Automotive Internet Media

Tony

4 Things to Know When Developing a Website

by

 

1. Purpose

When creating a website, the most important thing that must be distinguished from day one is the purpose behind creating the website. For example, if the website is for displaying car inventory, then the website should be designed with that in mind. If the website is being created to serve as a blog, then the website should be built differently than a car inventory website would, such as the type of platforms or how the navigation is laid out.

2. Navigation

Every website should be using the three click method. The three click method means that a user should be able to get to any page on the website in three clicks or less. Also, the website should flow all together so when the user is clicking through the site they don’t get lost and leave the website.

3. Usability

Usability is important because if a customer is on your site and wants to get more information about a specific vehicle, the idea would be to have a quick and easy way to find the contact form. With a contact form that is easily found on the website, the dealer will be able to get the information that they need and you won’t lose a potential sale because the customer couldn’t find the form.

4. Responsiveness

In today’s world, customers use many different ways to access the internet, with the most common being computers, phones, and tablets. Because of this, every website has to have the ability to be viewed on different screen sizes without being dis-proportioned.  In order to get the message across on all platforms, a website must be responsive. What this means is that the website knows what type of screen is being used and what design should be used on a certain display.
At AIM, we are knowledgeable on the process of creating great, functional websites for any industry’s needs.  Give us a call today to see how we can transform your website and increase your traffic as a result.

Written by: Kyle Paetschow, Front End Engineer

SEO for Beginners: Understanding the Jargon

by

Whether you are a new restaurant, photographer, or a car dealership, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be the helping hand that you have been searching for (pun intended). However, it can be hard for someone to understand exactly how much of an impact SEO can have in driving traffic to your website if you don’t understand the basic jargon first. Here is roundup of the top ten most common terms used when talking SEO. But first things first, what the heck is SEO?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the strategic method of increasing visibility and traffic in a non-paid manner to your website to help you climb the search engine ranks. This can be done through a variety of methods. The most common of methods include on-site SEO, which includes various techniques that can be implemented directly on your physical website, as well as off-site SEO which focuses primarily on techniques that take place in locations online other than your actual website.

1. Keywords

Keywords are critical when it comes to SEO. A solid round of keyword research should never be overlooked, as keywords are the foundation for a majority of SEO strategies. What exactly are keywords? Keywords are the words that you want your company to rank for in search engines, as well as the ones you want to optimize your website for. To determine these terms, tools such as SEM Rush or Google AdWords Keyword Planner are there to help.

2. Title Tags

Title tags help search engines define what the pages on your website are about. The titles are the ones that appear on search engine result pages, and are also the ones that can be seen in the tabs in your website browser, as can be seen in the examples below. It is important for each page on a website to have a unique title tag so when search engines crawl the website they can differentiate the purpose of one page from another.

Ex.1 Title Tag in Search Resultstitle tag search result

Ex. 2 Title Tag in Web Browser Tab
title tag web browser

3. Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions can be seen as the overall summary of a page on a website. Meta descriptions are the ones that show up under the title tags on search engine result pages, as highlighted in the example below. Meta descriptions should be added to every page, and should be optimized with your focus keywords.
meta description

4. Alt Text

Alt text is text that can be added to images on your website through the backend or content management platform. Alt text helps search engines determine what the pictures on your website are about, and will also help images on your website populate in image search results. If you do not have alt text on your images it may not hurt you, but it certainly isn’t helping you from an SEO standpoint. The most common way to tell if an image has alt text is by hovering over it, as it can be seen below.

Ex.3 Hovering over an Image to see Alt Text
alt text

5. H1, H2, H3 Tags

The use of H1, H2 and H3 tags/headings are important because it helps search engines crawl your webpages in order of importance. The use of h1, h2 and h3 tags make for the pages to be more visibly appealing, as well as more readable for your website visitors. You can utilize these tags on your webpages, blogs or any other content pages on your website. The h1 tag is the most important tag, generally a title. H2 tags would be the second most important, next to the title, and an H3 tag would be something such as subheadings under the H2 tags.
Take this blog post for example, the title “SEO for Beginners: Understanding the Jargon” is the H1 heading. The H2 headings would be “1. Keywords” “2. Title Tags” “3. Meta Description,” etc.

6. Anchor Text

Anchor text is the text that is hyperlinked on a webpage, so that when clicked on it brings you to a different website, or another internal related page. The anchor text should be relevant to the page it is directing you to. Generally, the anchor text is a keyword or is some form of the brand name.
Let’s take the link below for example; the anchor text would be “CarClicks”, which is the keyword that is linked. When you click on this keyword it will bring you to a landing page that will provide you with more information on CarClicks.

Ex. 4 Anchor Text
CarClicks

7. Google Analytics

As described by SearchBusiness Analytics, “Google Analytics is a free Web analytics service that provides statistics and basic analytical tools for search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing purposes.” It is a platform that allows you to see SEO data and analyze it. Some of the things it will allow you to see include: keywords and terms visitors are searching that bring them to your site, how many times your website URL appeared in search result pages, number of clicks, top locations that are driving traffic to your website and much more.

8. Organic Traffic

Organic traffic is non-paid “free” traffic, meaning that the people who visited your website did not arrive there due to paid advertising. Most sites that receive a high amount of organic (natural) traffic are very well optimized for the keywords that they want to rank for by utilizing them in their title tags, meta descriptions, H1 tags, alt tags etc. These sites also have a quality backlink profile. Companies that utilize these practices put themselves in the best position to be seen in search engine results organically.

9. Paid Traffic

Paid traffic is the opposite of organic traffic, as it is traffic that you have to pay for. Examples of this include Pay-Per-Click, Retargeting and Display Ads. For example, as seen in the picture below, when you search for the keyword phrase, ‘Chicago car detailer’ at the very top of the search results page you will see a paid ad. The paid ad in this example is coming from Groupon. You can tell that it is a paid ad as it says “Ad” in a yellow box right next to the URL. For people who search that term, and click on that Groupon link, Groupon will be charged a certain amount of money for that link, which is the paid traffic.

Ex.5 Paid Traffic in Google
paid traffic

10. Backlinks

Backlinks are links on other websites that drive visitors back to your own site. The most common of backlinks can be found in news articles, company reviews, news releases, business profiles etc. Basically, when someone links to your website from another site other than your own, that is called a backlink.
The amount of SEO jargon that is out there is endless, but hopefully this article was able to help simplify some of the main terms used in SEO. To learn more about Search Engine Optimization and how it can help your business contact Automotive Internet Media today!
 
Author Bio:
Kayla Pernai is the Digital Marketing Manager at Automotive Internet Media (AIM), the leading automotive internet marketing agency providing website, SEO, social and many other services.

The dos and don’ts of creating effective website banners

by

With deals changing every few weeks in the automotive world, you have keep your website banners updated by displaying  your offers clearly while using the best graphics. If not, the viewer may be less likely to stay on your website or give you their business. People nowadays start their car search online before anything else, so it’s important to keep all your deals updated.
Be timely.
Although some dealers may not get their monthly deals from the OEM until a few days into each month, it’s important to make sure your dealership is removing deals off your site when they expire. If they aren’t taken down in a timely fashion, customers may get confused if you can’t offer them the same deal they’ve seen on your website. We suggest you let your internet provider (or whoever is in charge of maintaining your site) know when to take down the expired banner deals. It’s also a great idea to have a few generic banners on the site just so there’s something live in between switching out current deals.
Be clear.
The deals should not only be current, but they should be clear and prominent. If you add too much text or distracting items to the banners, then they may get overlooked. Customers are less likely to stay on your website if they don’t easily see or understand what your dealership currently has to offer. Each banner also needs a clear call to action button prompting the shopper to look at your current online inventory.
Be bold.
A banner also needs to have the best graphics variable. If a car is pixilated or a picture is incorrect, you could be pushing a customer away from your dealership and towards your competition. The vibrant colored cars usually look best on banners and they also help draw attention to them.
If you make sure to follow all these simple website banner guidelines, your website will not only flow better, but it will look better. The more appealing your site looks, the more clients you will draw in. At AIM, we make sure to achieve all these points when helping you update your website banners. Give us a call to learn more.

Why Increasing Your Social Media Activity Matters

by

Social Media is no longer just a suggested trend in the world of Automotive – it’s expected! From deciding where to get their vehicles serviced to shopping around for a new car, customers are turning to social now more than ever to make a highly researched and informed decision. So to help you out, AIM put together some of the best social tips and tricks that we used here in 2015.
1. Facebook Services
First, we’ll let you in on a HUGE secret. It’s no mystery that Facebook holds significant clout when it comes to Social Media. With 1.1 billion ACTIVE users alone, it’s a great tool to not only advertise to your customers, but to keep in touch and join the conversation. However, starting just last month, Facebook quietly began testing a site to rival Yelp, facebook.com/services. It takes the highest rated local businesses with Facebook reviews and ratings, and compiles them into one easy to use interface. But how do we know that it’s going to be big? Just look at the numbers. Yelp stock has already dropped 9% since the quiet Facebook Services release. It’s now more important than ever to make sure your Facebook business page is updated, relevant, and monitored daily to respond to requests, tend to negative reviews, and to continue to build your audience and customer base.
2. The more unique the better
You don’t want your profiles to seem like they’re ran by robots, and be sure to avoid all spam and automated services! Instead, get photos, videos, and customer involvement whenever possible. Staff member have a birthday? Be sure to share it! Somebody bring a pet into the office? Share that too! Will you be part of or sponsoring any local events? Be sure everybody knows! We’ve also seen dealers take great photos of customers with their new vehicles, and have great success encouraging them share the photo with their family and friends, and tag themselves. It’s quick and easy free promotion for your business – what more could you ask for?
3. Everybody loves contests and coupons
Your customers love saving money, and participating in competitions! Use your social media channels to offer special coupons on parts and services, or use a coupon as a prize in a contest surrounding auto trivia, dealership trivia, photo contests on Instagram, or any other contest you can think of!
Like these tips but don’t know where to start? Or maybe you don’t have time in your day to keep up or even think about starting? That’s where we come in. Let AIM take care of it all for you. We’ll do the work, you take the credit and get all the sales. Join our list of happy full-service clients, and contact us today!

How to Take Control of Your Online Presence

by

When you search for your company or brand online, what pops up? Chances are, your social accounts and reviews show up first. What are people saying about you and how can you change this? Well, here’s the bad news: it’s harder and more time consuming than just a click of a mouse, but the good news is that there are steps you can take over time to improve your digital presence. Here are some tips.
1. Have a plan
Before you take a step to better your digital presence, it’s important to first have an action plan. What is the message you are trying to convey? What is your company’s mission? How are you different from your competition? What makes you better? These are all good questions to ask yourself before you begin any advertising or content creation. Otherwise, your brand could be confusing to customers and will eventually get lost in a sea of competitors.
2. Content creation
There are many different forms of content that should be used online, such as blog articles packed with links and keywords, social media posts that engage your followers, online advertising that leads the right kind of customers to your inventory or brand, and website content that ranks organically.
Blog articles should have completely original content so your site is not penalized for plagiarism or duplicate content. The articles should also include relevant keywords in order to rank organically in Google for those keywords. If images are included, make sure they have alt text associated with them so bots can scan the image and know what it is (since they cannot read images).
Social media posts should be personal, timely, and engaging. Be sure to respond to all customer comments, even negative, as this presents you in a personable light instead of as a large company with no face. Facebook advertising is also beneficial if you would like to target a specific audience with your advertisement for a very reasonable CPC.
If your online advertisements are not eye-catching and unique, they’ll be lost in the clutter. If they are search ads, they should have the proper text for a small space that will effectively attract a customer. If they are display or retargeting ads, they should stand out from the webpage and entice the customer to click the link. Focus on being creative but not going too over-the-top graphically. Oh, and don’t forget to triple check the text for spelling mistakes!
The content on your website is just as important, if more important than everything we discussed above. Your website needs to convey to Google what you do and where you do it clearly so your site will rank organically. Outdated content with mistakes and a disorganized order will harm you in the long run.
3. Packaging your message
Communicating the right message is essential across all channels so your customers know what to expect, what your mission is, and are able to decide if they would like to do business with you. With a plethora of options for customers to go to, you need to make sure you are definitely different from your peers, whether that be through pricing, customer service, or the overall customer experience at your store. In addition, be sure this message is consistent across all of your marketing channels and that your staff is educated and able to deliver this message to customers.

All of this may seem like it would take a couple of full-time employees to handle. No need to worry, though. AIM has you covered. Give us a call today to see how we can help you improve your digital presence better than you thought possible – you won’t have to worry about a thing.

The importance of video on your website

by

Text is the primary form of communication on the internet. Website visitors love to digest small, concise amounts of 140 character information (tweets). But there are times when you can’t sum up a complex idea into that small of a space. That is where video comes in. Video keeps a user’s attention in order to feed them with the lengthy amount of info that they might not have read otherwise.
Video can also add some dynamics to your website. Without visual stimulation, a website can end up looking like a big, intimidating block of text. Just like images, video can break up your site so the text can be laid out in those small digestible chunks. Video can also provide extra content, giving an interested viewer more of a reason to stay on your website. Adding content to your site gives the viewer something to explore and gives your brand personality. Videos and images can paint a picture of what you and your brand are all about. Video gives you a great opportunity to let a potential consumer get to know who you are as a company, what your mission statement might be, or the values that your organization holds true.
The mix of spoken word, testimonials, and visual imagery can provide a unique and honest look into what your company stands for and how you operate. It can humanize your organization by seeing real people talk about your company and its philosophy. You don’t want your company to be another faceless enterprise whose goals and true motives are unclear; you want your company to feel like a friend or a neighbor – a person you trust and respect. Video can help create that image for you by doing something as simple as seeing a representative or a satisfied client talk about the experience with your company.
With the amount of options for entertainment there are on the internet, you have to do all you can to keep the viewer interested. Having a few different kinds of media on your page is a simple and an effective way to get people to your site and keep them there longer, while potentially generating more sales and more business in the process.

Three Reasons Why You Need CarClicks

by

  1. You need to sell more cars, trucks, and SUV’s– This is the goal for every dealership and CarClicks can help by driving in-market auto shoppers directly to the vehicle display pages of your dealership website, for LESS than our competition!
  2. You need to get more from your advertising dollars – You’re spending a lot of money on advertising and not getting enough traffic. CarClicks is cost effective – at only $2.25 a customer, you can spend less money and generate more quality traffic. You pay for performance, not placement.
  3. You need flexibility with your advertising – You don’t want to be locked down with long-term contracts and expensive budgets. CarClicks offers month to month contracts and you set the monthly budget, giving you the flexibility to spend more or less depending on what your advertising needs are.

What are you waiting for? Call us now (630-847-4100) for a 15 minute online demo!

AIM’s New CarClicks Marketing Program has Strong Launch

by

Chicago IL, September 30, 2012 – Automotive Internet Media’s new CarClicks advertising program exceeds all company expectations in first month.
AIM’s CarClicks program drives auto consumers shopping on independent automotive sites directly to the dealership’s website. Dealership inventory is displayed with priority placement on a network of automotive shopping sites. When auto shoppers click on the dealership’s listing, they are taken directly to the vehicle detail page on the dealership’s website.
“We’ve had an incredible start with the launch of our CarClicks program,” said Tony French, President of Automotive Internet Media. “We had some very good operating dealerships and dealer groups sign up for the new program.”
The program is also gaining popularity with online publishers. The company is in various stages of adding many new automotive shopping websites.
CarClicks is a new way for dealers to get more exposure to their inventory but is leveraging a network of sites that have been providing leads to dealerships for years. Fewer and fewer consumers want to put in their personal information into a 3rd party lead form and feel more comfortable dealing directly with the dealership that has the vehicle they are interested in. CarClicks provides an effective way for dealers to leverage their website that they invest thousands of dollars optimizing with chat features, tracking numbers, lead forms and other tools to help increase conversion.
“Our program is resonating with dealers for three reasons,” French continued. “First, you can track the results in Google analytics and see the traffic that’s being driven to your website. Second, it’s affordable and you can set whatever budget you’d like. The daily spend is entirely up to the dealer. And finally, it’s a month to month agreement and the dealer can either cancel or pause the program whenever they’d like.”
The program works best for stores that understand how to leverage the power of the internet to sell vehicles. Dealerships that use market-pricing and take great photos are getting the best results and more clicks.
Automotive Internet Media is working with a handful of top 20 dealer groups and in discussions with many others. The advertising program has gained quick exposure from many other larger dealerships across the country looking for ways to enhance their online traffic to sell more vehicles.
“Dealers are looking for ways to drive quality traffic to their inventory and website,” said French. And, the best part about CarClicks is it’s a pay for performance program, dealers only get charged when we drive a consumer that is interested in their vehicle to their website.”
About Automotive Internet Media, Inc.
Automotive Internet Media, Inc. (AIM) headquartered in Chicago, Illinois is a premier full service internet marketing and online advertising agency that focuses exclusively on the automotive industry.
AIM provides a wide array of digital marketing products and services such as search engine optimization (SE0), social media services, search engine marketing (PPC), vehicle video services, lead generation, email marketing and dealership consulting.
AIM encompasses an integrated network of highly specialized automotive consumer websites that drives online traffic and connects digital advertising with their clients’ brand objectives.
With a solid foundation for growth, AIM is simultaneously building its current brands while continuing to grow through launching and managing other products and providing digital marketing services to automotive dealerships.
For additional information please contact Tony French at tony@automotiveinternetmedia.com or visit www.automotiveinternetmedia.com