According to Google's Matt Cutts they are rolling out a small change in their ranking algorythms to drop low quality exact match domain names from ranking so high. Will this affect any microsites you have? The answer to that is really another question ... what is considered low quality?

Low Quality Indicators

• One page sites with very little content.
• Sites that redirect just about every page.
• Sites that have a few pages of good content, but are never updated.
• Sites that have no links to them from other sites.

For example an exact match domain microsite might be something like www.jaycotraveltrailer.com.  The domain name has great keywords in it that people might search for, but the website itself has no content.  Google doesn't want these types of sites ranking over a site that legitmately sells Jayco travel trailers.

The bottom line is making sure no matter what kind of website you have; it has the best content possible.

Read more here

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

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.

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.

Back in Feb/Mar Google made a rather major change to the way they rank websites in their search engine results. Our dealer client sites were not really affected by the change, but the factors that Google looks at to see if a site passes muster give some indication of overall what Google feels is important when ranking websites and pages.

Below are the primary factors and what I find interesting is it comes down to fresh and relevant content.  If we can continue to find ways to get new content and keep dealer sites ‘fresh’ then we’ll be in great shape.

Here is the list taken from a blog post on WordTracker.com.

Google likes to keep these things secret but the two engineers at the heart of Panda, Matt Cutts and Amit Singhal, gave us some strong clues in an interview with Wired.
Cutts and Singhal revealed their process which I’ll summarize as:

Conduct qualitative research (that’s speaking with individuals and not a big questionnaire) to find out which of a sample of sites they considered to be low quality and why.

Use the results to define low quality sites with the factors that Google can measure. This gives Google a mathematical definition of low quality.

If we start here, we can think of a number of factors that Google might be able to measure to define low quality, including:

• A high % of duplicate content. This might apply to a page, a site or both. If it’s a site measure then that might contribute to each page’s evaluation.
• A low amount of original content on a page or site.
• A high % (or number) of pages with a low amount of original content.
• A high amount of inappropriate (they don’t match the search queries a page does well for) adverts, especially high on the page.
• Page content (and page title tag) not matching the search queries a page does well for.
• Unnatural language on a page including heavy-handed on-page SEO (‘over-optimization’ to use a common oxymoron). Eg unnatural overuse of a word on a page.
• High bounce rate on page or site.
• Low visit times on page or site.
• Low % of users returning to a site.
• Low clickthrough % from Google’s results pages (for page or site).
• High % of boilerplate content (the same on every page).
• Low or no quality inbound links to a page or site (by count or %).
• Low or no mentions or links to a page or site in social media and from other sites.

Complete article on WordTrader.com here: http://www.wordtracker.com/academy/google-panda-farmer?utm_source=Subscribers&utm_campaign=c6ca58c4c6-Newsletter+99&utm_medium=email

The Facebook Like and Twitter Tweet buttons are now available on our dealer RV inventory and library pages.

We wanted to do this right so each of our dealers has the best possible chance of success.  We can't share all of our secrets on our public blog but here was our approach...

Get Shoppers coming to You
One of the best things both Facebook and Twitter ever did was provide the Like and Tweet buttons.  When your website visitors click them they are kept on your site but info about your RV and a link back to your website is sent out to all your website visitor's friends.

The Right Image
It was important that we could determine which photo was displayed on the Facebook wall.  Harder to accomplish than you might think, but we did.  The picture that gets displayed is the primary outside shot.

Comments Rule
Facebook itself says that a post with a comment will be considered more of a Top Story than a post that doesn't have a comment.  We were able to get commenting built into the Like button on the dealer sites in most browsers.  Some browser version are still learning to play well together with Facebook.

An example of the Facebook Like in action:

Step 1: A website shopper clicks the Like button on one of your inventory or library RV pages

 

Step 2: The website visitor is prompted to write their own comment.

 

Step 3:  The link and comment immediately display on the visitor's Facebook Wall AND all their friends' Wall.

 

Need convincing that Facebook is a realistic method to reach out to over 600,000 shoppers?  Check out Facebook current statistics here. Twitter has their own 200,000 plus following as well.

It's not about whether to use tools like these, it's a matter of using them in a way that makes sense for your dealership and the goals you are working hard to achieve.

Real estate is important
With all the great info we want on our pages real estate itself becomes quite valuable.  Be sure to consider the space you are using for social buttons.  Is there something more important that needs to go there?

The most valuable buttons
In our experience the most popular social sites are the most valuable.  Sites like Facebook and Twitter. At least start with these and then maybe add more as they become popular.  It's pretty simple to try out some different sites to determine which ones get you the best results over time.

Facebook Like vs Share
The share button was the first button that Facebook came out with just a couple years ago.  Last year they introduced the Like and/or Recommend button.  So which one is better?  When the Like button came out you couldn't add your own comments, but that has sinced changed and really there isn't much of a difference.  The Like button is easier to understand and use than the share button and based on the recent improvements with the Like button I'd stick with that one.

The goal
So, what are you trying to accomplish anyway?  Are you just following the buzz words?  Are you thinking there are tons of people using these social sites and how can you be a part of it?  Whatever your reason and goal just be honest with yourself and make sure it fits with what is sensible.

Did You Know: Your dealer site inventory and library pages have the Facebook Like and Twitter Tweet buttons on them for your visitors to share with their friends!

 

Big list of social websites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites