The social phenomena has been going on on now for a few years, but RV Dealers are still trying to figure out what social tools will help their dealership business.

I came across this great infographic about which social sites do what and also what they won't help you do.  A great snapshot and quick reference to what sites are good for what.

The image is below but you can also click the link underneath to read more.

http://www.cmo.com/social-media/cmos-guide-social-media-landscape

If you've ever wondered if you should have someone assist you optimize your pay per click (PPC) campaigns it might be wise to truly consider what is at stake before you 'place your bids'.

Why has Google started offering advice to businesses?  Over the past year they’ve ramped up their ‘help and support’ because it’s profitable for THEM.  The more money spent on Adwords the more they make.  It’s that simple.  Does anyone honestly believe that the person helping a business from Google truly has their best and long term interest in their business?  I would not consider It wise to allow Google who earns more money based on Adwords to be the only knowledgeable  advice you receive on how much you spend and on what.  It’s quite a conflict of interest.

Google does NOT optimize and manage your PPC account.  You still have to take the time and pick up the phone.  You will still have to be knowledgeable about what are appropriate bid rates per keyword, what ads are appropriate, and what landing pages those ads should go to. You will talk with someone who knows nothing of your business goals and ambitions over time.  Nor do they have the knowledge of your other Internet marketing efforts so your landing pages and conversion metrics across PPC and SEO can work together.

Nothing in life that is of any value is able to stay on auto-pilot for very long.  Things change and they change often.  What other things in your business are truly on auto-pilot that provide great benefit to you?  Even offering extended warranties for the RVs you sell aren’t truly on auto-pilot.  They only get sold if someone sells them.  That requires people management/skill which requires time/effort which cost money and is not auto-pilot.

Consider that Google is not the only PPC game in town and if you are spending more than $1500 month on PPC with Google I might suggest looking at other PPC opportunities like BING.  Will you get as many shoppers from BING vs Google? No, but you will get qualified shoppers.  There are still millions of RV shoppers/buyers that use BING.  If you do decide to use Google, BING, and other lead sources then you've got to have the knowledge to manage them all.  Are you committed to staying educated to be effective?

Can someone do their own PPC optimization?  Sure can.  However, EVERY PPC account we have ‘taken over’ from a client on ‘auto-pilot’ is paying way more in cost per click than they need to.  They get more generic traffic vs more targeted shoppers.  Their bounce rate is higher.  Their conversion and ROI is lower.  It’s usually not very pretty.

Our PPC optimization services are priced very resonably.  We spend about 1.5 hours per week on average optimizing PPC accounts that spend more than $1000 on Adwords.  So, if on ‘auto-pilot’ the avg cost per click is $1.50 or more and with our services we can lower that under $1 per click and at worse the total clicks stay the same we've still reduced the total monthly spend for the client.  The over-arching benefit is they get better shoppers, reduce spend on wasted clicks, and get more people converting through more phone and email leads to the dealership.

It’s all about getting more opportunities to sell vs just getting clicks.

If you are attempting to setup email on the Ipad it's quite simple but there is a process to follow.

Using the credentials your team captain or tech support gave you use the following video as a tutorial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgKbLmr2EhU

As always if you have questions let us know.  We are here to help.

The email screenshot below isn’t about RVing but it has all the right elements of a great email.  Have look at it and see if you can see the key parts…

• Personal – uses first name in salutation.
• Short paragraphs for easy reading with relevant text links.
• HUGE call to action (it’s obviously what they want you to do)
• Appropriate bullet list of benefits (WIIFM – what’s in it for me)
• Appropriate graphic which makes the product/service tangible (feeling of something they can hold physically)
• Personal – uses photo of person sending the email.
• Secondary call to action – FREE website assessment.
• BEST OF ALL – all around focused email on one primary and one secondary thing.

How might this apply to RV emails?  My thoughts…

• Instead of broad e-newsletter type each month focus on something more specific once per month and rotate the same schedule for a quarter (every 3 months). Maybe focus on service one month, then a new product line you are carrying the next month, then the 3rd month maybe a neat place to go on a weekend camping trip.  Those would be the primary thing about the email but also include a secondary thing in an appropriate fashion.
• Don’t just provide info, give a clear and strong WIIFM call to action.  What is our goal of the email?  What chain of events have to happen to reach that goal?
• Keep the content of the email clean/simple with a CLEAR call to action.
• Make the email come from someone respected and pleasant at your RV dealership, someone who is passionate about helping people.

There is lots more I could ramble on about but you get the idea and if you need assistance your team captain can help you out.

Until next time…

The time has finally come!  Google now allows you through the Google Webmaster Tools to submit URLs directly to them for indexing.

 This is great for...

• New pages
• Updated content on pages
• Updated links on pages

Simply submit it and the Googlebot will crawl it!

You can read their announcement and more details here.

We get the question alot ... how do I get a copy of both emails that my staff sends out and ones they receive?

If you are using our email system there is a solution!

Get with your team captain to learn more.  If you are feeling brave you can read more here.

Easily Post Ads to Craigslist

Craigslist is just plain tough to work with.  If you've taken a look at other inventory solutions that help you post units to Craigslist you notice pretty quickly that it's a clunky process and it isn't always reliable.  We took our time to put together a solution that abides by all their strict rules, but also makes it super simple to post inventory units right from the InteractRV Control Panel.

Click the Craigslist link when managing a specific unit.

Post your entire ad all from ONE screen.

How To video tutorial available once you click the Craigslist link ... check it out in your Control Panel!

Keep Sold Units on Your Site

Some dealers have mentioned they would like to keep sold units on their websites for reasons that are both marketing and strategically driven.

CAUTION: This strategy comes with some things you'll want to consider before you make a final decision.  Best to get with your team captain to review so you can make an educated decision on this strategy.

Notice in your CP inventory manager you can now search by Available and/or Sold units.

When managing your inventory unit there is now a Sold checkbox.

This Sold checkbox used to be the Active field.  Nothing has changed in how you use it except that having Sold unchecked means it is Available.  All inventory is Available by default unless you specifically check it as Sold.

Use specific Sold RV landing pages to display your sold units over time.

Other Changes and Improvements

• Media Center - You can now move images around using IE9.
• Follow-ups - Save & New now loads follow-up list correctly on contact detail page.
• CRM - Follow-ups - Now display current/future dates.

With the latest update to Google.com's ranking algorithyms it seems that video continues to take a seat at the front of the class as something to do for better overall website rankings.  Why?  Well, here are a few reasons..

1. Video is sticky, people stay on your site longer (google likes that).
2. People like videos which means they are more likely to link from blogs, emails, facebook to your video (google REALLY likes links and uses it to determine ranking priority)
3. 80% of video results in the google.com keyword rankings come from YouTube.com ... get your videos on YouTube now for maximum exposure!

Have a question or need assistance figuring out video for your website?  Give your team captain a call and they'll help you out.

Here is a fantastic article posted on WordTracker with much more nitty gritty detail on the benefits that RV video can bring to your business.

Did you know ... your YouTube videos hook right into your website pages?  It's simple and free to do.  Go to the media center and choose videos.  Should be pretty intuitive, but if you need help contact your team captain at 800-515-9672 ext. 4.