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| Advertising on the internet is an absolute must for car dealers. Pay per click, banner advertising, sponsored links, and pay per thousand are some of the most useful and cost-effective forms of advertising in any form of media. |
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| A well run internet advertising campaign can yield a better ROI than any advertising campaign out there. Unlike television, radio, direct mail, and billboard ads, properly spent advertising dollars used on the internet will target people who are actively searching for a vehicle. Classified and display ads in newspapers do the same, but in the 21st century, they simply do not have the yield and exposure that online advertising can offer. |
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| Automotive SEO isn’t always enough. Some people click only on natural, organic listings, while others click on the sponsored results. |
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| There are dozens of web providers and online advertising agencies who charge for their professional services in managing online campaigns. When choosing a company to manage your campaigns, there are several things to consider: |
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Do they charge a flat fee or a percentage of spend? Logically, a company that charges a percentage is motivated to have their clients spend more money. The more paid clicks they can get, the more money they will make. In search engine marketing, all clicks are not created equal. Find a company that charges a flat fee who will be more motivated to drive qualified, interested consumers to your site. |
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Do they track the clicks and adjust as needed to determine the best keywords and websites to target? A car dealer does not want to pay for someone clicking from a search for “cheating car dealers in Oklahoma City”. Surprisingly, there are companies that have their dealerships paying for these clicks. |
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Is the fee proportionate to the campaign size? A company that charges $599 monthly to manage a $1500 campaign is a waste of money. Conversely, anyone charging $150 for a $10,000 campaign is most likely not qualified to handle the load. |
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Setup fees – again, this should be proportionate. Even a simple $1000 PPC campaign requires some research and time to setup. A good one-time setup fee should be between $200-$500 for a basic campaign and no more than $1000 for large campaigns. Any more is simply excessive. |
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Is there a contract? Month to month is preferred, but 3-6 month contracts are not unreasonable. Signing on for a year or more leaves no room for motivating the provider to keep a close eye on the campaign. Unlike web design, SEM is a constantly changing animal that needs to be tweaked and managed. |
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| Many Internet Managers at car dealerships control their own online marketing directly. This is not necessarily a bad idea, especially for smaller campaigns. Still, a qualified company who meets all of the above criteria is normally better equipped to handle a good campaign. Car dealer website marketing is imperative to the success of a dealer website. |
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| The money saved by managing the campaign “in-house” is not always truly money saved. Time is money. Setting up, monitoring, and adjusting campaigns on the fly are required to make a campaign reach its peak effectiveness. |
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| There are many other factors to take into consideration before an Internet Manager should embark on in-house online marketing. Placement is extremely important in a good PPC campaign. Some keywords beg to have the number one position purchased. Others are more effective for the dealership to be in a lower position. |
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| What “negative words” should be excluded? When advertising on automotive websites, which ones convert clicks into leads and which ones just convert money into waste? Click fraud is an issue that costs advertisers money with no return. How can click fraud be detected? |
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| Hiring a professional company to run online marketing costs money. In most situations, not hiring a professional company to run online marketing costs more money. |
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| Email J.D. Rucker with questions at jrucker@tkcarsites.com. |
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