Most of us know the value of online content, and so many who are not trained writers or editors are straying into the area of blog posting and sharing of others' Web content. Much of it is informational and shared by industry experts, which helps us all.

Some, however, are doing so in a way that violates others' rights and might even land them in court. A professional writer / author / blogger friend of mine was recently the victim of this, with his work not only reprinted without…

In its 2014 Automotive Buyer Influence Study, AutoTrader.com researchers determined that social media has little impact on auto sales, and traditional media as a shopper resource is heading continually downhill. In fact, only 7 percent of millennials turn to print newspapers to look for vehicles. And, after many have said that millennials aren't interested in buying vehicles, this study says that mobile-addicted millennials are the shoppers spurring the most change in the vehicle…

I was rather appalled to read an industry article today that included a suggestion by a digital marketer that dealers should combat showrooming by blocking the URLs of their competitors while shoppers with smartphones and tablets are wandering their own showroom or lot.

Additionally, one dealership GM said that he gave all his sales people an iPad so that they could find shoppers that were comparison shopping from their smartphones, look over the shoppers' shoulders, go to the same…