First, lets talk about why — whether you’re a car dealership, restaurant, chiropractor, public speaker, or whatever — being in full control of your online reputation is so important.

When I went to manage a local Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep store that had been in business for decades in my hometown, I was honestly quite hesitant. The reason was the store did not have a good reputation offline, much less online. Maybe that’s an understatement…they had a TERRIBLE reputation. Whether you are aware of it or not, the reputation perceived online is often the perception offline. We are often not aware of it offline because the offline community (our potential clientele) is talking about us behind our backs. And, let’s be honest: any business who deals with the public, no matter how great the company, will catch some deserved or undeserved flack over even trivial things everyday. The BBB has been in business a long time over just this philosophy of having somewhere for consumers to vent. Consumers just have more options of where they can go to vent with the digital age we live in today– right, wrong, or different. And vent they do!

After interviewing at the aforementioned store, I realized they had a large clientele of happy loyal customers including the local TV station, hospital, and other businesses. Yet, even with these connections, they still had a really crappy reputation. Why? Because no one managed it. Their online and offline reputation was out of control, from the BBB to industry specific review sites and even Google. It was affecting sales big time. And taking control of your online presence and reputation is a free way to increase sales long-term. But it won’t happen overnight.

So here’s how we easily managed to take control of our online presence and flip it totally around in just a few months:

1. Make a plan and put it in writing. We decided who was in control of what, sort of a damage control action plan. Even if the guy who was in control of online reviews had to get with another manager before making a response, there was a plan so that we could respond quickly. It’s too much to think the owner can keep a watch on everything. So delegate that responsibility to one or more managers so that you can make a response fast. We had one guy in charge of online reputation, and another in control of offline reputation.

2. Keep everyone informed. This is actually the easiest part when it comes to your online reputation. Most online review sites will allow you to take ownership of your review page so that you can receive email alerts whenever something changes. Make sure all the decision makers get copied on these alerts immediately, it will bring a lot of urgency to the process. And when changes or communication is made, cc the decision makers again so they know what’s going on. The worst thing that can happen is the owner get a call and not be prepared for it.

3. Search for yourself online. Simply go to Google and search for your company, you may be extremely surprised in what you find! I know we were, since the first page of results contained nine links to bad reviews or our competition, while only one was to our website. So if people searched for us online we were not making a good first impression. Google also has “alerts” which can be emailed directly to you as soon as a new result pops up in your name, which was also a big part of what we did. Again, direct someone to manage this day to day and cc everyone when something important comes up. The alerts are very simple to setup and change.

But don’t just limit yourself to Google! Search anywhere people can talk about you– online blogs, news sources, forums, social media sites, etc. Making a plan to ensure you control page one of Google’s results and other sites was the most important part of taking control of our online presence and turning our reputation around. If this seems too daunting or you find you don’t have the time manage Google’s first page of results, you may want to hire a reputation manager to help you get this fine tuned like we did.

4. Be proactive! The most important thing you can is to be proactively engaging your online presence. This has traditionally been done with TV and radio ads which do work. But the nice thing is you can cast a wider net for cheaper online. This can easily be done for free with things like video marketing, SEO, or paid search ads. I’m not saying to flush the traditional methods since we took full advantage of TV and it worked. But these days you gotta be thinking outside the box to make it work. And most importantly, engage and reward your online community who talk about you favorably. Creating a raving fan base is a lot simpler than one typically thinks. Things like video testimonials, online reviews, and social media sharing will make your business shine like no other before.

If you take dominating your online presence seriously, the changes will happen fast. But it does take time and follow through to truly make it work. Don’t give up! And if you ever need assistance, feel free to reach out to me.

We have agreements with about everyone….had a terrible experience with Carsdirect 72 leads 0 sales…and customers seem to use it as a wish lists…for new or used…not to mention I hate that they have a site to tell me how much I should be selling my cars for. AutoUSA seemed less attractive when they lost Edmunds. Imotors/Reply.com very low closing ratio..similiar customers to Carsdirect.

So currently we are using Autobytel, Zag, Edmunds, KBB, Dealix, we even pay for 3rd party leads from the manufacturer. We get a total of 550-600 leads on average.

Who do you like….and why?

I am always looking for good companies that are not on my lists or radar and would love to know your closing ratios….

We close over 11% when you include the leads driven by our website…and I have 2 experienced managers and 2 people with no car experience answering the leads. We have a decent system I put in place.

I am just not getting enough leads and I want more traffic…(that does not mean I want to expand my miles radius past 25)…whenever I have stretched it out the close ratio drops too much and puts my R.O.I. out of wack.

Look forward to the thoughts out there.

Okay, this is my candid response because you are getting a ton of leads and only selling 60-66 cars/mo… I can narrow down much deeper if you want about your closing ratio because I think it should be much higher, but not right now. Right now, here’s what I see:

#1 when I go to your website (the place where your leads close the best) nothing draws me in. There’s no call to action on your home page. Really you shouldn’t be trying to sell me on your home page, just quickly putting me into where I really want to end up — New Inventory and Used Inventory. As dumb as this sounds these links are not prominent enough, let’s make then stand out — each on their own.

#2 speaking of the nav bar, let’s bury that Facebook link a little since I don’t want any reason to distract visitors on my website to somewhere else. I want them looking at inventory! Reading my reviews! Watching my videos!

I suggest having a “NEW CARS” main nav link, “USED CARS” nav link, with your $10k or less and inventory links the first ones below these main links so people don’t have to even think about where they’re going. Internet ADD anyone?

#3 The inventory details page — Again, get rid of that daggum Facebook link. I don’t want them on Facebook I want them shopping cars. Again, here there’s no call to action on this page. Let’s add a CALL ME NOW 877-313-2767. Also with dealer.com you can add a “click for best price” on your main nav page (and also on the inventory details page) which is proven to create more leads.

#4 It wouldn’t hurt, either, to have at least one real picture of the actual car. This will help generate more leads.

#5 Inventory Details Page — There’s that facebook button again, be gone! Let’s throw in a “CLICK TO TEST DRIVE” button or a “CLICK TO GET APPROVED” button that will actually generate a lead. Call dealer.com and ask about that “Click here for the best price” button, which will show right below your “Internet Price $20,840″ on the details page. That’s a very prominent call to action which was always one of the most used lead forms.

#6 One step no one else takes on this page is, notice all that dead white space below the main picture of the car? Below that you can insert a picture (maybe of your internet team, be personal!) and another call to action like “CALL ME NOW 877-313-2767″ (let’s get them off that mouse and on the phone baby!)…

Well there’s a lot of steps you can take right now for FREE to generate more 1st party (high closing ratio) leads. Live chat would also be great on your site.

And let me say one thing about pop-up coupons — if you have a well optimized lead generating monster of a site, these will actually hurt your conversion ratio! I’ve tried them all over the place and get the same results. On a mediocre site, sure, but there’s so many other free and better things to do.

… I’m seeing more and more as I browse your site. No specials? Weak keyword optimization… Your blog which I got to through your website has only one post — Kia recalls 70,000 vehicles! Not a good start for leads to be thinking about.

>>> There’s more great content in the discussion, click here to see the rest.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IASAxSLpUA

How To Add A YouTube Profile Widget On WordPress — this is a simple how-to video for anyone looking to add a profile widget for their youtube account on their wordpress blog. You’ll need a wordpress blog for this how-to, as well as a youtube account.

Take a look at my other videos on how you can set up your own wordpress blog! I have lots of information over there.

By the way, online video marketing with youtube, integrated with wordpress and blogging, can be a super awesome way to generate more traffic and leads for your business! I can show you how.

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Peace and goodwill,

William Bryant
skype: wpbryant
blog: http://www.williambryant.info

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William Bryant
skype: wpbryant

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William Bryant
http://meetwilliambryant.com
skype: wpbryant

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Skype: wpbryant
William Bryant
http://meetwilliambryant.com