Let's face it, it's all downhill from here. The past two years have seen Newspapers down by 52%. And, as your marketing team has told you: "Cut the same old, same old TV and Radio because dude, the internet is the way to go." And they're right; the smart money has been going to the internet so much so that at last look it's up around 120% over the past couple of years.
That same marketing team will also tell you that if you want people to arrive at your dealership's web site you're going to have spend a large portion of your budget in something called search engine optimization. Of course they probably didn't use words that easy to understand. The thing is because over three quarters of all current car buyers use search engines, you've got to have a site that a search engine likes. So that when your potential customer types in a key word or two your site is closest to the top of the search. Which leads me to the point of this story. With all the search engines out there, people go Google more. About three times more than Yahoo.
That makes Google the Michael Phelps of the search engine world. But the technology had to walk before it could swim. The first search engine created was Archie, created in 1990 by Alan Emtage, a student at McGill University in Montreal. The original intent of the name was "archives," but it was shortened to Archie. You can see more about Archie, Veronica and even Jughead all search engines developed prior to 1991 and the introduction of the world wide web at http://www.searchenginehistory.com/. So, even though Google wasn't the first it has without a doubt the best in search.
So what's Google going for next?
Have you got a smart phone? If you do you know that your smart phone, no matter which brand you have, is like digital candy for almost every Internet Company with a sweet tooth. During the first three months of this year alone, two thirds of the people who search on their phones go with Google. So Google is not just ahead of their competition in this new segment, they simply have no competition.
So now you're asking yourself, "How did they do that?"
The answer's in the browser and just the way people think? You've heard the now well worn phrase: "Let me Google that." Or "Just Google it." It's the new go to verb. And with newer browsers that integrate Google as part of the toolbar people are just "Googling" away at work, at home and on their way to work on their iPhones, too.
So, Google is going like gangbusters. And the one thing you have to remember above all else is that if you want people to go to your dealership's web site you gotta go through Google or you probably won't be going much at all.
