Auto Shop Owners Google is giving you Caffeine to wake you up and smell the Web!

: Image by FindYourSearch via Flickr

Are you going to let your competition beat you to it?

Yes, Google made the announcement on June 8, 2010 in their Official Google Blog.

I spent the last three weeks searching and analyzing how much it is affecting, or helping, our www.ocautoservice.com and www.ecommnow.com listings in the search results. Having enjoyed front page positioning for our directory when searching for “auto repair or auto service and the city or county” in any of the counties or cities we serve in Southern California, it was crucial to monitor how their new indexing system was working. The same applies for our main marketing site www.ecommnow.com whenever any shop owner searches for “auto shop online marketing, auto shop online advertising or auto shop pay per click (or ppc) “.

Well, after a few nervous moments at the beginning of my research, I realized that the new indexing system has helped us maintain our position. Furthermore, as we keep on adding more continuous content, such as adding more shops to our directory, Blog postings, How To Videos and Tweets going to Facebook, LinkedIn etc., we’ll keep on solidifying and improving our position for the benefit of our member shops and all of us involved.

But this is not about us, this is about how it can help your shop.

Rather, how can I help other shop owners benefit from the jolt that Caffeine is adding to online marketing. What are the elements that will help your shop climb from the obscurity of having your website (if you already own one), or any of your shop’s listings on the Web, buried past the second page of search results. How can you assure yourself that when new prospective customers search for auto repair or service in your local area, they will find your shop on the search results? In my research and opinion the lists of items posted in two of my last articles, “How to Advertise Your Auto Repair Shop Online Locally” – Part III and Part V are the main elements that you need to work on to take advantage of the new Google Caffeine indexing system. The great majority of the following Free resources, listed in the priority order that should be implemented, require mostly time, effort and above all continuity and perseverance. For a detailed explanation of the items listed refer back to the two articles mentioned above, if you would like a PDF list with all the implementation details, fill out the form on the left column and I will email you a copy.

First and foremost, create a Google Account.
Update your shop’s listing in Google Places, adding all the necessary information, pictures, etc.
The same procedure should be implemented in Yelp.com, InsiderPages.com, MerchantCircle.com
If you don’t already own a domain name for your shop, get it a.s.a.p.
If you don’t have a website for your shop, you better get working on it. Having a website for your business is a MUST nowadays
A Facebook BUSINESS page, not your typical friends and family page.
Create a professional bio/profile in LinkedIn and Google Profile
Create a “signature” to go at the end of all your email communications and make sure it includes links to your professional profiles
Start creating Videos for your shop, a well narrated tour of your shop is a real good start.
Sign up to YouTube with your Google Account email address and create a channel for your viewers
Add more videos, short 4 or 5 minutes long, showing some of your service or repair procedures
Create an account in Twitter that will reflect the name of your shop, and/or what you specialize on. By instance, mine is @AutoShopSEM (SEM=Search Engine Marketing). Before you start tweeting, make sure to read my next article. Do Not Try To Advertise!
Once everything is in place, start registering and contributing to automotive forums for the car brands you either specialize on, or want to target in your marketing

Too much to do you say? I can guarantee you that after six months of implementing the entire program, I won’t hear you complaining when you see how your customer count and bottom line starts growing exponentially.

Don’t have the wherewithal or the time to do it? Then visit us at www.ecommnow.com