Especially in automotive automation is the key.  Most of the true authority sites, as far as marketing dealers inventory, rely on automation.  Autotrader.com, Cars.com and AOL Autos would not exist in their current form if it were not for automation.  The very basic fact that they aggregate information that is already available online by pulling feeds of dealers inventory mixed with some basic unique content that is basically repurposed reviews.

Even big players such as Google and Commission Junction facilitate the ability to create automated content via their affiliate networks by providing product data feeds to affiliate marketers.  Which allows them to build out complete websites with little or no original content.

The automated web is here to stay, it will be around for as long as I am alive.  Blogging is replacing some of the automation that is so prevalent however it will never eclipse the amount of content that is produced daily in an automated fashion.

We have been working on ways to tie automation into blogging platforms to help dealers sell more cars, a good example of this is a site we built targeting Texas direct auto auctions.  We are pulling in feeds from ebay and interspersing original content to keep our content unique.  This is not the only type of automated content we are testing however we are not ready to share it at this point in time.  We will compile data through the end of the year and publish a case study outlining our successes and failures.

These wordpress based site will be mini sites that can be tailored to what ever the marketing push the dealer is running or around specific models.  With the current changes in process with Google’s Universal Search the static aberrations created by others micros site vendors will no longer be able to have the search engine relevance they once enjoyed.  It will take regularly updated content to win or they will have to rely on dealer search engine marketing or automotive pay per click for traffic.

The automotive online marketing space is about to be turned on it’s head.  Will these sites help dealers reach more people via the search engine without spending a to of money?  I seem to think they will.

That has not stopped me from maintaining some relationships with people who I have helped over the last couple of years and more importantly one individual who is doing some work for me.  Her and I spoke on the phone today because she was thoroughly excited about some of the income levels she is obtaining using some bum marketing techniques.

I put her on a very soft geographic automotive niche to target mostly for terms like bad credit car dealers and now she is getting national traffic on these terms from natural search.  Most all of it from long tail terms.  Not he sharp pointed long tails that dealership sites are optimized for.

Seeing the traffic stats from her efforts just goes to show that dealers need to concentrate on having multiple marketing properties to drive traffic to their offers and to build their story.  Unfortunately with the economic turmoil the industry is in now dealer are not being very proactive in their marketing efforts.

This gives salespeople and ISM’s the opportunity to build their own portfolio of properties that are completely transportable.  I am witnessing this phenomenon in some of the most competitive markets now.  A real good example is a blog that I saw that focuses on New Jersey used car loans.

Using some basic techniques to get infront of car shoppers is easy and until you build these properties it will be impossible to find the converting keywords that bring buyers through the door.

When you call them out about bad they are getting it wrong they respond in ways that do more to damage their search engine reputation that you can possibly imagine.  The biggest crowd to suffer from watching these people in action are the old school second generation plus car dealers.   They are so used to being told the right way to do things by they forefathers and gurus, who proclaim a wealth of knowledge, when they dont really have a clue about online marketing themselves.

Online marketing is not just about capturing leads and the processes used to follow up with them, it is way more than that.  I often get criticized for my views of online marketing and that is ok I have very thick skin, but what is amazing when people realize you are onto a better way of reaching a target audience they try to cannibalize the idea as their own, when they do not have a clue about delivery.

Car dealers sell widgets that people can buy anywhere from anyone, within reason.  People using he internet to research cars will submit leads to dealers and third parties but more and more these are below the fold consumers.  They are ones needing help with special finance, buried in trade ins and price whore shopping, not saying these consumers are not valuable, which cause more work for the people working these leads.

Why not go after the best customers in a way that will harness the power of attraction versus the power of promotion?  Dealer rating sites claim that this is the wave of the future when actually it is a past tense thought on web 2.0.  Dealer review sites actually take away from the dealer one of their most highly trafficked search terms that bring buyers to their website, their name.

Just as explained at another automotive marketing blog.  Car dealers are not selling a unique product and to pay to have reviews of their dealership solicited by third parties is really ignorant, especially when part of that pitch is to dominate search traffic for their dealership name and their peoples name.  Those are terms that the dealer should control on their own and make it impossible for other sites to enter their primary search terms.

If you want to display testimonials from customers you should control the property that they are displayed on, unless you are selling a a unique product.  Then third party validation is worth something.  But when people are comparing where to buy a Ford from, you need to give them the reason to do business with you, not pay someone else to solicit your customers for them to have access to your database and monetize traffic for your name.

There are plenty of sites that you can use for free and solicit your own customers to give you a review, without them being encouraged to submit leads to third party lead providers for your widget.

People going online to look for car dealers by name are already sure they probably want to do business with you or to see if you have what they want.  Why confuse the matter by sending them to a third party for information about you?

*****Disclaimer for people who are going to be pissed about this post:  The thoughts and opinions expressed here are those of Paul Rushing and have not been expressly endorsed or encouraged by any affiliation he holds in the automotive industry.  If you have a problem with it feel free to leave a comment or to contact me directly.