http://www.IndustrySummit.com 856-546-2440

http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com 

http://www.DealerSynergy.com 

2015 Keynote Speaker For Tech Talks At Industry Summit, in Las Vegas Is Sean V. Bradley, CSP 

PRESS RELEASE: 

Industry Summit Organizers Reveal New Conference Features

July 07, 2015

TORRANCE, Calif. — Industry Summit 2015, scheduled for Sept. 8-10 at the Paris Las Vegas, will feature special lightning-round sessions that will allow attendees to discover or rediscover key features equipping today’s leading F&I tools and solutions, event organizers announced this week. The new addition is part of Industry Summit’s 2015 theme: “Train. Discover. Network.”

The lighting-round sessions, which will include live demos of today's leading software solutions, will kick off on Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 1 p.m. with a special “Tech Talk” keynote address from Sean V. Bradley, founder and CEO of Dealer Synergy and author of “Win the Game of Googleopoly: Unlocking the Secret Strategy of Search Engines.”

“This is all about building a better F&I professional,” said David Gesualdo, show chair and publisher of F&I and Showroom and Auto Dealer Monthly. “So aside from featuring an intense training curriculum taught by the who’s who in F&I, we’re offering these special lighting-round sessions to allow attendees to discover the F&I industry’s newest tools and solutions. And there’s no one better than Sean to kick off the festivities.”

Industry Summit 2015 will once again feature the top F&I trainers in the business. They will touch on a range of key F&I topics, from department management and lender relations to objection handling, new closing techniques and more. To view this year’s roster of F&I trainers, click here.

The event will also feature a host of networking opportunities, providing attendees with a chance to connect with the top minds in the business. “And the learning doesn’t stop after show hours,” said Gregory Arroyo, editorial director of F&I and Showroom and Auto Dealer Monthly. “There’s also columnist Mad Marv Eleazer’s annual get-togethers inside the Paris’ Le Central bar, where you’ll find F&I managers, trainers and even F&I product provider reps talking shop over a nice beverage and cigar. It’s where some of the best F&I advice is shared.”

For front-end dealership personnel, Industry Summit will also feature Greg Goebel’s Used Vehicle Retailing and Bobit Business Media’s Dealership Sales & Technology educational programs. Attendees who register for a full conference pass will also gain access to Jim Ziegler’s two-day Profit Masters event, which will have the Alpha Dawg sharing the same strategies that made him a record-setting manager.

Register by Aug. 7 and save $100 on a full conference pass, which includes Jim Ziegler’s Profit Masters today’s seminar. For more information or to register for Industry Summit 2015, click here.

Latest Facebook Update Is Exactly What We've Been Looking For

Facebook is the 3rd largest search engine, and they are about to make some changes that will affect your Facebook advertising. With this change, we will be able to get better analytics, better bids, and much better campaign options. There's also a big update coming to the mobile Facebook app you will need to know about!

The code of a website often contains fields in the head portion of its pages. Visitors may not necessarily see them, but they are seen by search engines. Many moons ago, experts and non-experts alike were stuffing as many relevant keywords as possible into one of these fields called "meta keywords" in attempts to boost SEO. Now that this field is all but irrelevant, many developers wisely ignore meta keywords. However, the "meta description" field is still important to SEO and to how your pages appear in search results.

Many developers now understand the science of focusing the various pages of a website around specific keywords. Preferably, each page would have it's own keyword focus. It is fairly well known at this point that the keyword should appear a few times naturally in the text and in the title tag. One overlooked place that keywords can also appear is the "meta description" field.

When someone searches a keyword or phrase, it is bolded in the search engine results page wherever that exact keyword or phrase appears. The title tag is what the search engine will use for the link to the page in results, while the meta description field is what it will use for the description, if available. Thus, if the keyword is used in both the title tag and meta description, it will be bolded twice in search engine results, increasing the odds that it will be seen and clicked on. Increased click-through typically results in increasingly better placement in search results.

Additionally, having the keyword in the meta description also adds a few minor points of SEO relevance to a page. In these times, one can't afford not to use everything at their disposal to ensure that they will appear when relevant for a keyword. Therefore, the meta description should nearly always include the focus keyword of the page.

While having keywords in the meta description will help aid SEO, it is not the only method useful for increasing presence. What are some other ways you all utilize the header area of a website to boost SEO?

Follow These Tips to Find Out If Your Digital Strategy Is Working

Is your business keeping you up at night? We want to offer ways to uncover some great opportunities in your strategy, including:

• Focusing on the handling of phone calls
• Generating more content for your website
• Emphasizing the value of tracking your leads
• Maintaining top-of-mind awareness with retargeting

On this week’s Think Tank Tuesday, discover the areas you need to start investing in and the ways you can improve what you're already doing.

Many dealership websites suffer from high bounce rates and low VDP views. These issues ultimately impact their ability to raise their SEO and get leads. While there are many factors that can raise bounce rates and lower VDP views, fortunately there are also many solutions available. One such solution is to present suggested inventory to a shopper viewing a VDP.

This lesson comes straight from the largest online retailers such as eBay and Amazon.com. Both present related inventory on their product pages. Many times, a shopper is almost sold, but there are just one or two more things about a vehicle that could sway the decision. If color, price or amenities are keeping a potential buyer on the fence, showing suggested inventory that is similar but with enough variation could present them with an option to solve for that. The odds that they will find the perfect vehicle and submit a lead improve in this scenario.

Bloggers use "related articles" links all the time to keep readers browsing various pages on their website. If a visitor is interested in one article on a topic, then perhaps they will want to continue reading similar articles on the same site. This ultimately leads to lower bounce rates as the average pages per visitor increases. In the same way, dealers can benefit by showing suggested inventory on a VDP. This should improve a dealer’s bounce rate - which ultimately leads to better SEO! If shoppers come into a site, look at one page, and then leave, search algorithms may perceive the site as having low relevance and may show links to the site in search results less frequently. Providing suggested inventory boosts the chance that a shopper will visit more pages on a site and stay browsing for longer amounts of time, which search engines may pick up as being the result of a highly relevant website. This in turn could positively impact the odds that search engine results will rank the site higher.

The impact of adding additional suggested inventory on a vehicle's detail page can theoretically improve a website's relevance and ability to generate leads. Are you all displaying other inventory options on your VDP's?

I Got Retargeted and It Works

You need to use Dynamic Retargeting. On this episode of Hard Facts, Samantha explains how it works, and how you can use it to sell to indecisive shoppers.

Whether you’re in PR, linkbuilding, or other forms of digital marketing, one part of your job might be reaching out to bloggers with requests for coverage or links. As a veteran blogger, I’ve been sent thousands of pitches and replied to only a small percentage of them.

Recently, I’ve begun reaching out to bloggers with requests of my own and have used many of the tactics that worked on me to win them over.

I should keep them to myself, as less competition will help me ultimately succeed more with more and more blogs, but I will release five of the best tips that will help you increase the effectiveness of your outreach.

Keep the Request Quick and Direct

The problem with most outreach emails I receive is that the sender is trying too hard to convince me to fulfill their request.

People constantly want to set up phone meetings or video chats to rope you into listening to their pitch. If you do this, please stop. The average writer/blogger doesn’t have time for that in 2015. We’re trying to juggle multiple stories at once and anything extra could bring us down like a house of cards.

The solution? Keep it quick and be direct.

The only times I reply to an email pitching me on a product or service is when the request is quick and direct. You want me to write a post about your line of products, link to your site in an older post, tweet that your company is awesome, or whatever other request you have–just tell me that.

I don’t need to know some BS about why I should do it, just give me the details so I can decide whether or not I’m interested. This leads me to my next point…

Do the Heavy Lifting Yourself

If you want a better chance of getting replies and requests fulfilled, go above and beyond for the recipient. Don’t just say, “Hey, would love if you checked this out and did something with it.” Because unless the product or service your pitching stands out as perfect for the blogger or ground-breaking in its industry, the blogger needs to do most of the heavy lifting.

Take the time to give each individual blogger suggestions on how they can integrate your content into theirs. Whether that’s straight up offering a free sample or trial of service to suggest a review or sending a post idea with an outline they can use.

The idea is to make yourself stand out from the crowd of press releases and spam that tend to accumulate in a blogger’s email and make yourself useful!

Don’t Ask to Schedule a Call

Everyone claims to be busy, but bloggers really are busy. So when you suggest a phone call to discuss your pitch in more detail, they start to hyperventilate.

The last thing someone with deadlines needs is to waste time on a phone call when you could simply send them all of the information they need to know via email. It falls under the heavy lifting category, as this is you trying to save yourself time.

You’ve probably also been told that if you can get someone on the phone you’ll have a better shot at getting your request fulfilled. (That’s a sales tactic, and it won’t work on bloggers!)

There’s nothing wrong with sending all of the information they could ever need and also asking if they’d like to connect on a call. The problem comes when the call stands in the way of the blogger getting the initial information.

It may take you longer to complete, but I can guarantee that you’ll have a better success rate if you put all your cards on the table up front, instead of trying to reel a blogger into an unnecessary meeting.

Personalize Your Email to Each Blogger

One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to outreach is most people don’t bother personalizing the email to the recipient. They have a template and a list of email addresses, and they blindly blast email after email.

Don’t be one of those people!

Go beyond just adding in your target’s name and get to know them. You may find they hate unsolicited emails, prefer to be pitched at a different email address, or enjoy the convenience of talking on Twitter or other social networks.

You can also discover things about them to mention in your email. You don’t want to stroke their ego too much, as that comes off as disingenuous, but try to make a connection between what they do and your pitch.

Follow Them on Social Media First

This might not always work, but most bloggers are active on social media, especially Twitter. This makes it easy to find and follow most bloggers, get to know them a bit more, and get their attention.

Now, the goal here is to get their attention BEFORE you send your pitch. Make them think you discovered them on social media instead of through their site, as that will make your pitch look less crafted for linkbuilding or press value. This means waiting at least a day or two after following and interacting with them on Twitter before sending your pitch.

They likely go through new followers every day or two, so there’s a good chance they saw you or your brand’s name. If they then check their email and see it again, there’s a good chance they’ll read it to see what you have to say.

Have fun with outreach, and don’t get caught up in the cycle of templates and blasting emails. You can have a ton of success by simply putting in extra work and targeting your outreach to the right people!

Bonus Infographic: The 5-Point Blogger Outreach Checklist

This post was originally published to Wikimotive.com on June 1, 2015.

Automotive dealers often struggle with the perception that dealerships are untrustworthy. Therefore, a lot of effort is put into building trust on a dealership website. One way customers assess trustworthiness is by seeing positive customer testimonials about the dealership.

Although sites like Yelp and Google Plus provide a public forum in which to post reviews, many dealerships also solicit their own customer testimonials. Research shows that the best time to ask for a review is when a shopper is at the peak of happiness regarding their purchase. For an automobile, this is generally right after buying.

In order to build trust with future clients (and also gain some SEO value along the way), dealers should post their customer testimonials to their website. If possible, these reviews should then be framed in or otherwise routed onto the site's VDPs in the most unobtrusive way possible. Since most dealerships only have a minute or two to grab a shopper's attention once they are on the site, they need to build trust as soon as possible. Being able to see or at least access customer testimonials on a VDP will help to quickly establish the trustworthiness of the dealership during the precious few seconds the shopper has to be influenced by the VDP.

Customer testimonials definitely help a dealership to appear less shady to a potential customer. What are some ways you all are utilizing testimonials to build trust on dealer sites?

There's so many new things everyday, it's easy to get overwhelmed! 

With all the new flashy technologies being developed everyday, we get caught up in the hype and miss the basics. This week on Think Tank Tuesday, I'm focusing on what you may have missed that's costing you leads and sales.

In the pay-per-click world, value is derived from how inexpensively a lead can be acquired. Many times, a low cost-per-click combined with a high conversion rate can indicate a winning formula. However, sometimes it can seem like a campaign is averaging a high cost-per-click. There are many factors that affect this cost, but the two easiest to understand and control are competition and quality score.

Competition refers to how many other advertisers in a similar industry are bidding on the same keywords. If an advertiser is experiencing a high cost-per-click on a particular keyword, all other things being equal, it could be an issue of the keyword being very popular among local advertisers. If a keyword search yields a ton of ads on the SERP (search engine results page), then it is obvious that there are many others bidding on the same terms, driving the cost up. At this point, the advertiser should consider if it is worth it to pay the high cost-per-click. If the ROI doesn't add up, it may be time to stop bidding on that keyword or choose a similar keyword with less competition.

Quality score has a number of components, but typically the main ingredients are relevancy of keywords, ads and landing pages along with bid. If a high cost-per-click is occurring on an otherwise low competition keyword, an advertiser should review their quality score on the keyword to determine if an improvement could yield a lower price. Better keyword grouping and more relevant ads and landing pages can make your ads more relevant in Google's eyes, which means lower rates! Also, more relevant ads generally result in higher click-through rates, which also affect quality score in a positive way (historical CTR and conversion rates are both factors).

Overall, there are several reasons why a keyword might be suffering from a high cost-per-click, but the two easiest to address might just be competition and quality score. What are some ways you all use to lower your CPC's?

Often, dealerships wonder why ad agencies don't buy generic search terms related to their models. Honda dealers want to know why they aren't showing up for one-word searches such as "Civic" or "used Honda". The reason is actually quite simple: it all comes down to buyer intent.

If an automotive dealer wants to buy one-word search terms, they should realize that they will be capturing visitors that may not be ready to make a purchase just yet. In most cases, given a limited budget, a better solution is to avoid using these terms and instead focus on purchasing deep funnel long tail terms that signify clear buyer intent. This is also known as Zero Moment retail.

For example, someone looking for a car might search ‘used car’ in Google. In this case, the shopper doesn’t know what he wants, other than that he wants to buy a used car. At this point, he is most likely researching what is available rather than settling on a particular vehicle to purchase - he has what is called low buyer intent.

If the shopper goes one step further and searches “used Honda”, then he would be somewhere further along in the process of purchasing a vehicle, but likely still at a place of low buyer intent. Once the search terms get slightly more specific - for example, “Used Honda Accord 2010” - the shopper would then be a buyer at the Zero Moment stage where automotive dealers with used 2010 Honda Accords should consider paying top dollar to grab this lead.

Shoppers are often leaving clues that indicate when it would be a good time to show them actual products for sale versus information about those products, and what searches are worthwhile. What are some other ways to utilize buyer intent?

When someone new to digital marketing reads about link building strategies, it’s likely a confusing and stressful experience. The reason is, most people try to complicate the process to sell services by convincing you there’s something proprietary about their methods.

Now, most businesses should consider SEO or link building services if they want to get results, but the cost is something many small businesses simply can’t afford. But instead of just forgoing link building altogether, you need solutions that fit your business, right?

That’s why I’ve put together a list of five simple link building strategies that small businesses can start immediately. So take notes and start building links!

Sponsor Something Locally or Create Your Own Event

Local businesses are often asked to sponsor events, children’s sports teams, and school functions. And while many see some of these are charitable or simply promotional, most of the organizations looking for sponsorship would be happy to feature you on their website or already do it as a part of the sponsorship.

When looking for opportunity’s, check out the  organization or event’s website to see if they link to their sponsors.

Alternatively, you could create your own local event, which will attract plenty of link opportunities from local press, event trackers, and perhaps other local businesses.

Become a Source for Reporters

Local press is huge for small businesses, but there are other ways small businesses can utilize the press to aid in link building efforts.

One of the best ways is by signing up to be a source on Help A Reporter Out (HARO), a service that connects journalists and bloggers with sources that can help them craft the perfect story.

So if you run a car dealership and a reporter was seeking someone with experience in the automotive industry to comment on last month’s national car sales report,  you could reach out that reporter directly with an original comment. If the reporter likes it, they’ll quote you and often leave a link to your company.

Offer Products to Industry-Related/Local Bloggers

Bloggers love it when businesses reach out with free products/samples. Whether you’ve got a local shop or sell a retail product, reaching out to bloggers is a great way to get your brand in front of readers, get links, and build relationships.

Take some time to research blogs/bloggers in your industry or local area and simply ask for their shipping details or invite them to your shop at a specific time. When presented with such an easy answer, most bloggers will respond, which will give you an opportunity to pitch them.

Turn Non-linked Mentions into Links with Outreach

Most business owners are happy to receive mentions of their business in articles or on resource pages. Known as “citations” to SEOs, they offer some value on their own, but offer even more as links to your business’s website.

In this guide on getting sites to link these mentions, I break down my own personal method for discovering and reaching out to sites that have mentioned your business but not linked. It takes less than 15 minutes, but can add a ton of great authority that you might have otherwise overlooked.

Create Resourceful Content Using the ‘Skyscraper Technique’

Envisioned by Brian Dean of Backlinko, the “Skyscraper Technique” is one of the easiest ways to create truly amazing content that’s worth linking to more than any other similar piece.

Because one of the realities of content today is that there’s just way too much of it being created. If you’re just throwing more of the same onto the web, no one is going to value it, as it doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

To change this, many bloggers and businesses employ the Skyscraper Technique using these three simple steps laid out by Dean:

1. Find content that has attracted links
2. Make that content even more attractive by building upon the foundation
3. Reach out to relevant sites that link to similar content

It’s that simple. You might not hit a home run on your first try, but the pay off of valuable links makes it more than worth the time and effort.

Taking Action

If you’re a small business owner with a few employees but no real marketing budget, turning these ideas into a reality can be tough. But you don’t have to do it all at once.

The order in which these strategies are presented is a great way to get started, meant to build up your comfort level and experience in link outreach.

Like most things in life, you’ll learn as you go. Good luck!

This post originally appeared on Wikimotive's blog on February 16, 2015. 

Route 4 Cars, located in Paramus, NJ, wants every customer to experience the ultimate level of service and convenience. The entire staff is ready and waiting to help. The dealership has flourished since joining Dealer Synergy in Spring 2015. By using the Dealer Synergy process and Bradley on Demand training, the sales team went from selling 72 cars (with 146 showed appointments) in April to selling180 cars (with 454 showed appointments) in May. The numbers remained high through June as well. 

While all of the Route 4 staff is great, Internet Coordinator Shalonda Shaw has shown a lot of growth and initiative. Her sales numbers continue to grow and her positive attitude and desire to improve is an inspiration to her colleagues. 

Join The Content VS Retail Debate! 

This week on Think Tank Tuesday, Robert Donovan of DOM360 joins me to discuss the importance of both merchandising AND content development. Get inside knowledge on how you can marry the two schools of thought to build a robust and rock-solid marketing strategy.

There are many reasons that paid search ads won't show up on Google. One of the most obvious reasons that people still struggle with is a small search engine marketing budget. In general, a very small budget will result in ads being difficult to find when searched. However, there are ways to optimize what little advertising dollars might be available.

A low search engine marketing budget often finds itself eaten through within a short time every day. One way to stretch these dollars is through the practice of day parting. AdWords allows an advertiser to only show their ads during certain parts of the day. After running the campaign for a while, some insight can be gained from the traffic and conversion data, and optimal days and times can be assessed. Then it's simply a matter of "day-parting" the low-budget campaign to only show ads when they appear to be most effective.

High-search volume keywords can often eat through a small search engine marketing budget. Long tail keywords, while not as frequently searched, can show higher buyer intent. Generally, these are a safer bet than generic keywords for those who don't have a lot to spend on advertising. They will get searched less and will drum up less expense, while often times delivering a more willing shopper. Utilizing exact, phrase and modified broad match terms can help ensure that searchers are only costing advertising dollars on clicks when they search a phrase with high buyer intent.

Finally, relevance between the keywords, ads and landing page can change the effectiveness of a search engine marketing budget. Higher relevance generally leads to a higher quality score, which often results in lower costs per click. The lower the cost per click, the more clicks an advertiser can fit into their daily budget. Search engine marketers should pay special attention to making sure that all items in the campaign are aligned for optimal relevance, and thus lower overall costs.

There are a few ways to make the most of a search engine marketing budget at any level. What are some tips you all have for low budget SEM campaigns?

An Open Letter to the Automotive Industry - Ken Potter

I spent the last three years working at TRUECar with a great team of people under me listening to dealers, industry executives, and my team on how to best serve dealers.
I first want to thank those dealers that allowed me to come visit their stores and hear their very candid feedback, concerns, and thoughts on how we could serve them better. I will be the first to say we didn't get it right for everyone, but we did grow from 3,200 to over 10,000 dealers during this time and did it with humility and respect, and made the program one dealers embraced and actually liked in many, many cases.
I sold my first car in the 90’s and am proud to say I am a “car guy”. I believe we have a great industry that creates opportunities for all walks of people and is often a second chance landing place for many who need one. Despite how technology has changed over the past 15 years, people still sell cars and always will in my mind.
I am very grateful to have had a long career in this industry and look forward to my next chapter. There are many players with lots of cash now jumping in the Automotive tech space and I would like to offer a piece of friendly advice to you all:
Dealers are the lifeblood, the Sales People are the soul, you cannot simply get in the middle of the Customer and Dealer with a great tech product and think you will be great for the industry. The Dealers are the ones who pay everyone (vendors, manufacturer, their employees, advertisers) which therefore makes the Dealer “the customer”.
If you receive revenue or profit from a Dealer, you should be accountable to them on their terms. You should embrace the people they employ and the lives they support.
I look forward to seeing many of my Dealer friends down the road or at a convention and whatever I will be doing will be done with Dealers in mind first, and with humility and respect for the industry.

Sincerely,

Ken Potter
310-895-0824

Change isn't easy; but what I'm about to share with you is worth the challenge.

Breaking routines isn't easy but change yields long term results. On this week's Hard Facts, Samantha shows you how to shake up your routine and your priorities.

Looking to start an exciting career in automotive sales? Several Dealer Synergy clients are looking for talented individuals to join their team. Check our current listings and submit your resume.

Georgia
Cronic Chevrolet Buick GMC
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

Illinois
Castle Auto Group
Internet Coordinator -

Indiana
Andy Mohr Toyota
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

Louisiana
Robinson Brothers Ford
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now
Automotive Sales Professional - Apply Now

Massachusetts
Bill Dube Hyundai
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

Jack Madden Ford
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

New Jersey

Route 4 Cars
Lost Opportunity Coordinator - Apply Now

Perrine Buick
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

Spirit Chrysler Dodge Jeep
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

RK Chevrolet Kia Subrau
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

New York
Massapequa Auto Group
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

RC Lacy, Inc
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now

Oklahoma
Auffenberg Chevrolet Cadillac
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now
Automotive Sales Professional - Apply Now

Pennsylvania
Piazza Auto Group
Internet Coordinator- Apply Now

Tennessee
Tim Short Dodge
Internet Coordinator - Apply Now