7th Annual Digital Dealer Conference Nashville TN 11/02/09

This week I had the opportunity to attend the 7^th Annual Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville http://www.digitaldealerconference.com it was my first time attending.  Prior to my arrival I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.  The domestic automotive industry has recently gone through a very public and painful restructuring.  And on the flight down to Nashville I was made aware of just how painful it really had been by reading Steven Rattner’s riveting first person recap on the take down of GM’s CEO: http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/21/autos/auto_bailout_rattner_excerpt.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2009102109  in the latest edition of Fortune Magazine.

I got off the plane determined to answer two primary questions while in attendance at the conference: 1. what is the current mood and overall perspective of the auto dealers in attendance on the future of the industry. 2. Determine if an industry in crisis is paralyzed its current state of affairs or if it is motivated by the challenges ahead and producing new and exciting technology.

When I entered the Nashville Convention Center there was no loud music or flashy big screen T.V’s welcoming my arrival.  However the space had something much more important, vendors and attendees, lots of them.  I was impressed by the number of people at the event and the presence of big name vendors.  Keep in mind this was a conference focused on the digital aspect s of the automotive space, an area that is still relatively new in a mature industry.  The second thing that caught my eye was the behavior of those in attendance. (I had a limited pass for the conference so I was unable to attend the individual breakout sessions, but they must have provided a spark).  Rather than milling around vendor booths filling up bags of free SWAG, these folks were actually getting business done.  Tables were full of people, one-on-one sales pitches, contracts, and handshakes.  I quickly determined that the dealers here were in search of solutions.  I was optimistic about the vibe and buzz in the room.

After surveying the general mood of the attendees it was time to discover what the vendors had to offer.  I had been told (although unconfirmed) that the sponsor vendors had shelled out $50K to participate.  There were many vendors to choose from: CRM providers, lead generators, and website providers. However two vendors in particular that struck me as fresh and inventive.  The first was ClickMotive http://www.clickmotive.com  based out of Plano, Texas.  These guys combine savvy web design with Search Engine Optimization.  They were pushing the envelope with mobile based solutions and clearly understand the growing value of optimizing dealer sites for the mobile search space.  I believe ClickMotive provides valuable solutions for dealers that understand the importance of top search engine page rank.

The second vendor, and in my opinion the finest at the show, was Response Logix http://www.responselogix.com/index.aspx based out of Sunnyvale, California. What struck me about this vendor was the number of dealers lined up at the booth to learn more about the product.  It was obvious that this young start-up was on to something.  Apparently I’m not the only one that sees potential; Response Logix just secured a second round of funding for 5.6M http://deals.venturebeat.com/2009/10/27/response-logix-captures-5-6m-for-car-dealer-lead-gen . Response Logix was a perfect fit for the digital dealer conference offering a software solution that delivers customized quotes to internet leads in less than 10 minutes.  The software integrates into the dealer’s CRM and reads real time new and used inventory for accurate quotes.  The secret in the Response Logix sauce is the “Smart Follow” technology that sends an automatic email to potential internet buyers after 72-hours of noncontact. Auto Dealers that are looking to maximize internet leads have just found the silver bullet.

The Digital Dealer Conference was an eye opening experience for me.  I entered skeptical about the industry and its ability to move forward in such challenging times. I left impressed by how its key players are embracing new technologies. For additional insight on the conference please follow this link: http://www.dealerrefresh.com/digital-dealer-7-nashville-review/

Please visit our website: www.searchengineconsultants.biz

Step 7: Why should you care about Universal Search?

As a search marketing firm, it is our job to understand how search engines are constantly evoloving and how the search industry is changing.  My concern is that these important changes in the world of search are not being communicated clearly to the small and mid-sized business owner in a language they can understand.  This blog post will highlight an important change that is happening right now in the world of search.  And explain why it could have a big impact on your business’ search engine marketing strategy.

Understanding Universal Search:

The standard 10 blue links that you see on a Google search result page are going the way of the dinosaur.  Universal, or blended search, will replace the 10 blue links and open the door to more variety on the search results page. Images, maps, and video are just some of the new items sprinkled into the search results pages.  As the public’s comfort level and usage with search engines has increased, so has their trust that the engine will return exactly the information they are seeking.  As a result, search queries become more advanced and grow in length and detail. The engines are tracking this progression of user behavior and are now presenting new content types (such as video) to satisfy the searcher’s query.  This is important to the small buisness owner becuase if your website content becomes outdated or remains 100% text based, you run the risk of being out-ranked by a competitor in the search engine results pages. 

For example, assume you own a hardware store and someone conducts a search online for “how to patch drywall.”  Let’s also assume that your website has a page titled, “how to patch dry wall.”  Putting aside some other important factors for the moment, it’s safe to say your page would rank high for that particular search.  What if you knew that in a year’s time that people would be searching for that same information, only this time they would be searching, “video on how to patch dry wall?”  What if your website remained the same in that year’s time?  Worse even still, what if another website was launched and posted a video on their site that showed people how to patch dry wall holes?  Do you still think the search engine and the user would select your static website first?  Most likely the answer is no.  It is important to understand how search engines are treating different online content types.  Make sure your website offers content in various formats. 

Contact www.searchengineconsultants.biz to learn more about optimizing your website’s content so search engines recognize your site as a leader in your field. 

Please follow this link to learn more about universal search:    http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/21726.asp

Please follow this link to learn more about online video viewership: http://www.podcastingnews.com/2009/06/05/online-video-viewing-reaches-peak-april/

Organic Search Results

Organic Search results, or natural search results, is the technique used by search engines to find the most relevant matches for a searcher’s query in all the pages indexed on the web. Ranking high in the organic search results is not achieved through a bidding process, like paid search.  Getting a high ranking in the organic search results will generally require a more significant investment of time and resources than paid placement. The ranking factors that determine the placement of the organic results are controlled by the search engines; this is commonly referred to as the ranking algorithm. The search engine’s main function is to match relevant websites to a searcher’s query. So just what factors go into a search engines decision to list your website above your competition or vise versa? At this point you don’t really need to dig into all the science behind the search, just know that there are 2 main factors search engines use to rank pages: query factors and page factors.

First off the algorithm is a complicated, evolving process. Secondly, how it works it is a closely guarded secret by the search engines themselves. And to make matters even more complicated, not all search engines use the same algorithm to rank search results. I bet you’re thinking, “Okay so how do I achieve a higher ranking in the organic search results pages on the major search engines?” The short and simple answer is that you need to write well-organized content using well-researched keywords or keyword phrases. If this sounds time consuming and complicated, you’re right; but that’s where Search Engine Consultants come in. Please visit this link to learn more:http://www.searchengineconsultants.biz/learnmore.html

Search Engine Consultants will evaluate your website’s current organic ranking on major search engines, report the findings, and then go to work to improve those rankings. We will look at your pages and recommend structural changes. We will run a content evaluation and make recommendations based on keyword research. We will then recommend strategically placed key words and key word phrases on your site that search engines value when ranking pages. To learn more about pricing for organic search please visit this link: http://www.searchengineconsultants.biz/seo_pricing.html