Automotive Internet Media

Pay Per Click

3 Reasons Why Classified Sites Still Matter

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3 Reasons Why Classified Sites Still Matter

If I want to check airline ticket prices for a trip I usually start my search on Expedia. I compare flights and prices then go to the airline site and buy the ticket direct. If I’m shopping for some obscure product I usually start at Amazon. Sometimes I buy the product from Amazon. Other times I just use Amazon as a search tool and buy direct from the company’s website.
Multiple studies and stock prices indicate that I’m not alone.
The same is true for car shopping. Today’s sales funnel has arguably evolved over the years but one thing is constant. When the typical auto shopper gets low in the funnel and ready to buy, they shop automotive classified sites.
Automotive classified sites provide consumers a place to shop and compare thousands of vehicles, models, equipment and price. It’s just easier for the consumer.
Many car dealers and their team members believe Autotrader.com and Cars.com are the only sites consumers shop. Sure these two sites have built good brands in the automotive industry but they are by far not the only sites consumers shop. Actually, because of Google’s constant algorithm changes, other sites are becoming increasingly important and relevant.
Advertising only on Autotrader.com or Cars.com is like only advertising on ABC or NBC and ignoring the other 500 plus television channels. The other channels have solid audiences as well. Same with many other automotive classified sites.
Actually, there are a number of automotive classified sites that perform great.
Here are three key reasons that classified sites should be a part of every dealer’s online marketing efforts:
1. Be Everywhere
Inventory distribution to multiple automotive shopping sites allows your vehicles to be promoted to millions of more auto shoppers. Limiting your exposure to only a couple classified sites reduces the chances of a shopper finding the exact vehicle you have on your lot that meets their needs. As long as the site is sending your traffic and/or leads that are interested in your inventory there is no downside, all upside. Only more exposure.
2. Affordable
OK, I understand the escalating costs of a couple of the more well-known classified sites. However, that shouldn’t stop you from having a dedicated budget for classified advertising. It’s important to just manage your budget wisely. After getting your inventory listed in a category that actually gets it viewed, do you need to spend more? In most cases I don’t believe you do. The law of diminishing returns kicks in when you devote too much budget to one site. Spread the love. Get more sites working for you. CarClicks inventory marketing program distributes your inventory to many automotive sites and only charges you when a customer is interested in your car. You only get charged when a client is sent to your vehicle detail page on your website. This gets your inventory
3. Inventory Turn
Increasing inventory turn is just a fancy way of saying more sales. Three pillars of increasing sales are having the right inventory, at the right price, with the right exposure. Automotive classified sites provide dealers the ability to promote their inventory to millions of monthly online shoppers. The average vehicle is in stock for 53 days and gets looked at online less than 20 times but if you can get your inventory viewed online between 20 to 30 times it will turn 29% faster. And, if you can get your inventory viewed over 30 times it will turn 44% faster. Getting more visibility on your inventory is the single most important factor in making a sale.
Now for the pitch. CarClicks marketing program will pull your inventory from your website daily and promote your vehicles to a network of automotive sites that get over 20 million monthly auto shoppers. Dealerships are only charged when we link a shopper from an automotive classified site directly to your website.
I encourage dealerships to determine if their advertising budget is being leveraged properly to get the most exposure without spending more budget.

AIM One-Stop Shop

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A Look Under the Hood
We are better than your average digital marketing company.  We know how to market your dealership with some of the best, fresh digital content and social presence while keeping your overall goals in mind: more traffic, engaged users and increased sales.
The Best Mix of Marketing Services
Full Service:  Let us take the driver’s seat and drive more traffic to your dealership.  Our full service option lets us help you achieve your over-arching goals using some of the best digital marketing practices including, original website content, social media, SEO, display and retargeting ads, pay per click advertising and more!
Conquest Email Marketing:  You might want to make a U-turn if your dealership isn’t currently utilizing email marketing.  But AIM’s email marketing is not something you’ll find using standard email marketing services.  Our Supercharged email marketing services offer data to dominate your market and increase sales.
Email Newsletters: Living in a digital age, it is important to make sure you are in your customer’s eyes consistently.  AIM’s email marketing allows you to send all your specials and information without having to do the work—we take care of it all!  You’ll expect to have a quick turnaround, a flexible design and high ROI.
Pay Per Click (PPC): Paid search advertising is a great way to drive more traffic to your dealership.  This service allows customers to find your inventory and dealership.  Market your dealership and inventory with AIM’s PPC services.
Retargeting: Leverage your traffic coming to your website and capture those visitors who have expressed an interest in your inventory but didn’t make it to check out.  The consumer will then receive online ads for your dealership with our placement of code.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is an investment and it’s an investment a dealership should highly consider.  It will increase your customer base, your sales, your dealership’s reviews and your visibility on the web.
Social Media: Today it is important and a necessity to have a social presence.  Join the conversation with your customers!  We’re ready to do the work for you by managing your social presence while you sell and service cars.
Video Production:  Expand your brand today with video.  Use video to promote your vehicles, sales and services with YouTube pre-roll.  Let us turn your vision into a reality while we represent you and your dealership.
Web Design: Let us set your business apart from others in the automotive market with a customized, responsive website.  To top it off, we offer a one-stop dealership website experience with a dual language site.  With the click of one button your English site can switch to Spanish.

Diving into Google’s New Ad Layout on Desktop Search Results

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You may (or may not) have noticed Google’s new update to desktop search results. When searching on Google recently – since February 19th to be exact – the Google ads on the right side have disappeared from desktop view.
Instead of three ads being shown at the top of the Google search with a few on the right side as well, there are now four ads being displayed at the top. Three more text ads will also show at the bottom of the search results pages (SERPs), removing about 30% of previously available ad space.
Google search
So, does these mean that CPCs will be increasing dramatically? Maybe, but we’ll need more time to evaluate. Of course, the top four ads will sell for a lot more than the bottom three, but that is to be expected. With less real estate available, demand will likely increase while supply has decreased, leading to an increase in selling/bidding price. However, one could also argue the fact that there are more “top” spots now than there were before, which could potentially lower the cost per clicks.
As a search marketing provider, we will continue to monitor this change’s effect on the CPC and average position of our clients’ ads, but as of now, little impact has been shown – although it’s early.
There is also another factor to consider: Organic traffic. Since there are now four top ads instead of three, the top organic search result will be pushed lower down the page (if there are four or more companies bidding on ads for that term).
What does this mean for you? Well, say you are winning a popular search term organically but not with paid (PPC) for your website. There are now four paid spots that may grab someone’s attention before they can even make it down the page to your organic listing.
Therefore, in a highly competitive market like auto sales, it may be time to consider purchasing your name if you are not already winning it, or to adjust your campaign structure to be a little more aggressive where needed. Organic rankings may become less important as time goes on, so we’ll have to keep an eye out!
For more information on pay per click search marketing and how it works, give AIM a call today!

Breaking Down the Difference: CarClicks vs. Traditional Pay Per Click Marketing

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You may be wondering if you have a CarClicks account, do you really need a pay per click presence, or vice versa? Or, do you even need either of these advertising mediums?
We recommend having both, and not because CarClicks is our product! The benefits will outweigh the costs, and you will sell more cars. It’s that simple. We’ll break down the two strategies so it’s easier to understand the differences, as it can get kind of confusing when you start hearing acronyms like PPC, CPC, SRP, and VDP. We’re confident you’ll see why each of these services will be worth it in the end.
How CarClicks Works
CarClicks is another version of a pay per click campaign where your ads are not listed on Google, but instead on various auto shopping websites for in-market customers. For example, you may have a used 2014 Ford Focus on your lot that you are looking to sell. Because CarClicks updates their database every day, they saw you have that Focus in your inventory, so they will automatically list the car on dozens of automotive websites where customers can shop for 2014 Ford Focus’ in their area.
carclicks
There are several benefits to this mode of advertising. First, you are not charged anything until a customer clicks on your car, so you know that whoever clicks is interested in that specific car on your lot. Second, when a customer clicks on your car, they will then be redirected to your website – specifically the vehicle display page, rather than staying on that third party site. The customer can then check out the car itself and browse any other cars on your site, fill out a contact form, etc.
Unlike Google’s pay per click campaigns, CarClicks ads are actual vehicle detail page listings, not just keywords that would link to either your website home page or search results page. The customer is taken directly to that exact vehicle, avoiding confusion and increasing the likelihood of them scheduling a test drive.
How Pay Per Click Marketing Works
Unlike CarClicks being linked directly to your VDPs, pay per click (PPC) ads are typically linked to corresponding search results pages or homepage of your website, depending on the ad. These ads are also not displayed on popular vehicle shopping sites, but are displayed right on the Google search page when you search a specific term, such as “2016 Chrysler 200” or “New 2016 Truck”.
pay per click
The PPC process uses a bidding system to determine which ad will show up for which keyword on Google, ranking in position – with 1 being the very first spot and also the most expensive per click. Recently, Google has gone away with side bar ads and is only filling ad spots for 1 through 7, so demand for ad space is at all all-time high.
Although Google PPC ads are similar in the sense that they are billed at a cost per click (CPC), they aren’t very similar in many other ways. These ads will show up based on the relevance, location, time of the day that a user searches for the keyword, budget, etc. An ad is not likely to show up in every search unless there are unlimited finds, of course. The more competitive a keyword, the more money it will cost an advertiser.  There is no fixed CPC here, and it’s a balancing act with trying to juggle funds and maintaining a good position in a Google search so that users will see the ad and click on it.
So, What’s the Verdict?
Pay per click search marketing can be time consuming, tricky, and tedious, so companies often outsource this service to experts like AIM. If your ads are not placed properly, relevant, or targeted in the correct way, you could be wasting thousands of dollars!
Customers are shopping online now more than ever before, so being absent from search marketing is a big no-no. We’re willing to bet that your competitors are paying for pay per click ads that are relevant to you, so don’t let them take your customers from you! Give us a call us today and let’s get started on your PPC strategy.
Additionally, if you are looking to drive customers straight to your vehicle display pages (and who isn’t?), schedule your 15-minute demo now! More views on your VDPs means more cars sold. Don’t lose out on a deal you could easily win.