Seeing as it’s almost Thanksgiving, I want to give thanks to all of our users who have created custom themes over the last year. We’ve seen lots of spectacular themes made with our Theme Editor and have spotlighted just a fraction of them on our blog. To those of you who have created custom themes, thanks for taking advantage of a great feature of the vFlyer service and for making awesome-looking flyers.

WIth that, I’m happy to announce that this week’s Custom Theme of the Week goes to Mike Davis at The Car Store in Everett, Washington. His theme has a really nice header image that he modified from the header on his website and that has a nice balance of text and images. I like it because it provides ample information while looking very professional and well laid out. I also like that the colors in the theme all work well together.

Another great thing Mike does is he uses his custom theme on his Account Profile, making a very nice looking inventory website. This is a very useful feature of vFlyer for auto dealers.

We’ll be back in two weeks with another Custom Theme of the Week, so if you have a custom theme or have seen someone else’s and think it should be celebrated, drop us a line at support@vflyer.com.

After a brief hiatus, we’re back again with another Custom Theme of the Week. This week’s custom theme is from Cauley Chevrolet in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The header image is very clean and well-proportioned, and manages to fit the dealership logo, several car images, and a photo of the dealership without looking crowded or cluttered. It makes the theme look like it was built by a professional web designer! I also like the way they branded the main photo of the Flyer shown below – yet another way of getting your brand out there! Nice work, Cauley.

If you haven’t yet created a custom theme, take a look at this series of short video tutorials on our website to get started. And if you would like a custom branded theme of your own but don’t have the tools or the time to create one, contact support@vflyer.com. We may be able to assist you in building a custom theme.

We’ll be back next Friday with another Custom Theme of the Week, so if you’ve created or seen a custom theme and think it should be spotlighted, drop us a line at support@vflyer.com.

Happy Friday! This week’s custom theme is from Richie Caliendo at Caliendo Automotive. I love the header image in this theme, with its classic-car look and elegant black background. This is one of the best auto dealer custom themes I’ve seen yet! Also, Richie takes advantage of our Showcase layout for Craigslist (see picture below), which has a nice big photo at the top of the Flyer to give the prospective buyer a better view of the car. The Showcase layout is one of 9 Craigslist layouts available to business subscribers when they use a custom theme. Other information and photos of the vehicles are displayed below the huge photo at the top.

Great custom theme, Richie!

Once again, for a useful introduction to creating and using custom themes, take a look at this series of short video tutorials on our website.

We’ll be back next Friday with another Custom Theme of the Week, so if you’ve created or seen a custom theme and think it should be spotlighted, let us know by emailing support@vflyer.com.

Earlier this week, vFlyer launched its new Theme Editor, which allows vFlyer business subscribers not only to customize the colors, fonts, and background patterns of their Flyers but, more importantly, to upload custom branded header images to them. In other words, any vFlyer Starter member or above can add his or her branding to the Flyers in the account… at no extra cost! This is a huge benefit to all you vFlyer business subscribers because it allows you to personalize your Flyers and streamline them with your websites and other marketing content in a way that wasn’t possible before.

In addition to the option of uploading a custom header image, you can also choose from over 25 new broker themes including ERA, GMAC Real Estate, Realty Executives, EXIT Realty, Long & Foster, and many others, or create a text header in the Theme Editor. Also, these 25+ broker themes are themselves customizable, so you can change them to your liking as well.

To create a custom header image, all you need is an image editing program on your computer, whether it be PhotoShop, MS Paint, or another program. What a number of our members are doing is taking a screen shot of their websites, cropping the portion of the image they want to use in the header, and then adjusting the image dimensions. The ideal dimensions of custom headers are 754 x 82 pixels. In your custom header, you can include your logo, a photograph of yourself, graphics from your website… you name it. If you aren’t able to create your own custom header image (or you want a professional designer to do it for you), you could have a graphic designer do it or alternately, vFlyer could create one for you for just $99 through the end of November. Here is an example of one that we created to match this member’s website.

We are really excited about the new Theme Editor because it makes vFlyer immensely more valuable to our users, giving you all expanded capabilities to customize your Flyers. If you try out the Theme Editor and have some comments about it, let us know! You can email your comments to support@vflyer.com. And if you’re especially proud of a custom theme you created, we’d love to see it! Feel free to send a link to a Flyer that uses the custom theme.

As in many industries, increasing numbers of auto shoppers are beginning their searches online instead of at the lot. What this means for auto dealers (particularly independent dealers who don’t have all the resources of a dealership group) is 1) you better have a website, and 2) you better be marketing your vehicles effectively on your website. An obvious way to do this is to put your vehicle inventory on your website so that visitors to the site can view photos and get information about each vehicle you are selling. There are companies sprouting up every year whose sole function is to provide auto dealers with an inventory of their vehicles for their websites. If you’re a vFlyer member, however, you should know that you already have an inventory built into your vFlyer account! Your vFlyer Account Profile effectively serves as a vehicle inventory website as it displays all your active listings, with a link to each Flyer, a thumbnail photo, and summary information about each vehicle.

If you haven’t set up your vFlyer Account Profile, you should do that right now (or at least immediately after you finish reading this post). Your Account Profile is a valuable marketing tool where you can display your contact information, a description of your business, your photo and logo, and (if you are a vFlyer business subscriber) links to other relevant websites. Also, if you’re a business subscriber, you can choose from a number of design themes for your Account Profile (including custom Flyer themes that you’ve created). So you see, if you are an auto dealer, simply by having a vFlyer account, publishing Flyers in it, and setting up your Account Profile, you have a vehicle inventory to utilize on your website!

vFlyer member Elton Rosales of KD Auto Sales in New Braunfels, Texas utilized his vFlyer Account Profile as a vehicle inventory on his website. Click here to see.

To put your Account Profile on your website, you (or whoever manages the website) will need to use an iframe to do so. An iframe is an HTML tag that inserts one web page into another and displays it in a frame. To embed your Account Profile using an iframe, follow these steps:

1. Copy the URL of your Account Profile. You can access the URL by clicking the Post Flyer tab from the Flyer Editor or the Post your Flyer quickly & easily link from your Flyer Dashboard. The URL will be labeled “Link to your Gallery.”

2. Open the HTML file for your website.

3. Copy and paste this code:

<iframe src=”Account Profile URL&Prime height=”1000&Prime width=”900&Prime></iframe>

Where Account Profile URL is, replace the text inside the quotation marks with the URL of your Account Profile (and leave the quotation marks). Paste this tag where you want the Account Profile to appear on the page. Depending on how large you want the Account Profile to appear on the page, you can adjust the height and width dimensions accordingly. You can also set the height and width by percentages instead of pixelage (e.g., “90%”).

If you use your vFlyer Account Profile as a vehicle inventory on your website, send a link to the page to support@vflyer.com. We would love to see it!

I had coffee a couple of weeks ago with Jim Guise, who used to be a regional sales manager for Auto Mart Diablo Dealer. Jim has helped us better understand and support the needs of the used car market. Jim did a great job explaining some of the inner works of user car dealerships. “Turn” and Making Money According to Jim, a used car dealer’s profits really lies in their turn. “Turn” is a term used in the industry to represent the amount of time a used car sits on the lot. In general, if a user car dealer is able to turn a used car in 10 to 20 days – they make money, if they turn a used car in 20 to 30 days – they break even, and if it takes 60 to 90 days to turn a car – they loose money.
Acquiring Used Cars Used car dealers usually acquire their cars one of four ways:

• On a trade, when a customer trades in an old car towards the purchase of a newer one
• From a user car wholesaler, who purchase excess inventory from banks and other dealers
• At an auction, where dealers pay to have the car in the auction, and dealers pay to buy used cars
• From a private party, usually through classifieds

Marketing Used Cars Once a used car dealer acquires a car, they will spend on average about $300 in marketing cost to the car off the lot. “Low Gross” dealers will try and make at least $500 of profit on each car. “Middle gross” dealers look to make $1,200–$1,500 per car. “High gross” dealers, who look to make $3,500–$4,500 in gross margin per car, are rare in today’s economy. Used Cars and the Real Estate Market The down turn in the real estate market has actually hurt the use car market in recent months. Most affected are used car dealers in previously hot real estate markets like California and Florida. For example, San Francisco bay area BMW dealers who might have sold 1,000 cars in a 3 month period last year, are off the mark by as much as 70% in the same 3 month period this year! In the past, many home owners would refinance their home and use the proceeds to buy a new or used car – those days are gone for now!

So How Can vFlyer Help?
So how does vFlyer help a used car dealers become more successful in the increasingly competitive marketplace?

• Making your Product Look Good According to Jim, “You have got to make your product look and seem better”. Jim correctly notes that potential car buyers no longer “pack up the wife and kids” and cruise down to the local auto dealer”. Instead they start their search online! The Internet has become their ‘virtual lot’ and buyer are armed with more than just the MSRP! Auto dealers have the option of having their classified ads look ordinary or extraordinary – that’s where vFlyer can help!
• Bigger is Better Jim made an interesting point that in order to capture more of the consumer’s time and attention, bigger is better! Bigger photos, more photos, more information and more options! At vFlyer we allow you to include more photos in your gallery! You can customize flyers to add more information or options. Use the premium layout to make your ads really stand out! Use enhanced HTML templates for Craigslist that feature large photos on Craigslist and more!
• Market Cars on the Internet In the past, the biggest bulk of a used car dealers ad budget went into newspaper. With the advent of the Internet, this has all changed. A medium-sized dealer these days has a monthly marketing budget of $35K-$45k and as much as 25% to 35% is being spend on Internet. Cost-effective vFlyer allow you to significantly improve online distribution without the high cost associated with other marketing options. With vFlyer, you can get your entire inventory online the same day. Unlike TV and radio, the Internet is a point of sales (POS) vehicle that can work in conjunction with brand advertising to increase customer acquisition.

This week’s Watermark Plus image of the week comes from John Baker of the Lithia Internet Sales Center. Like other Internet-savvy auto dealership marketers, John uses Watermark Plus to add sales information to images that could help take them off the lot! It’s no surprise that Watermark Plus is so popular with auto dealers! Image merchandising has been used by auto dealers in automotive classified advertising magazines such as AutoTrader, Trade Magazine, Dupont Registry and Zoom Photo Ads. Watermark Plus takes the process online and allows car dealers to merchandise photos for free in a few simple clicks and then use them in online classifieds!

This week’s vFlyer of the Week for a 2005 Honda Accord EX Sedan comes from the very web savvy vFlyer professional subscriber Sonny Baird at Anderson Honda direct. Sonny’s use of the new premium flyer layout really set’s all of his listings apart!  Sonny’s elegant use of vFlyer also set’s him apart from other auto dealers when it comes to online marketing!

A growing number of subscribers are using the new premium flyer layout! There are a handful of examples of the new layout available as part of the vFlyer Starter, Basic, Premium and Professional subscriptions:

• 2bd/2ba Upscale Condo and Everyday Price (Real Estate)
• 2004 Audi A8 4.2 Quattro (Auto)
• Landlords #1 Home Rental Company (Real Estate)
• 2005 Honda Accord EX Sedan 4D (Auto)

Compare these to the standard layout to see the difference!

If you are subscriber, simply preview your flyer and select Premium layout while in Preview mode:

This new premium layout applies only to the landing page for your flyer. The standard layout will continue to be used for Craigslist postings, Email, and Print/PDF.

You can upgrade today to take advantage of this new premium layout option!

A growing number of brokers have asked us about corporate pricing. Last month we started to building out a range of corporate features and began piloting corporate pricing with a handful of brokers and rental property management firms. We are going to be expanding the program in the coming months so we wanted to get the word out to the vFlyer user community! vFlyer Corporate Accounts are aimed at brokers or other firms that want to offer vFlyer accounts to 25 or more agents or sales and marketing professionals. Pricing is competitive and the discount grows with the number of accounts.

The vFlyer Corporate Account program is not for everyone. Some brokers prefer to offer agents discounts on third-party services such as vFlyer, as one of the many value-added service they offer their agents. We have several types of corporate discounts available to brokers, based on commitment levels or co-marketing act ivies and those have been available for several months now.

If you a broker, rental property management firm, or sales organization and are interested in either program, simply send us an email at: sales@vflyer.com. If you are an agent, associate broker or sales professional and would like to see your broker or organization offer vFlyer services or discounts, feel free to forward this post and give them a subtle hint.

Technorati Tags: Real Estate, vFlyerRemaxcoldwellprudentialbrokerrealtorkeller williamsreal estate

A recent trend we have noticed among both auto dealers, real estate professionals and HR professionals is using RSS to syndicate their listings! The value to web-savvy consumers if obvious! Mark at Inkbots makes a good point:

The basic idea is that prospective customers can easily subscribe to your inventory (in the same way they would subscribe to your blog) using your RSS feed and their favorite news reader. Some of the more innovate auto dealerships offer RSS feeds of their inventories (Ikon Auto, Mall Cars, i.e.) and I am certain some smart real estate agents are doing the same thing.

The good news for vFlyer users is you already have an RSS feed of your flyer inventory! Just in case you haven’t noticed, each user has a gallery (See Example) – your gallery is a graphic summary of all the flyers in your account as well as your business or contact information. Subscribers can customize their galleries (See Example), while non-subscribers get the basic gallery view (See Example). All users, however, get RSS feeds of their flyer!

You will notice at the bottom right hand corner of your gallery page there is an RSS icon that points to your RSS feed. The url to your feed looks something like this:

Users can add this url to their favorite RSS news reader and voila! – they have subscribed to your RSS listing feed! For most, it’s as simple as clicking on the link. All of the new browsers have made it a lot easier to subscribe to RSS feeds.

There are also many free online and desktop RSS news readers available to users. For online users, My Yahoo, Google RSS Reader, Bloglines and Newsgator online are some of the most popular readers. You can also download and install as browser add-ons or applications desktop-based readers. For more on the subject of readers, you can visit the Wikipedia.

A couple of days ago I talked about the importance of high conversion rates and promised to share some points on improving your conversion rate in general and more specifically using flyers.

According to a recent data from the National Automotive Dealers Association (NADA) indicate that of the $7.8 billion spent on advertising by auto dealers in 2006, 11.5% was spend on online marketing and competition is on the rise! Although dealer sites received more visitors in 2006 then in 2005 (320 per month in ‘06 versus 228 per month in ‘05), conversion rates to sales dropped (from 26.4% in 2005 to 19.2% in 2006 for both unqualified and qualified leads). The most common customer gripes were slow dealer response rates and the poor quality of information

Improving conversion rates continues to be one of the most important topics facing auto dealers and online sellers alike. In the next couple of days, I will try and share some pointers on how you can improve your conversion rates using vFlyer!

While the number of Real Estate blogs continues to grow, auto dealers are simply not making it to the blogosphere. Inman Blog last week had an interesting post on the 1,000 Real Estate Blogs that Robert Melton of Pittsburgh Homes Daily was able to identify – and I am sure that list only continues to grow! Unlike their real estate counterparts, it seems that few auto dealers or dealerships engage in the ancient art of blogging! 

In fact when I did a search on both Google and Technorati, i was hard pressed to find any actual (active) auto dealer bloggers! The chart below illustrates the problem clearly. Either people aren’t buying cars or auto dealers are simply too busy to blog!

Keyword: REAL ESTATE	Keyword: AUTO DEALER

The reason auto dealers should be concerned is that according to Jupiter Research, dealer web sites are one of the top three most visited online resources when it comes to researching a vehicle purchase. In a recent report, Jupiter states that most dealerships still don’t view the Internet as an integral part of their business. In an earlier report, Jupiter found that 2/3 of the dealers surveyed that were the most successful at converting Internet leads into sales viewed their site as a research tool for consumers as opposed to simply a place to list inventory – and what  better way to interact and learn from prospective customers than through a blog?

I was able to track down the JW, blogger for the The Pennsylvania Independent Automobile Dealers Association, who told me this:

Perhaps JW has a point, but auto dealers willing to make the investment may indeed have a payoff waiting for them. Those brave souls may want to get some advice from Real Estate Tomato’s Jim Cronin’s post “To Blog or Not to Blog” which does a excellent job of outlining the “The 4 C’s to business blogging success.”  Looking for more info? A little more comprehensive guide to maybe Northwestern University’s and Backbone’s Blogging Success Story. Unfortunately, few real estate agents or auto dealers will have time to actually read it!