The turmoil has continued since Google announced that Google+ Local would be using a new review system in lieu of the old Google Places "five-star" rating system.

Dealers have been having trouble posting reviews from Apple iOS devices.  For many dealers, the review button was no longer visible…

Nissan’s launch of five vehicles, all scheduled to occur over the next 15 months, will include a stiff dose of social media marketing. The 2013 Altima began the sequence as the first launch of the “Most Innovative Year Ever” for Nissan’s North American branch. The Altima launch utilizes print, television, web banner and direct web ads in addition to a…

As more consumers are using the web to research and communicate with dealerships before they decide to purchase a vehicle, it is important to understand the value of live chat and the power behind establishing a relationship between the…

If everyone could walk in everyone’s shoes for a day, we would have more empathy for each other.  The world would be less cynical, and much more appreciative of what our fellow Americans do on a daily basis.

Before I talk about the car salesman, I want to give a special thanks to all of our military personnel who defend our country both near and far.  These men and women have made it possible for people like me pursue life, liberty, and happiness!  Happy 4^th of…

 Our internal theme here at IPD for the month of July is "ALL IN". There are visions and goals, both personal and corporate which are in front of us, and to reach those summits we must not go about things haphazardly but rather be invested fully giving 100%. All of us possess God given talents and…

I am again continuing the mini case study focused on the objectives established, and challenges faced, in building processes to measure and manage OTDBs in the operating departments of an NCM client dealership group. Today, my focus is on one of the greatest vehicle sales opportunities that most dealers enjoy, but fail to capitalize on.

At one point during this engagement, I had asked the dealer principal if he was satisfied with the strategies being employed to develop vehicle sales…

John Ashcroft...  "My dad had the foresight and wisdom not to say, 'I just want my kids to be happy.' He realized that the pursuit of happiness for its own sake is a frustrating, disillusioning, and often futile effort. Happiness usually hides from those who are spiritually addicted to its sugar, while it chases after those who make wise choices and who are caught up in something more lasting than momentary excitement."

Happy is a sensation that follows a…

Disclaimer: I must preface this by saying it not intended to make any enemies or friends. This is not meant to hurt anyone’s business, call out how they perform for their clients, highlight weaknesses or put stock in one product over another. This was nothing more than a simple experiment.

I was out to dinner with my wife recently when I ran into an old college acquaintance. Very quickly I discovered that she works in our industry for a startup website provider. I tell her…

I've mentioned numerous times how having a Pinterest account is vital to your social media plan and makes your dealership more likeable as a whole. Well, I found a study online by EyeTrackShop which highlights where the user’s eye is drawn to on a Pinterest page. While most websites draw the users to the left side of the…

These gals were at the fair. When I found out they were Korean, I could not help but tell them that my dealership has Kias. They were quite excited about this, and when I told them we also had Chevrolet, they were quick to mention how popular Chevrolet is in…

The argument is PPC or NOT? Is it necessary to buy pay per click advertising? How do I optimize my site so that I'm on the first page of every search engine several times without PPC?  The key to click through is conversion, some experts say that being the 4th or 5th or even 6th link down on the search page has the highest conversion rate, but how do you get there?  Well my friends this is a long and intricate conversation.

Can it be accomplished to be on the first page of…

“Concentrate…..concentrate….”  The instructors voice is intense and close to my right ear.  I concentrate.  I try to remember the 7 or so things he has just taught me. I squeeze the trigger as slowly as I can.

It’s a little Smith and Wesson M&P compact.  It is at home in the gun safe with a variety of sibling guns used by my husband for trap and skeet shooting.   I take it out every so often and go to the gun club range and shoot at some paper…

Just saw this article on Business Exchange about Nissan's "Most Innovative Year Ever." The company is really delving into social media to help promote five new vehicle launches. The article makes a good point: it's not so much the social platform that's important (Twitter & Facebook are in their heyday now but may be replaced or become less popular as time goes on), but rather the use of social media in general that's important. Now that fans and clients are accustomed to interacting…

Hearing about Klout.com? Is it showing up in your Twitter feeds, Facebook news feed, on Google+?

Klout is becoming bigger and bigger for those who want to know where they stand with their Social Media reach & influence.

So, what exactly is Klout? 

The Klout Score measures influence based on your ability to drive action. Every time you create content or engage you…

Check out the latest blog by Jenn Mayer and learn all about search engine marketing and click through rates.

If your company is involved in pay-per click advertising, click through rate, or CTR, is one of the most important metrics to measure. Click through rate is defined as the number of times a given ad is clicked on divided by the number of times the ad is…

In a recent blog post of mine, I highlighted some research done on mobile ads and if it is worth a dealership to spend money on it. Today, I am here to tell you why you should have a mobile site for your dealership (if you don’t already). Some 12.6% of total website traffic was generated via mobile device in the fourth quarter of 2011, up 102% from the 6.3% recorded a year…

SEO author and superstar joins keynoters Billy Beane (of ‘MoneyBall’ Fame), Facebook and Google at industry’s most authoritative profit-building event for innovative dealers

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – July 2, 2012 – DrivingSales today announced that Rand Fishkin will join the keynote line-up at the fourth annual DrivingSales Executive…

I just checked my Gmail account and saw that CarWasher is now following all my boards on Pinterest.

What’s Pinterest? It’s been described as the coolest (or should that be the hottest?) online social media platform around. Users can create their own pinboards and share the contents by uploading images, pins from other sites or re-pinning photos from other…