Am I brave or stupid?

[jimreidvehicle 255]

Am I brave or stupid?

Yesterday I emailed my cancellation emails to the remaining Classified Websites that we advertise our cars with. So unless we have a free listing or a pay per lead agreement we will no longer have cars advertised on any Classified Car Website. So instead of paying for 'the great unknown' we will be paying only for results. This money will be reinvested back into Google Advertising & Facebook Advertising, hence we regain control of our monthly spend. If your AutoTrader rep is telling you that about 60% of their customers are walking straight onto your forecourt, I think it's time you take a serious look at where you are spending your money.

Brave or stupid?

[Cornish Guy 45]

A sensible approach.

We have too many parasites feeding off our industry. The costs involved are spiraling out of control.

For the franchised dealer it is even worse.

[metcars 395]

Neither. You make a good case.

[Mikey 19]

Definitely brave Jim!

But you're are in a good place to do this. You're well known, great reputation, many followers and presumably a good trickle of repeat business too, along with some tried and tested experience of this kind of media offering.

 

 

[justina3 518]

Edit your post allow for wise as an option and i would vote that.

 

 

[MrC 142]

I stopped using AT year ago, I do sometimes just test the water with the odd car.. The costs are to high vs result ratio. Makes me glad I dont rely on them

[sparky 274]

Well your certainly not stupid Jim, but tell me. I'm in your neck of the woods and I'm in the market for a C3 Picasso in black with low mileage. How do I find your car?

[jimreidvehicle 255]

1 hour ago, sparky said:

Well your certainly not stupid Jim, but tell me. I'm in your neck of the woods and I'm in the market for a C3 Picasso in black with low mileage. How do I find your car?

it's quite simple Sparky, as I said we are about to up our spend on Google Ad's which will mean that as soon as you Google (as most people do) with that specific car that you are looking for and you will find me, not only that but with one click you will be straight through to the Picasso page of our website with all the details inc video, 360 degree interior images, pictures and finance available and one of the main things is the fact that we won't have competitors vehicles advertised on the same page next to it or price indicators or even age indicators telling them how long it's been in stock to give them more leverage to gain discount! Just saying!   

[RH Trading 80]

What happened to that autovolvo site you were the head of Jim? was toying with paying them £400 a month on your last advice but didn't like the sound of it in the end, are they still going? have you cancelled with them as well? nice advice on google ads, we've been doing it for some time for autolounge with some success on certain keywords. Good luck Jim, anything that can break the monopoly has got to be welcomed

[sparky 274]

12 minutes ago, jimreidvehicle said:

it's quite simple Sparky, as I said we are about to up our spend on Google Ad's which will mean that as soon as you Google (as most people do) with that specific car that you are looking for and you will find me, not only that but with one click you will be straight through to the Picasso page of our website with all the details inc video, 360 degree interior images, pictures and finance available and one of the main things is the fact that we won't have competitors vehicles advertised on the same page next to it or price indicators or even age indicators telling them how long it's been in stock to give them more leverage to gain discount! Just saying!   

I thought Google Ad's made AT look cheap, stand to be corrected though

As ever, look forward to some feedback on how it's going over the forthcoming months. Hopefully it's as successful as FB

[Rory RSC 596]

How many customers just google a car for example Citroen C1 Cheshire or Focus ST Aberdeen - I have never seen any stats for this type of figure and to be honest have never actually really considered it much. 

Quite interested if you or anyone for that matter has any data on that Jim.

 

Good luck, FWIW I think you will be fine and continue to grow, you are a strong brand with a strong following and should do well. 

[jimreidvehicle 255]

3 hours ago, RH Trading said:

What happened to that autovolvo site you were the head of Jim? was toying with paying them £400 a month on your last advice but didn't like the sound of it in the end, are they still going? have you cancelled with them as well? nice advice on google ads, we've been doing it for some time for autolounge with some success on certain keywords. Good luck Jim, anything that can break the monopoly has got to be welcomed

No, AutoVolo, still going strong, however my agreement with them is based on results, as explained in the post, I'm still with one's that are free or are leads based, I'm quite happy to pay for quality leads, is that not what life is about? You pay for what you get.

1 hour ago, Rory RSC said:

How many customers just google a car for example Citroen C1 Cheshire or Focus ST Aberdeen - I have never seen any stats for this type of figure and to be honest have never actually really considered it much. 

Quite interested if you or anyone for that matter has any data on that Jim.

 

Good luck, FWIW I think you will be fine and continue to grow, you are a strong brand with a strong following and should do well. 

thanks Rory, Google is so knowledgeable now it knows where you are based in the UK , so if you are searching cars just with terms it will localise the search firstly anyway, well that's certainly our experience. Just try it now,

[It's me 611]

well you learn something new every day

thanks for that

oh and good luck

[sparky 274]

So, six months down the line, what are the scores on the doors Jim?

[twerp 69]

Jim is on Motors / Pistonheads / Parkers..

 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

On 3/31/2017 at 8:36 AM, jimreidvehicle said:

Am I brave or stupid?

Yesterday I emailed my cancellation emails to the remaining Classified Websites that we advertise our cars with. So unless we have a free listing or a pay per lead agreement we will no longer have cars advertised on any Classified Car Website. So instead of paying for 'the great unknown' we will be paying only for results. This money will be reinvested back into Google Advertising & Facebook Advertising, hence we regain control of our monthly spend. If your AutoTrader rep is telling you that about 60% of their customers are walking straight onto your forecourt, I think it's time you take a serious look at where you are spending your money.

Brave or stupid?

Jim, I thought you were making it happen through facebook ? 

[ik1980 11]

On ‎31‎/‎03‎/‎2017 at 8:36 AM, jimreidvehicle said:

Am I brave or stupid?

Yesterday I emailed my cancellation emails to the remaining Classified Websites that we advertise our cars with. So unless we have a free listing or a pay per lead agreement we will no longer have cars advertised on any Classified Car Website. So instead of paying for 'the great unknown' we will be paying only for results. This money will be reinvested back into Google Advertising & Facebook Advertising, hence we regain control of our monthly spend. If your AutoTrader rep is telling you that about 60% of their customers are walking straight onto your forecourt, I think it's time you take a serious look at where you are spending your money.

Brave or stupid?

I don't think you are stupid at all. Many people use google to search for all sorts, so SEO is very important in my view. Using Google Ad Words and ensuring your firm sits on the 1st page of a google search is well worth the price you pay to purchase the words or phrases. 

I also think you shouldn't think that SEO & Google Advertising & Facebook etc. solely as a means to generate leads, of course that is the main objective (!) but as a way to promote and project your brand to the public. I think this is what Jim (& Umesh) have done very well.