Hiring an SEO Company

Given my role in business development, I'm always interested in providing the best value for our clients.  I stumbled across this blog on Driving Sales.com and thought that it really provides some simple questions to ask when employing an SEO company.  I especially loved the comment by Cassie from Dealer.com for throwing up red flags on the guaranteed "#1 ranking" promise. This is all good information. However, I'd also like to add another question to the five provided in the article: "Does your SEO strategy provide flexibility to market nationally stimulated events on a local level?" This could potentially fall under the first question on the blog under “Unique Content,” but it begs more definition.  At minimum of four times per year and as many as six times per year, manufacturers will be stimulating the market with nationally-funded events and incentives. These events/stimulus are most typically launched on television, which is done to achieve maximum reach and impact.  What happens next happens in every market in the US – local search. If your familiar with Google's ZMOT study, you know that stimulus drives local search in over 90% of car buyers.  The reason this is SO IMPORTANT is because the $$$ invested to drive this local search far outweigh that of a local dealer's budget.  So, what's a local dealer to do? [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yM01WUziKc?list=UUmHay-ImcHJsfUveiuzXDGA] I tend to think of it this way: take question one focused on unique content, and ask your SEO company to help you get ranked for the event/model focus.  An example of this work can be seen for a client we work with in Abilene, TX – Star Dodge.  During RAM Truck Month, we created a RAM Truck Month page with unique and geo-targeted content.  The video you see on the page is optimized for the same keyword opportunity on video sites across the web. We also created a specific RAM 1500 page focused on the sale of the #1 volume vehicle for our client.  Video and content on page are written specifically for this client and market opportunity.  Lastly, blog content is being written for the event to tie-in multiple layers of unique content for a very timely and specific event. The moral of the story – be prepared, deliver unique content, and maximize your opportunity during volume event times throughout the year. Zac Keeney is the Director of Business Development at TargetClick Powered by Mudd Advertising. Contact him at ZacK@mudd.com to learn more about automotive digital marketing opportunities.