Comments on: Should dealers be blogging? http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/ Obstacles, Observations and Opinions of an Automotive Internet Sales Manager Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:01:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dealership Blogs and Their Purpose - DealerRefresh Automotive Technology Forums http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-9135 Dealership Blogs and Their Purpose - DealerRefresh Automotive Technology Forums Fri, 16 Apr 2010 02:30:45 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-9135 [...] the hype, though it seems as if we have been talking about them forever here on DealerRefresh. Should dealers be blogging? My question for the community is IF you have a dealership blog, what is your main reason for the [...] [...] the hype, though it seems as if we have been talking about them forever here on DealerRefresh. Should dealers be blogging? My question for the community is IF you have a dealership blog, what is your main reason for the [...]

]]> By: Gary May (IM@CS) http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-3137 Gary May (IM@CS) Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:23:05 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-3137 As was pointed out in last week's JD Power event and throughout publications over the last year, a blog is only one of the critical aspects of a dealer's presence online. Just as (or even more) important is reputation management and representation in forums, especially for dealers active in the accessory market. Anything that drives an engaged, educated consumer to your virtual or actual dealership is a win for your store today. Many website providers used 'blogs' which were just long advertisements over the past couple years to just add content on buried pages for SEO purposes. This is one way that dealers were confused as to what a blog is and how it should be maintained. If you're a high-line dealership, it should be an active part of your branding. Have a staff member that is web-savvy and can maintain the content? Try that for a while (make sure the content is triple-checked though) and see what happens. At the end of the day, it is a hard sell convincing dealership management (or principals) that a blog or any other aspect of social or viral marketing can actually get them noticed. Explaining UGC and blogs usually gathers a timid response at best. If you start it, maintain it. Don't do it for two weeks, say it 'doesnt' work' and leave it to die on the information superhighway. That rule is followed so infrequently in the auto world. As was pointed out in last week’s JD Power event and throughout publications over the last year, a blog is only one of the critical aspects of a dealer’s presence online. Just as (or even more) important is reputation management and representation in forums, especially for dealers active in the accessory market.

Anything that drives an engaged, educated consumer to your virtual or actual dealership is a win for your store today. Many website providers used ‘blogs’ which were just long advertisements over the past couple years to just add content on buried pages for SEO purposes. This is one way that dealers were confused as to what a blog is and how it should be maintained.

If you’re a high-line dealership, it should be an active part of your branding. Have a staff member that is web-savvy and can maintain the content? Try that for a while (make sure the content is triple-checked though) and see what happens.

At the end of the day, it is a hard sell convincing dealership management (or principals) that a blog or any other aspect of social or viral marketing can actually get them noticed. Explaining UGC and blogs usually gathers a timid response at best. If you start it, maintain it. Don’t do it for two weeks, say it ‘doesnt’ work’ and leave it to die on the information superhighway. That rule is followed so infrequently in the auto world.

]]> By: Nick http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-3136 Nick Tue, 14 Oct 2008 01:33:10 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-3136 I am struggling with the decisions over what to include in my blog. I am an ISM for a large Honda dealership and want to be out there with the technology that is relevant right now. I do not have the luxury that some of my colleagues who aren't in the Internet department do, of a long list of customers and referrals because I am relatively new to the business. I want to be able to use my blog to connect and be relevant to my customers and their friends and family in a way that wouldn't otherwise be possible. Thoughts? I am struggling with the decisions over what to include in my blog. I am an ISM for a large Honda dealership and want to be out there with the technology that is relevant right now. I do not have the luxury that some of my colleagues who aren’t in the Internet department do, of a long list of customers and referrals because I am relatively new to the business. I want to be able to use my blog to connect and be relevant to my customers and their friends and family in a way that wouldn’t otherwise be possible. Thoughts?

]]> By: Alex Snyder http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-452 Alex Snyder Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:02:12 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-452 Thanks Joe :) Thanks Joe :)

]]> By: Joe Pistell http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-451 Joe Pistell Sat, 24 Nov 2007 16:42:35 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-451 Kudos to Alex and his team! October 29, 2007 Checkered Blog Captures Int'l Web Honors "...Other winners include Sony Electronics and Wells Fargo & Co. The competition received more than 900 entries in its various categories from across the United States and six other countries..." http://blog.checkeredflag.com/my_weblog/2007/10/checkered-blog-.html#comment-88010954 Kudos to Alex and his team!

October 29, 2007
Checkered Blog Captures Int’l Web Honors

“…Other winners include Sony Electronics and Wells Fargo & Co. The competition received more than 900 entries in its various categories from across the United States and six other countries…”

http://blog.checkeredflag.com/my_weblog/2007/10/checkered-blog-.html#comment-88010954

]]> By: TJ http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-450 TJ Tue, 30 Oct 2007 01:32:47 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-450 I don't know how others feel about this but one of the lamest things I've seen w/rising frequency is online ad vendors or third party inventory company blogs that they start to generate interest in their respective companies, etc. and nobody responds to any of the posts over a period of time and then they still leave the blog up and active one and a half or two years down the line and it still has zero responses to any if not all posts. It comes across as pathetic to me because it shows absolutely no interest in what they have to say. Maybe it's me but it seems tantamount to spending time to build a large public address system that nobody listens to. I don’t know how others feel about this but one of the lamest things I’ve seen w/rising frequency is online ad vendors or third party inventory company blogs that they start to generate interest in their respective companies, etc. and nobody responds to any of the posts over a period of time and then they still leave the blog up and active one and a half or two years down the line and it still has zero responses to any if not all posts. It comes across as pathetic to me because it shows absolutely no interest in what they have to say. Maybe it’s me but it seems tantamount to spending time to build a large public address system that nobody listens to.

]]> By: Alex Snyder http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-449 Alex Snyder Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:48:59 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-449 Thanks for the plug on the Checkered Blog Jeff. We started it, like you said, to build transparency. We wanted customers to know we pay attention to the community, in fact, we're one of its biggest givers! We also wanted to do these things in such a way that it did not come off as bragging. I judge its penetration on how many comments are being added to posts, and it is just starting to get off the ground. It has taken us about 6 months of daily article posting to get it to a point where we get 1 to 5 comments per day. I could not have done it without outside help though. Goldman & Associates Public Relations deserve most of the credit. It does take some work to blog. It doesn't have to be about the dealership. Actually, I think having a blog totally about the dealership is boring. You can position things to be SEO and transparent. I've noticed the smart Car category ranks number 1 in a whole bunch of varied Google searches! Most of the traffic to our Hyundai site comes off the blog's SEO clicks. If you had asked me who was going to benefit the most of our brands from this blog, when we first started it, the last thing I would have said was "Hyundai"! It has been a very rewarding piece of our eCommerce equation...BUT, not rewarding in the $$$-sense...rewarding in customer appreciation. It is a PR piece, and you can't put a price on it. Thanks for the plug on the Checkered Blog Jeff. We started it, like you said, to build transparency. We wanted customers to know we pay attention to the community, in fact, we’re one of its biggest givers! We also wanted to do these things in such a way that it did not come off as bragging. I judge its penetration on how many comments are being added to posts, and it is just starting to get off the ground. It has taken us about 6 months of daily article posting to get it to a point where we get 1 to 5 comments per day. I could not have done it without outside help though. Goldman & Associates Public Relations deserve most of the credit.

It does take some work to blog. It doesn’t have to be about the dealership. Actually, I think having a blog totally about the dealership is boring. You can position things to be SEO and transparent. I’ve noticed the smart Car category ranks number 1 in a whole bunch of varied Google searches! Most of the traffic to our Hyundai site comes off the blog’s SEO clicks. If you had asked me who was going to benefit the most of our brands from this blog, when we first started it, the last thing I would have said was “Hyundai”!

It has been a very rewarding piece of our eCommerce equation…BUT, not rewarding in the $$$-sense…rewarding in customer appreciation. It is a PR piece, and you can’t put a price on it.

]]> By: Gilbert Chavez http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-448 Gilbert Chavez Mon, 29 Oct 2007 19:36:07 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-448 I started blogging with the Phil Long Group a couple years ago before it was in vogue. It's a great tool for a dealer to use to get out all kinds of information out to their customer base without slapping them in the face with a commercial. I highly recommend it. I started blogging with the Phil Long Group a couple years ago before it was in vogue. It’s a great tool for a dealer to use to get out all kinds of information out to their customer base without slapping them in the face with a commercial. I highly recommend it.

]]> By: Jeff Kershner http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-447 Jeff Kershner Sat, 27 Oct 2007 19:12:45 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-447 Rather then "Should" dealers be blogging?.. I'll rephrase it with "Could" dealers be blogging? John, you have been an ISM for 7 years so you know first hand that 99% of dealers do not have the personnel, drive and consistency in their employees to start and carry through with a blog. If a dealer can to make their Blog a priority and take the time to be consistent with it, then I believe that can become a valuable source of traffic and revenue for the dealer. There is plenty for dealers to blog about. I like what Joe has going on and is something that I was/would do as well. Post your inventory, not every vehicle but find some of the special more rare examples. With Joe's example not only are you posting inventory for some SEO but this is also an example of branding. When I see this blog I see the vehicles but I also see a sales professional that cares. What about accessories? Mercedes has an ipod module that I had posted about and it consistently brings traffic from the search engines and has resulted in several sales of ipod kits. Blogging can also be used to build transparency and value in the dealers branding. A perfect example of this is the Checkered Flag Blog. http://blog.checkeredflag.com/ This blog says "We are a part of YOUR community!!" That's strong in my opinion. Could a dealer blog? Absolutely Could it drive traffic and sales? Absolutely Could it help build transparency and branding? Absolutely Do you need right formula and "know how" within the dealer to make it work? Absolutely Jeff Rather then “Should” dealers be blogging?.. I’ll rephrase it with “Could” dealers be blogging?

John, you have been an ISM for 7 years so you know first hand that 99% of dealers do not have the personnel, drive and consistency in their employees to start and carry through with a blog.

If a dealer can to make their Blog a priority and take the time to be consistent with it, then I believe that can become a valuable source of traffic and revenue for the dealer.

There is plenty for dealers to blog about. I like what Joe has going on and is something that I was/would do as well. Post your inventory, not every vehicle but find some of the special more rare examples. With Joe’s example not only are you posting inventory for some SEO but this is also an example of branding. When I see this blog I see the vehicles but I also see a sales professional that cares.

What about accessories? Mercedes has an ipod module that I had posted about and it consistently brings traffic from the search engines and has resulted in several sales of ipod kits.

Blogging can also be used to build transparency and value in the dealers branding. A perfect example of this is the Checkered Flag Blog. http://blog.checkeredflag.com/ This blog says “We are a part of YOUR community!!” That’s strong in my opinion.

Could a dealer blog? Absolutely
Could it drive traffic and sales? Absolutely
Could it help build transparency and branding? Absolutely
Do you need right formula and “know how” within the dealer to make it work? Absolutely

Jeff

]]> By: Joe Pistell http://www.dealerrefresh.com/should-dealers-be-blogging/comment-page-1/#comment-446 Joe Pistell Fri, 26 Oct 2007 15:20:11 +0000 http://dealerrefresh.groovecommerce.com/?p=137#comment-446 John, You are so right, the skills and time needed to populate a blog are not found among sales staff. It's a lot of WORK. But, blogging for dealerships has SEO benefits worth looking into. I am working on a new test marketing blog built specifically for Search Engine Harvesting. Give it a look: <a href="http://usedcarqueen.com/" rel="nofollow">The Used Car Queen</a> </li> you may get some ideas. Although it's just a few weeks old, it's already exceeded my expectations. Over 200 unique visitors (in a rather small market) 5 pages per visit! 8 minutes on avg. per visitor 40% Bounce Rate. All traffic comes from Search Engines only AND there less than a dozen cars up there. Once we expand the selection the search traffic will follow too. At this hour this is a SEO harvesting experiment so I haven't worked on any call to action items to work on conversion side. I expect there'll be a lot of easy ways to reach out an touch the visitor. G'Luck, Joe John,
You are so right, the skills and time needed to populate a blog are not found among sales staff. It’s a lot of WORK. But, blogging for dealerships has SEO benefits worth looking into.

I am working on a new test marketing blog built specifically for Search Engine Harvesting. Give it a look: The Used Car Queen you may get some ideas.

Although it’s just a few weeks old, it’s already exceeded my expectations.
Over 200 unique visitors (in a rather small market)
5 pages per visit!
8 minutes on avg. per visitor
40% Bounce Rate.

All traffic comes from Search Engines only AND there less than a dozen cars up there. Once we expand the selection the search traffic will follow too.

At this hour this is a SEO harvesting experiment so I haven’t worked on any call to action items to work on conversion side. I expect there’ll be a lot of easy ways to reach out an touch the visitor.

G’Luck,
Joe

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