I understand vendor issues as well as the next guy. I also have a unique take that many don’t. I have been in the automotive industry for 22 years as a sales consultant, F&I Manager, Used Car Manager, New Car Manager, and General Sales Manager. I haven’t seen it all, but I’ve seen quite a bit. The uniqueness comes into play in regards to SEO/SEM due to the fact that I am President of one such company, Elite Search Engine Marketing.

I am currently functioning in both roles. One as a General Sales Manager of the 12th ranked Mazda dealership in the nation, Kings Mazda, and also President of my SEO/SEM firm.

Being in the car business, I understand that it is all about results. I fight the negative perception everyday as a vendor. Much like the car business, where there are many dealers looking just to make the sale and not caring about a long term relationship, the same holds true in the SEO/SEM industry. We know that many of these companies will go by the wayside on an almost daily basis, but the damage they cause along the way is sometime irreversible.

My suggestion is to dig deeply into the SEO/SEM companies strategies. Have them spell everything out in writing. Get complete specifics in regards to their methods and philosophies. If you begin to get any type of push back to your questions, you then have your answer, they would not be the vendor to partner with.

If anyone would like additional advice, whether your looking for a new vendor or just want suggestions for your current one, I welcome your questions and feedback.

Remember, do your best possible investigative work up front. Firing a vendor isn’t an enjoyable experience and it’s also a negative reflection on you, if you were instrumental in making the hiring decision.

Dan

I came across a new company in the arena, and have been using them since. Not because of just a low management fee ($150-200 on the same budget), but also because of the reporting tools they provide. The last company simply gave me a spreadsheet with keywords and rates, and showed me how quickly the budget ran out. Now, I can see when PPCs are used, which ones are most common, a mirror website with who’s calling, etc.

Just like anything else, these dealers should get more than one perspective or quote when they are looking into SEM/SEO.

I don’t get them when I query “cadillac” but I do get them for “newburgh cadillac”. Maybe a geography issue between the two Orange Counties? Tunstin’s in Orange County CA and I think Newburgh is an Orange County NY town. BTW they do also come up for “orange county cadillac”.

I just realized you are very local to us. We are located in Rockland County, NY. If you search “cadillac” or “newburgh cadillac” from your NJ location is it coming up? It still is for me.

There is definetly an issue here beyond Google’s inaccurate geo-targeting. I have had the geo-targeting inaccuracies in campaigns I have run as well. I did check my IP to ensure it was registered to NY which it was. I also tried the same search in 3 different states. New York, New Jersey & Pennsylvania as they are all close by to here and in my travels. In all of the states the ad showed on 3 different computers/networks with different IP’s. For this reason I do not think this campaign is being regionally targeted on broad keywords such as cadillac. Of course something much more complicated could be happening here (this is Google after all) but it just seems like they are not using regional targeting.

There has been a ton of precedence set for the slight inaccuracy of Google’s “geo-targeted” AdWords results… I’ve seen big-time SEM players like ReachLocal running campaigns that bumped into the issue you’re stating, and ReachLocal’s campaigns actually have algorithms to maximize top performing keywords. The likelihood of a cross-country dealer result in a local search being a top performing PPC keyword is slim to none, so in cases like these, we have to say that one of three things is occuring:

1. SEM Vendors are sneaking trash keywords into our campaigns to up the click-thrus, and they’re lying about having automated programs that maximize top performing keywords (not happening… a couple extra clicks isn’t worth the repercussions of fraud and false advertising)

2. The campaign simply isn’t geo-targeted (any SEM vendor with half a brain knows how to geo-target so if the ad isn’t running as such, it must be an amateur’s work)

3. The all-powerful Google might be a bit off in its attempt to localize its paid search results (i.p. addresses ain’t miracle workers… Google does a good job but you can’t be perfect when you use i.p.’s as your gauge of location)

Having checked out your example though, it’s really hard to tell what the issue is. There’s obviously a lot of attention to search engine optimization on the site, yet the title of the page- the most important SEO element of them all- simply reads “tunstincadillac.com”… seems like an amateur effort, until you notice that the PPC campaigns have their own tracking codes which is not usually a tactic of an amateur.

Either way, I’d give Tunstin a ring if I were you…

Overseeing a Ford dealership receiving ‘Ford Direct’ leads, I was amazed at the lead/contact/appt/show/sold ratio. Didn’t know at the time how or where Ford found these online shoppers, but the BDC was delivering these customers to the door all day long.

As a grean pea Internet Director, I kept getting these calls from a Dallas Cowboy fan with a classic Texas accent; ‘Hi Jeff, Ruanne at Clickmotive here.’ We talked more football than SEM… But it was a must as her boss and mine met at a 20 group meeting the prior spring.

Inbetween more Cowboys and Bears talk a year later and her educating me on SEM, she mentioned they were the SEM providers for the Ford Direct leads.

Honestly, I dont have the exact ratio results maninly because the CRM’s reporting tool at the time was still under development, but between the BDC and myself we agreed that they were the most qualified leads coming in, with quality customer responses via email and phone.

My guesstimation; close to 70% of the incoming leads showed customer response.

I’m a tough sell and don’t promote many company products unless I find them to be 100% quality. Not into gimmicks and promises; but would recommend Clickmotive for SEM all day long. Ask for Ruanne, knowledgeable and pleasant to converse with.

For instance. a Cadillac dealer should use PPC to target people searching for Lincoln and Mercury. He should use content for his own terms.

For instance. a Cadillac dealer should use PPC to target people searching for Lincoln and Mercury. He should use content for his own terms.