We’ll be implementing RIMS features that will help us help YOU as dealers.  Our mission here is to make things as easy-to-use as possible when it comes to your website.  In the next few days if you’re a DHD client you’ll be getting our email with the details of the 1.13 update and features you can look forward to.  If you’re not a Dealer HD client yet, don’t worry, we’ll let you in on the features too.  They’ll be added right here on the DHD blog as they’re available.

In addition to our development efforts this year we’ve also made a point make our brand more available.  You’ll be seeing more of us in your dealer publications and dealer forums.  We want you to know what we’re up to and what you think.  Check us out in Auto Success on page 16, Auto Dealer Monthly on pages 26-29 and in our latest AS Podcast.

For all of you heading to Orlando for NADA, we’d love to meet you.  Stop by our booth, #461 to chat.

Dealer HD’s Automated Rebates product was initially introduced as a time saver for Dealership Internet managers.  Each month when manufacturers released new vehicle rebates and incentives Internet Managers were given the task of updating them online.

“We found that Internet Manager’s time was better served overseeing their department and looked for a Rebate and Incentives solution,” said National Sales Director Justin Duff.  “Clients have really taken to the product, it saves them time and gives them peace of mind.  They sell cars and we handle the rest.”

The Automated Rebates product updates daily ensuring all of the correct rebates and incentives are displayed per each manufacturer.  Dealer HD enhanced their product in a quarterly update soon after its introduction – rebates and incentives are provided with each vehicle in the inventory– from the Enhanced Line Listing, Vehicle Details page or complete table that illustrates all rebates and incentives in one location.

For more information on Dealer HD’s Automated Rebates product, quarterly updates or how to become a Dealer HD client please visit our website, dealerhd.com.

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Dealer HD is an Automotive Web Solution serving clients Nationwide. Located in the southern suburbs of Chicago, the Dealer HD team has over 100 years of combined automotive experience.  Dealer HD provides customizable dealer web solutions with a comprehensive Admin tool that collects dealer leads, allows the quick and easy editing of website content, inventory modification and more.

For dealerships utilizing Social Media outlets in their marketing mix Dealer HD is providing access to Social Media right from their custom dealer websites.  Knowing the importance of a cohesive message Dealer HD has added calls to action in the footers of their sites that link to the Social Media profiles of a client’s choice.  Dealer HD also provides social bookmarking outlets on every vehicle available in a dealership’s inventory.

“It’s important for dealerships to use their website to coordinate all Internet marketing efforts,” said Justin Duff National Sales Director at Dealer HD, “Their website is the foundation of their online presence and should easily facilitate additional outlets, which is why we continually work to integrate new media.”

The Dealer HD push towards Social Media integration couples with a new product offering available this winter, Social Media Coaching and Management.   The product will be available as a standalone or package product with Dealer HD websites.  For more details on upcoming Social Media products and future integration details or other Dealer HD product offerings please visit dealerhd.com.

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Dealer HD is an Automotive Web Solution serving clients Nationwide. Located in the southern suburbs of Chicago, the Dealer HD team has over 100 years of combined automotive experience.  Dealer HD provides customizable dealer web solutions with a comprehensive Admin tool that collects dealer leads, allows the quick and easy editing of website content, inventory modification and more.

Updates to Twitter can be made in just two clicks.  The goal of integration was to keep everything Dealers need in one convenient location – the RIMS Admin.

“Our dealers have really taken root to social media.  Whether they are doing it on their own or using our Social Media Coaching product, we’ve made it even easier to update their Twitter status.  Now all Dealer HD clients can send tweets directly from our RIMS admin.  It’s definitely a cool feature, but mostly a time saver for social media managers,” said Justin Duff, Dealer HD’s National Sales Director.

The growing popularity of Social Media has given Dealer HD cause to make strides towards integrating every aspect into its product offerings.  For more information on Dealer HD’s Social Media Management program or other features included in the 1.12 update please visit dealerhd.com

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Dealer HD is an Automotive Web Solution serving clients Nationwide. Located in the southern suburbs of Chicago, the Dealer HD team has over 100 years of combined automotive experience.  Dealer HD provides customizable dealer web solutions with a comprehensive Admin tool that collects dealer leads, allows the quick and easy editing of website content, inventory modification and more.

Dealer HD’s Director of Product Development, Bruce Etzcorn, shared his excitement about the vehicle history feature, “This has quickly become one of my favorite features of the update. When you see this in one of the Dealer HD websites you think to yourself, Whoa, this makes a lot of sense.”

The vehicle history feature is available on each page of Dealer HD’s websites as a slide out tab that lets shoppers quickly revisit the vehicles they’ve viewed while on the site without getting in their way.  The feature is cookie based, enabling shoppers to extend their vehicle history over several sessions without losing searches.

“Everyone loves shopping online because it’s easy and incredibly convenient.  We’ve given customers a cool virtual shopping cart so they can track back through all the vehicles they looked at.  It’s just one more way Dealer HD is revolutionizing car buying,” said Justin Duff, Dealer HD’s National Sales Director.

Vehicle History is a great addition to Dealer HD’s standard features, giving Dealers even more tools to help customers with their online shopping experience.  Other great features were made available in the 1.12 update, for more information on the latest additions or a demo of Dealer HD’s Automotive Web Services visit dealerhd.com

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Dealer HD is an Automotive Web Solution serving clients Nationwide. Located in the southern suburbs of Chicago, the Dealer HD team has over 100 years of combined automotive experience.  Dealer HD provides customizable dealer web solutions with a comprehensive Admin tool that collects dealer leads, allows the quick and easy editing of website content, inventory modification and more.

A Canonical URL tag tells search engines what to do with duplicate content and allows them to direct indexed pages to the correct location.  Duplicate content crops up based on different ways of entering a web address. (Typing www.dealerhd.com pulls duplicate content of accessing a site by simply typing dealerhd.com).

Director of Product Development, Bruce Etzcorn explains that, “While Duplicate content sounds like a good thing to have on a Search Engine, it could effect what is and isn’t listed on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS). Among other things, this will also serve as a funnel of sorts and direct all links to the correct address we are tracking in Google Analytics.”

Keeping up with SEO practices is not just a goal at Dealer HD it is a business strategy. “SEO is changing every day.  Our Search Engine Optimization team is continually working to evolve and update our practices and processes so that our dealer websites have the very best SEO.  You can’t lag behind on SEO and be a success in today’s online automotive marketing arena,” said Justin Duff, National Sales Director.

If you’re interested in learning more about Dealer HD’s SEO strategies or Hyper SEO program, please visit dealerhd.com

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Dealer HD is an Automotive Web Solution serving clients Nationwide. Located in the southern suburbs of Chicago, the Dealer HD team has over 100 years of combined automotive experience.  Dealer HD provides customizable dealer web solutions with a comprehensive Admin tool that collects dealer leads, allows the quick and easy editing of website content, inventory modification and more.

Dealer HD built two versions of mobile sites allowing everyone with mobile phone access to browse sites.  One version built specifically for iPhone users looks and works just like an iPhone application.  The second version was built to be compatible for all other mobile browsers.

Photos are available on every vehicle in the inventory, a feature Dealer HD is excited to share with customers. “Our mobile platform offers real photos of  vehicles, something not all our competitors have implemented yet.  We don’t want customers to guess which vehicle they are looking at, so we created one of the easiest to use and most efficient mobile services available,” said Justin Duff, Dealer HD’s National Sales Director.

The leap into the mobile and handheld market is one step in the Dealer HD expansion.  The recent 1.12 update was focused on improving the online shopping experience for all customers.  Additional features were made available in the update as well.  For more information on the 1.12 update and Dealer HD’s Automotive Website services visit dealerhd.com

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Dealer HD is an Automotive Web Solution serving clients Nationwide. Located in the southern suburbs of Chicago, the Dealer HD team has over 100 years of combined automotive experience.  Dealer HD provides customizable dealer web solutions with a comprehensive Admin tool that collects dealer leads, allows the quick and easy editing of website content, inventory modification and more.

We discussed that Twitter is a search engine.  You can’t afford to be missing from a search engine.  Customers have the ability to search twitter for content that interests them.  Let’s take a look at a quick real world example.

I want to buy a 2005 Mustang because I know that this was the first year of the new body style and I feel I can get the most for my money by picking the oldest “updated model” available.

So I start at Google and do a quick search.  I don’t really find any specific cars.  One or two yes, but most of the results are for review sites.  Great if I’m in the research phase but what if I want to know what inventory is out there and at what price.

Next I perform a twitter search (Your results may be different because twitter is a time based search)  and my first result is an actual vehicle with pricing and photos.  I can scroll down and find similar links to compare a few different vehicles on Twitter.  Cool so I’ve done a search on my own terms and found exactly what I was looking for.

Twitter is NOT a classified service so I will see a mix of results, which is great.  I may find another person talking about the 2005 mustang and befriend them.  Now I’ve got a buddy to chat about cars with.  I may see a customer who says “Looking for a Red 2005 Mustang GT with black leather”.  As a dealer, it just happens that I have that car in stock.  I send a message to that customer letting him know I have it with a link back to my dealer website.  The customer then follows my dealership on twitter and I gain a little additional exposure.

This is the Lewis and Clark phase of Twitter.  It’s very experimental.  Dealer HD realizes the enormous potential that Twitter brings to the automotive marketplace and has integrated twitter into your dealer websites so you can market to your customers on their terms.

Tweeting inventory is very important and it needs to be done the RIGHT way.  Alter the message so that you aren’t spamming customers with 10 identical phrases.  Tweeting your inventory should only be one component of your social stream.  Try and make sure to post as many, if not more posts related to your dealership and who you are.  Make it personal.  You need to also communicate news, events, sales information, incentives and other relavant information to your followers.  Leave the tweeting your inventory to us. It’s already built in to your Dealer HD web site.   Get invovled on a personal level.  Focus more on the relationship building and the customer service end, rather than trying to make a quick sale.  The sales will come, but they shouldn’t be the driving focus behind your twitter identity.  Keep it real and connect with the world.  We’re all getting a little more social every day.

Call me impatient, but I can’t wait for the 1.11 Service Update we’re performing on May 31, 2009. We’ve been working hard here at Dealer HD to provide some great new features to help your dealership build stronger relationships with your customers and we’re really excited to get these out to you. We’ll be discussing these in more detail very soon. Right now, I’m going introduce…

Dealer HD & Twitter

If your dealership has a twitter account and a dealer website by Dealer HD you’re already a person in the know. Now, wouldn’t it be great if you could somehow merge these two great services and do some really great things? Now you can.

Tweeting Your Inventory.

By registering your Twitter account in the Dealer HD Admin we will automatically send your newly added inventory to your Twitter account. Each morning your followers will view the latest additions to your inventory complete with a link to visit the vehicle on your website. If they see a vehicle that interests them, they can simply click the link, review the details and request a test drive.

Your inventory. Everywhere. Anytime. On any device.

Tweeting your inventory is a great way to expose the vehicles on your lot to everyone with a Twitter account and those people who are interested in your products simultaneously. Each “tweet” gets placed on the public timeline of twitter and everyone who has requested to “follow” your dealership gets notified of your update as well. They see your message instantly. The potential exposure this gives your inventory is enormous and makes your inventory travel to your audience faster than ever.

Once your inventory is on Twitter, your inventory can be viewed on almost any device that has an internet connection. In fact, there are so many Twitter applications built that your tweets can be viewed on an iPhone, a Blackberry, via text message, your desktop, your browser’s address bar and twitter.com of course. There are more built everyday and that makes your inventory more portable than ever. Your customers can get your message how they want it.

Twitter is a Search Engine

Twitter is a search engine of real-time messages by real people. People use Twitter to say what’s on their mind. Businesses use Twitter to monitor customer satisfaction. Your dealership needs to be here and be part of the conversation. When someone is searching for Camaro and you’ve got two in stock you have to be listed. Your customers, young and old are using this service and it becomes more popular everyday.

For Free!

Did I mention that this is free? There are other companies out there that are offering a similar service but none are integrated seamlessly into your existing content management system. Dealer HD provides this service free to all our customers because this is a necessity. There’s no reason not to have it and we’re a company that prides itself in customer service. So we like to provide you with the latest innovative ways to help you sell more cars and connect with your customers. You’re going to love this. If you haven’t signed up for a free Twitter account, do it before June 1st.

I walked through the door and immediately recognized everyone.  Firefox was making drinks behind the bar.  Yahoo was giving MSN a giant wedgie.  I walked a bit further in and saw Google hanging out with what must have been 10 models.  “0 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 0″, he muttered as I walked by.  I don’t think people like me around here.  Well I think I’ll stay a while and mingle.  Oh by the name, let me introduce myself.  My name is Twitter.

Life is a party!  At least on the web where everything is going “social”.  It’s not entirely new either.  The idea of social platforms has been around for a while but the mediums they are cropping up in are changing almost daily.  Twitter is one of newest and most popular trends in social media.  It may not make sense to you now but the future marketing potential for your dealership is HUGE!  Our next update to Dealer HD brings a lot of changes that will make your dealership extremely unique is the social marketplace.  We’re doing things that no one else has even touched yet.  You’re all in for a treat on this one, I promise.

Let’s get a jump start on learning and putting social media to practice:

1. Sign up for a Twitter account for you personally – Follow people that are relevant to you.  The goal here is to find people who will teach you things and learn as much as you can.
2. Sign up for a Twitter account for your dealership – Again follow those relevant to you and start posting links to your website (specials, hot cars, coupons, news & events and promotions).  Build up your following.
3. Create a Facebook page for your dealership – This will allow you to upload new photos, events, videos and testimonials.  Customers might find you on Facebook before they find your website.  Cover all your angles.
4. Blog – Start a blog for yourself and for your dealership.  Write about anything any everything.  Recycle manufacturer press releases and put a twist on them with your own words.

This is only the beginning and there are new social networks being launched daily.  We’ll make sure that you are prepared for this next wave in online automotive marketing.  Web 2.0 is here and I have a feeling Web 3.0 is just around the corner.  Don’t hide from change, embrace it!  You’ll reap the rewards if you can get over being anti-social.