Microsite news

Rumson, NJ–  PCG Digital Marketing (formerly Pasch Consulting Group) won a “Top Rated” SEO Provider award in the 2009 DrivingSales Vendor Ratings Awards.

Brian Pasch, CEO of PCG Digital Marketing remarked on the significance of the award. “This is one of the highest forms of recognition any company could receive in the automotive industry.  Our clients gave us this honor and we will continue to work to win their trust and business with outstanding digital marketing and Automotive SEO  strategies.”

In fact, when you search in Google for the phrase “Automotive SEO”, PCG’s website is in the #1 organic position for the United States.  Page one results for this important industry search phrase also contains other PCG web assets which demonstrates that the company practices what it preaches to its clients.

The PCG Digital Marketing offers strategic digital marketing services that enhance all major automotive website platforms as they providing Internet marketing services to car dealers across the nation.  PCG focuses on off-site SEO strategies, geo-targeted lead generation, search engine marketing and Internet reputation management.

The 2009 DrivingSales Vendor Ratings Awards, presented at the 2010 NADA Convention and Expo, measure satisfaction with vendors by allowing dealers to rate and review their vendors online at DrivingSales.com. Only vendors who achieved top rankings in dealer satisfaction in each category, as determined by the thousands of dealers who are part of the DrivingSales.com community, received awards.

“We are proud to present this award to PCG Digital Marketing which has achieved a standard of excellence that is clearly resonating with dealers,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “This year’s award winners have won recognition in one of the most challenging years on record for our industry.  We salute them for their ongoing commitment to provide value to their dealer clients.”

About Brian Pasch and PCG Digital Marketing

Brian Pasch is a veteran marketing expert and a noted expert in the field of Automotive SEO and Internet marketing. His career has spanned both management and technology roles.

 He continues to lead research into digital marketing strategies that can give automotive retailers a competitive edge.  PCG Digital Marketing works for and with an ever-growing number of auto dealers and dealer groups from all over the country to maximize results of their digital marketing efforts.

http://www.pcgdigitalmarketing.com  

About DrivingSales Vendor Ratings and Awards

DrivingSales Vendor Ratings are the industry’s first and only neutral, comprehensive vendor rating forum, featuring real-time peer reviews and honest competitor comparisons – searchable by category, company or rating – and are one of the most popular features of DrivingSales.com, which is the auto industry’s leading social media platform and largest online community. Vendor Ratings Awards are awarded to the vendors who receive the top rankings in their category.   For the awards, dealers are asked to rate their vendors on a 1-5 star scale, including whether they would recommend the vendor product to colleagues, and why they would or would not recommend the product.  All survey-takers are verified to ensure that they are actual dealership employees.

The automotive industry’s first ever Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will be held on February 12th; the day before the official start of NADA in Orlando.  Paul Rushing is one of 5 expert speakers presenting at the event.  Rushing will host a seminar explaining how to build search engine friendly blogs and the benefits of wordpress microsites.     

Rushing will demonstrate to dealers how to set up their own wordpress blog site and make the necessary adjustments so that search engines can find it.  The workshop will show dealers how to install and optimize their blog to compete in their local market as well as help dealers set up a publishing schedule with topics to blog about.  Rushing will also demonstrate how dealers can create their own wordpress microsites by re-purposing manufacturers’ feeds with their own content.  According to Rushing, “This can bring an avalanche of traffic to a dealer’s website and eliminate their competition from money search terms.”

For more information on the wordpress blogging seminar hosted by Paul Rushing, visit  http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/instructors/

In addition to learning about wordpress blogs and microsites, the Boot Camp will also cover these important elements of automotive digital marketing strategies: social networking, video marketing, link building, content creation, SEO and pay-per-click marketing.    

Rushing will be among 5 Automotive Marketing experts who will be sharing best practices and hands-on skills training.  The roster of speakers also includes Tim Jennings, an expert in automotive video marketing, Brian Pasch, respected leader in Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, JD Rucker, a leading automotive social media expert and CMO of TK Carsites, and Eric Mayhew, Manager of Advertising Products at Dealer.com who will lead a class on managing and leveraging Google Adwords to increase sales for a dealership.

The full roster of speakers and class descriptions can be found online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/instructors/

The Automotive Marketing Boot Camp will be 2 hours in length and offers attendees 10 hands-on classes which will deliver the abilities dealers need to understand, manage and catapult their online marketing strategy to the next level.  Every participant will be required to bring a laptop since the boot camp will feature hands on skills training.  This will enable participants to take back to their dealership and implement what they learned in class.

Registration is limited to 75 seats per class and is filling up quickly.  Automotive Principals, General Managers, General Sales Managers or Internet Sales Managers are encouraged to register online at http://www.automotivemarketingbootcamp.com/paypal

The Niagara Frontier Automobile Dealers Association (NFADA) is please to announce the 2010 Buffalo Auto Show.  West Herr Automotive Group is proud to be involved once again as an exhibitor at the annual event.

Car enthusiasts are encouraged to mark their calendars now for the 2010 show schedule; February 10-14th.  Come witness the hottest new models of automobiles before they even hit the showroom floors!  Meet celebrities, bring the kids; there will be lots of fun for the entire family.  Don’t miss your chance to one-stop-shop for your next hot rod.

Kevin Leigh, Director of eBusiness at West Herr, commented about the upcoming show “The West Herr Auto Group is very excited about the new show as we will have a chance to display some of the most anticipated cars that include the 2010 Jaguar XF as well as the 2011 Ford Fiesta. “

The Ford Fiesta Movement gaiend nationwide attention in advance of the Summer release.  For more information on the all new 2011 Ford Fiesta visit: http://www.fiestamovement.com/

Consumer looking to attend the 2010 Buffalo Auto Show should know that it is conveniently located in the heart of downtown Buffalo.  The Buffalo Niagara Convention Center offers access to great accommodations, shopping, thriving nightlife, world-class theater and exciting restaurants.

The physical address of the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center, for the purposes of map requests on the internet, is 153 Franklin Street, Buffalo, NY 14202.  Their mailing address is Convention Center Plaza,Buffalo, NY 14202.

Buffalo Auto Show Savings

West Herr Auto Group is running special Buffalo Auto Show promotions, discounts and incentives.  Check their website at http://westherr.com for the instant savings on all new and used cars in stock with limited time show discounts.

According to highly trusted sources,Toyota dealers will be getting a letter in the mail very soon.  These letters will vary but different versions will say:

• Toyota is telling their dealers that they should only have ONE website.
• Toyota believes that dealers should not operate microsites to drive in their own first party leads.
• Toyota does not believe that dealers should have their own outside blogs.
• Dealer must surrender domains to Toyota that include the word “Toyota” outside of their primary domain.

It would seem that Toyota would like to force dealers to purchase leads at $20 a pop from third party resellers.  Their actions seem to encourage dealer dependency on Cars.com and Autotrader.com for listing their car inventory instead of on their own localized microsites.

Microsites would have allowed them to create their own regional car listing portals and to collect more first party leads.

So much for thinking that Toyota understands Internet Marketing and Web 2.0.

Toyota Crackdown

If you are a Toyota dealer that operate microsites on multiple domains or landing pages that include the word “Toyota” you will be asked to remove your content and hand over the domain ownership to Toyota immediately.

This popped up when we tried to run a Google Adwords campaign to a dealer microsite that had the word Toyota in the URL name. Google blocked the ad because it was not a registered dealer domain name. It appears that Toyota gave Google a list of approved primary dealer domains and locked down anyone using Toyota in the domain that was not a primary dealer.

Sub-domains are OK for now

This crackdown will reduce Toyota dealers to having one website with the option of having multiple sub-domains. Blogs hosted outside the dealer’s primary domain will be forced to be taken down.

A sub-domain example is http://service.woburntoyota.com and dealers can create as many sub-domains as they want. They will not be able to create a website at www.toyotaservicewoburn.com or www.bostontoyotaservice.com. It is not clear if the sub-domain names will be limited in terms of city names that can be used.

Regardless of Toyota’s motives or an attempt to keep the “brand” consistent and to limit the use of their “mark” in domain names, dealers will be hurt in many ways. Dealers will have no choice but to forfeit all non-primary domains.

Since Toyota dealers will be knocked out of the box for their current web marketing investments, I will also talk about third party companies and private individuals that own domains that include the word “Toyota”.

I will also discuss what alternatives dealers have for replacement Internet Marketing strategies.

While Toyota dealers can take out TV, radio and print advertising that crosses official PMA lines, this move by Toyota is not about protecting dealer ’s primary market areas .

If it’s a move to cut down on third party lead collector’s that will also fail because of sub-domains. Just type into Google “Toyota Cars” and you’ll see some of the largest lead collectors on Page One.

Lead Collectors will Smile

This crackdown will be welcome news for third party lead collectors and automotive listing websites that have been blocked from Google Page One from multiple dealer owned microsites. Many companies will be popping champagne when they will have easier access to get on Google Page One since dealers will not be able to own multiple versions of their own domain names.

Toyota’s decision to limit their dealers to one domain for their branded marketing will impact their ability to compete; dealers in larger cities where franchises are close together will be hurt even more.

Toyota could be planning on taking domains like www.chicagotoyota.com from individual dealers and turning it into a local lead generation website for their dealers, but that will have to be seen. For now, they will force all dealers to forfeit their domains to Toyota and then go after third parties.

If a third party takes down the domain and just parks it or converts it into a consumer blog with no money making purpose, Toyota may not be able to recover these domain names because they will fail the three basic criteria listed by the WIPO, shown later in this article.

Some Third Party Lead Collectors Will Be Shutdown

Their decision will also affect smaller lead collection companies that have purchased domains like:

• http://www.toyotacarsforsale.com
• http://www.toyotatrucksbonusbucks.com
• http://www.toyota-camry.com

Some of these websites are secretly operated by Toyota dealers and others are just selling the leads to resellers. Both will be impacted by this crackdown.

Are User Forums in Jeopardy?

I don’t know if Toyota plans to go after popular user group forums that generate revenue from ads sales and Google Adwords like:

• http://www.toyotanation.com
• http://www.toyotaforums.net/
• http://www.toyota-4runner.org/

As you read the rules set by the WIPO a sticking point for these sites are that they are generating revenue off the Toyota name and that may give Toyota a case against them. Forum owners will say that this is freedom of speech but the WIPO might use their advertising revenue against them.

If Toyota chooses to leave forum websites up, they may be creating a double standard for dealer and third party compliance.

Let me say that I do not believe that these Toyota forum sites confuse the public, but that is not the standard that Toyota appears to be using. If dealer brand microsites are being taken down that are clearly marked as a local dealer and not corporate, then a larger agenda is at play.

WIPO Official Rules Pertaining to Domain Names

The official rules regarding domain names that include a trademarked word like “Toyota” are not cut and dry. I have tried to simplify my interpretation but here is the official wording from the governing body pertaining to domain disputes.

(i) the domain name registered by the Respondent is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark in which the Complainant has rights; and

(ii) the Respondent has no rights or legitimate interests in respect of the domain name in question; and

(iii) the domain name has been registered and is being used in bad faith.

If a non-Toyota dealer, like an independent used car dealer, who operates a website like www.bostonusedtoyotacars.com, that provides information on Toyota cars and the website doesn’t look like a Toyota branded site, do they violate all three of the guidelines above? Would any consumer think this is the corporate Toyota site? I do not think so. Since the used car store can legally sell Toyota used cars in Boston, did the owner purchase the domain in bad faith? I don’t think so.

Examples of Other Domain Disputes

There are a number of cases where upset consumers have created a website to express their dissatisfaction with a company or person. The domain they posted content on included a trademarked, incorporated or individual’s name.

In recent news was a case filed by Fox TV anchor Glen Beck against the owner of the domain:

www.glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com

The WIPO (http://www.wipo.int) dismissed Beck’s claim, you can read this blog post: Glen Beck Dispute

What May Be Safe

When challenged in domain name disputes, some individuals were victorious based on a few conditions and freedom of speech laws. If we applied past WIPO domain dispute decisions to Toyota’s current efforts to collect many Toyota domains in use, they would most likely lose in all cases where:

1. The site did not confuse the consumer in thinking that they are on a Toyota Corporate website.
   1. Shouldn’t copy the layout of Toyota.com or related properties
   2. Shouldn’t attempt to make visitors think they are on a Toyota site
2. It should not contain the Toyota logo.
3. It clearly identifies itself as an independent website.
4. The site should not be created to divert customers from the primary trademark holder.
   1. Examples: Toyota.net or ToyotaCorp.com could not be used
5. It is not for profit and informational in nature.

I’m not pretending to provide legal advice here, so you can read the rules yourself or hire an attorney for legal advice if you want to fight the letter that will soon arrive at your door.

From my interpretation of past cases from the WIPO, creating a blog at www.toyotacartalk.com and allowing consumers to express their opinions would be allowed by teh WIPO. Toyota would most likely lose a case if they wanted to take down a blog with this name as long as it is not making money or using the Toyota logo. It is a matter of freedom of speech.

Case in Point: Freedom of Speech

A famous freedom of speech case was over a Web site www.chelwest.com, operated by Frank Redmond, which expresses inflammatory opinions about a public hospital — Chelsea and Westminster in London. Redmond was not happy with the hospital’s treatment of his daughter.

The hospital claimed that the site’s name is too similar to its own site, and that “Chelwest” is part of the hospital’s branding and therefore its intellectual property.

The hospital’s Web site is www.chelwest.nhs.uk.

The single person panel ruled in favor of Redmond. The reasons were: Redmond is not using the site for any commercial gain and it is immediately apparent to Internet users who visit the site that it is not the official site; Redmond, according to the panel is simply criticizing the hospital with opinions which he believes to be true; it is not obvious that Chelwest is branding of the hospital.

This case is interesting because the panelist deciding the case had tried to draw up a set of criteria that could be used to judge whether a freedom of speech site should be permissible or not.

What CAN Toyota Dealers Do?

From what I have been told Toyota dealers can NOT create blogs or marketing websites outside of their primary domain. If you have a free VOX, WordPress or NING community website that will have to be taken down. If Toyota dealers scream loud enough that might change but for now dealers will buckle because Toyota holds the purse strings.

So could Miller Toyota create a website called “www.ilovemillercars.com”?

From what I know, the answer is No

What Toyota dealers can do is push their inventory out to highly optimized local website properties that do not contain Toyota in the domain name but in the sub-domain. There are a number of related solutions that will allow Toyota dealers to post their cars, stories and sales on third party websites that have high rankings.

Any Toyota dealer that needs help, can call or ask questions on this forum.

Before Toyota started this crack down, it was clearly cheaper for Toyota dealers to own their own marketing microsites, but now Toyota will increase their advertising spending costs several fold.

PCG Has Dealer Alternatives

The ruling will be good for PCG because we have many automotive domain names that do not include Toyota in the URL that we can optimize for local Toyota dealers. We will move any microsite content with the now prohibited domains to their primary websites. We also have a few new strategies that will be compliant so no Toyota dealer will be left behind.

Since we will only work for one Toyota dealer in a marketing region, those that act quickly will have a solution that can be implemented quickly.

In the end, it’s bad for Toyota dealers and will be a costly decision to limit free market thinking on the Internet. As I stated before. Toyota dealers can take out TV, radio and print advertising that crosses official PMA lines so this is not about protecting dealer franchise marketing.

Again, this is good for some businesses but NOT local Toyota dealers who were smart enough to be entrepreneurial in their Internet Marketing plans.

I’ll have more to report as this story unfolds…

This blog post is not intended to give any legal advice. If you are involved in a domain dispute, contact your lawyer or a domain litigation attorney.

Woburn Toyota, a leading Toyota dealer in the Boston suburbs, is proud to announce their current sale  which is offering Massachusetts car buyers a great opportunity to purchase a new or used Toyota at some of the best prices of the year.

If you are looking to purchase a new Toyota car or a used Toyota car in the greater Boston area, let the staff at Woburn Toyota demonstrate the savings you can realize by shopping in Woburn. 

If you have a trade, give Woburn Toyota a call so that we can estimate your curent trade in value.  If you need to schedule a Toyota Recall Service  or repair, please contact our service department today.

If you are looking for their Spanish language website visit: Woburn Toyota Espanol

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Wobrun Toyota dealership is located at:

394 Washington Street
Woburn, MA 01801-2110
Phone: 877-275-1907