Sorry for the lack of posting here lately. I?ve been a busy person over the last 2 months and now with the holidays approaching..need I say anymore?

Here is a quick update on what I have been working on.

A NEW website for my Mercedes dealer.

I wanted something less templated and more custom. The problem is, it?s hard to find a vendor that does custom work AND when you do, the pricing seems to be out of the reach of the typical ISM?s budget. Dealers will spend thousands every weekend for a newspaper ad but when it comes time to divvy up for a new website, they want to be cheap about it. I think I have found the right company with the right solution! I?ll be writing more about this once the new site goes live.

Ad Words and SEM has been another focus of mine. Being a Mercedes dealer, I have not had much success pulling customers from too far out from my market for new cars. When I was at a Volkswagen / Mazda dealer..I could get a customer to come in from well over 2 hours to save a few dollars on a new car. That?s not the case with the majority of Mercedes consumers in this market area. With this in mind..I?ll be read re-adjusting my SEM strategy for 2007 and focusing more on local SEM.

eBay Local - Being located in the Washing DC market, I was invited to participate in the new eBay Local listings. This allows me to send ALL of our used and or new cars to ebay for a 30 day listings using the ?Best Offer? feature. I?ll let everyone know how it goes once I have some time on it to give a fair assessment.

3Rd Party Leads ? I had reduced my 3rd Party leads providers to just 1, AutoUSA. After a year of tracking, they produced the best overall ROI compared to the other providers I was using.  When I had more then 2 or 3 providers, I was spending too much time managing duplicates. I was content with using just 1 lead provider but then an iMotors (Reply) sales rep kept calling me and calling me. I?ll have to admit, I finally broke (maybe it was her angelic voice that won me over) and signed up AGAIN with iMotors. However, I told them that I was going to track every lead 100% through the cycle and I wanted credit for every leads that was junk! We were able to work out an agreeable term. I?ll be writing more about this as well.

I have a few more tricks up my sleeve for 2007 that I will be sharing over the next few months. Happy Holidays!!