2013
Autospeak-Straight Talk contains articles covering digital and social media marketing social communities and events marketing
You have a Digital Marketing initiative in place and you're measuring its effectiveness. Great. Now I would like point out a couple of tools you can put in your Organic SEO arsenal based on some telling statisticsPaid Search
With the incredible benefits of Organic SEO over Paid Search you might want to take a look at some other options that can be utilized using Organic Search.Â
Organic SEOÂ
The importance of Organic SEO speaks for itself. Also you can see that Blogging is having a big impact. Blogging (Content) which is engaging and drawing visitors creates the type of inbound link that the search engines new algorithms reward and can lead to higher rankings.
Here are some  Statistics on Blogs:
Blog frequency impacts customer acquisition. 92% of companies who blogged multiple times a day acquired a customer through their blog (HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing, 2012)
The global population of blog readers keeps growing and 81% of marketers rated their blog as useful or better.  (HubSpot State of Inbound Marketing, 2012)
These other options I mentioned that use Organic SEO Â can also play a big role in generating incoming leads. I will also point out that companies like One Big Broadcast, parent company of OBB Auto, (For One) has been in the forefront of Organic SEO Technology and is constantly pioneering technology to take full advantage of Organic SEO Marketing.
Online Classified ADS
Car dealers have been running ads in newspapers since day one and although it is less important today it is still a part of a dealerships marketing plan. One thing that remains constant is that in many cases the vehicle information is often outdated when the ad hits the street with no way to update.Â
Classified Applications like OBB allow users to create an identical ad on the web site with the ultimate flexibility. Users choose vehicles by stock number(s) or by clicking on the vehicle image to create their online car ad
Once created each vehicle image is linked to the full inventory detail via the new online classified ad. Users can add a header, footer and any amount of information about the ad. They can change the color of the background and even the background image. Edits can be done via the CMS should further adjustments be required during the campaign.Â
You can also create a link for printing in the newspaper and insert a QR coded for mobile access. Leads can also click through to the vehicle detail, chat live with someone  connect via trade in, credit approval, etc.
Once the newspaper campaign is complete the ad lives on your web site as yet another way to connect with local search.Â
Social Communities
In our days of information overload, many people are simplifying their lives to focus on their particular interests.
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Creating a private social networking platform on your website connects your loyal like-minded customer base in a single-focus environment, enabling them to exchange ideas and develop groups and ultimately strengthens your customer base.
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Companies with private social networks often experience better customer service, reduced customer complaints and even higher brand loyalty due to brand ambassador programs. As your community strengthens, your brand’s momentum becomes energized, resulting in increased word-of-mouth marketing and increased sales.
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The Platform can allow for customers to manage their own profiles – including create their own content, update their company news and social media – which can all be administered from your end with specified permissions tools. This “conglomerateâ€-style online network harnesses the power of multiple content writers which acts like a magnet to attract search back to your site.
Although you’re Social brand strategies are important, don’t overlook the potential of harnessing your own community in a niche social network.
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As always you must find what works best for you but Organic SEO should be a large part of your marketing initiatives. Just keep in mind if you have an outdated website or if you don’t have the proper technology whatever you do is not going to produce the results you could be enjoying.
By William Cosgrove
OBB Auto
A Division of One Big Broadcast
No. 1 Position In Google Gets 33% Of Search Traffic [Study]
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(Posted on Sep 13, 2013 at 06:37PM )
New findings from online ad network Chitika confirm it's anything but lonely at the top. According to the study, the top listing in Google's organic search results receives 33 percent of the traffic, compared to 18 percent for the second position, and the traffic only degrades from there:
For the top 10 results, Chitika found:
A similar study by the Chitika team back in 2010 showed comparable results, and Chitika suggests the findings validate the importance of SEO for online businesses.
"While being the number one result on a Google search results page is obviously important, these numbers show just how big of an advantage websites of this type have over any competitors listed below them. The importance of SEO for online business is seemingly quantified by these latest statistics, which, judging by their similarity to those observed as part of the 2010 study, are not likely to change significantly in the near future."
For many, it'll come as no surprise that the findings also showed a significant drop in traffic from Page 1 to Page 2 results. Page 1 results garnered 92 percent of all traffic from the average search, with traffic dropping off by 95 percent for Page 2.
And whether you're on Page 1 or Page 4, Chitika reports the top position consistently sees more traffic than others on the page. On Pages 2, 3 and 4, traffic dropped by 27 percent, 11.3 percent and 5.4 percent respectively from the first position to second position.
For this study, Chitika examined tens of millions of online ad impressions where the user was referred to the page via a Google search. Chitika says that from the referring Google URL, the study was able to extract the position the page was on within the prior search results page.
For more information on Chitika's methodology for this study, you can download the full reporthere.
Interpreting Rankings and Traffic Data
Rankings as the sole indicator of SEO success are only as important as the traffic they drive. And even though rankings for a particular query may waver in the search results from one user to the next, data shows time and time again that the top positions are winning.
Compete.com last year released a study that showed 53 percent of organic search clicks go to the first link.
And a 2011Â study by Slingshot SEOÂ showed the No. 1 organic position in Google received 18.2 percent of clicks, with the second position at 10.05 percent and the third at 7.22 percent.
Understanding what any one ranking means to your SEO campaign in terms of traffic and conversions is the key to unlocking that ranking's value. So while studies like these can be important in educating stakeholders for buy-in, use the data wisely.
Work to understand the methodology of these types of studies, and use your own expert insight to extract how this data can reinforce the work you're doing as a marketer.
By Jessica LeeDealerNet Services