A recent survey has shown the places where a car is least likely to be broken in to, there are no surprises at the place your car is most likely; residential streets, where 43% of motorists’ cars were damaged. One worrying fact revealed was that 72% of people had their car damaged deliberately by one way or another.

Where you park your car has a big effect on your car insurance , being able to park your car in a garage will considerably lower your quotes and save you money. According to research, having your car locked up in a garage can save you up to 35% (depending on the area you live) on your premium. If you do not have access to a garage then the next best places to keep your car are outside a school or restaurant, and outside a doctors or hospital car park. These all account for a mere 3% of vandalised cars each.

Choosing well-lit areas where there is CCTV cameras will go a long way to ensuring your car is as safe as possible. Saving money is especially important for young drivers looking young driver car insurance as premiums will naturally be higher than those of a more experienced driver. Many people have garages full of all kinds of things that they will often never need again and simply tidying the garage up and making room for your car can save you so much money, surely it is worth a few hours of your weekend?

Car insurance quotes are easy to come by and shopping online can ensure you find the best of them by comparing various providers; Ford car insurance is a popular option and has some great deals available. When choosing your deal, be certain to give yourself every chance of saving money by making sure your car will be parked in safe areas and has the standard alarm systems.

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Good ole’ search engine optimization, you gotta love it! Well, if you actually understand how it works that is. 

Search engine optimization is the act of optimization websites and content to improve “organic” or “natural” search result placement. When a website appears on the first page of search listings, it is far more likely to be clicked. Increased impressions leads to more clicks and — ultimately — more profit. The goal of SEO is to sidestep costly Google AdWords campaigns that charge per click or per thousand impressions, to eliminate environmentally unfriendly print ads, to demolish overpriced television advertisements, all while building a stronger online brand and increasing sales at the same time.

For car dealerships, search engine optimization is an excellent marketing medium that should not, and I repeat should not, be ignored. The average joe purchases a new vehicle every 4-6 years, which is very infrequent compared to groceries, clothing, electronics and other more commonly purchased goods. When entering the market for a new vehicle, most customers will have no clue where to start, and do not have dealership branding in their psyche as they haven’t visited a dealership in over 4 years. This is not something they (people buying cars) do often, and is important to remember. Relating this to search engine optimization, car dealerships should be on the first page of search results to ensure they capture, and retain, prospective customers. 

In this day and age, over 50% of prospective car buyers use the internet to find/research cars. Think about it: let’s say you want a new Ferrari F430 and you live in Los Angeles, you would most likely search in Google (or another search engine) for “Ferrari F430 in Los Angeles” or “Ferrari Dealership in Los Angeles.” Almost always, search engine users browse the first page of listings, and if they don’t find what they want, they simply enter a new search query. In essence, if you’re selling a Ferrari, or have a dealership, and you’re not on the first page of search results, you’re losing out on a lot of traffic and potential sales. This doesn’t only apply to Ferraris, it applies to vehicles of any make, model and year.

Search engine optimization for car dealers should include a mix of social bookmarking, link building, keyword optimization, and research. Please see the purpose of each below:

Social Bookmarking

Utilizing social bookmarking sites will provide a few benefits. For one, submitting web pages or listings to social bookmarking sites will improve the amount of incoming links to a site, thus boosting its relevance and weight in search engines. Secondly, social bookmarking sites will increase traffic, thus boosting your Alexa ranking. Thirdly, social bookmarking site submissions are picked up by search engines, so you’re literally creating another result in search engines by making a submission. Search engine optimization should be used to analyze and implement proper high-traffic keywords in all social bookmark submissions.  

Link Building

The act of building incoming links to a site can be tedious, but it does pay off in the end. I suggest submitting car dealership websites to all directories possible, especially ones that offer do-follow links. The more relevant sources pointing to a site the better. Building links can also be achieved using the above social bookmarking technique. 

Keyword Optimization

Optimizing the keywords in vehicle listings is an integral part of search engine optimization for car dealers. Search engines need to fully understand what is being displayed in the vehicle listing, or on the webpage. For example, having a photo of a Ford Mustang Cobra for sale including: the price, mileage, an address, and a phone number is not enough to attract large amounts of attention online and doesn’t cut the cheese. You need keywords. Keywords, keywords, keywords. Additionally, keywords should be implemented throughout the car dealership’s website including the about us section (types of vehicles sold), contact (location of dealership), services (maintenance, new car sales, etc.), as well as informative content-rich pages on the footer.

Research

Website traffic for car dealerships should be tracked on a consistent basis and current marketing tactics should be analyzed. Does the website receive a huge spike in traffic after a television commercial airs? If not, why not? Also, are the intended keywords receiving traffic? If so, is the traffic generating sales? Research is important when looking at search engine optimization for car dealerships.   

Until next time, 

Aaron Schoenberger 

The Brainchild Group 

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Social Media Marketing (SMM) is the new way to market your product or service. It is happening with thousands of companies big and small around the world. It is quick, inexpensive and it reaches a new audience traditional advertising can’t. So why isn’t it happening with car dealerships?

45% of the Inc. 500 fastest growing businesses, 41% of the higher education sector and 57% of the nation’s top 200 charities already use social media marketing. More importantly, 93% of Americans believe a business should have a presence in social media, 85% believe a business should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media, and 56% of Americans feel both a stronger connection with and better served by businesses when they can interact with them in a social media environment. These figures come from a recent Cone Business School study.

Yet according to estimates less than 20% of all car dealerships actively use social media in their marketing efforts. Less than 20%! And there are fewer than 100 dealerships who have interactive blogs. Why aren’t more car dealerships taking advantage of this?

There are many reasons. Some dealerships shy away from it because they are worried about the negative image they have or the one it could create. If your car dealership has a negative image – participating in social media sites will have a positive effect and can change a bad image into a good one quickly. Other dealerships say they do not have the time or the personnel to manage it. Others don’t even have an email strategy much less a social media marketing plan.

There are exceptions. Here are a few car dealerships who have embraced social media marketing and are already seeing positive results:

Bay Ridge Toyota, Brooklyn, N.Y. Longo Toyota, El Monte, Ca Maxton Motors, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio Reedman Toll Automotive Group, Langhorne, Pennsylvania Reineke Family of Dealerships, Ohio Serra Honda Birmingham, Alabama Vinart Dealerships, Emmaus, PA

You can’t afford to wait. The cost alone is worth it and the benefits far outweigh the time you spend managing it. Save money. Sell more vehicles. If you are a car dealership in today’s brutally competitive market, you need to get in the social media marketing fast lane today!

With the warmer weather approaching, many Brits will be considering buying a convertible so that they can live the dream of driving on the open road with the wind in their hair.

However, before getting too carried away, it is important to make sure you take the time to choose comprehensive car insurance.

This is according to a leading comparison website which indicates that to insure a typical convertible vehicle you will be paying around £32 more every year than you would to insure an average hard-top car.

The site also said that they found many people who are considering a convertible don’t consider the more practical concerns and the costs involved.

As motor cover is becoming increasingly more competitive, it is important to spend the time searching for cheap car insurance to ensure that you are getting the best deal you can.

In addition to this, the website reminded motorists not to leave valuable items in their car and to make sure that it was parked in a secure place.

Another leading comparison site have recently revealed that rising car insurance costs are causing 8 per cent of vehicle owners to use their vehicle less often in order to try and keep the costs down.

In addition to people using their cars less, figures have been released which show that the sales of second-hand electric vehicles have risen by 473.5 per cent. The highest rise of sales was in East Anglia.

Hybrid cars have also seen a boost in sales as their popularity has gone up by 71.8 per cent and used diesel car sales have gone up by four percent.

Due to the effects the economy has had recently, more and more people are concerned about the extra costs of running a car and also their capacity to purchase a vehicle.

As a result of theses worries, many seem to have resorted to purchasing more eco friendly vehicles to ensure saving money.

Another way people are trying to save money on their car is by finding cheap car insurance and this seems to be a lot simpler if you are female, as women’s car insurance is a lot less due to women being statistically safer drivers.

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Buying a new car in Utah, as anywhere, can be a difficult process. Many times, the new car buyer hasn’t thought through their plan before they walk into one of the many fine Utah Car Dealerships. If you do this, you could end up with a car you don’t really want. Worse, you could end up with a car you can’t really afford, or a car you pay far too much money for. In this economy, you can ill afford to risk your financial stability for the sake of a new car. You could end up paying for years for something that wasn’t really necessary, something you bought on an impulse.

Utah Car Dealerships, like dealerships anywhere, have mastered the art of high-pressure sales tactics and convincing you need things you don’t. It isn’t necessarily a matter of dishonesty. You are, after all, looking to buy a car. Most car salespeople genuinely believe that they have the best car fro you, and know what your best interests are, and that they are merely being helpful. What you have to understand is that no one is in as good of a position to understand your needs and requirements as you are.

The most important element of getting the car that suits you best at any Utah Car Dealerships is to prepare. Do your homework before you set foot in any Utah car dealerships and you will greatly increase the odds that you will get the car you want at the price you can live with. You will be able to enter the dealership and negotiate effectively with the dealer.

The very first thing you need to do is establish how much you can really afford to pay. Go over your budget and think realistically about the additional financial burden. If you don’t have a budget, track your expenses for a month or two to determine how much you actually spend, and keep track of everything, including snacks, and hobbies. Little things can add up.

Once you know what you can afford to spend and how it will impact your budget, then you can begin to shop for a car. Do you think this means running of to one or more Utah car dealerships? Don’t be in a hurry. Starting the car buying process begins with research, not test drives. Remember, when you set foot in a car dealership, they are primed to sell you a car, the most expensive, tricked out car they can. You, in turn, need to be prepared not only by knowing your budget limits, but by knowing what car models fall in your price range and knowing what you can expect to afford.

You should also be aware of the list prices and actual prices for the cars you are actually interested in. On one hand, you don’t want to pay anywhere near the list price when you buy a new car. On the other hand, you cannot realistically expect to get a car for less than the dealer pad for it.

You should know exactly which car you want to buy before you ever step into Utah Car Dealerships, or at least have a very short list. You should know also how much you could expect these cars to cost. There are many ways to tart the comparison shopping process outside of Utah car dealerships. For example, you can start with the Consumer Reports annual car buying issue. It offers a comparison of features, estimates of reliability and likelihood your car will need servicing, and resale values for many makes and models of automobile. You don’t even have to buy this; you can find it at your local public library.

Motor Magazine and the Car Buyer’s Art, a book by Darrell Parrish, also have useful information on how to compare vehicles. The Internet has many useful sites for comparing car prices and features, such as www.carprices.com. Use these resources and figure out exactly what you need, make a checklist of features you want, features you need, and features you like but can live without. In other words, make an A list, a B list and a C list, and know what the optional features you’re interested in could cost.

If you’ve done your homework, you are almost prepared to visit Utah car dealerships. First, however, you should be prepared to understand how Utah car dealers talk so that you can interpret what they are telling you. Utah car dealerships are likely to throw some unfamiliar terms at you. You need to be prepared to understand what the different prices that they quote really mean and how to interpret them.

The first term you need to know is invoice price. Invoice price is what the manufacturer charges the dealer when the car is first delivered to the Utah car dealerships. The invoice price is typically higher than the dealer’s actual cost. This may seem odd at first, but you have to bear in mind that dealers receive rebates, allowances and incentive awards.

The next term to understand is base price. This is the price of the car without any options included. It is just standard base equipment plus the factory warranty. This base price will be printed on the Monroney sticker, which will be visible on the car.

Monroney sticker price is the base price plus the manufacturers installed options with the manufacturers suggested retail price (MSRP) for the options in question, and also the manufacturer’s transportation charge. This Monroney sticker must be affixed to the car window by law and can only be removed by the car’s purchaser. It also includes the fuel economy, in miles per gallon (MPG).

The Monroney sticker also includes the suggested retail price of the dealer-installed options with any dealer markup. If you are a good negotiator, you can expect to pay considerably less than this number. It is just the starting point for negotiations in the purchase of a new car.

Thus equipped with this knowledge, you are ready to investigate actual cars and test drive at actual dealerships.

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