Internet Marketing Agency

Every year American Dealers get together at the NADA (National Automobile Dealers Association) Convention and Expo. Interestingly representatives from several hundred UK dealers attend the show every year for a variety of reasons: workshops, exhibitor stands, meetings with manufacturers etc. NADA 2008 was staged in San Francisco from February 9-12.

The main purpose of my visit was to catch up with what American dealers are doing online. Last year's obsessions were search engine optimisation (SEO) and AdWords. I was eager to find out what this year's might be.

Probably the most interesting addition to car websites was new car videos to support new car pages. You can easily download, from a variety of sources (You Tube, Google), high quality car videos and insert these into your site. They look great and are free!

Similarly new car configurators, new car reviews and consumer testimonials are being added to websites in a bid to convince potential car buyers that they are making the right decision to buy from you.

Finally take a look at http://www.dealerrater.com/, a portal website where consumers rate their dealers! In one workshop I attended the speaker informed us that 30% of car buyers who visited this site changed dealers after reading their reviews. I wonder when a similar site will be launched in the UK!

For those of you interested in going to NADA in 2009 check out http://www.nada.org/; the event will be held in New Orleans. Can I suggest you book through Brian Hawkins at Baker Tilly - they do a great job organising the trip! Brian can be contacted on 07806 569772.

Labels: Exhibitions, Internet Marketing, Manufacturers, SEO

The new Jaguar XF has recently been launched and will soon be on sale. Bluesky Interactive are based close to Jaguar's HQ at Gaydon in Warwickshire, and I was lucky enough to have an exclusive ride in the new model before it is available to the public.

With a selection of versions lined up in the crisp winter sunshine at the Heritage Motor Centre, first impressions are of a car that is much better looking in the flesh than it might appear on the pages of a magazine. Some journalists have complained about some of the detailing, but overall it has a definite presence, and it's not in any way retro like its predecessor the S-TYPE.

The subtle references to previous models within the design, such as the bonnet bulge and the sweep of the side glass, make it recognisably a Jaguar, something that should help it stand out among the ranks of BMWs and Mercedes in the company car park.

I didn't get to drive the car, but as it was a diesel and not the range-topping supercharged V8 I wasn't terribly disappointed. Even so, the diesel is refined and handles like something much smaller and sportier.

Being a passenger did at least give me a chance to appreciate the fantastic interior, which is full of clever details like the rotary-dial gear change for the automatic gearbox. The car also has a keyless start and amazing 'hidden' vents for the climate control, and these all feel like useful features rather than new technology just for the sake of it. The optional 440W B&W surround system sounds incredible too, which is easy to appreciate when the car itself is so quiet.

Jaguar may have had its problems in recent years, but with new ownership on the horizon and products as competitive as the new XF, the future definitely looks bright.

Labels: Manufacturers, New Models

As Bluesky Interactive's Marketing Manager, I recently attended a series of Internet Marketing lectures in London on a range of topics. One thing which really stood out for me was a lecture on online PR.

At Bluesky Interactive we do some online PR for our Platinum SEO customers, mostly to build good quality links. The work we do is not necessarily intended to be for PR reasons in the conventional sense. The lecture highlighted for me the huge potential for online PR both in terms of building credible back links to sites, and generating publicity and improving your reputation.

What also became obvious was how easy it would be to make all your company's offline PR work for you online, improving search rankings, generating good publicity and enhancing your reputation. It just requires clear communication between Bluesky and the people doing the PR work. I hope our clients who use PR agencies or do in-house PR work can put us in touch with the people doing this work as I truly believe that together we can make so much more use of the efforts already being made.

Labels: Internet Marketing, SEO