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