No one likes spam. A few weeks ago, our email server ended up on a few different blacklists from large amounts of spam being sent from our server. In case you don't know, when a server gets on a blacklist it's like a patient in ER. Critical Emergency, get the defibrillator kind of thing.

It didn't take long to locate the issue ... a spam script was guessing user names and commonly used passwords until it was able to login to the mail system. From there it began mailing the spam out, and several hours later the server was on a few blacklists. In order to correct the issue, we found the offending account and made some password changes. Then we began submitting removal requests for the different blacklists.

There's a couple important points to bring up with this situation. It's important to realize that this is fairly common for spammers. A bit of advice: try using more secure, strong passwords; you should stay away from most commonly used passwords, dictionary words, and number sequences. Try to mix lowercase and uppercase characters along with symbols and numbers. Your password length should be around 12 to 14 characters or longer if you can remember it. If you write your password down, put it in a secure place. Another good point to bring up in this situation is that managing email requires technical knowledge from someone that knows what they are doing.

Thankfully we were able to have the problem resolved in a short period of time, allowing us to keep emails going and business moving.

Ok, so your new website (or existing website) has been running for some time.  You've started to see improved traffic and more qualified leads coming through to your sales staff.

The basic optimization work is doing its job but you are wanting more and you ask yourself ... What more can be done to increase traffic to my dealership site?  Or how do we keep improving on our SEO?

WARNING! Stop reading now if you are afraid of doing hard work in exchange for great results!

To get more good traffic to your website you can..

Make sure that each and every page on your website is optimized correctly.  The right title, meta info, keywords, and copy/links on the page.

Define and implement your outbound and inbound linking strategy throughout your website.

Decide what new and fresh content will be added to your website, how often it will be added, where it will be added, and who will add it.

Actually do it and write the new/fresh content and add it to your site taking into consideration your outbound/inbound linking strategy mentioned above.

Find all the local business sites that matter like Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Insider Pages, etc.. (almost 10 in all) and make sure your business is listed correctly with up to date information.

On each of the business sites mentioned above ensure your process for handling negative feedback and how you will continue to get positive feedback over time.

Take advantage of social sites like Facebook and Twitter where it makes sense. You can waste alot of time with little results on these sites.  Or you can be efficient by knowing their place in your overall strategy and executing your plans wisely.

Don't overlook social bookmarking sites like Delicious.  If used correctly it's one more good stick in the fire.

Participate in classified site advertising, google base, oodle, and other inventory listing sites that may make sense for your product lines and market area.

Take the time to join in on RVing related forum and blog conversations, especially those on subjects pertaining to your market area or product lines you sell.

Join forces with your local campgrounds, RVing vacation destinations, and tourist attractions to provide something special for your potential joint customers.  The SEO 'link juice' you get from this can be worth every bit of effort.

Take advantage of micro or mini websites, but plan them out well with a pre-determined purpose in mind.

Use sites like Squidoo.com to create lenses about areas of RVing interests.  This serves both for SEO purposes and also new/fresh content.

In all seriousness there are at least 5 more things I could add to the list without even having to think about it, but I think you get the point ... there is alot of things that can be done to drive more folks to your dealership.

The botom line is that it takes work.  Whether you do it yourself or you hire someone like us to coach you along or do much of the work for you.  We are here to help if needed so let us know.

No matter what you do ... do something.  Get started right now!

We get the question alot ... How can I sell my rv parts and accessories on our website?

Of course the answer is as simple or complex as you want to make it.  First, let's review the different current known methods of doing it along with the pros/cons.

Distributor Solution

This is the most common that you see online.  You put a link from your website out to your 'branded' online parts store provided from your distributor.  Anything you sell from that you make a %. The pro is that it's easy to setup and run; requires little to no effort or cost on your part.  The cons are that your margin may not be what you desire and you really can't change or modify the way it looks or behaves.

At a recent NTP show an anouncement was made that NTP and Systems 2000 had formed a partnership for passing part/accessory data back and forth.  A great idea and we'll see how it pans out and evolves in the future.

Built In Storefront

Some website provider companies offer a built in module for you to sell parts/accessories on your website.  There are some providers that advertise this as a viable solution, but I havn't seen any of these in action yet.  The pro might be that it is built into your website and should look/feel like your site.  The cons are that you still need to have someone responsible for inputting and keeping up with all the data and photos.  Before jumping into this option I would take the time and make sure the system has all the necessary tools and features to process orders efficiently and compliments the way you want to do business.

Stand Alone Storefront

This is the one you are thinking of if you are looking at campingworld.com, rvpartsoutlet.com, or rvwholesalers.com.  This allows you to control your own destiny.  It's really a hybrid of the first two. One pro is that it looks/feels like your current website and your customers won't feel a difference using your website or your accessories storefront.  Another pro is that you'll have tons of products in their to sell.  The con is that it will require a ton of effort at your dealership to upload/manage the information and photos as you are essentially building your entire parts/accessories catalog online.  Keeping up with the constantly changing prices, specials, etc.. can be a challenging job by itself.

There are many different stand alone storefronts to choose from online.  Doing a quick search will return hundreds of options.  One we've found success with is www.Volusion.com.  Just make sure any solution you choose has the right tools and features to run things the way you need them to.

First Things First

Before you start down the road on any of these solutions I encourage you to ask yourself the BIG question... What is my purpose for wanting to sell accessorries on my website?  We all know the answer right?  You want to make more money.  Sell more stuff.

The next logical questions are...

• What will it take for you to actually make money (be profitable) at selling online? Consider up-front/ongoing cost, resources (people), profit margins, etc..
• Can you offer a competitive price? Comparison shopping is as easy as click, click on the Internet. Not having competitive pricing not only loses you a sale, but even worse can hurt your credibility online.
• How will you advertise you have an online storefront or are you thinking of just 'cherry picking' the folks who are currently coming to your website?

What to do ... What to do...

So, you've answered the questions and now you've figured out that you can make money at this.  The next step is to start thinking like your customers.  Think about things that interest them.  Think about the sales process and at what point can you upsell?  Put yourself in their shoes.  Here are some proven ideas to get you started selling products through your website and make money doing it!

Sounds simple doesn't it? Yet, why do so many folks ask questions and get educated only to think that somehow knowledge by itself puts more money in the bank.  Knowlege only ads value when you put your knowlege to work.  So..

• Get a simple stand-alone store on your website or ask your website provider if they have a comparable module you can use.
• Start off with 10, 20, or 30 of your best selling/margin products.
• Get good photos, maybe a how-to video, some testimonials on each product, and tell folks how each product can help them.
• Advertise with simple ads on your website.
• Watch it work ...you'll get results if you follow the steps.
  

Pakcage Your Products

One competitive pricing strategy is to make up your own special product packages.  Maybe each package has 3 to 5 different accessories.  Much like the manfucturer has option packages.  Do the same on a simpler more cost effective scale with your accessories and see what happens.  Offering product packages changes the way shoppers compare you to others allowing you to hold better margins all because you cared enough to put together a total solution for your customers.

Email Responsibly

Email your current customers with new products and special offer, but don't spam them.  Make it a timely valid offer with info on how this particular product will help them in some way.  Solve a problem for them?  Make life easier for them? You can even keep your email copy simple and link back to your website for the special offer.  It allows you to reuse the web page offer on your site and email plus it gets them back to your website.

Accessorize Your RV

I remember back in 2007 when I purchased my first RV.  I even purchased from a dealership who was using our RV website design service doing my best to support our clients.  Believe it or not at the time of sale I wasn't even offered any accessories.  I had spent time looking online and knew of at least 5 different goodies that I wanted.  Now, they probably had their reasons for not offering, but I can't imagine I'm the only one who wants goodies with their RV.  What if when you listed your inventory on your website you could also list a few popular accessories to add-on or accessorize their RV.  What if you could even allow your website shopper to choose from those accessories and get a complete quote on the RV and accessories?  Be it a solar panel, step rugs, assist handle, hitch, bug screen, or slide toppers.  I've seen this in action on a dealer's site and it works.  It's simple ... just give folks the opportunity and you'll be surprised.

Let me know how you progress by adding your comments below.  Have you found something that works or doesn't work?  Let me know...

If you are interested in how we might be able to help your dealership be successful with selling accessories online or if you have questions about being more successful with your website itself just let us know by emailing us through our contact link.  We are here to help.

Have you ever had someone leave your dealership and wondered why you stopped getting leads from your website or classified site?  Or has someone left your dealership and then weeks/months later you find out that you haven't been receiving email leads from a particular lead source?  Believe it or not it happens more than you might think.  So, how does it happen?

Well, here's a story of a lovely lady, who was having a grand time handling email leads all on her own.  She had been asked to setup leads through her dealership's website and a few other classified type websites.  Things are chugging along nicely and she is showing you now and again the great leads she is receiving.  Then one day something happens and she leaves the dealership.  A few weeks later you overhear a conversation at the front desk that folks keep calling in saying that they've sent emails and no one is getting back to them.  Then it dawns on you...

So, how do you make sure that doesn't happen to you?  Simply use email aliases for your website or other places sending you leads.  For example setup a simple websales@yourdealership.com email alias that gets forwarded to the saleperson(s) email address you would like.  Then if that person ever leaves you only need to change where those email leads get forwarded.

Email aliases are super simple to setup and manage. Just ask your email admin to help you out if you don't already know.

Now, that you know how to proactively handle a potentially harmful email situation make sure you make it a part of your employee termination checklist.

Looking to hire an Internet marketing in-house?  Follow these simple suggestions to help make the process more efficient and get the best results.

Email Marketing – This is really huge.  You have a tremendous captive audience from previous customers and all your web leads. You have advantages over your competitors.  Get these in advantages in front of customers and prospects.  It will produce results.

Social Media Marketing – This takes time to do it right, but because of your market reach there is a large upside potential.  This includes blogging, content building, Facebook, social bookmarking, etc.

Optimization – We know that our websites have s a good SEO foundation as well as some advanced strategies already in place.  Things should always be progressing and having someone to build links both internally and externally would produce results over time.

Analysis – Having close eyes on your results and spending (ROI)  You’ll want to identify specifically what is to be tracked and also require actionable analysis.

The first three things I mention have elements that cross over to one another so it does make things easier and a blended strategy.

Finding the right person will be key.  If you are hiring someone with experience then you’ll want to get detailed explanation of what they been successful at AND have failed at.  Any good online marketer has failed and more than once.  They’ve tried things have haven’t worked which helps them find what doesn’t.  I’ve interviewed enough folks in this industry to know that knowing the buzz words and actually knowing how to accomplish something are two very different things. If you'd like help during the interviewing process let me know.

If you hire someone green you’ll spend less, but their ability to be productive will take some time.  We’ve found that you need to have a pretty aggressive pay scale over a two year period so that as they learn and apply you keep in sync with their marketability.  If you don’t you risk having to start over.  Like any hiring decision it’s the balance.

Don't be afraid, but don't do it blindly either.  It's about preparing for the results you want to achieve and then find the right person who can help you get there.

One of the online marketing sources that we trust just published a great article on The Secrets of Successful Company Blogs.  Follow the link here...

http://boagworld.com/site-content/successful-company-blogging

and you'll find a wealth of proven knowledge on what will work well and what won't.

At the end of the day they make a great point ... the reason that most blogs fail is because attention and priority are taken away from the blog.  In other words you stop updating your blog.

Because there is much confusion about blogging and rv social media marketing in general InteractRV is soon to announce a service to help your dealership be successful with your social marketing efforts.

Look for more to come soon!

We've heard it said many many time how much folks at the dealerships responsible for managing the inventory absolutely love the RV Library Lookup.  Just recently we had a situation where a salesperson fell in love with the RV Library as well.  Here's the story...

A salesperson calls one of his team members here at InteractRV and says ... "hey, I've got this guy who has come in looking at a particular Dutchmen floorplan that I have in stock.  However, he is also looking at a Forest River floorplan at my competitor that is very similar.  He says he likes the way he's been treated here and would like to see a side-by-side comparison of the features and benefits of both RV brands.  I know you guys (InteractRV) have this RV Library thing, do you have access to a 2009 brochure for this Forest River brand."

The team member opens up his browser, goes to the internal RV Library management control panel and shoots the salesperson the 09 brochure.  The salesperson was super excited and eager to get the deal done.

What I find amazing about this whole process is that the salesperson now has knowledge of a competing product that he had no easy way of getting.  And we've all heard the saying ... knowlege is power!

Since this happened I have been taking some notes and writing down some thoughts on how we might make the RV Library more accessible to InteractRV control panel users for purposes such as this salesperson had.  I'd love to hear your two cents on the idea.  Email me kevin at interactrv dot com.