Sia, Moe, Pat and Mike Go over Some Last Minute Details Before the NADA Conference In Las Vegas 2012

websites.

Too many dealer websites are full of text and pictures of cars, yet lack the personal touch of employee photographs.

For this reason, we updated our staff page to show photos of our office support staff so you know who you’re talking to on the phone. Please check it out here.

Google Self Driving Car - Click To Enlarge

Original Source: http://www.aptusinsurance.com/google-driverless-car.html

After reading about Google’s latest algorithm update, I started poking around to see if any major car related websites took a hit. Although I’m not a big fan of Alexa Rank, I do visit Alexa.com to see other data.

What I found was interesting:

30% Of Internet Users Come From Google Before They Visit AutoTrader, and 29% Go Back To Google After They Visit AutoTrader

Now it’s common knowledge that AutoTrader dominates as far as traffic goes, and they’ve secured the number one Google Organic Serp listing for “used cars” and other highly relevant search terms. For obvious reasons, a car dealer should at least have their inventory on AutoTrader. It’s well worth the money.

So what advertising should come next? Cars.com or local newspaper classified sites? In my opinion you should be advertising on Google. Matter of fact that should be the first choice, because it’s no secret that 80% of car buyers start out on Google.

If you look at the above screenshot, 29.85% of AutoTrader’s visitors go back to Google after they visit AutoTrader.com. If you think about it, that’s a lot of people.

Here’s another interesting screenshot I took while researching Cars.com:

Cars.com Data Was very Similar

For this reason alone, you should be advertising on Google with Google Adwords. I’m sure most dealers have attempted to create and manage their own campaigns, but without a lot of research and conversion data the cost per click will usually be twice the amount as an AdLogic Google Campaign.

Another important factor is support. Have you ever tried to call Google for help? Good luck if you haven’t, it just won’t happen. We are lucky to be a partner with Google, and with that we get 4 Google reps that we can call directly with any issues or questions.

Every 3 months we either visit Googleplex or they come to our Miami Office and share some very valuable data with us. This allows us to continuously improve AdLogic.

We have some huge changes in our algorithm coming on January 1st, 2012. Some the the features include:

1. Better New Car OEM Campaigns: We’ve been collecting data from millions of searches, and we now know what keyword phrases convert into a lead or phone call better than ever. Now we can adjust the bid on every single keyword depending on the conversion rates.
2. Scarcity Index: We have exclusive rights to the automotive industries largest scarcity index, and we rolled this into our algorithm as well. Now we can adjust bids depending on the popularity and price of a dealer’s vehicle.
3. Aged Inventory: We can also give our dealers the flexibility to stop running ads on vehicles that have been on their lot for any X amount of days.

If your in the car business and you don’t know who Tom Stuker is, you need to get out from under your rock. Tom and his team

You Will See Him Pulling Up To A Dealership In This Car

have helped over 15,000 struggling car dealerships in his career. To show how busy he is, he recently logged in his 10 millionth airline mile and he was even featured on CNN.

The new reality show is properly titled “Car Lot Cowboy“, showing Tom and his two assistants help struggling car dealers change their ways. I was lucky enough to be involved in an episode in Florida, but I had to sign contracts to secrecy. I can’t say anything until they do.

I will say this about Tom Stuker: The guy is legit. I was skeptical at first, but after meeting him and seeing him in action he earned my respect. It is my belief that even if this series only lasts one season, car dealers will buy the DVD collection and use it for training. It’s that good.

During the filming I was involved in, the cameras and microphone booms followed us around for 6 straight days. It took a while to get used to, but the whole experience was fun.

“The episodes shot to date feature both new and used dealerships in New Jersey, Florida, New Orleans, South Carolina and California. One hour-long episode features a Chryslerdealer who rebuilt in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina and runs a food bank to help the community. Another dealer he attempts to help prefers attractive but untrained women in the showroom over knowledgeable sales staff.”

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111209/AUTO01/112090353/Reality-show-tackles-struggling-auto-dealers#ixzz1g4MnzmzN

Be on the lookout for it’s January 2012 debut on Spike TV.

News Miami Location For Showroom Logic

This week we opened up at 13155 SW 134th Street, Unit 107 in Miami Florida.

As a consultant for Park Auto Mall, I spend my afternoons there every Tuesday. Last month Fred Najjar (owner) told me he took a horse in on trade. I knew what he was getting at, this had viral written all over it.

My first step was to call Lorrie Walker, who had done press releases for us in the past. Even she knew the potential of this story.

After she submitted the press release, the phone at Park Auto Mall started going crazy. Every major network wanted a piece of this story.

Besides 3 different Tampa TV Stations showing up with cameras in hand, the most interesting call came last week. It was Fox National Business News and they wanted Fred to go to the Tampa Studios and do a live VIA Satellite interview with Fox’s National Business News. They even sent a limousine to pick him up. Here is the interview:

Locally another TV Station picked up the story, even after another station did a story the week before:

http://pinellaspark.wtsp.com/news/news/82983-auto-dealer-engages-some-real-horse-tradin

http://www.tbnweekly.com/pubs/pinellas_park_beacon/content_articles/100411_par-01.txt

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2011/oct/09/check-the-tires-and-teeth/

http://www.cnbc.com/id/44846899?__source=google|editorspicks|&par=google

They Name Street Signs After Google

I took a ride over with a special guest we had from AutoTrader, and we met up with our CEO & CTO there. It wasn't hard to find the complex, because they have their own street sign.

Google Lobby

There were so many buildings, but we finally found the one we were sent to

The Google 15 Cafeteria

This is the cafeteria in the engineering building. The room just reaked of intelligence. The picture is blurry thanks to my droid, but I couldn't leave it out.

The Google 15 Definition: The amount of pounds a new Google employee puts on during first month at Google

Besides being FREE, Google has the best food ever with every nationality represented including Indian, Chinese, Italian and many others. They even have a killer dessert bar

The Google Campus

When we first arrived it was just before 1:00PM. Although Googlers set their own hours, it was a busy time when we got there. People everywhere zipping around on bicycles. After we had lunch it was a lot quieter and I took these photos:

The campus is very much like a College Campus

Even the umbrellas match the colors of the Google Logo

The complex consists of 12 building just like this

A lot of strange objects around, including this shark fin?

Google Wave Pools

They have 2 wave pools for employees. The town of Mountain View California made them hire a full time lifeguard to watch just 2 people!

Dinosaur Bones

One of the founders bought dinasaur bones at an auction and had them erected at Googleplex. As a joke, an unknown employee places pink flamingos around it. An unknown group even dressed the dino up last Halloween as a ballerina.

Volley Ball

If a Google employee feels tired they are welcome to go play some volleyball, basketball, etc...

Google Bicycles

Google has bicycles just like this all over the place. This allows each employee to get around building to building. They used to have Segways, but many employees wouldn't charge them so they stuck with bicycles (Not sure what happened to the seat, it was in the basket)

The Snack Attack Truck

This truck randomly picks a spot on the campus and offers free snacks. Each day it's something different - this day was Root Beer Float Day. They call it "Snack Attack"

Cool Works Of Art

There is some cool artwork like this here and there throughout the complex.

The Google Store

Just before our meeting started, we were each given 35.00 gift cards to the Google store. There was some really cool stuff in there

Other Google Perks

Other perks at Google include Acupuncture, Doctors, Massage, Free Laundry and much more

Anyone who is interested in Google Analytics will not regret attending this seminar.

His session will start at 11:45 – 12:45 on Monday October 10th.

Patrick Bennett, CTO of Showroom Logic, has been addicted to technology-driven online marketing for over 10 years. Patrick has been a speaker at popular marketing events, including SMX West & Digital Dealer, has been

Patrick Bennet - CTO Showroom Logic

featured on popular websites such as Mashable.com and has been a featured speaker at Universities such as BYU, Weber State & Neumont. Patrick’s affair with the industry is continually renewed with the continual spark of new technology, the excitement of creating successful solutions and the constant battle of understanding consumer behavior.

Showroom Logic is a leading digital dealership marketing company that drives traffic to dealership websites through innovative and automated solutions. As an industry leader in PPC/SEM, organic SEO, Analytics and custom application development, Showroom Logic is continually focused on creating solutions that are platformVindependent, intelligent, and require very little oversight from dealerships.

Source: KBB Do Americans Like Buying Cars

Napleton Infiniti Of Tallahassee

The Napleton Auto Group is pleased to announce another dealership acquisition in Tallahassee Florida. Effective last month, Prestige Infiniti is now Napleton Infiniti.

Napleton has been a trusted family name since 1931, with over 60 dealerships nationwide. Here in Florida, they have several stores in West Palm Beach. Kissimmee and Clermont.