First, you can protect your good name. It amazes me when I check out a dealer’s name or a brand and city and only find one listing that goes to the dealer. What happens when you piss a customer off that has a bit of web skills or knows how to complain?

You can see a whole article and an example of what this can cost a dealer in this age of the web over at Paul’s blog ISM In Training titled “What does negative information cost you?”. It can be a huge negative.

Second, you can be found on other platforms that have their own search function, are easy to use, and are beloved by the Big G like Hub Pages and Squidoo. These can easily get listed on your first page.

Third, take the time to use the bookmarking sites for all your properties. Not just your main dealer site but your Squidoo lenses, Hub Pages and even your micro sites.

Fourth, a blog network can be easy to add and are relatively easy to update regularly. Every car dealer I have ever entered has a brag board with all their testimonials on them. Do you have a blog with yours online to show what your customers think?

Fifth, a series of micro sites. Easy to find landing pages to create leads on all of your main terms. You can also use these for adding used inventory for terms that you want to compete with.

You sell Honda’s. You probably have Nissan’s and Toyota’s in your used car inventory. Why not target these too. Get your name in front of more potential customers no matter what they are looking for.

Doing some of these things on a regular basis will allow you to own the search engines for not just your dealer name but for as many of the top 10 results in your area as you can. This does not count all the other terms that will bring you potential customers.

Owning the search engines is not hard but it does not happen overnight. Spending some time regularly can pay huge dividends over time.

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• Why Buy Print Over Online Advertising?
• Networking – It may not be what you think
• Automotive Social Networking – Time to Catch Up
• Employee vs Business Mentality

Related items

• Does your web site work for you? Do you only have one?
• Networking – It may not be what you think
• How many websites do you need?
• Sitemap
• About Us

If you are running a hot dog stand on a busy corner in a Metropolitan area you don’t need a website to attract customers. If you are selling Toyota’s in that same Metropolitan area with 4 other Toyota dealers within 15 minutes of yours, you should own your local market for your brand name so that a consumer searching for a Toyota via the Internet finds you at every click.

Nothing is more astonishing to hear about dealers spending $3500.00 for the back page of the Sunday paper but consider Internet marketing a necessary evil or a waste of resources.

Automobile Industry statistics show that 70%* of all automobile consumers go online prior to purchasing a new car while the average dealer usually allocates less than 10% of their advertising budget to attracting online consumers. Now that may have you scratching your head wondering what that has to do with how many websites you need.

Think about these questions:

• Would you start a billboard campaign with just one?
• Do you only advertise in one newspaper?
• Do you only advertise on one radio station? One multi station group does not equal one station unless ads are running on only one station!
• When you buy Television advertising do you buy on one station or do you look for multi station packages?

You have complete dominion over your websites. That space is not shared with other advertisers as it is with the sources listed above or with online classifieds services such as Cars.com and AutoTrader.com. You have the ability to deliver any message that you desire via the internet as many times as you wish. A dominate online presence is not ranking #1 in Google with your website for your brand name and city or the number one top sponsor spot with PPC advertising. That is just presenting your offer one time. Dominating is owning everything on the first page along with most of the offerings on page two and three. This could never be accomplished with even the most well optimized single website.

Think of the last time you searched for something online. Did you go to the first result and stop there or did you surf? Now think of this, if every click you made lead to the same person or company. Who would you do business with? Who would you consider the best?

How many websites do you need? Only you can answer that.

* Source Cars.com Ask the Experts

People who looked at this item also looked at…

• Is your listing right?
• Why Buy Print Over Online Advertising?
• Automotive Social Networking – Time to Catch Up
• 10 Questions to Ask Your Automotive SEO Firm
• Dynamic SEO = Wasted Money

Related items

• Dynamic SEO = Wasted Money
• Are you taking advantage of bookmarking?
• Automotive Social Networking – Time to Catch Up
• Transparency – Buzz Word or Way of Life – Part II
• Why do I want multiple web properties?