Holiday Greetings, Tedd…

I wanted to send a quick thank you for great service I had this past Saturday.  My Audi broke down on the way home from work on Friday night.  I was able to get it to Sonnen on Saturday morning but told it would not be seen until Monday due to a large amount of appointments that day.  I rented a car and figured that was the end of it for the weekend.  But then I heard from Matt, who told me he was able to have it looked at and I could pick it up at the end of the day!  He also found a problem with it that I had previously taken it in for twice before and nobody was able to diagnose!

I was greatly pleased with the timely service because I am an ER nurse who works 12 hours shifts and had to work that entire weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun).  I was back in my car by the end of my shift on Saturday and I owe it to Matt Forsythe.  He was so professional and helpful and I want to make sure he is recognized for his service.

Thank you!
Tricia S. hard-working RN in your community…

Holiday Greetings, Tedd…

I wanted to send a quick thank you for great service I had this past Saturday.  My Audi broke down on the way home from work on Friday night.  I was able to get it to Sonnen on Saturday morning but told it would not be seen until Monday due to a large amount of appointments that day.  I rented a car and figured that was the end of it for the weekend.  But then I heard from Matt, who told me he was able to have it looked at and I could pick it up at the end of the day!  He also found a problem with it that I had previously taken it in for twice before and nobody was able to diagnose!

I was greatly pleased with the timely service because I am an ER nurse who works 12 hours shifts and had to work that entire weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun).  I was back in my car by the end of my shift on Saturday and I owe it to Matt Forsythe.  He was so professional and helpful and I want to make sure he is recognized for his service.

Thank you!
Tricia S. hard-working RN in your community…

When a dealer is breaking all sales records even though the economy is down and local competitors are going out of business, you have to ask yourself; how is this possible?

Ocean Honda is just such a case in point and nothing explains this phenomenon better than the following thank you note received last week.

Dear Ocean Honda,

Over last weekend a light appeared on my dashboard and I called your service department first this Monday. I explained my problem and they said the schedule was booked until Thursday. I told them I was leaving on vacation Thursday and this was a big dilemma. They told me to bring in in and they would see if they can work it in. You did work it in, sent for the part and installed it on Wednesday.

You went above and beyond the call of duty and I cannot begin to express my gratitude for your wonderful service. Tomorrow we are leaving on vacation in a safe and functioning car. I commend you for all you did to make this possible.

A very satisfied customer,

Sheila, N.
Santa Cruz, CA.

Automotive SEO  has taken some time to find its way over the past several years. Meaning that car dealers are finally getting on board while at the same time the major search engines are evolving in ways that create both opportunities and pitfalls for the SEO practitioner.

While traditional SEO focused on gaining page rank in the search engines. A practice that involves on-site setup and off-site link building. More inventive approaches to SEO are overtaking the Automotive dealer SEO market.

Dealers are now viewing Automotive SEO as only a small step in their overall Internet Marketing Strategy. No longer can a deallership assume that a high ranking page will bring in the business they anticipated in years past.  In fact the inclusion of negative reviews or misleading competitive postings can completely destroy any benefit that may have been available with basic Automotive SEO.

What’s Next

Reputation Management  is now the primary need for most dealerships online. Negative reviews are the number one issue now rising to the top of Internet dealer concerns. A dealers online reputation is directly tied to monthly in-store sales, and a negative online reputation can cost even a prominent dealership tens of thousands of dollars in lost revenue.

GEO Targeting  is another ground breaking strategy that can be employed through a comprehensive Automotive SEO GEO targeting strategy. By using an Automotive SEO strategy to target specific surrounding regions a dealer can generate an addition five to ten sales per month.

We recommend combining Automotive SEO, Reputation Management, and GEO targeting strategies in a single package to keep pace with cutting edge Automotive SEO developments.

Take 5 minutes to educate yourself on Automotive SEO Best Practices

Effective Automotive SEO is comprised of general tactics that can be boiled down to “On-site improvements and Off-site improvements”.

Automotive SEO On-Site Improvements cover site link ability and structure, internal linking, page titles, image and heading tags, page descriptions, content copy, and custom landing pages.

Automotive SEO Off-Site Improvements are where most dealerships get into trouble. While it is generally accepted that quality links to your site from other sites are of major benefit in search engine ranking, some of the most popular tactics are not worth your time and money. It takes a clear understanding of what is acceptable to Google to steer clear of danger.

Bad Practices:“Link Directories and Link Farms” are the worst example of bad practices that are sold as SEO treatment. In fact while these may improve ranking in the short term over the next few weeks or months your site will likely be slapped (demoted by Google) or banned outright from appearing in Google. Purchased links are another bad practice that will eventually lead to de-listing.

Important Tip: Since most reciprocal link building schemes focus on these site hosted link directories and purchased links any SEO vendor offering “reciprocal link building” is most likely dishonest or amatuer and should be avoided.

Automotive SEO Best Practices

Question: So how do I get the “Quality Back Links” that Google approves of and uses to advance my search engine rank position (SERP)?

Answer: By using legitimate news coverage, public relations, and feature article syndication. These are the traditional marketing communications methods of larger corporations so it makes perfect sense that Google would honor these mediums for their ranking criteria.

So where do I begin to launch an effective Automotive SEO initiative for my dealership?

Start with your site structure. Can your pages be searched and found by search spiders? Hint: A quick and dirty way to fix search engine visibility is to implement a sitemap. A sitemap is a page with a list of links to every page in your site. Link to the sitemap from your home page. Search engine spiders will follow that link to the sitemap and find all your pages from there.

Look at the individual pages. Improve page titles, keyword focus content, section headings, image alt tags and internal content text linkage to other relevant pages on your site. Add custom keyword focused landing pages to highlight your features, benefits, and services for the search engines. Be generous here with ample links to other relevant pages on your site, appropriate images with Alt tags and deep content.

Move beyond automotive seo with a regularly published program of automotive news through a web based news syndication service. These should be keyword and link optimized automotive PR pieces. If this is done correctly you will see your automotive news items begin to appear across a number of syndicated news services and topical automotive blogs.

Create automotive keyword focused feature articles and submit these through the same web news syndication service. Qualified automotive articles will be featured in industry publications and referenced across relevant industry journals.

Launch a separate Blog to support your testimonials, news items and articles. A properly implemented blog can be a repository for all your Automotive SEO publications. Your blog can also be set up to distribute postings via RSS to a network of external related blogs and news sites, driving a continual supply of back-linked optimized content across the web.

Related Automotive SEO Articles:

• Automotive SEO ROI Management
• Automotive SEO Review

For more information on Automotive SEO, or if you need assistance implementing an effective Automotive SEO initiative for your dealership or dealer group contact Impact Auto Media today.

Contact Impact Auto Media to discuss your potential.

Subject: Excellent Service Provided by Richard Brabo & Others at Ocean Honda

Dear Mr. John:

I’m writing to tell you how great it was to work with Ricard Brabo, one of your sales representatives. I met Richard as I was car shopping due to an unfortunate car accident in the snow country that left me whole, but my previous car totaled.

I was looking for a car with “special safety features suitable for snow country and off-road experiences. Richard was/is a great listener and understood my concerns and needs and offered me the new 2008 Honda CRY AWD, as the solution to my driving needs. He explained in easily understood terms and safely demonstrated the safety features of this vehicle.

Richard’s superior knowledge of the safety features and his genuine concern to meet my driving needs resulted in my purchase of the 2008 Honda CRY AWD. (I had test drove and listened to the sales representatives of other car dealerships and none demonstrated Richard’s knowlege and genuine concern).

So, my hat is off to Richard. Also, I just want to give kudos to other Ocean Honda staff, including Roy Lundy, your finance manager, Roy was also knowledgeable and helpful in helping me to make my decision to purchase. Additionally, as a Project Manager and a small business owner, I was quite impressed with your service department; it is efficient, well run and staffed with very personable and helpful staff. The service obviously doesn’t just stop when you purchase a car.

Sheryl B.
Aptos, CA.

Great deal and Great service. That’s all I can say. I needed a good used car and thought I was in for the usual hassle but Sonnen Santa Rosa really made my day. A wonderful example of what a used car dealer should be. Sonnen Santa Rosa is the best dealer I have ever done business with.

Thanks

Sammy J.
Fremont, CA.

San Jose Hyundai, a division of Del Grande Dealer Group, and a leading Hyundai dealer serving all of Northern California has been winning the hearts and minds of thousands of happy customers in 2008.

San Jose Hyundai delivers quality customer experience that outshines other dealerships with expert staff and the best price on New Hyundai cars, and SUV’s. San Jose Hyundai also offers genuine Hyundai Certified Pre-Owned vehicles at the lowest prices you will find in San Jose.  Having served thousands of Northern California customers, San Jose Hyundai is the #1 Hyundai sales and service customer satisfaction leader.

“Our professional staff is commited to creating a high quality service relationship with every customer we serve. We will always go the extra mile to satisfy our customers. That’s the San Jose Hyundai difference that makes us the Hyundai customer satisfaction leader.”

With the auto industry as a whole suffering under declining sales, San Jose Hyundai bucks the trend by providing fuel efficient, dependable Hyundai cars and SUVs. The Hyundai brand has been rated #1 in customer satisfaction for dependability, reliability, and fuel economy, and San Jose Hyundai has been providing quality customer service to thousands of happy Hyundai car and SUV customers.

With fuel prices poised to remain at the $4.00 or more per gallon level, fuel efficiency tops the list of customer concerns. That being said, dependability is still a major factor in virtually all customer surveys.

So it is really no surprise that San Jose Hyundai is the dealer of choice when shopping for a new Hyundai car or SUV for your family or business. 

Customers praise Hyundai, “I purchased a Veracruz GLS for my wife from San Jose Hyundai and have been more than satisfied. Never a single problem in over 39,000 miles of commuting, and great fuel economy, which saves us money”.

The company receives hundreds of testimonials like this and ranks #1 in customer satisfaction for Northern California.

To contact San Jose Hyundai Phone: 888-245-1618 or visit the website www.sanjose-hyundai.com .

The news out of Wall Street may be scary, but Steve John is moving full steam ahead with a new multimillion-dollar dealership for Ocean Honda.

At a ground-breaking party Wednesday for 125 people, he didn’t want to say how much it cost, quipping, “I’ve got to sell a lot of Hondas.”

A two-story, 43,000-square-foot showroom and repair facility like John is building could cost $7 million to $8 million, said Eric Van Olst, Honda’s Northern California sales manager. That doesn’t include the cost of the 4.2 acres on Soquel Drive near Home Depot and Safeway, which is nearly twice as large as the existing dealership in Capitola.

Ocean Honda’s new home is one of four large Honda dealerships under construction in Northern California, said Van Olst, who predicted car sales would rise slightly in 2009, when the 4-door Insight hybrid comes out, and rebound in 2010.

“Honda sales nationally are up 4 percent this year, while sales in Northern California are down 5 percent, still better than overall vehicle sales, which are off by 15 percent.”

John, 44, plans to hire more employees by the March opening because he’s expanding service bays from 16 to 28. He employs 77 people now.

“We didn’t steal him away,” county Supervisor Jan Beautz said of John and his dealership. “He needed more space.”

The move will shift sales tax revenue — potentially 1,200 cars a year — from Capitola to the county, which Beautz called “wonderful.”

Employees wearing Ocean’s blue shirts donned white hard hats as Mark Fitzpatrick of Valli Construction showed them the progress so far. He pointed out where the dealer will offer a while-you-wait oil change and drive-in car wash. For customers, there will be flat-screen televisions; for employees, new work benches.

Sonnen Santa Rosa satisfies customers. The primary difference when it come to car dealers is the service and satisfaction that is delivered. Consistently satisfying customers is what makes Sonnen Santa Rosa special. Very few dealers in Northern California can compare to Sonnen Santa Rosa. With record sales and a long list of customer testimonials to back it up, Sonnen Santa Rosa is the customer satisfaction leader in Santa Rosa.

Take advantage of special savings on new and pre-owned vehicles. Take your current vehicle in to get service at Sonnen Santa Rosa professional service center. From tune ups and general maintenance to major repair and rebuilds Sonnen Santa Rosa Service Center is the place to get your car serviced in Santa Rosa.

Contact:
Sonnen Santa Rosa
965 Santa Rosa Avenue
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
Phone: (877) 766-6364
www.sonnensantarosa.com