survey data for mobile applications, chat, video technology and iPad applications.

The 2010 study results will be announced at the 9th Digital Dealer Conference which will be held in Las Vegas from October 12-14th.  A special ceremony for the award winners will be conducted during the conference luncheon sponsored by PCG Digital Marketing.  

In 2009, nine companies out of the 35 included in the study received ASMA awards.   The award is the most prestigious industry award for website design companies.  

2010 ASMA Awards

The ASMA study seeks to assist car dealers with evaluating automotive website platforms and integrated marketing tools.  The 2010 ASMA Awards will include a comprehensive grid of website features, tools and architecture of all vendors.  The report is the industry’s only comprehensive comparison of automotive digital marketing website technology.

Each year, over 50 automotive website platforms are considers for Automotive SEO compliance, data integration, user interface, and search marketing visibility.  in 2009, only 35 were included in the ASMA report and only a fraction receive an ASMA award for excellence.

All of the companies included in the annual study are given the opportunity to submit their most recent examples of technology for review.  This year, the participants can also elect to conduct a two hour presentation of their website and marketing technology to the ASMA review team.

2009 Winner Spotlight – Dealer.com

One of the dual award winners in 2009 was Dealer.com.  Dean Evans from Dealer.com and Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, are photographed during the awards presentation.

For additional information on the 2010 ASMA Awards, contact:

Carrie Hemphill
ASMA Coordinator
PCG Digital Marketing
732.450.8200

http://www.asmaawards.org/

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The event is by invitation only and the Top car dealers across the country will be receiving their invitations in the coming weeks. The 2010 DrivingSales Executive Summit will be held at the Encore hotel, in Las Vegas Nevada.

DSES organizers have negotiated an excellent package for all attendees to enjoy the luxury of the Encore, at a very low rate. When registering for the event, please notify DSES if you will be staying at the Encore and they will book your reservation for you.

DSES Conference Format

The DrivingSales Executive Summit is an exclusive automotive event, laser focused on cutting edge dealership operations. It features an invitation-only guest list of the most successful and innovative dealership operators in the country and world-renowned speakers to educate and inspire the collaborative process. This years Executive Summit will be held at the beautiful Encore hotel in the electrifying city of Las Vegas, Nevada.

The event kicks off with a 30,000-foot view of the latest media and economic trends just starting to touch the industry. These high level discussions are then translated down to the 15,000-foot view of how some of the leading dealership innovators are incorporating these trends into new strategies that drive sales at the dealership level.

To complete the event are strategy collaboration sessions at the 10-foot dealership view where dealer operators participate with their peers in round table discussions about implementing specific aspects of these newly inspired strategies. The program will inspire you and leave you with a strategic plan to drive measurable results at your store.

The topics and speakers presented are selected by group of dealer attendees. This insures the topics are timely, relevant and that the speakers are of the highest quality for the audience. The agenda is not sponsor driven, it is dealer driven.

PCG Digital Marketing

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing will be attending the event and summiting a case study of their digital marketing work for the automotive industry. If you would like to book a private consultation with Brian Pasch out in Vegas, give our office a call at 732.450.8200 x12.

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Completed applications are due by August 27, 2010 howver your initial basic application ad processing fee will be due on August 2, 2010.

If you have any questions about the 2010 ASMA Awards, please contact Carrie Valentine at 732-450-8200.

This year the criteria will be expanded to include mobile marketing as well as a more detailed examination of search marketing features that will include video optimization.

2009 ASMA Awards

There were 9 companies that were awarded trophies for the 2009 ASMA awards and three companies were dual award winners.  The dual award winners included Dealer.com, TK Carsites and DealerTrend.com

Here is a listing of all the winners of the 2009 ASMA Awards:

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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.    

Brian Pasch is the CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, an industry leader in digital marketing and Search Engine Optimization for the automotive industry. 

Pasch will be among five keynote speakers at the Boot Camp and is also one of the instructors at the Automotive Marketing Boot Camp. 

The opening ceremonies for the Boot Camp are scheduled for Thursday evening February 11th with Keynote Speaker Jared Hamilton, founder of DrivingSales.com.

The first class instructed by Pasch “How To Create Content To Achieve Your Online Marketing Goals” will teach dealer professionals how to create content that the search engines will respect.  Pasch will demonstrate how to write search engine friendly content that attracts new traffic and meets car dealer’s keyword search goals.

Next, Pasch will deliver a seminar covering his top picks for the Best Digital Marketing Strategies of 2010.  There are hundreds of opportunities online for auto dealers looking to capture their fair share of the market, but only a select few will offer the best ROI. 

Pasch will show participants how to leverage these strategies to immediately increase the visibility of any car dealership.   He will also show the latest winning digital marketing strategies that have yet to be publically discussed on Brian’s blogs.

A complete description of these classes can be found online:  Boot Camp Classes

The full roster of speakers for the boot camp includes JD Rucker, a leading automotive social media expert and CMO of TK Carsites, Paul Rushing, respected leaders in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, Eric Mayhew, Manager of Advertising Products at Dealer.com, 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 offers attendees 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

For more information on Brian Pasch and the PCG Digital Marketing, visit http://www.dealer-seo.com

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Click on this link for a full a list of all the 2009 ASMA Winners. Brian Pasch, CEO of the PCG Digital Marketing, congratulates the winners.

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Six of the nine winning companies where at the conference to accept their engraved awards which included:

• Dealer.com
• TK Carsites
• DealerTrend
• Dealer eProcess
• DealerOn
• Dealer Fire

The three award winning companies not present at the show were VinSolutions, eBizAutos and eCarlist.

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