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Dealer Tips Features

Use Google For A New Purpose

Used Car Dealer Inventory Appearing on Google Products

Most used car dealers know by now it’s important to claim your business page on google, but did you know you can also advertise your vehicles there? We are working with multiple dealers that are using the Google products page to list their inventory and it is working out great. If you are already an Auto Ad Manager customer we can help you get this going. Here are a few reasons you should try it:

  1. It’s Free
    Who doesn’t like free. And with a name like Google, you know the product is going to be top notch and offer an excellent return on your investment of time.
  2. It’s Better
    Potential clients are searching for a used car dealer in their area, or for a specific vehicle near them, why not give them more information than your competitor? This will definitely put you ahead of other dealers in your area not taking advantage of it.
  3. It’s Easy
    Adding a vehicle only takes a couple minutes. Link to you website and track your clicks, upload a photo, a description, a price, and easily categorize your vehicle as a Truck, SUV, Sedan, Convertible, Utility / Commercial Vehicle, or anything you choose!

Sound like something you want to try? Follow the steps here:

Add a product category

  1. On your computer, sign in to Google My Business.
  2. In your web dashboard, go to the “Products” tab and click Add and then Add product.
  3. Upload a photo.
  4. Name the product.
  5. Select Product category.
    • If necessary, click the Down arrow Down arrow and select “Create a new category.”
  6. (Optional) Set a price range or a fixed price.
  7. (Optional) Create a description.
  8. (Optional) Add a button like “Buy” or “Learn more.” 
  9. Click Save.

Your vehicles will now be live under your business listing on the right side of Google and will appear in the Google maps app when someone brings up your dealership address.

Need help getting your inventory on your Google business page? We can help! Contact the pros at Auto Ad Manager to help with all your used vehicle marketing needs. autoadmanager.com

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Dealer Tips News

COVID-19 Resources for Used Car Dealers

How can Used Car Dealers adapt to a changing retail landscape during COVID-19?

Here at Auto Ad Manager, we know that used car dealerships across the country are facing unprecedented times, and we wanted to make sure that you are getting the resources and help you need. Here are a few of the top resources and tips to tap into during this time:

  1. Familiarize yourself with and follow the CDC recommendations for small businesses
  2. Tap into the SBA Coronavirus relief options if needed
  3. Resources / Apply for a grant thru LISC
  4. Prioritize making consumers feel safe when visiting your dealership.
  5. Offer incentives and discounts to motivate shoppers
  6. Offer vehicle delivery and test drive delivery options if requested
  7. Offer video conferencing to show customers your vehicles before they commit to a test drive / come to the dealership
  8. Update your Google business page with changes and announcements
  9. Print COVID-19 signs for your workplace: Face Covering PSA, Stop the Spread of Germs PSA, Stay Home From Work PSA
  10. Watch the dealer forward webinar discussing how you can adapt your business to the changing retail landscape here. Any of the tools discussed can easily be integrated into your website by Auto Ad Manager

With a constantly evolving situation with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, Used Car Dealers face unforeseen and unprecedented challenges. By utilizing resources, staying calm and focused, and supporting one another, we can make it thru this challenging time together. If you aren’t an Auto Ad Manager customer yet, visit our homepage to learn more.

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Dealer Tips

Do Car Dealers Need to Comply with the CCPA?

Are dealers under the CCPA act of 2020?

Many car dealers wonder if they need to make sure they are in compliance with the recently enacted CCPA or California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 which went into affect January 1,2020. According to the compliance guidelines if the following is true you will need to make some changes to the way you handle personal data of anyone visiting your website:

The CCPA applies to any business, including any for-profit entity that collects consumers’ personal data, which does business in California, and satisfies at least one of the following thresholds:

  • Has annual gross revenues in excess of $25 million;
  • Buys or sells the personal information of 50,000 or more consumers or households; or
  • Earns more than half of its annual revenue from selling consumers’ personal information.

If you meet any of the above you are required to “implement and maintain reasonable security procedures and practices in protecting consumer data”.

For the full breakdown of if you dealership meets these requirements, see the official documentation on the governement website here.

Most car dealerships will not fall into any of these categories, and would therefore not be subject to be in compliance with this law. However, it does raise the serious question of how are the used car dealerships current policies in handling sensitive customer information? This could be in digital form via your website, or physical form when you make a copy of a drivers license before a test drive. You will want to discuss that with your business or legal professional, and this is a conversation that every dealership should have.

Obviously this is not a legal blog and we offer no advice on the matter of used car dealer privacy compliance. However, privacy is something that every car dealer should pay close attention to and that needs to be investigated. For further reading check out this website dedicated to the CCPA and this excellent article written by JD Supra.

Categories
Features News

Auto Ad Manager Now Offering Aerial Video Commercials for Car Dealers

We now offer full promotional videos for car dealers looking to show off their dealership with aerial footage. The video can be with or without audio to allow for embedding on the homepage of your website. Take a look below at one of the videos we’ve made for a used car dealer in Vallejo, CA – Autolinx inc.

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Coupons

10 Year Anniversary – Promo Code

Auto Ad Manager Celebrates 10 years!

We can’t believe we are celebrating 10 full years in business. It was June of 2008 when we first launched Auto Ad Manager to the public, and a lot of things have changed since then but the goal has remained the same: Provide car dealers with an affordable easy tool to post their vehicles for sale online. We have added a ton of features and made the site faster and more responsive. Car dealer websites have gotten better with easier to use navigation, fast page loading times, amazing SEO, and secure connections. Even with all of these additional features we have kept prices the same and never charged extra for them.

If you’re looking to try us out, now is a great time! We are extended our free test drive to 90 days! Just use promo code AAM10 at checkout for the discount. Hurry, offer expires July 31,2019.

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Dealer Tips Features

Auto Ad Manager Now Offering Full Used Car Dealer Advertising Services

Barocci Motor Group in Richmond appears at the top of Google search in the first position
One of our Car dealers is at the top of the search engine page for their home city market

We are now offering different enhanced services to help build your used car dealership brand including:

  • Managed SEO (Search Engine Optimization) – Target trending keywords to drive more leads to your dealership website. Includes SEO Audit and Strategy, 2 content pages per month and a monthly SEO Report tracking traffic increases to your website thru search engines.
  • Managed SEM – We will manage your ad campaigns on Google Adwords, Facebook, Bing, etc. Audit keyword effectiveness, manage negative keywords, add additional search terms and provide a monthly report.
  • Managed Social Media and Brand Reputation – Post 3 times per week to your Instagram and Facebook pages. Research and target specific hashtags to gain more followers. Manage reviews on Yelp, Google, and Facebook with replies to both good and bad reviews and provide a monthly report.

Give us a call or send us an email to see how you might use these new services to drive more traffic to your used car dealer website!

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Features

Auto Ad Manager Adds Full Carfax Integration

We have had Carfax reports integrated into front end used car dealer websites for quite some time, but now we have just released full, back end integration into the Dealer Admin area of Auto Ad Manager as well. Here’s how it works:

  • When you login to the admin area you can add your Carfax login credentials. Your information is secured in our database and your password isn’t visible to anyone.
  • Next, after you add a vehicle using the bulk vehicle uploader or single vehicle upload, you can purchase a Carfax report.
  • After the report is purchased, you can view the report on the Carfax website or even see the Snapshot information directly in Auto Ad Manager.
  • Now you can decide if you want the report displayed on your website or not. If there is an issue on the Carfax that you would rather explain to the customer when they contact you, simply turn the display report off.

Here’s what it looks like in action:

Picture of the back end area of Auto Ad Manager that shows the Carfax snapshot and integration of Carfax
View the Carfax report, turn on or off the listing, and preview the Snapshot

Vehicle listings page with icons that show whether the report is on or off for potential car buyers
See which Carfax reports are turned off and on for customers visiting your website

Categories
Features

TLS / SSL For All

Here at Auto Ad Manager, we strive to stay on top of the latest developments in technology. We feel that by keeping our customers on the cutting edge we help them to rise above their competition, because as we all know, It’s a competitive world in the car industry. That’s why at Auto Ad Manager we have decided to implement TLS / SSL for all of our customers. This has already been rolled out to current customers and is the default for any new customers that sign up for our service.

What is TLS / SSL?

TLS stands for Transport Layer Security and is the current standard for securing connections between a browser and a server. It’s predecessor, SSL, stands for Secure Sockets Layer and it basically did the same thing. For websites, this means that all information sent from your browser is encrypted so that it is harder for a third party to read and it helps to ensure that the integrity of the data is maintained in transit. When a website is protected by either of these protocols, you will typically see a little padlock icon in your browser in the upper corner of the address bar. It is pretty much the standard used by banks, online stores, and any other website that requires security. Typically for car dealers, only pages that have sensitive data that is being transferred like contact forms or credit apps are encrypted, usually by redirecting the user to a third party website. So why encrypt the whole site? We did this primarily for two reasons:

  1. Google gives more authority to secure websites. This will directly impact your position on Google moving you higher on search results.
  2. By encrypting the whole website we are protecting all of your customers interactions with your website which provides a more trusting environment.

Why haven’t our competitors done this?

The simple answer is it’s a lot of work, especially if they have thousands of clients. Each website requires it’s own digital certificate (a special code that is created that secures communication). In addition, all of the links on the website need to point to the secure version of the site in order to not have what is called “mixed content”, parts that are encrypted and parts that aren’t. If they didn’t build their used car dealer websites this way, it will take a lot of time to fix. As an independently owned company we are able to adapt to the ever changing landscape of the internet quickly. And the great part is, there is no extra charge to our customers for this feature.

Interested in learning more about how we can help you sell more cars? Click here.

 

 

Categories
Dealer Tips

How To Handle Negative Reviews Online

how-to-respond-to-bad-reviews-onlineMost sites offer a review system related to your Used Car Dealership. Sometimes, an irate outspoken customer voices their frustration with your service. What are your options? What is the best way to handle the situation? Here are some things that you should consider before you reply.

  1. Don’t Be Defensive
    Is your place business clean or dirty? Are you rude or nice on the phone? Do you sometimes ignore customers on the lot or do you greet them quickly and with a smile? Instead of getting defensive, imagine that you are experiencing your dealership for the first time thru your customers experience. If you put yourself in your customers shoes you might be a little more sympathetic to their frustration and this will help you make a reply and ultimately remedy the situation.
  2. Reply To The Review Kindly
    Most review sites offer the ability for the business owner to reply. Take advantage of this feature and reply to the review. A word of caution however: Make sure you do so in a kind, dignified manner without sounding defensive. This is key. If you are harsh and defensive, it’s not going to look good online. If you are apologetic, factual, and to the point, other users will see that and decide to take your accusers words with a grain of salt, or give them no merit whatsoever. Either one is good for your used car dealership.
  3. Analyze and Adapt
    What went wrong? Could the situation have been avoided? Moving forward it may require some changes to the business policy, but these changes will be well worth it. If you can minimize situations like this you will preserve a good reputation online, and that is the first place that most customers come in contact with your dealership first.

So, there are three simple things you can do the next time you encounter a bad review about your business online. You will save yourself a lot of time and headache dealing with a negative review online if you aren’t defensive, you reply in a kind way, and analyze what went wrong so that you can adapt your methods in the future.

Categories
Features

Auto Ad Manager Adds New Features

Several new features have been released for all of our customers available immediately. They include:

Download Images

Need to download your images from the admin area? No problem! Just click the download button from the images page. A zip file is automatically created with all your images as they appear on the site.

Carstory Integration

The team at Vast has a new product that we think you might like. It is a free service called Carstory, and it shows car shoppers on your website vehicle details page how your vehicle compares to the rest of the market. Check out their demo at carstory.com for more information. If you would like to sign up click here and check all of the products to enroll in. Again, this is totally free!

Image Watermark

2013-Porsche-911-1-5708012470631
Would you like to have your logo appear in the lower right of every vehicle image you upload? If so we can setup your account to automatically watermark your images when you upload them.

New Import Option

You can now use the bulk data uploader to import your data from PRCO Power. Simply export your data to your desktop and then upload it using the add multiple vehicles page.

Want more information on how Auto Ad Manager can help your used car dealership? Read more about us here.