Auto Web Solutions & Quality Control
Posted by admin in Web Design on August 31st, 2010
I’ve recently been confronted with several road blocks in dealing with other automotive webs solutions companies. I’ve come to realize talking with some of these people on the other end they simply either just don’t care or don’t see the big picture. I started providing automotive web solutions for dealers out of the very necessity that care does need to be put into a dealerships website. It would seem the larger the web solutions company the less care they provide.
A legacy for someone will be left by the time they take to care about a project not the number of dollars they rake in from profit. This is what some of the big boys in the automotive web solutions field simply just aren’t getting. They think because they have such a giant lock on the market and have such huge capital that they can create websites for dealers that simply look like they don’t care.
It is mind boggling to think that the American automotive manufactures have stuck their franchise dealerships with this crap, they call a website provider. If I were in charge I would be extremely disappointed at the manner in which the automotive web companies handle their customer base. They remind me of a certain company from Redmond. They don’t want to play nice and they don’t want to play at all.
It is unfortunate for the dealerships that have to live with these cookie cutter web solutions that don’t meet today’s needs. If only Ford, GM & Chrysler would wake up and not force their franchise dealerships to be stuck on these corporate websites that produce less than stellar results.
I came across this statement on a competitors website recently “Tricked out websites that are not optimized for the search engines are worthless…. and they cost you a fortune” and I couldn’t help but notice the poor design work they publish. While they sort of got their statement right, they are missing the fact the poor design will cost you in the end. A professional website should reflect just that, professional. These website solutions for dealers that are cookie cutter nothing more than a newspaper ad plugged in, need to stop. I want it, your customers want it and and in the end you know you want it because it will cost you leads.
SEO not as quick as you may think
Posted by admin in Search Engine Optimization on July 9th, 2010
There are so many companies out there now pushing how they can get your site ranked high and practically overnight. Don’t fall for the hype. It sounds good but it simply isn’t true. Your not going to get your companies seo performance to be magical within days or even weeks.
Auto dealers should think about SEO as a long term strategic solution that will take time and effort by both the dealership and their web solutions provider.
Google provides a lot of insight on the Google Webmaster Blog but there is no silver bullet.
Most importantly dealers should listen to Google directly, not the company trying to sell you on their products or services. In a recent post from Google regarding Link building they stated:
“It’s important to clarify that any legitimate link building strategy is a long-term effort. There are those who advocate for short-lived, often spammy methods, but these are not advisable if you care for your site’s reputation. Buying PageRank-passing links or randomly exchanging links are the worst ways of attempting to gather links and they’re likely to have no positive impact on your site’s performance over time. If your site’s visibility in the Google index is important to you it’s best to avoid them. ”
I believe Google is speaking out directly about the companies that are soliciting you about overnight results and #1 placement. In the article, Google touches on Social Media and its role in link building for SEO purposes. Again while its no silver bullet it is a piece of the pie and by having a company like Fresh Input help with your strategic puzzle your certain to see results.
Social Media Revolution #2
Posted by admin in Social Media on May 16th, 2010
The recently updated version of the popular ‘Social Media Revolution’ video on YouTube
HTML5 vs Flash
Posted by admin in Web Design on May 16th, 2010
I was recently reading over the letter from Steve Job on Apple’s website regarding the fued between Apple and Adobe over flash support on Apple’s mobile devices. Luckily for our clients, Fresh Input sites are coded based on web standards (of which Apple is a part of) such as HTML5. Honestly though I’d never call it HTML5 since it is more of a combination of coding technologies. What this means to you, Fresh Input website’s look and perform great on the iPhone, iPad, Google Android and BlackBerry touch. No flash, no worries and you get the benefit of your sight being SEO friendly. See below for a small snippet of what Apple had to say about Flash and mobile devices. Read the full article afterward to get a better understanding of Apple’s perspective as to why they don’t utilize flash on their mobile devices. Google’s Android doesn’t utilize flash as well, so why no fuss there?
“Flash was designed for PCs using mice, not for touch screens using fingers. For example, many Flash websites rely on “rollovers”, which pop up menus or other elements when the mouse arrow hovers over a specific spot. Apple’s revolutionary multi-touch interface doesn’t use a mouse, and there is no concept of a rollover. Most Flash websites will need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices. If developers need to rewrite their Flash websites, why not use modern technologies like HTML5, CSS and JavaScript?
Even if iPhones, iPods and iPads ran Flash, it would not solve the problem that most Flash websites need to be rewritten to support touch-based devices.”
The Facebook Revolution for Car Dealers
Posted by admin in Automotive, Social Media on February 16th, 2010
As we move forward more and more people are spending more and more time on Facebook. What originally started out as a college project for college students has quickly taken over the world! I mean that literally. Now Facebook encompasses not only college kids, but young teens, adults & now businesses looking to find a way to connect with their customers.
Think about what Facebook meant to you 2 years ago, 1 year ago, 6 months ago? Now look at how often you find yourself in front of Facebook today. It would appear that we are driving ourselves more and more to use social media websites such as Facebook because more often than not, our friends are spending more and more time their.
This would appear to be causing a perpetual cycle of ‘lets be involved & lets be heard’. As businesses begin to jump into the mix, we are essentially turning Facebook into our virtual reality. As people spend more time in this virtual reality, auto dealers need to find a way to connect with customers and build relationships, partnerships and/or friendships.
I really don’t think this is all that different from what auto dealers were doing before the digital revolution. I mean think about it, auto dealers are always naming the store after their own name. Why, because dealers believe that people are more likely to shop with them due to their previous history and the ability of that dealer to network himself with customers, building a strong reputation.
Now, I don’t believe finding fans on Facebook or followers on Twitter is going to be all that much different. Dealers will need to have someone in the store help build that online reputation and establish that social status just as they do in the real world. The difference hear will be how quickly a dealers social status goes up or down. If a dealer messes up big time, it will be heard loud and clear very quickly. The same thing is true with positive news.
The speed at which things move on the internet has been dubbed ‘viral’ and auto dealers should get to know this term and how powerful it can be. Car dealerships should not fear this term, nor the social media revolution, but should embrace it, take advantage of it and harness the speed and power with which they now can market themselves.
Fresh Input is an automotive web solutions company that has fully integrated social media solutions for your auto dealership and your dealership website. Find out how we are changing the game and keeping your dealership Fresh!