Who has that Silver Bullet on the Internet?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I often get asked,  “Whom should I advertise with on the Internet?”  Obviously, the place to start is with your own website.  A www.YourDomain.com will give you a base on the Internet to direct your clients towards, a place to retrieve credit applications and purchase inquires and all the room you need to state all the positives about you an your business.  Once all that is accomplished, though, it is only natural for us to seek out other opportunities.

The Internet is vast and provides too many advertising opportunities to count.  I want to narrow the focus down to only third party link providers.  These are sites we often have to pay to advertise with and in exchange send car buyers either to your website or directly to your dealership.  These advertisers can be split into three groups, small, medium and large.  In order to know which one is best for you it helps to know how each one is similar to and different from the others.

LARGE:  In this category we have two worth mentioning: Cars.com and Trader Online.   Trader is considered the pioneer of Internet advertising for car dealers but Cars.com has done a lot of catching up in recent years.  The thing these two have in common is that they both reach out to a national audience.  They both utilize other advertising media to attract car buyers to their sites.  Both also attract search engine traffic through Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns.  Cars.com has the backing and support from The Washington Post and a group of other large newspaper companies.  Both companies spend a lot of money advertising on network TV.  Trader benefits from sponsor partnerships with many sports groups like the NBA.  If you are advertising with one of these companies it is like having an advertising campaign that includes Internet, TV and newspaper exposure all in one package.

Just because they are both similar, though, does not mean you should choose one or the other.  They both are unique in web experience from one another and for this reason, each site may fit one dealer better than another.  The biggest difference between the two is cost.  We have clients that can remember less than ten years ago advertising on Trader for less than $200 a month.  Today it is several times that amount.  Trader has priced themselves out of some independent car dealer budgets.  Essentially, the more you pay the more you get.  That is fine except for the fact new car dealers always seem to be willing to pay more and therefore get the most.  Cars.com, on the other hand, does not have a system in place that allows one to pay more to get top placement or additional exposure.  They have an even field pricing system fair to both new and used car dealers.  At a recent seminar I even heard Cars.com has frozen prices for 2006 at prior year levels.

MEDIUM:    We have all been watching TV and seen advertisements for companies like Vehix.com, Autobytel.com and others.  These sites work on the same premise as the others already mentioned.  They advertise for car buyers to come to their site and in turn pass those car buyers on to car dealers advertising with them.  They are smaller only because they were not first, in most cases.  Still, they should not be overlooked.  Not all car buyers shop alike.  We have dealers from Louisiana to Ohio advertising with these and other similar websites because they see leads come from them and not from the Goliath sites in the previous section.  Often, they are less expensive so provide a way for dealers to increase exposure without breaking the advertising budget.   All sites advertising vehicle listings will provide you with statistics on how well your listings do on their site.  This gives you a yardstick by which to compare the effectiveness of various advertisers.

SMALL:  This section is often the most over looked.  In this category I would include sites like www.VAUsedCarDealers.com, www.ShopAutosOnline.com,  www.CUDL.com and even include a larger company like Pilot Online’s DRIVE website utilized by many Tidewater area dealers.  I put it in this category because the thing all these sites have in common is a focus on the local geographic region.  You see, most car dealers in Virginia could care less how many people in Utah see their listings.  99 times out of a 100 that car shopper is not going to travel all that way for used automobile.  It is human nature for people to want to do business in their backyard.  It keeps tax revenue in their region and it gives them an easier means of following up in the event of mechanical failure.  Sites like these attract car buyers only in their immediate area.  Since this is the most likely client to do business with you, why not focus on them?  JTZ Enterprise provides counters to all our website clients and they not only tell you how much traffic comes from each of the search engines but also tell you what keywords were used to find you.  In more than a third of the cases, a geographic area is mentioned.  A car buyer might go to Google, for instance, and search for a car dealer.  The first search result leads them to a car dealer in New Mexico, the next to a dealer in Maine.  It does not take too many of these clicks before that surfer goes back one page and refines the search to “used car dealer in Virginia”.  Now instead of having millions of sites to click on for dealers all around the world they have narrowed it down to thousands all around the Commonwealth.  The third party advertisers in this section focus on the car buyers in their immediate surroundings.  I have seen car dealers sell more by focusing on a specific market such as vans or work trucks and the same is applied in this section.  The advertisers in this section may bring you less leads than those in the other groups but the leads they bring are of higher quality only because they are more likely to do business with you because you are in their backyard.

Still you ask, “Which one should I use?”  The answer is not that simple.  In truth, if your advertising budget allows for it, one of them is not enough.  We have many clients advertising with a combination of them because they realize each of them will bring leads to you the others could not.  Before signing up with any of them I recommend a dealer do their homework.  Search for cars similar to what you have on your lot at these sites before getting started.  See if your cars “fit” the site, are there others like it listed and if so how does your price compare to others like it listed on the site?  Then ask to see what statistics you will get regarding your listings.  After you sign up with them, be sure to monitor those stats and be ready to make a change if you see one advertiser is a better fit over another.  In no time, you will have the makings of a successful Internet advertising campaign and your sales will be hitting on all eight once again!

John Summer

JTZ Enterprise

877-286-1564

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How can I maximize my Internet Exposure?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

In the last issue we covered how the focus for many independent dealers has shifted from location to exposure.  Many dealers are finding they can compete with the mega dealer on the main road by increasing their Internet exposure.  Now the question becomes, “How can I get the maximum exposure for the best money?”

The first step is to develop and maintain a professional, effective website dedicated to only your business.  Having a www.YourDomain.com gives you a ‘spot’ on the web to direct all your advertising towards.  You see, a website is nothing like any other form of advertising used up to now.  We all advertise in the Yellow Pages, but you probably rarely tell anyone to look for your ad in the Yellow Pages.  If you did, your client would not only see your ad but also those of your local competitors.  You might have a T.V. or radio ad but you do not tell your clients look for it because you are hoping those advertising dollars bring you new clients.  Having a website will not only help you with new clients but will also reach out to your existing clients.  Furthermore, those clients will tell their friends and family about your website.  It is easier for some to remember a web address these days than it is a phone number.

Once you have a website for your business, the next step is to build up traffic to the site.  Just because you built the best website in the world does not mean traffic instantly appears.  Like all other advertising, you will get out of the Internet what you put into it.  The first step you need to take is to incorporate your website address into all your other forms of advertising.  Put it in your yellow page ad, your roadside sign, and every other form of advertising you use.  Your current and future clients will visit your site the next time they are in the market to buy a car IF they know about it.  This is unique from all your other advertising approaches.  Again, you would not put in your newspaper ad something like “Look for us in the Yellow Pages” because it makes more sense just to give them the phone number.  But, directing all your clients to your website allows you to gain your client’s complete attention and enables you to focus it on you and your dealership only, leaving all of your competitors behind.  Your website should do things other forms of advertising can not such as give maps and directions, take credit applications, set appointments, etc. so it only seems logical to point other advertising to your website so your client can get your “whole picture”.

The only other free source of Internet exposure is from search engines.  It is important to optimize your site for and register it with search engines on a regular basis.  If you or your webmaster cannot do this then hire an outside company to help.  You pay nothing to list your site with others like Google.com and they will send people to your site when asked for used car dealers in your area.   Google cannot send you free traffic if they do not know your website exists or what it is advertising.

After that, in order to get even more exposure you have to pay.  Many dealers have heard of sites like Trader and Cars.com.  There are dozens of similar sites and all of them work about the same.  Dealers will pay these companies for the ability to list their inventory and photos on these 3rd party link exchange sites.  These sites, in turn, advertise for and attract potential used car buyers to their site and allow them to search through all listings for the car or truck of their choice.  When the car buyer is interested in one of your listings they may click on it to gain more information about the vehicle and the selling dealer.

Some of these 3rd party link sites are better for some dealers than others.  Meaning, a highline dealer may have more success with one site than a BHPH dealer might have with the same site, and visa versa.  It is important to do your research before taking on this type of Internet advertising, as some of these sites get rather expensive.  It is important to find the best plan for your dealership, as you never want to over spend OR under spend with your advertising dollars.

It used to be a dealer would pick one of these companies and that was it.  Now days, it is pretty common for dealerships to be advertising with a number of similar companies all at the same time.  The bigger your net, the more fish you catch!  They justify paying two or more companies for the same type of advertising because they realize each site will expose them to a different market segment and each of them will generate their own leads.  Not only do you have to justify the expense, though, you also have to weigh the amount of work each one will require.  When you have a website, you have to add and edit the vehicles on your site.  When you add a site like Autobytel.com, for instance, now you have to add and edit listings on that site as well as on your site.  The more 3rd party link exchange sites you advertise with the more work involved in managing it all.  Some dealerships contract with companies like Dealer Specialties to take all of this off their hands.  DS will come out to you every week, take the photos and upload them to your website and all other sites with which you advertise.  They have a per car expense and again, some dealers rationalize this expense because it frees them up to do what they do best, SELL MORE CARS!

JTZ Enterprise and VIADA have teamed up to offer their members additional Internet Exposure and easier Internet Inventory management tools through www.VAUsedCarDealers.com.  First, for as little as $35 a month you can have all your vehicles listed on VIADA’s website along with complete descriptions and multiple listings.  You can list them with a retail and/or wholesale price.  You may also shop through hundreds of wholesale listings being offered for sale from other VIADA members only.  In turn, this website is attracting potential car buyers only in the Virginia area.  It is a smaller scale site than many others but our target audience is much more concentrated providing you with a more desirable client.  You would agree you have a better chance of selling an Internet customer a car if that customer were from Virginia rather than Utah.

Not only will your vehicles get additional exposure on the Internet, they will also get sent to any other 3rd party site you advertise with and a few others that will take your listings for free.  We want to help you manage your Internet inventory all in one step and every day we send your data to dozens of other companies.  We can send your data anywhere you want it.  We get requests for new data feeds to go to other Internet advertisers every day.  Local newspaper, radio and TV companies are getting into this type of advertising and there are many national companies.  A mix of both regional and broad exposure will only increase your total return of new sales.

Another thing to look for when considering a third party link exchange site is whether or not a car shopper will be able to link from that website to yours.  When we designed VUCD we wanted to make it as easy as possible for a car buyer to get to you, the advertiser rather than trap that car buyer in our site.  Some big players in this industry would rather keep a car buyer shopping so they run up click counts and page views.  But, we never know what it is going to take to turn a car shopper into a car buyer but when it happens the client will only stay that way for so long.  A direct path for the car buyer to the car dealer is a must.  Pulling a client out of VUCD, for instance, and into your site is like plucking that minnow out of a shark tank!  Now that client has access to your credit application or map and directions and has the opportunity to do their homework on what type of dealer you are!  All of this is not available to the car buyer until they get to your site.  If your third party link advertiser does not have a link from all of your listings to your website, ask them what it takes to make it possible.  It will increase your Internet conversion ratio.

If you have questions regarding this type of Internet advertising and how you can better integrate this with your website call today for a free consultation.

John Summer

JTZ Enterprise

877-286-1564

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Has the focus changed from Location to Exposure?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Over the last few months I have had the privilege of addressing two classes filled with aspiring car dealers fulfilling their educational requirements in order to obtain a dealer’s license.  Afterwards, JTZ Enterprise has had the honor to help a few of these newly licensed car dealers develop their Internet advertising campaigns once they have hung their shingle.  What is striking to me is how the focus for some of these dealers has shifted from location to Internet exposure.

In years past, an aspiring dealer would search high and low for the best location to open their dealership.  We have all heard the three most important rules in real estate; location, location, location!  In the past, a dealership located on the main drag would naturally get more foot traffic on the lot than a similar dealership located around the corner and off the beaten path.  Car buyers drive to work and back every day passing your lot and not giving it a second thought, until the day they are in the market to buy a car, that is.  Then, when the question came up as to where to begin shopping for their next car, it only made sense to stop by that dealership they drove by day after day.  In the past, the only way a dealership located off the main thoroughfare could get additional exposure and traffic would be to spend money on advertising.  Often times, a dealership with a less than desirable location might not have the money needed to maintain an expensive radio, T.V. or newspaper advertising campaign.

Today, that has all changed.  The Internet has evened the playing field a little because it is the most affordable, effective form of advertising and it offers more ways to track the results than other forms of advertising.  For instance, a typical website for a car dealer will cost about $1000 a year.  When a dealer considers spending that money on other forms of advertising it does not take much research to learn that same $1000 might last a month or more if spent on newspaper ads.  That same amount might get a month’s worth of radio ads and would not even get the TV commercial filmed, much less broadcasted.  If you advertise with one of these other media formats the amount of times someone actually saw (much less, paid attention to) your advertisement can only be conveyed as the total overall exposure of that advertising media. Newspapers will tell you how many papers they print each day, TV and radio people can tell you about how many people tune in at any given time and tell you how many time your commercial ran.  The question in your mind, though, is how many people really heard/saw the ad?

Not only is a website on 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, but it is constantly monitoring itself.  Furthermore, it is not something that gets broadcast out to the masses, rather, it is a place for your  customers to go to when and only if they are interested in your service or product.  We can not tell you how many people are on the Internet at any one given time, but we can tell you how many people are on your website at any given time.  The people that came to your site got there by one of two methods.  Either they typed your address into their computer after getting it from you or one of your other forms of advertising (i.e. business card, road side sign, etc..) or they got there by following a link to your site from other automotive related websites or from search engines.  If they typed in your address or followed a link to your site, they are obviously interested in your product or service and your website’s message is not falling on deaf ears.  If someone visits a car dealership’s website, chances are most definite they are in the market to buy a vehicle or need some other service or product from that dealership.

Unlike other advertising, the Internet is very easy to track.  Our clients have seven different counters available to them to see the Who, What, When, Where and How about their website traffic.  For instance, if you also advertise on Cars.com, your website counters will show you how much traffic came to your site as a result of your Cars.com advertising.  If you put your web address in the newspaper, we can show you how many people took that ad to their computer and typed that address to access your site.  More importantly, most (if not all) of the visitors making it to your site are potential customers.  They were not forced to go to your site.  They do not have to listen to your advertising just because your commercial was next on the wheel.  The Internet allows you to focus your advertising message to attract those people in the market to buy your service or product.

We have many car dealers that renew their Internet advertising  year after year because they see results.  Period.  Some smaller dealers located off the beaten path tell us every day their website is responsible for more foot traffic on the lot and more phone calls than any other form of advertising.  The dealers located on the main drag still have the location advantage but if a dealership around the corner has a similar vehicle at the same price or even lower, there is a good chance they will still attract a car buyer because today’s car buyer is turning to the Internet to research availability, find financing and to get vehicle reviews.  Today, the rules for independent dealers have changed to exposure, exposure, exposure.

Many dealers have moved from focusing on road frontage to how many times they are found on the Internet. We now see is many of our clients are expanding their Internet exposure by advertising on other sites as well as having a site of their own.  Many dealers are spending as little as $35 a month to put their vehicles on VIADA’s website, www.VAUsedCarDealers.com.  Others may spend several hundreds of dollars on similar advertising with Trader, Cars.com and others, all in an effort increase the amount of exposure their dealership is getting from the Internet.  With more and more people getting online every day and more and more car buyers turning to the Internet when making their purchase decision, the amount of exposure you get from the Internet is only going to grow.  If, that is, you are on the Internet!

John Summer

JTZ Enterprise

877-286-1564

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Out with ’06, Hello 2007!!!

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

It is this time of year we all reflect a little on the past and begin preparing for the future.  I do not know if it is the leaves changing color or the Holiday lights at Halloween or first day of hunting season but every year I find myself identifying things that went well over the last twelve months and how I could have improved some of those that did not.

One of the most recent triumphs this year for JTZ Enterprise just took place.  We are proud to announce www.JTZEnterprise.com received a complete makeover.  They say a mechanic’s car is sometimes the most neglected when it comes to service and I am embarrassed to say the same was true about this web designer’s website!  At the beginning of the year we began getting business from dealers outside of Virginia.  They found us by searching on the web and it became apparent we needed to improve our online image.  You can now go to this site for tutorials on how to manage inventory listings on your website and at VIADA’s website.  Those clients that have websites with us can also get easy to follow links to web e-mail control panels, eight different counters and a whole lot more.  We also expanded our Online Store section for our retail sales clients.

This completes a total redesign of all three websites important to VIADA members.  In March my designers began work on the new image now seen at www.VIADA.org and in July we finished the redesign of www.VirginiaUsedCarDealers.com (VUCD).  We are also happy to report the amount of traffic coming to both of these sites continues to grow every month.  The staff at VIADA headquarters has really put a lot of effort into updating the members website and we have more participating members and vehicle listings than ever before at VUCD. We have already set goals for 2007 and begun taking steps to achieve them for both of VIADA’s websites.

JTZ Enterprise has grown a little in 2006 due to two very important groups of people; our clients and our employees.  Not only have we been blessed with a high rate of repeat customers, we have also attracted a lot of new clients.  At the same time we have added a couple of services other than website design and hosting.  We have been designated as the exclusive reseller of IDI’s Window Sticker software program for Virginia, Tennessee and the Carolina’s.  This software decodes a VIN like you have never seen and prints all of that information on a new car lot quality sticker that seals to the glass on all four sides.  The information about each vehicle is easy to edit and includes fuel mileage and Reviews for each vehicle from any of a dozen or more major publications.  This can all be done from your computer in a matter of minutes and at less than $2.80, including a Buyers Guide, it has really become quite popular.

The other new service introduced in ’06 is our datafeed service.  JTZ Enterprise has worked to make the Internet as easy for our clients to capitalize on as possible.  JTZ Enterprise has worked with several F&I software suppliers and data inventory management companies like Carbiz, Dealer Specialties and many others so that we can now get your inventory data and photos from them.  Dealers can still enter the data on their own.  Regardless of how we get your vehicle information and photos, we can now send that data to any and all other companies you may be advertising with including Cars.com, Trader and many, many others.  Now a car dealer can update their listings in dozens of places, including some free sites, all in one place and in one step.  This makes Internet advertising easier to manage for the car dealer.

We thank all our clients, new and long time, and look forward to serving you into 2007.  We welcome the rest of you and look forward to meeting with you.  We have a referral program to encourage our clients not to keep us a secret.  The owners of www.DavisAutoCenter.com introduced us to the owners of www.ChesapeakeOutdoors.com.  The latter is a billboard advertising company on the Eastern Shore and many of their clients have become our clients.  A special thanks goes out to this client as well as the owners of www.AtoZSports.com, www.CountryAutoSales.net and www.SuperiorMotorsInc.com for all the referrals and we want to encourage more of that in the years to come!

A special thanks also goes out to my supporting staff.  Carl, Ron, Vinod, Linda and Chris, keep those website designs coming!  JTZ Enterprise prides itself on not cookie cutting our designs and each of these designers add a different flavor.  They work tirelessly at times not only creating new sites but also managing the ongoing update requests from our clients.  We added two new representatives in ’06.  Debbi Impervento has made a lot of friends in the Tidewater area and we warmly welcome Chuck Robertson.  We know you are going to well in the Charlottesville/Harrisonburg area.  We hope to bring aboard one or two more representatives in 2007.  I am forever indebted to Kelly and Tiffany.  These are the two ladies you speak with when you call our office and they do so much for me.  I just can not thank you enough.

Overall, it has been a good year, but we are all looking forward to seeing what the New Year brings.  I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Enjoy the holidays, and more important, enjoy your loved ones.  We wish all of you a successful Tax season that will follow making the holidays seem like the calm before the storm, we all hope!

I better get out there now to clean those gutters and get those lights up…

John Summer

JTZ Enterprise

877-286-1564

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So much to do and so little time…

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I personally service hundreds of independent dealers all over the commonwealth of Virginia, many of them are VIADA members.  Prior to the most recent VIADA convention I asked everyone I came into contact with if they were going to attend the upcoming convention and if so I would invite them to stop by our booth at the expo.  Unfortunately, more than a few car dealers told me they were not going to be able to make it.  The reasons varied but all of them boiled down to one thing, not enough time and too much to do.

Truthfully, I knew where they were coming from.  I felt the same way.  My business continues to grow every month.  The demands this growth puts on my staff and me also gets larger and larger.  I admit, I tried to skirt this convention but then Lois Keenan called me and twisted my arm, just a little.  Boy am I glad she did!  You see, we are still small enough, like many of you, that when an event like this comes up I essentially have to close up shop and put my business on hold.  We get so wrapped up in what needs to get done sometimes we lose site of the fact that a little bit of time well invested will pay dividends for a long while after.  At the VIADA 46th Annual Convention and Expo I learned it is important to invest that time, regardless of how busy I think I am.

While at the expo my staff was introduced to many car dealers from all around the state.  Some of these dealers they had been calling on the phone and it was fun to watch both our staff and our clients be able to put a name with a face for the first time.  Did this create any extra business for us or the dealer?  Maybe not, but the next time these two get together on the phone things will only go smoother for both parties, I am sure.

Our sales lady, Debbi Impervento,  attended the expo was able to witness first hand the kind of reputation JTZ Enterprise has built over the last few years.  She was also able to see just how much camaraderie amongst car dealers there really is.  She walked away from that expo with a newfound respect for VIADA in that this is a group of car dealers, competitors, that have come together for a common cause.  Each of these dealers attended the convention in hopes of finding a “leg up” on their competitor but still get together with their fellow members to share ideas, tips and even a few secrets.  Yes, Debbi did walk out of there with a few new leads to follow up but the most important thing for her to come out of the expo was she got extremely energized to do what she does best, SELL WEBSITES!

On a personal level, I thought we would make a few more friends and say hello to a few old friends but really did not expect to get much out of this expo because I had already attended a few in the past.  But, while I was there I found myself talking with not only car dealers but also other vendors.  You see, over the years, I have forged friendships with many of the other Associate members and caught myself looking forward to bumping into some of them.  I enjoy talking with Brian from Car Financial.  Brian, thanks for the yoyo again this year as well as for the ride to the golf course!  It is always good to see Jim Creasy from, Classic Insurance and an expo would not be complete without getting a cocktail at the “after hours” gathering put on every year by Richard Ramsey of Guardian Warranty.

JTZ Enterprise has forged some business relations with companies like CarBiz, Cars.com, Auto Extra and others.  At this latest expo we explored the possibility of forging other new relationships with other major players in our industry.  I quickly became aware of the fact that many of the companies I thought were my competitors just a few years ago have changed and grown just like we have.  Now each of us are finding ways we can benefit each other while still holding our part of the market share.  I started to feel like one of you car dealers!

Complacency is the number one business killer. Before the convention I thought I had more than enough business and that I could probably skip a year and go unnoticed.  When I walked out of there I wanted to get back to work and see how much more business we can generate between now and the end of the year!  I know I am not the only one that came away with that feeling.  Many of our car dealers came up and not only said hello to us at the expo but were asking questions like, Which is the best F&I software package?” and “Where is the best place to advertise?” and “What are the top dealers using for window stickers?”  We did not have all the answers for them, but I am sure they got their answers before they left and began implementing new procedures as soon as they returned to their car dealership.

Lois, I want to be the first to sign up for the 47th annual convention and expo!  I am already looking forward to meeting with everyone at the Hotel Roanoke.  Steve Farmer, next year you need to pair me up with a couple of A List guys.  I thank you for carrying our team.  As for Nate and Bill of Trader Online, the three of us need to work on our game because that old man carried us!!

If you were a member that could not attend this year’s convention for what ever reason, do not let that happen next year!  If you could handle more sales and better profits, the time invested will pay off.  If you are so busy you could not take on any more sales then the convention is some much deserved time off for you and you might just find ways to improve your business, reduce your work load and still increase profit.   Either way, I hope to see all of you there next year!

John Summer

JTZ Enterprise

877-286-1564

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How many birds can we get with one stone?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

VIADA’s website, www.VAUsedCarDealers.com, is more than just an inexpensive way to advertise online.  All members are able to list their entire inventory along with photos on this site for as little as $35 a month.  The first benefit to a participating member is exposure to thousands of car buyers that went online and searched for a used car or car dealer in Virginia or in your city or town.  The site continues to grow every month in the total number of visitors as well as in the number of participating dealers.  But the benefits do not stop there.

Probably the best part of VirginiaUsedCarDealers.com is the way it “educates” today’s consumer about who and what VIADA is all about.  Up to now, the average car buyer could not tell you what the VIADA Symbol of Quality represent.  VIADA is no longer the best kept secret and today’s car buyer appreciates the knowledge of VIADA’s members adhering to our Code of Ethics promoting fair trade.

When participating members sign up for VUCD, they also gain access to a Members Only Wholesale Listing page.  When adding vehicle listings some members choose to input a wholesale price or the price they would sell the unit for to another dealer.  Only those listings with wholesale prices will then be displayed on a Wholesale Price page inside the Members Only area of www.VAUsedCarDealers.com.  This is a great way for some of our members that are wholesale dealers to take advantage of this site because it allows them to reach VIADA members looking to purchase vehicles.  It is also a great way for a member that has an old unit to advertise it on a wholesale level in an effort to turnover aged inventory.

At the most recent VIADA Board Meeting we were able to launch the newest member benefit of this site.  For those dealers that include a wholesale price in their listings, we are now able to export those same listings and all the corresponding photos directly to Online Vehicle Exchange.  OVE is Manheim’s version of Ebay.  Dealers all across the country use OVE to buy and sell vehicles on a wholesale level without stepping a foot in the lanes.  Once we export the data and photos to them they will then set up an auction for each listing on their site for free.  The selling dealer will have to activate the auction by logging on to OVE and indicating whether or not each listing has any frame damage or paint work.  The listing and the auction are free until it sells.  Each time an auction ends with a winning bid, the selling dealer will then bring the vehicle to the nearest Manheim auction at which time it will be put through a verification/arbitration process and be shipped to the buying dealer.  At that time both buyer and seller will pay OVE $125.

If you would like more information about OVE please contact Mike Reinhard of OVE at 443-336-2856.  This is a new way for Buyers and Sellers to get together and while it is still in the beginning stages they have a team of people dedicated to making this a success.

Another VUCD benefit is the ability to have your inventory listings at all other third party link exchange sites managed all in one place.  Dealers that list their cars on VIADA’s site as well as at other sites like Cars.com, Auto Extra and others can now let us export their inventory data and photos to these other companies automatically every day.  There is no additional charge for this service either and all you need to do is let JTZ Enterprise know what other sites you are signed up with and we will begin sending them your inventory data right away.  Not only does this save you a lot of time and effort but it also ensures you that all your vehicle listings are up to date and consistent no matter what website they are found on.

The most obvious benefit of www.VAUsedCarDealers.com is that it exposes your inventory to thousands of Virginia Car Buyers every month.  But the benefits do not stop there.  If you are a participating member and want to know more about some of these other benefits, give us a call.  If you have yet to sign up for VUCD, give it a try.  Not only will it bring more car buyers to your dealership, it will also make your online advertising hassle free.

JTZ Enterprise is the webmaster for www.VIADA.org and www.VAUsedCarDealers.com as well as hundreds of other car dealer websites up and down the East Coast. 1-877-286-1564

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How many people does it take to manage my Internet Advertising?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

In a recent national publication there was an article saying it was not necessary for a car dealer to have inventory listed on the Internet.  That simply is not true.  The Internet has become a valuable source advertising to the car dealer in recent years for one reason only.  Today’s car buyers are not willing to walk into a dealership blind anymore.  The public has access to information they never had before and want to use that information to assure themselves they are making a good purchase decision.  This article said your website should sell you, your staff and your business.  I agree with that but to not have your Inventory listed would be like finding a really nice restaurant and asking the waiter or waitress to tell you what you are going to eat.  Your clients will visit your website prior to coming to your dealership to get a “jump Start” on the car buying process.

The proof is in the numbers.  When JTZ Enterprise hosts and maintains your website we provide you with seven different counters.  They allow you to see the Who, What, When, and Where From about the traffic coming to your website.  These counters show all our car dealer sites have an Inventory page and they are always listed as the most or the second most visited page of the site.  The Home page is the only page of your site that might get more traffic than the Inventory page.  Following these two would be the Vehicle Details page one gets when they click on car listings from the Inventory Page.  The next most frequently traveled pages would include the Company History Page, About Us Page or Testimonials Page.  You see, once the client knows you have what they want, their next question is, “what kind of dealer are you?”  Just like the restaurant scene, once you know what type of food you want, you then know what restaurant to visit.

When it comes to managing online inventory listings, all dealers will fall into one of two groups.  The first group pays someone else to do it and the other manages it in house.  If you or your staff do not have the time or know how to update your inventory on a regular basis, get help.  There are many companies out there like Dealer Specialties, Cherry Auto and others that will come to your dealership once or twice a week to take the photos and update your Internet Inventory.  Often they leave behind a Window Sticker and Buyers Guide.  This usually costs between $8 and $18 a car and is worth paying in order to have your website current and up to date.

Today’s car dealer is also much savvier!  Many of our dealers manage their own listings.  A dealer selling 20-30 cars a month will not spend more than one hour a week taking 4-12 photos of each new vehicle in stock and managing the online listings.   With our Inventory Management tools you take the photos, plug the camera into the computer, enter the cars into an online form and match the photos to the listings with no need to edit the photos.  We also have a Vehicle Details Software program that provides you with both a VIN decoder and a professional Window Sticker and Buyers Guide you can create in house.  Then, with one click it will send to the Internet all the photos and information about your vehicles including fuel mileage, positive vehicle reviews and more.

The problem for the dealers in this second group comes when they want to tap into other Internet advertising opportunities.  Third party link exchange sites such as VirginiaUsedCarDealers.com, Cars.com and others allow you to list your vehicles with them in much the same fashion you would on your own website.  They attract car buyers to their site.  When a buyer has an interest in one of your listings they can click on a link from this site to yours.  This would require you to load all the same data and photos for each of your listings with these other sites after you update your website.  Essentially you increase your workload every time you take on a new 3rd party link exchange site.

JTZ Enterprise has eliminated all that extra work for the car dealer by allowing you to do it all in one step. We automatically update inventory listings at all 3rd party link exchange sites for all our website clients as well as for all VIADA members listing their vehicles at VirginiaUsedCarDealers.com.  All you have to do is get the data to us and we will send it to any 3rd party link exchange site you are signed up with (as well as to a few others you may not be signed up with because they are free!) automatically every day.

Having a website that puts the best light on you and your business is vital in today’s economy.  Finding ways to ensure your inventory is accurate and up to date is just as important.

JTZ Enterprise

540-286-0504

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Where are all these people coming from and where are they going?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

You’ve had a website up and running for your dealership for a while now.  You know people are going to it because clients mention it to you and you’re getting e-mails as a result of it.  But, now you have some other questions such as, “How are people finding it?” or better yet, “Why aren’t we selling more cars from it?”

Like all other forms of advertising, it’s important for every business to have an idea of how effective the website is.  When you pay for advertising you expect a return on your investment.  The Internet has been touted as the most accurately measurable form of advertising and it all starts with server logs.  If you do not know what server logs are, ask your webmaster or the person in charge of hosting your site.  If they do not know what server logs are find a new webmaster.  Server logs are traffic reports generated on your website’s server.  They should tell you everything you need to know about the traffic getting to your website. They are more than just the counter at the bottom of the home page tracking the number of visitors.  These server logs will tell you how many visitors are coming, when they are coming, how they are getting to your site and much more.

JTZ Enterprise provides seven different types of server logs to our website clients.  The first thing we point out about them is there is a difference between Hits and Visitors.  We have all heard it said, “My site had 60,000 hits last month!”  That does not mean the site had 60,000 visitors.  If your website’s home page has 10 graphic images or photos on it, every time one visitor goes to that page they generate 11 hits; one for the page file (the programming that puts the page together) and one hit for each image that is loaded on the screen.  If that visitor then clicks on your inventory page and it has thumbnail images of all twenty vehicles you have in stock then that will cause 21 hits; one for the page file and one for each photo.  This one visitor has been to two pages and already created 32 hits.  You want an increase in visitors, not necessarily hits.

The next thing our logs will tell you is how many people are repeat visitors.  If your website’s content is helpful and up to date, people will come back again and again.  The first time a visitor comes to one of our sites we embed a file on their computer called a cookie.  Every time a visitor comes to one of our sites we look for that file or cookie.  If we find it on the visitor’s computer then we know they are returning for a repeat visit.  We have many car dealers that are better at updating their inventory and regularly reviewing and updating their site.  Those dealers always have a higher rate of repeat visitors.  If you have ever had a customer ask you, “Are you ever going to update your inventory page?” that should be a clue they have been to your site more than once.  For every one client that will ask that question there are countless others that just stop coming back all together.  Those websites with higher repeat visitors also have higher overall traffic totals.

Our counters will tell you other important things such as what times of the day, week and month your visitors are coming.  If you know that your website’s busiest time of the day is between 9am and 5pm (most often the case as many people surf while at work!) then you know it would be wise to have your inventory page updated before the onslaught of traffic begins.  Likewise, if you know Tuesday and Wednesday are your site’s busiest days of the week then you know you should make Monday the day to update your inventory.  If you find last month your website traffic surged in the second week you can use that information to judge the effectiveness of your other forms of advertising.  It might be that you advertised in the newspaper that second week and included your website address in that advertisement.  A spike in website traffic during that time tells you there was a high rate of conversion from newspaper readers to website surfers.

I had a client in Fredericksburg notice in their logs that after August of last year their traffic fell off considerably.  When I visited their dealership I noticed they had taken their website address off their roadside sign.  Once I pointed that out they admitted it did come down in August and agreed that was the reason their website traffic fell by more than 200 visitors a month.  Likewise, we had a client in Dahlgren double its traffic in one month by simply adding their website address to the marquee on the side of the road.

There are really only two ways people get to your site.  Either they click on a link to your site from another website or they knew your website address and typed it in the Address Bar of their browser.  A dealer with higher traffic is good at getting the word out about their website. If you don’t tell your clients you have a website, they are less likely to visit it. A dealer in Richmond told me there is never a client that comes into his dealership or calls them on the phone without hearing, “Have you been to our website?”  This same dealership uses their website in every way possible.  If someone asks them how to get to the dealership their answer might be, “If you go to our website and click on the Directions link there is a map and directions page you can print.”  If they get a phone client asking questions about a specific truck they will tell the client to go to the site and click on the inventory page.  I have seen them talking about a truck while both the salesperson and the client are looking at photos of the same truck at the same time.

It always happens when you are in the busiest time of the day the phone will ring and you get the question, “What kind of cars do you sell?”  Rather than be short so you can get back to the car buyer in front of you or stay on the phone and risk the chance of your client walking away, you should tell the person on the phone to go to your website and look at your inventory page. Invariably, that customer will call back but then they will be asking buying questions like how much down or how much a month.  Finding ways to use your website as a sales tool is something dealers with higher sales volumes from the Internet do better than others.

The other way visitors find your site is to click on it from other sites.  These other sites can be divided into two separate categories, search engines and third party link exchange sites.  One of the worst mistakes many site owners make is not optimizing their site for or registering it with all the major search engines.  More than half of all automobile searches begin or end with a search at a search engine.  If I go to Google to look for a car dealer in your area but you or your webmaster have not told Google about your site, chances are your site will not come up in the list of possible links.  This is the one step we take that sets JTZ Enterprise apart from other webmasters.  Most other webmasters ignore this step completely, do it inadequately or charge extra for it.  If your webmaster is Auto Trader Online, try searching for your dealership by name.  Trader Online does a great job with advertising your inventory but is not that concerned with helping you get traffic from other sources other than through their website.

Our server logs will not only tell you how much traffic is getting to your site from search engines but also will tell you what keywords and phrases are being used.  This is valuable information when optimizing your site for search engines.  There are ways your webmaster can program into your site the most popular keywords and phrases thereby increasing your site’s ranking with each of the major search engines and increasing the total amount of traffic you receive.

The other source of link traffic is from Third Party Link Exchange Sites.  We have already mentioned one of the leaders in this type of Internet advertising and others include www.Cars.com, www.AutoExtra.com, www.CarsDirect.com.  These are websites that list new and used cars for sale and attract car buyers to them.  If a car shopper finds a listing that interests them they can click on it and get more information about that car or about the person or dealer selling it.  These sites are nationwide directories and just a few of the hundreds of directory sites with which car dealers can advertise.  Something to be aware of when considering this type of information is results vary widely from dealer to dealer.  When considering this type of Internet advertising I tell dealers to put themselves in their client’s shoes.  Go to the site and look for a car similar to one you have in stock.  Once you find a few with similar miles and condition compare the price, follow the links to learn more about the seller, and see if your client will be led from this site to your site.  If you are a BHPH dealer you might not find this kind of advertising to be as successful because these sites are often price driven.  The dealers that get the most out of this advertising are typically competitively priced and offer little or no financing.  A BHPH customer is just like any other customer in that they want the best price.  It does not take long, however for that car buyer to get discouraged when they call on a couple of the vehicles they are interested in only to find out they can not get the financing they need.  Soon, that car shopper will leave this site and go to a search engine and search for a dealer that offers financing.

These nationwide third party link exchange sites are typically very expensive, ranging in cost from $300 to $1200 a month.  This additional expense does not always mean an increase in car buyers going to your website.  Our clients using

Auto Trader Online, for instance, have server logs that show very little, if any, traffic coming from Auto Trader to their website.  Many third party link exchange sites are not willing to pass the car buyer on to your site because they want to keep the buyer shopping in their site thereby driving up the total click numbers for their customers.  If they cannot get to your site, they cannot apply for credit, learn more about your dealership or get a feel for the kind of business approach you have adopted.

VIADA has a site that has grown to over 4,000 visitors and 37,000 hits every month.  VirginiaUsedCarDealers.com (VUCD) targets a smaller crowd.  We realize most car buyers want to do business in their backyard.  For about a dollar a day all VIADA members are able to tap into these thousands of car buyers.  We focus on a smaller region so our listings may not get displayed as often as they might at a nationwide site but because most of our visitors are from Virginia our listings are getting clicked on more often.   The ratio of clicks per display is higher at VUCD simply because all of the listings are within a reasonable distance to the car shopper.  Server logs of our clients also participating in VUCD will show this site is one of the leading sources of traffic to their sites from third party link exchange sites.

There are some things that set VUCD apart from other third party link exchange sites.  First, we provide a direct link from VUCD to the selling dealers site.  Your goal with advertising should be to get the shopper out of the World Wide Web and focused on only you.  VUCD wants to get the information in front of them as quickly as possible and get that shopper to the selling dealer’s website as soon as they show an interest in the vehicle.

At VUCD, once a shopper clicks on a listing they get a page detailing that vehicle and providing a link to the dealer’s website.  Only that dealer’s website.  We do not have banner ads at the top of your listings providing links to your competition like you see at other third party link exchange sites.  Banner ads only confuse the car buyer and are unfair to the advertiser.  It is a lose/lose situation and an unfair advantage to those willing to pay a premium.

The last major advantage to VUCD is we only allow VIADA members to advertise on this site.  No non-members, no franchise dealers and no private sellers or curbstoners.  At the same time, the website offers some insight to surfers as to who and what VIADA means and stands for.  If a car buyer understands that our members have all made a commitment to fair trade practices and to our Code of Ethics they will be more comfortable doing business with us.  As more people begin to recognize what our Symbol of Quality or the VIADA logo stands for the higher the value of VIADA membership.  Many in the public will not have their car worked on by anyone other than an ASE certified mechanic.  The same qualifying factor should be true when picking out a car dealer to do business.

Server logs will tell you a lot about not only your website traffic but also the effectiveness of your other forms of advertising.  Another good way to find out how customers are finding you is to ask them.  You should already be asking every customer how he or she found you.  If they answer with, “On the Internet” you should ask them “How on the Internet?”  Did they see your website?  If so, how did they find your website?  These answers will tell you what you have been doing right and what you need to work on.

JTZ Enterprise

540-286-0504

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A lot of exciting things happening online for VIADA members

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

Many exciting things have happened for VIADA members and JTZ Enterprise recently.  First, we encourage all those members (and non-members) that have not recently visited www.VIADA.org to do so right away.  JTZ Enterprise has given this website a completely new look and feel in an effort to make the site easier to read and navigate.  This has been a large task because the site currently has well over 70 pages.  There is something for every car dealer.  The site has two distinct parts, a public area and a Members Only area.  The first area gives dealers all across the commonwealth important information such as what it takes to open or relocate a dealership, how to sign up for the Required Education and what events the association has coming up.  Car buyers can get links to the DMV site, the MVDB site, and other automotive industry related sites such as VirginiaUsedCarDealers.com(VUCD).  The Members Only area gives all VIADA members access to the News and Brief, NIADA’s Legal and Legislative Review and other publications.  More and more dealers are logging on to the site to purchase forms.  Remember, members get additional savings over non-members and in order to get those discounts you will want to log in with your dealership’s zip code and VIADA Member Number.  We ask all dealers to review the site and be sure to get back to the VIADA headquarters with your thoughts and suggestions.

The next exciting new thing to come about pertains to those VIADA members that list their inventory at VUCD.  Carbiz approached the association just before the convention last September asking if there were a way they could help members manage their listings at VUCD.  We worked in conjunction with Carbiz to develop the new part of their software that allows VIADA members using Carbiz as their F&I software provider to manage their online inventory and photos with just one click.  Now, after a dealer has sold the cars and trucks, added the new units, and edited prices and miles of all in stock items they can now upload all of that data, including photos, to VUCD from within the Carbiz software.  This is an effort to make your job easier freeing you up to do what you do best, SELL MORE CARS!  If you are a current customer of VUCD and want to know more about this new program feature, contact Carbiz or JTZ Enterprise today!

Another time saving feature was just completed now that we can now export your inventory data to Trader Online.  Instead of adding, editing and deleting your vehicles at several locations every time you buy or sell a vehicle, all you have to do is update your data at virginiausedcardealers.com We will automatically update your inventory at Trader Online’s site.  Your data and photos are updated with Trader every morning without you having to do anything.  For those that have found it a hassle to manage your listings every other day at Trader Online (or else your inventory goes off line) we have taken all the work out of it for you.

Not only will your inventory listings be going to Trader’s site, they will also be sent to Yahoo!’s automotive search tool.  Yahoo! is one of the largest search engines on the web and this will only mean additional exposure to your inventory from thousands of car buyers every day.  Even if you are not currently a contracted dealer with Trader Online, we can still send your inventory data to them and Yahoo!.   Your vehicle listings will only be a Basic listing which means little or no description, no photos, and no links back to your website.  But if a web surfer wants more information on one of your vehicle listings they will get your dealership’s name and phone number so they can contact you directly.

In order for us to send your data to them JTZ Enterprise needs to have on file a signed authorization giving us permission to do so.  If you would like to have a copy of this authorization or if you have any questions about this new member benefit, please call our office at 540-286-0801.

I would like to end this article by congratulating a few people and welcoming a few others.  First, congratulations goes out to Tina Allman of CarsIncorporated.com for being recognized as this year’s Quality Dealer of the Year.  This recognition is a testament to not only what type of car dealer she is but also what kind of person she is.  Good job, Tina!  Another congratulations goes out to Zackery Owens of Presidential Automotive Group for being elected State president of VIADA.  The challenges that we face as an association and as an industry are many and I cannot think of a better person to have at the helm.  I am sure Mr. Owens will do us all proud.

Finally, I want to welcome all the new faces at VIADA.  Most members are aware the association has had a few changes in the staff.  I would like to welcome Deb Blecha, Andria Hills and Latoya Blazmore.  I know all members will make each of these ladies feel welcome and give the time necessary for them to grow into their rolls in the association.  Good luck ladies!

JTZ Enterprise

540-286-0801

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Is there a shortcut for this?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I have traveled the entire Commonwealth of Virginia selling websites, Internet services and showing off VIADA’s website VAUsedCarDealers.com. I have met car dealers and other business owners that have varying degrees of computer and Internet experience and knowledge.  From time to time I get asked, “How did you do that?” when a client witnesses me perform a shortcut when working in their computer.  I dedicate this article to sharing with all of you some of those shortcuts I find myself explaining from time to time.

It is important to remember that if you graduated from high school before the mid-eighties, then chances are you never had any formal computer education, much less any typing classes.  The only way to learn this kind of stuff is through hands on experience.  So, sit in front of your computer and try some of these short cuts.

The one thing I did not realize is that many do not know what the deal is with the Shift and Caps Lock buttons.  I have seen some people type things in all caps because they think to have one capital letter they need to hit the Caps Lock, then the letter, and then the Caps Lock button again to turn off caps and that is understandably too much work. If, you want to capitalize the letter a in Apple, just hold down the shift button (there is one on either side of the keyboard on the bottom row) while at the same time clicking the A.  Then let go of the shift button and type the rest of the word and you have Apple.

Many times we find ourselves typing the same thing over and over.  For instance, when you enter a car into your F&I software you might type the VIN number.  Then later you are typing the same VIN into your website.  Next time, after typing the VIN in the first spot, hi-light the entire VIN by either dragging your mouse over it or holding down the shift button and clicking the arrow button until the entire VIN is hi-lighted in blue.  Then hold down the Ctrl button (usually in the bottom left corner of your keyboard) and click the C.  This copies all hi-lighted text to a clipboard.  Open the program you need to re-enter the VIN into and place the cursor where the VIN would go.  Now hold down the Ctrl button and type V.  This pastes a copy of what you have on the clipboard to where the mouse is.

A similar shortcut is Ctrl+X.  This is Cut and works the same as Copy except that it deletes the original entry and moves it to the clipboard allowing you to paste it in another location.  This is handy if you are typing a letter for instance and find that you want to move a paragraph to another part of the document.

This works in most programs and allows you to move text and images between programs.  For instance, let’s say that you want to make changes to your website’s Staff Page and you need to get those changes to your webmaster.  Visit your site’s staff page, hi-light all of it or only the part you want to edit by dragging your mouse over it, then copy it with a Ctrl+C.  Next, open your e-mail, address a message to your webmaster, and in the Body section click the Ctrl+V.  Now you have your site’s staff page in an e-mail that you are able to edit and make other changes and notes before you send it to your webmaster.

Sometimes I get clients asking me for a copy of an image or logo on their site that they want to use in another application or advertisement.  If you see any image on the web that you want to have, right click that image.  Now you will get a menu and you should click on Save Image As (Netscape) or Save Picture As (Internet Explorer) and find a folder on your computer to put it in.  This works on most online images but be careful you are not pirating anything you shouldn’t be.  It is best to get permission from those that created or host the image before you use it in other applications.

The next time you are using your computer, regardless of the program you are using, look for other shortcuts available to you.  For instance, open Internet Explorer and click on the Edit link at the top of the program window.  Here you will see other links for Cut, Copy and Paste and to the right of each of those links you will see Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V.  This is telling you that you can either click on Edit and the corresponding link or you can use the shortcut for each function without ever touching your mouse.  Once you get comfortable with the shortcuts, hopefully working in the computer will get a little easier and a lot faster!

JTZ Enterprise

(540) 286-0801

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