Pete's Auto Sales now online

Established in 1958, Pete's Auto Sales and Repair of Port Reading, New Jersey, has brought their used car inventory to the web. Spanning 49 years and three generations, Pete's Auto Sales and Repair is still going strong. Offering not only quality used cars, trucks and SUVs, they also have a full service repair shop as well as towing. The repair shop offers New Jersey state inspections, and certified emission repair, as well as common services such as brakes, tires, batteries, tune-ups and oil changes.
With financing available to qualified buyers and warranties on most vehicles, Pete's Auto Sales IS one-stop shopping! In the market for a used car in New Jersey? Stop by or browse online at http://www.PetesAutoNJ.com
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Pete's Auto Sales, used car dealer website, designed by Factory51 Design, and fueled by CarLotLauncher.

New look to Factory51 Design

We put the finishing touches on our new website design this past weekend. You can view it here... http://www.factory51.com. We also updated some of the vehicles on our demo used car site to show off some of the new updates.


Our existing client base will receive all the new features at the end of the year in a mass upgrade.

New clients will have some of the features now, like up to 6 photos per used vehicle listing, search engine optimized pages; titles, tags, descriptions are now fine-tuned with content relevant data - all images no have optimized alt tags and image names. We then use a meta-tag analyzer to check for 100% relevancy. Sure, some search engines don't put as much weight on meta-tag Keywords, Description, but some do and that's the point... optimization across the board. Just because Google is the most used search engine doesn't mean others like Yahoo! and MSN Live don't get used.

CarLotLauncher - Used Car Dealer Websites

This past week we wrapped up another new feature to our CarLotLauncher Used Car Dealer Website Builder. Originally, we only supported a single photo for displaying used cars - now you can display up to six photos per vehicle. And we kept they system totally flexible also. Let's say you just received a new used car in, but don't have the time to shoot 6 photos. Enter the basics in... Year, Make, Model, mileage and price. Upload a single photo and maybe a little blurb "Just arrived." and be finished. Come back later when you have time and really sell the car. Remember, treat every listing on your website as it's own Full Page ad. This not only captures the buyer attention, but also can increase your search engine listings.

CarlotLauncher

Why sell on eBay Motors?

EBay Motors is confident that dealer inventory will sell faster, allowing substantial savings on advertising, promotion, maintenance, and storage costs. "Using eBay Motors dramatically expands the pool of potential buyers," says Simon Rothman, vice president of eBay Motors. "As any sales manager knows, increasing your audience increases your chances of finding the one person in a nationwide marketplace for whom your car is the perfect dream car." And there is no shortage of willing bidders. Nearly 10 million unique visitors search for vehicles listed on eBay Motors each month, where listed vehicles receive an average of eight unique bids. The top-selling vehicles on eBay Motors are currently Honda Accord, Ford Mustang, BMW 3-series and Ford F-Series pickups.

EBay Motors

Used car domain names

When choosing a domain name remember that .COM is the most familiar and recognized domain extension hands down. The .COM is almost expected. With domains being gobbled up left and right, now is the time to secure your business domain name. Remember that choosing a domain is not only about name recognition, but also convenience. Even though abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz.com is memorable it's not very easy to type!
Best practice is to secure your full business name and 1 or 2 shorter combinations or abbreviations. Forward the your longer domain names to your used car website.

Choosing a Domain Name Registar. While you can't go wrong with the GoDaddy.com pricing of $8.95 per name it's checkout processes is enough to give anyone a headache. All the tedious upselling just to buy a domain made me transfer all my domains to www.directnic.com . Simple, easy to use no frills. For a few bucks extra a year it's worth it.

Used car websites by Factory51 Design.

Display your salespeople online

Photogenic or not, displaying your photo on your used car website is good practice. Research shows that displaying the photo of the salesperson to contact provides the personal touch that web browsers crave. This is very much similar to the various print catalog's you might receive. Whether it's the classic salesgirl with a headset or the photo of the owner with his "message from the owner" letter, these "people" photos provide that personal contact and connection to people, like when you actually visit a store or business.
Provide the same principal with your used car website. So, where to display it? Well, research also shows that a personal photo on the homepage provides validity of the website with the visitor. Another good practice is displaying your photo near the "contact us" form. This further drives the potential buyer that there is someone waiting for their message and who they are dealing with. Upon visiting your carlot, buyers will have a face to look for.

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Quick tips for Used Car Websites.

EBay Motors.

Just some quick tips about eBay Motors. Ebay is a huge resource. Numbers in the range of 40 million auctions worldwide every day (I will have to find a link to the source - it's insane!). Most often over looked is the "Me" page. This is the place for additional information about your business, website link, etc... this will also provide visitors with your other auctions. And guess what provides a backlink to your site.

What's the most searched today? The Mustang!
What's on eBay NOW!!!!

Used Car Websites - new features and designs

Exciting new upgrades are in the works at Factory51. We are revamping our Used Car Websites with increased SEO (search engine optimization) tactics, support for more photos, new designs, alternate listing site, SEO and social submission services, newsletter and more. We will also be rolling out our own redesigned site with more information and tips.

The scheduled changes are slated for the end of 2007. We will continue to post in the coming months. Stay tuned.

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Feature your features

Create dynamic ad copy for your used cars. Sure, bullet points of features are great, and important. But, creating a "mini-ad" for your vehicles that will excite online visitors and peak their interest can turn that car browser into a lead (an email, call or appointment). Your used car website allows you to talk about the your cars, trucks, SUVs uninterrupted - use it! Treat each car listing as it's own "full page" ad or thirty-second tv spot. It's also important to remember that the text you enter is also indexed by search engines. Which in turn can increase the likelihood of your used car website appearing before your competitor.

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Quick tips for Used Car Websites.

Manage your used car leads QUICKLY.

Response time is critical to your website leads. Respond quickly to your online leads.

Your best practice should be email AND call.
Your email should get a phone call. Your phone call should set an appointment.

Online reports claim that approx. 56% of online leads result in a sale. Don't let your used car leads go unanswered!

Act quickly and provide detailed answers to any questions.
Email a personalized response.
Take the time for a personal response. Provide 2-3 alternate vehicles (paste the direct links to the vehicle on your website). Don't neglect your signature in your email. Set a signature through your email application. Provide your name, e-mail address and phone number along with the web site address and physical address of your business.
Immediately follow-up by phone.
Don't assume your email get through. Some users set their email application to exclude all emails from anyone NOT in their online address book or have high junk mail settings.

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Quick tips for Used Car Websites.

Used Car Photos - Take better photos.

You don't need to take Photo 101 at the local area college. More often than not your camera manual has some basic photo tips to shoot better photos.

Some basics to remember:
• Shoot when outside lighting is ideal (mid-morning or late afternoon).
• Stage your photos. Position your vehicles without distracting backgrounds (buildings, powerlines, etc).
• Have the vehicle fill the majority of the photo. You are shooting a product not a landscape.

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Quick tips for Used Car Websites.

More leads from priced used vehicles!

One of the biggest mistakes is to NOT list a price on a used car.
The overwhelming majority of internet users will not email or call for a vehicle price. Why lose a lead or sale because of an unpriced vehicle. Get a price listed on those vehicles!

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Quick tips for Used Car Websites.

Used Car Dealer Websites - local advertising

A lot of small used car dealers rely on drive-by traffic, local newspaper advertising and word-of-mouth. Some that is all they rely on.
Your used car website is a means of extending your business to accommodate your customers. Whether local or 200 miles away. Having multiple photos and detailed vehicle information allows the buyer to visit your car lot after hours, weekends, holidays or whenever.
One of the most important part of local advertising is adding your website address to everything. Business cars, newspaper ads, radio, store window display, all of your advertising efforts should have your website address listed. Over 70% of buyers are using the internet to research, find and purchase their vehicles.

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Quick tips for Used Car Websites.