If your not using an RSS reader, it’s time you get on board and the site
I recommend subscribing to first is DealerRefresh.

For those who are not familiar with RSS. RSS or Really Simple Syndication
is an XML-based Web syndication tool for Web sites and blogs. RSS feeds news
content with information and a descriptions of the posting. An RSS Reader then
interprets this feed so that the user need only read the description and link to
the news story or blog post.

I personally like the Google Reader and since I have been getting my news via
RSS, I would freak out if I didn’t have it. So here is a quick tutorial on
getting your RSS reader up and running and adding DealerRefresh to your
subscriptions.

1.
www.google.com/reader and sign up for a Google reader account.

2. To the left of your reader, you will see "Add Subscription". Click and
type in
www.dealerrefresh.com. The Google reader will automatically find my RSS feed
and add it to your reader.

It’s that SIMPLE, now you’ll never miss a new posting on DealerRefresh.com!!

What websites and blogs are in Jeff Kershners Google Reader? Here are a few:

http://www.copyblogger.com/

http://www.grokdotcom.com/

http://www.copywritingmaven.com

http://www.searchnewz.com/

http://www.autonews.com/

http://feeds.wired.com/wired/topheadlines

http://blogproautomotive.com/

Looks like DealerTrack will be buying Arkona for around $58.9 million. Sounds like
a lot of money!!

"This acquisition will bring together DealerTrack, a leading provider of on-demand software and data solutions for the automotive retail industry, and Arkona, a leading provider of on-demand dealer management systems for automotive dealerships."

Where is DealerTrack heading with an acquisition like this??

The rumor mill several months ago, was that DealerTrack was going to buy The Cobalt Group. But then again, I heard from a reliable resource that Reynolds & Reynolds was to
acquire The Cobalt Group, and that never materialized.

Read the
full press release.

Anyone have
any feedback?

In less then 5 hours, Google has indexed my last posting "Should dealers be blogging?”. As I mentioned in the posting right before; "Why are the vendors and consultants possible hypocrites?”, DealerRefresh is growing and rocking in the search engines.

I currently have a PR (Page Rank) of 4 Oops, I guess google made some changes because it dropped to a 3> and I feel a PR of 5 <4> is in the near horizon. I know that Page Rank is not the single most important factor for SEO but with all the other elements this blog possess on top of the PR, it’s only a matter of time before DealerRefresh owns the Search engines for such a targeted audiences. Just another reason why vendors and ISM’s
should be participating with comments and feedback.

Social Networking – Automotive dealer vendors and consultants are not getting it.

Many of the technology/internet driven vendors and consultants are quick to tell dealers how they need to be where the consumers are. How consumers have changed and they need to know how to market themselves on the internet to today’s consumers. The internet is where the consumers are! I’m not here to dispute that BUT rather I’d like to point out that it’s obvious to me that most don’t practice what they preach.

Case in point; DealerRefresh. Here is the perfect avenue for CEO’s and top management of consultant firms, dealer website, CRM, ILM, 3rd Party Lead, etc. vendors to reach out to a targeted audience. The opportunity to participate, build relationships and give back to their consumers. But…the only time I usually hear from a vendor is when I call them on their game. However, they are always quick to lash out and defend themselves (which is fine, that’s what it’s all about, I guess).

I’ve even taken the time to profile several vendors (with more coming) but yet I have to keep reminding them to contribute something to their dealer website design profile page. So you tell me, how much sense does that make?

Maybe their just too afraid that someone is going to steal their ideas and silver bullets (haha)? Maybe they are to busy to communicate with us Internet Sales Managers. Maybe they find no real importance in us ISM’s and DealerRefresh and it’s all about the $$ for them.

Well, dealerrefresh.com is growing and rocking in the search engines. The traffic is abundant and very targeted. So if you think it’s not worth your time, you may want to reconsider.

I do THANK ALL OF MY READERS, especially the one’s participating, leaving your comments and feedback. I’ll keep doing what I do; on the front line of this business (like many of DealerRefresh readers) and I’ll keep posting about what I find interesting and relevant to Internet sales and marketing for automotive dealers.

I’€™ve been noticing a small buzz here lately around dealers and blogging, or their lack of.

Omuoto over at vFlyer wrote an article "Auto Dealer Blogs Where Art Thou?". The article was pointing out the lack of Automotive Dealers blogging, especially when compared to the Real Estate business.

"While the number of Real Estate blogs continues to grow, auto dealers are simply not making it to the blogosphere".

If you read the comments, you will see I shared 5 reasons why car dealers do not blog:

1. Most dealers don’€™t even know what a blog is.
2. Most dealerships still don’t view the Internet as an integral part of their business.
3. Most dealers usually do not have right personnel on staff for consistent postings.
4. Blogs will not sell you a car this month (that would be the perception).
5. Blogs are too much work for most dealers; dealers have enough problems just keeping up with their website.

Then I stumbled across this article "€œNew Kids on the Blog"€ in Wards Dealer Business. A quote from the article reads;

"€œThe question is should you consider blogging, not why don’t you," – Brian Epro, director-Automotive Services Group for iMakeNews.

I totally agree with Brian. Blogging is not for everyone or every dealer and if a dealer does consider to blog, what exactly are they looking to get out of out? In the world of blogs and websites, it is said that content is king. What content does a dealer include in their blog and how do they stay consistent with it?

Consistency could be the key word here. I started a
Mercedes Dealer blog several months ago and I have yet been consistent with my postings. I know what I want to do and where I want to go with it (mostly for SEO purposes) but at the end of the day, it’€™s not a top priority and I don’t always have the time to keep up with it.

There are a few companies trying to make a go out of providing blogging services for dealers. Could outsourcing your blog efforts be the way to go? I’m not sure if I agree with this. Being a blogger myself, I know a blog has to have "€œa voice"€ and if you outsource your blog postings, I think it could become very stale to the reader. Not to mention, with time, I have no doubt these companies will eventually duplicate information across blogs as filler posting and this could have eventually have a negative impact for SEO.

Then you have to ask..how much time and money should a dealer place into having a blog? Will consumers actually take the time to read it or are they just looking for your inventory? But then on the reverse, a blog could help build with branding and your message to your consumers.

I’m not sure where I stand on this subject and it sounds as if even Brian Epro questions dealers joining the blogosphere.

"Do I think consumers will be actively looking up blogs from their dealer website?" he asks. "I’€™m not too sure. Blogging that helps with search-engine optimization is good. Blogging for the sake of the sake of blogging – I tend to question whether it has any validity to the dealership."€

What’€™s your feedback?