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It’s amazing how many people have called to ask about the JC Penny and Overstock.com SEO scandal. Should SEO be a part of a car dealer’s automotive advertising strategy?

Let me assure you that anyone who has taken my Automotive SEO classes or attended my workshops, the strategies that these unnamed SEO companies implemented is NOT anything I would have recommended.

I made a video to help car dealers understand that good Automotive SEO strategies are compliant and effective. If you have any doubt, I’ll give you a few recent search marketing goals that I implemented.

Search these phrases and find the fingerprints of PCG and the AAN on some of the hottest new organic search goals which results in Google Page One results:

• Fiat Dealer
• Fiat 500 Dealers
• Fisker Dealers
• Fisker Karma California
• Fiat 500 Virginia
• Fiat 500 DC

Please focus on good content on your website, blogs, and microsites. If you have not seen the new AAN Content Syndication Dashboard, get a demo. Dealers need an authentic content generation and syndication strategy.

Watch The Automotive SEO Video

Automotive SEO is just a part of an overall effective digital marketing strategy; it is not the holy grail. Just don’t run from SEO investments because a few bad apples got the media to pay attention to digital marketing strategies!

Is it possible to increase online service appointments by 300%?  I didn’t think so but I found out that you can by making some simple changes to your existing website!

Can you increase total service appointments by 10-15% with an inexpensive change to your website?  Yes you can.

What would your service business and profits look like if you achieved these improvements over the next 60 days?

Fixed Operations, one of the most significant profit centers for a dealership, is often left behind when digital marketing strategies are discussed.  When a dealer realizes this and takes action, the results can be stunning.  Most of the online discussions regarding SEO, Video Marketing, and even Pay-Per-Click strategies deal with marketing new and used cars.  It is time to wake up the sleeping giant and take our Fixed Operations marketing game to the streets.

Many dealers use direct mail and email to market to existing customers or purchase third party lists to attract new customers.  However, the larger opportunity is the thousands of in market consumers that use the search engines to locate and shop for car service and repair facilities. Does social media play a role?  Yes it does! The combination of traditional marketing and innovative digital marketing for Fixed Operations is a game changer.

Check Your Fixed Operations Visibility

Google rewards those who act first and publish optimized content on a particular keyword goal.  Add to this fact that independent service organizations like Jiffy Lube, Meineke, Pep Boys, and Discount Tire have been left unchallenged by franchise dealers.

You can conduct a simple test in your own market by inspecting your own search visibility.

For example, if your dealership was in Boston, you would type in these searches to test your organic visibility:

• Boston Car Repairs
• Boston Tire Stores
• Boston Brakes
• Boston Oil Change

And type in these phrases to test your Pay-Per-Click (SEM) visibility:

• Tires Stores
• Discount Tires
• Oil Change Coupons
• Brake Stores
• Muffler Shop

Of course you can also add service searches that include your OEM brand.  If you do a search for “Honda Brakes Queens“, “Honda Radiator Queens“, or “Honda Oil Change Queens” you can see that Paragon Honda is #1 in organic ranking for their service microsite.  Fixed operations content publishing strategies can yield an annuity of leads with very low maintenance.

Google Instant will show you suggestions for what consumers are typing in your marketplace.  How did your testing go?

• Is your dealership showing in the Paid Search area (SEM)?
• Is your dealership showing the the Google Places area?
• Is your dealership showing up for videos, press releases, blog posts, or microsites in the organic SEO area?

If Fixed Operations is a major profit center for dealers why is Google Adwords, Google Places, and Google Organics often a low priority in Fixed Operations budgets?

Thinking Out Of The Box

How many search optimized videos have you created to promote your service offerings?

Checkered Flag in Virginia Beach is a dealership that invests in video and their value messaging is strong. Check out their video enhanced landing page for their body shop:

Virginia Beach Body Shop.

When you start to publish videos on Fixed Operations, not only do you service landing pages come alive but your videos can also be found in organic Search.    Here are two examples of videos that were created to increase search visibility for oil changes:

• Checkered Flag
• Rairdon Group

If you search “Virginia Beach Oil Change” Checkered Flag’s video is on Google Page One. Search “Jeep Oil Change Seattle” and the same result occurs for Rairdon’s video. These were the search phrases that these videos were optimized for.

For fun, search in Google: “Virginia Fiat 500” .  You will find a video I recorded last week.  Can you see how video marketing can increase the visibility for the cars you sell and the services you offer?

Any single video may be only viewed a few hundred times a year, but what happens when you publish a dozen videos, two dozen videos, each optimized for a particular keyword?  The combination of videos, blogs, microsites and content optimization together can yield an annuity of leads and business for your Fixed Operations profit center.

Fixed Ops Marketing Workshop

At the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp I will be leading an extended session on Fixed Operations Digital Marketing. I will be sharing my proven marketing strategies specifically designed for Fixed Operations for the first time!

Attendees are advised to bring their laptop computers and a login to their website and/or microsite because changes that will be implemented right in class will start to improve dealership search visibility.  As part of the workshop I will be demonstrating the tool, techniques, and strategies that can be implemented to:

• increase service appointments
• increase overall service revenue
• engage the independent service centers in your market
• Increase the paths to your dealership website for service inquiries

Fixed Operations Directors and Marketing Directors should be attending the Boot Camp and this is just one of the reasons why you should register.  Your investment to attend the Boot Camp will be well rewarded in the next 60 days as dealers implement winning marketing strategies for SEO, SEM, Video, and online service appointments.  Are you ready to make super-charge your fixed operations business model?

As an added opportunity for Boot Camp attendees, Rob Fontano from John Marazzi Motors in Florida, will be demonstrating his video marketing techniques in a separate presentation during the CAR-MERCIAL Technology Showcase.  Learn from the best and find out why John Marazzi’s video publishing strategy is a winning marketing investment.  Video search marketing is affordable and scalable once you understand the strategy.

Boot Camp – April 16-18th in Orlando

Make the decision to invest in Fixed Operations Marketing and register for the 2nd Annual Automotive Marketing Boot Camp today.  April 16-18th in Orlando.  http://www.automotivebootcamp.com

Automotive SEO experts JD Rucker, Ananth Godavari, and Brian Pasch will be among industry experts at the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp.   With recent changes in how Google displays organic search results, these three experts will share with car dealers how to adjust their SEO strategies to best leverage these changes.

Automotive SEO and Reputation Management strategies go hand in hand with the recent integration of Google Places data into organic search results.  The team of SEO experts will discuss Google Places optimization as well as current developments for integrating customer reviews into the sales and service process.

The 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will be held at the beautiful Hilton Orlando from April 16-18th. The Boot Camp will attract car dealers from the United States, Canada, England, and Australia. In addition to these Automotive SEO thought leaders, the Boot Camp will attract leaders in paid search (SEM), social media, lead management, reputation management, customer services, and winning sales processes.

The 2011 Boot Camp offers car dealers an intimate setting for education, interaction, and personalized coaching.  The conference will include ample opportunity for networking since all meals are included in the Boot Camp agenda and registration fee.

2011 Automotive Boot Camp Speakers

The Boot Camp has invited dealers who have implemented winning digital marketing and operations processes at their dealership to share their knowledge with attendees.  In addition, the Boot Camp has attracted active leaders in the automotive industry that are passionate about dealer education.  As snapshot of the speakers scheduled for the Boot Camp include:

• Rob Fontano – eCommerce Director at Marazzi Motors
• Erin Touponse – Director of Communications for the Harte Auto Group
• Tracy Myers – GM at Frank Myers AutoMaxx
• JD Rucker, Director of New Media at TK Carsites
• Paul Potratz – COO Potratz Advertising
• Andrew DiFeo – GM at Hyundai of St. Augustine
• Timothy Martell – Internet Director Albrecht Auto Group
• Eric Miltsch – eCommerce and Social Media Director Auction USA
• Jerry Thibeau – CEO of Phoneup Ninjas
• Alex Snyder – Product Development at Dealer.com
• Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing
• Jeff Kershner- Director of Marketing Younger Motor Cars
• Glenn Pasch, COO of PCG Digital Marketing
• Gary May, CEO of IM@CS
• Keith Shetterly – Automotive Industry Consultant
• Matt Murray, Director of Digital Marketing at Dealer.com
• Sean Wolfington, Partner Tier 10 Marketing
• AJ LeBlanc – Co-Founder of CAR-MERCIAL

Boot Camp Registration

Register for the 2011 Automotive Marketing Boot Camp by visiting this link: Conference Registration. The registration fee is $895 per person which includes all 8 meals during the Boot Camp.

The registration fee also includes all materials, event access, and online marketing resources posted after the Boot Camp is completed. Attendees are advised to fly into Orlando by 1:00 pm so that they can enjoy the kick-off round table discussions with industry experts which start at 4:00 pm.