I decided to take a step back from my everyday life of working in the automotive industry and speak from a consumer’s standpoint. I purchased a new vehicle within the last six months and I wanted to share a little insight with you as to what I was looking for in a dealer site. There are definitely things that stand out to you from one site to another, and if there isn’t that ‘something’ that does…chances are, I have forgotten your site address and won’t be visiting again any time soon. These ‘somethings’ are web features, such as specialized vehicle videos, safety ratings, current specials and incentives, vehicle reviews, added vehicle options, coupons…I think you catch my drift.

However, I would suggest that you find a happy medium between having too much information and not having enough. Viewers want to be able to find what we are looking for quickly, easily and without being hassled with links that lead nowhere, lots of pop-ups or being overwhelmed by too much clutter. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have buttons, specials, calculators, vehicle notes, pricing information, vehicle options, vehicle photos, Carfax reports and videos, but is it necessary to throw it all in my face at the same time on the same page?

Throughout my entire purchasing process, I did all – I mean ALL – of my research on dealer websites. For an entire month, I was committed to checking updated inventory, specials, gas mileage, vehicle options, photos, safety ratings, estimating my payment, reading vehicle reviews, watching videos – daily. The site which impressed me most had all of these features on their site in a clean, organized manner. It was very easy to navigate and had a phone number listed where I was able to speak to someone at the dealership (a real human, NOT a recording). Once I had narrowed down which vehicle I wanted to purchase, it was time to visit the dealership where I met one of the nicest, most honest Salesmen I’ve ever encountered. He was very willing to help, answer questions, work with my expected budget and payments and still get me what I wanted. He was the kind of man who built relationships with his customers…one who was keeping my best interest in mind.

So, purchasing my new vehicle was basically a two part process:

1. The virtual showroom is technically where the dealership ‘made the sale’ on the vehicle by presenting all of the vehicle information and extra resources, such as calculators, videos, specials, etc.
2. And the Salesman closed the deal in the physical showroom by earning my respect and trust and, of course…signing the papers.

We’ve heard this saying before.  In today’s tough economic climate it rings more true than ever.  Now it seems there’s no free breakfast or dinner either.  I got wind today that Cobalt is now charging dealers for their FREE web sites.  They had been promised that these sites would remain free at least until April when further negotiations would take place.  Some dealers have expressed frustration HERE.  Looks like they were billed starting in December of 2008.  I really can’t blame GM for doing this.  They have no money left and are giving close to 7K dealers a free service.  Assuming they got a great rate at $300 per month…it equates to $2,100,000 per month in savings.

Now where do GM dealers go from here?  Most already barely use their cobalt site and just keep it because its free and they are promised a few manufacturer leads here and there.  My advice is to get rid of the Cobalt site and use that $300 to add products to your current web provider.  Things like Live Chat or New Car Video Reviews are very cost effective ways to increase leads and customer time spent on your web site. You could also increase your spend on Paid Search to reach a few extra HUNDRED customers a month.  

When cutting costs for your dealership the internet should be the last thing you trim.  It’s the backbone of your digital marketing plan.  You need to make sure that you invest heavily in the right company with the right products that you can maximize your online potential.  The quantity of leads is definitely way down. It’s very important to make sure you can extract the ones you do have and turn prospects into buyers. Make sure your dealer web site has the right tools to do this.

With instant messaging, social networking, and blogging more popular than ever, now is the time your dealership needs to start looking to social media and start attracting customers to your online inventory with Social Bookmarking.

Social Bookmarking is a system that allows visitors to your website to save web pages they want to remember or share. This concept is very similar to using the Bookmark feature in your favorite browser except the bookmarked pages in a social system can be public and shared with an entire online community.

So why should your dealership care? Imagine this:

• Scenario One: A visitor to your website is browsing your online inventory at work and found a vehicle that they may like more information about so they save the page in their bookmarks of their default work browser. That night when they come home they have a few minutes and would like to follow up and possibly send you a lead letting you know they would like to come in to see the vehicle. They go back to your website and have to remember what search they performed, what the stock number was, etc. Because this information is saved on their work computer bookmarks they choose to start researching other dealership’s inventory and will come back to send you that lead tomorrow… maybe.

• Scenario Two: A visitor to your website is browsing your online inventory at work and found a vehicle that they may like more information about. They have a Social Bookmarking account so they save the page in their Delicious account, add a few tags about the bookmark and a note to help them remember why they bookmarked this vehicle. That night when they come home they have a few minutes and would like to follow up and possibly send you a lead letting you know they would like to come in to see the vehicle. They open their browser to their Delicious Bookmarks and click the link to the vehicle, review the information and send you a lead that they are interested. You get the lead, follow up and sell the vehicle. Everyone wins.

Some of you might may be thinking that the person illustrated in both scenario’s could have just emailed themselves the link or some other method for getting the information home. Sure they could have, but this post is about Social Bookmarking and by promoting the Social Bookmarking system on your dealership website you gain enormous value.

5 Reasons to support Social Bookmarking on your website:

1. Social Bookmarking helps your website create high quality back links. Back links are links to your website that exist on other websites on the Internet. In the world of SEO that translates to popularity.
2. Sites that are bookmarked socially can be viewed by anyone which exposes your inventory and brand to a variety of sources, including search engines
3. Social Bookmarking helps your content travel. By giving your content the ability to travel you allow your information to be distributed quicker online which makes your site available to other streams of traffic.
4. Social Bookmarking allows users to add tags and notes to their links to help them remember why they bookmarked the page. These user defined tags appear on the public listing and assist in promoting those tags as keywords. These tags are also used in search results on their respective pages.
5. Social Bookmark links promote accessibility. Links that are bookmarked can be viewed from any device (including mobile phones) that are connected to the Internet. If your inventory is bookmarked a visitor can return to their place no matter where they are and what computer they are using.

If you need extra traffic, you should focus on adding Social Bookmarking tools to your automotive website. Adding a Social Bookmarking tool set to your website allows your content to travel, assists visitor research and lets the Social Bookmarking community know that you support and understand their needs.