It is really 2011 already? Yes Jeff, that happened a few days ago…get your ass into gear!
I feel like I can’t get 2011 started here until we publish our traditional “Best of DealerRefresh – 2010“. It seems like 2010 went by with a blurr.
We have a lot planned for DealerRefresh in 2011 so let’s get started with the year-end review…
Mobile Social Networking Apps WILL Threaten Your Dealers Online Reputation! – We started off 2010 touching on mobile geo check-in apps and the effect they could have on your dealers online reputation. – 21 comments
Making a Mac work in a dealership – Alex and the community discuss the pros and cons of going Mac in the dealer business. Since this post, I’ve personally bought 3 Macs. 🙂 Damn you ALEX! – 23 comments
Seeing The Forest Rather Than Just The Trees – Is “Call Us” Or “Email Us” Really the Best We Can Do On Our Dealership Websites? – 16 comments
CARFAX – What Are You Thinking? – Carfax initially pisses off dealers by getting into the pricing game. We’re still not sure about this, are you? – 39 comments
Tracking Your Webite Visitor Analytics by Mobile Device – Are you watching your dealer website visitors by mobile device? Many have seen a huge climb in the last 12 months. Are you on the mobile wagon?- 19 comments
Google Places Delivers Great Analytics For Dealers – Google upgrades their analytics and reporting tools for your Dealers Google Maps listing on what is now called Google Places.
Dealership Value-Added Programs are BUNK! – This article dives into the debate on whether or not Value Added Programs are truly beneficial. – 18 comments
Rethink Giving Your Inventory Away to FREE Sites – Are you doing dealers a disservice by feeding your dealers inventory to all the “free” listing sites? – 18 comments
The Ego….errrr….Dealership Home Page – Is your dealerships website Homepage designed by a HIPPO? – 30 comments
Chat Tracks – Critiquing a Dealer Chat Transcript – In this article (that carries over to the dealer forums) we critique several live dealer shat scripts. Good fun and a great resource.
Is the death of SEO coming soon? – With the release of Google Realtime search, Yahoo and Bing merging, and facebook jumping into the search game. Will SEO come to an end? – 35 comments
The Dealership Hiring Dilemma – How and where do we find Sales People to work 60 Hours a Week? – 13 comments
The Evolution of an Automotive Customer – In the first three phases of evolution we’re trying to sell an appointment, not a vehicle! – 46 comments
AutoTrader went on a shopping spree in 2010 – Autotrader bought vAuto, then Autotrader bought KBB, and then Autotrader bought Homenet Auto.
Rumors from the 2010 Vegas Conferences #DD9 #DSES #JDPAIRT – Boy this article stirred the pot, but sometimes things need to be said. – 46 comments
Mobile Websites vs. Mobile Apps. Which One For The Dealer? – Dealership Mobile websites vs. Apps. Which one is it? – 19 comments
Is PPC a window to all visitor behavior? – Paid search allows can allow you to segment data to better observe understand how customers behave differently. – 47 comments
Evil Dealers and the Slaughter of the Innocents – Why do consumer WANT TO NEGOTIATE before they buy? – 29 comments
Have you set your Goals for 2011? – Goal setting is a necessity for achieving great success and moving forward. Several share their goals and advice. – 9 comments
And we can’t forget. DealerRefresh wins the AWA Light House Award!
How freaking awesome was that?
All this and I haven’t even mentioned what all went on in the DealerRefresh forums in 2011.
The DealerRefresh Forums have been EXPLOSIVE this year.
We now have over 1,200 threads/conversations with over 11,000 posts. This is just in the DealerRefresh forums alone. We could tout that at one point we had over 2000 subscribers but let’s be honest, many sign-up to comment once or twice but don’t stick around to be a part of the community. We frequently prune our member lists from spammers and people that have signed up but are no longer participating. The member count means little to us – it’s more about the engagement of the community.
So what happened in the forums for 2010? Here are some of the more engaging threads from 2010..
Note: The best part of a forum; a thread never truly “dies”. If your run across a relevant thread to information on what you are looking for, pay little attention to when the last post/comment was made and post your response or question. This will revive the thread and bump it back into active status.
With so many threads to choose from in the forums, I’ll keep this list short while encouraging you to find your own favorite thread of 2010…
Pay for Internet Sales Manager/Director – This is always a hot topic. Take the poll and contribute.
How are your phone skills? – Best phone sales thread on the internet. Jerry Thibeau offers some stellar advice on ninja like phone skills while sharing with the community live recorded coaching sessions. Priceless thread!
Free! 24/7 Live Dealer Chat Support, Staff, and Leads – This is one of the longest threads in the Forums. Follow several dealers results as add chat to their dealer websites. If you’re not on chat – you are missing out.
What Defines A Successful Automotive Social Media Strategy – This a fairly new thread but has quickly skyrocketed to be one of the most engaging threads ever. Get the scoop from dealers and vendors on how they define a successful Social Media Strategy. TIME CAPSULE THREAD.
Mystery Shop Time! – Jerry Thibeau hits it home with another awesome thread – follow dealers as they get mystery shopped. Is your dealer on their game? Jump into this exciting thread and see some interesting results over a current 84 posts.
How Is Your Internet Department Setup? – A crucial question every dealer has asked for eventually asks. Some great advice and opinions here!
Taking videos of your vehicles – 84 posts and it keeps going. This thread won’t die. Not only will you gather some great best practices from other dealers but watch some of the better examples of dealer inventory videos.
What is the best looking setup/stage – Another favorite thread! Great advise and examples of some of the best inventory staging setups across the United States!
Reynolds closes modem access? – ReyRey gets a decent amount of play in the forums. There seems to always be a steady stream of issues. Have a ReyRey question? I’d recommend checking out this Category or posting your question. There are some smart techs hitting this thread.
Cisco phone system for your Dealership – This turned into a great thread with some great information on different phone systems for your dealership.
I’m going to stop here because this list could get really long. At any given moment there are several threads and discussions happening in the forums. We are to a point where we have OVER 100 posts a day.
Thanks to EVERYONE for an awesome 2010 here on DealerRefresh. It’ amazing how much the community continues to grow.
Look for many great changes here on DealerRefresh for 2011!
