Social Bookmarking for Car Dealers

I got this story idea from looking on Google analytics and seeing an unusually high number of people finding this blog through that keyword phrase. It's funny -- I work in automotive marketing but I never really thought car dealers would be looking for this yet. The social bookmarking for SEO phenomenon has only been around for about a year and a half -- car dealers are usually 2-3 years behind the internet trends.

That's a joke, so if you're a car dealer reading this right now, don't be offended. It's a joke, but it is true. The automotive industry is one that, in general, has been reluctant to keep up with internet marketing trends. It isn't that they don't believe in them or think that they exist. The reluctance stems from a love/hate relationship within the automotive marketplace when it comes to the Internet.

Let's face it. The Internet has caused car dealers to completely change the way they do business. They no longer have the control over the deal that they had pre-web. People have invoice pricing, trade evaluation, and quotes from dozens of dealers before they every hit the lot. It has cost the industry a lot of money, even shut down many dealerships over the last few years.

For that reason, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they are catching up and catching on. It has become a necessity, and I should be glad that they are getting involved.

First, the shameless pitch: if you want to know more about social bookmarking for car dealers, feel free to send me an email: jrucker (at) tkcarsites.com. Or, you can visit my website. There is a shell up there now, but there is some interesting information on it -- Car Dealer Marketing. Can't submit a lead as of November 10, but soon, you will be able to.

Now, for those who are interested in learning more about social bookmarking without having to pay me millions of dollars a month, here are some pointers:

1) Create single accounts on the social bookmarking sites. People new to the segment who do not understand it may feel that multiple accounts is the way to go. It isn't. You will get caught, IP banned, links deleted, etc.

2) Avoid the social news and media websites like Digg, Reddit, Propeller, and Newsvine. This is contrary to what most will recommend, as they CAN be very useful in search engine optimization, but for car dealers, they are a waste of time. You have no news. There aren't interesting stories or funny pictures or awesome videos on your website. Spamming them will get you banned. If you think "so what, it's still worth a try," be warned. I've seen some dealers face unnecessary retribution for spamming one of the sites listed. Without going into details, let's just say that there was "inappropriate content" placed on a website by someone angry at a spammer who hacked in.

3) Vary your anchor text (submission title) and use good, descriptive keywords. There's no need to make them interesting on bookmarking sites, so put in the terms that you want to move up on in the search engine results.

4) Don't use programs. They save time, but they can also waste time and you often lose the benefits of A) knowing that your submission went through, and B) varying the anchor text. You can use the Web 2.0 Toolbar (article on it somewhere on this blog), but the "Submit to 200 SB sites in minutes" programs aren't effective for car dealers.

5) Be active. Don't just submit and run. Leave comments, add friends, join groups, etc. The goal is to create a link, but the loftier goal is to get more people to bookmark your website.

6) Check for nofollow attributes. On IE, View Source, then search for "nofollow". See if it applies to the links of the bookmarks. If the site uses nofollow tags on the submission, it isn't worth the time to create a profile and start submitting. At least not for car dealers.

7) Hire a pro. This may be obligatory shameless plug #2, but I was kidding when I said that I charge millions, just in case you didn't know. Social bookmarking has so many benefits beyond the SEO benefits. It pays to pay someone who knows how to do it.

Social bookmarking is here to stay. There will be new variations, protocols, options, and strategies that will arise from now until the next big thing comes out and replaces the Internet altogether. Until then, learn what you can or hire someone who already knows.

Social Bookmarking for Car Dealers

Using Social Media to get Pages Indexed Quickly

Sometimes I laugh at the ads posted through banners and links on different web pages.

"We'll submit your website to 65 trillion search engines for $29."

Sometimes I just shake my head, not because it's such a scam, but because I know that people do it. That's their $29 SEO. The pay and go and wonder a few weeks later why Google has not indexed their page yet.

There are a few things you can do to get your pages indexed if your site is new. You can submit it to the search engines. This takes a while and by the time Google and the others get around to indexing submitted sites, you've probably given up on it.

There is the link purchase, where you buy a link on a PR 6 or higher websites. It works, but it costs quite a bit, especially if you're smart enough to search for relevancy.

The easiest way to get you pages indexed is to "AddThis" or whatever widget you use for social bookmarking. If you submit your site to Digg, Furl, Reddit, etc, you have made the second step towards getting your website indexed.

The first step? Be active and make friends on Digg, Furl, Redd1t, etc. There are many people who have these accounts on the SB sites, submitting their own work in a few seconds, and never exploring or making friends or anything that will actually help them. It is a time investment, but the rewards can be tremendous.

If you can make enough friends (and by friends, I mean those who mutually befriend you) by Digging their stories, the right people will befriend you and Digg your stories back. This is the key. Hoping that your one single Digg to your page or website will be enough is a stab in the dark. It may get indexed, it may not.

Friends allow you to get 10, 20, 30 or more Diggs on a story. If it gets 30 Diggs, Google will index it. If somehow it is able to go Popular, prepare for the storm of traffic.

A case in point is Portland Toyota Dealers. They are a new site that was having trouble getting indexed. Using my SB sites, I was able to get it indexed and start a nice flow of backlinks pointing to it.

If you do not want to spend a few hours per week with social bookmarking to help your SEO, you shouldn't spend any time at all.





Social Internet Marketing

Social Bookmarking and Blogging for Automotive

There seems to be a trend in the automotive industry that is gearing dealers towards moving their search engine efforts to blogs. Why? Because it works, has been for a year and now auto dealers, who are always a little behind on the technology aspect of marketing, are just catching on.

Websites like BlogProAutomotive are helping to spread the word about how blogging for car dealers is not just a fad, but also an important aspect of automotive SEO. The market is thinning and the competition is growing, so dealers need everything they can get to make their dealership stay afloat.

Social Bookmarking, the topic of this particular blog, is another area that auto dealers cannot afford to let slip. With sites like Digg, Ratepoint, Furl, Simpy, and del.icio.us offering quick and easy ways to make bookmarks, they fit into the common dealership mentality of "if it's simple, do it." Even smaller SB sites like 9Rules, Reddit, and Newsvine offer ways to market a dealership's services and products.

The real difficult comes in the idea of no being welcome. Most of these sites pride themselves on keeping relevant and only posting what people really want. Who wants to click on something they find on Digg, only to be taken to a car dealer homepage?

This is why blogging for dealerships is the best way. The automotive industry, in general, is not ready for social bookmarking. Not to be offensive, but they just don't have anything to offer people beyond their products. Blogs, unlike social bookmarking, allow people to post what they want. The explosion over the last couple of years of MySpace, Facebook, and Flickr make it possible for good search engine optimizers to make a difference without getting involved in "tricky" methods.

Social bookmarking is the fad that's here to stay in search engine optimization. Auto dealers need to focus on blogs instead of SB for now. This shouldn't be a problem until they start to catch on to SB sometime early next year.




Social Bookmarking Optimization