Automotive Websites created by Dealer Commerce are now enabled for SSL by default. SSL is a technical acronym for a secure connection from your computer or mobile device to another website. Why is this important?

First, customers using your website know that any information (sensitive or not) they submit on your dealer website cannot be tampered with or intercepted. Having a secure connection also builds trust that your business cares about securing your personal information.

Security benefits aside, enabling SSL by default also allows our platform to deliver assets to end-users much more efficiently. Enabling SSL by default is an industry first for Auto Dealership Website Providers. Consider it the first of many to come.

Every auto dealer website on our platform comes with Google Analytics stat tracking out of the box. We are also tracking events assigned to specific links we designate important and goals for each lead form or page action. These can be vehicle detail page views, search filters, etc. We've got the bases covered and we've made it incredibly simple to implement more advanced features for your reports.

I was planning a vacation on Expedia.com a few months ago. I'm impressed with the work they do. From their social notifications to their "scratchpad" feature, I think they really hit a home run.

The last time I was shopping for my next car, my salesperson and I went through the dealers' website while she wrote down a list of stock numbers on a post-it note. I thought to myself - wouldn't it be great if they had a "scratchpad" just like Expedia's?

Most of the features dealer website vendors market to dealers are to reach more customers. But their own website is a valuable tool to salespeople within the dealership. They're writing down stock #'s on post-it notes?! 

There's got to be a better way....



Each vehicle is added to a list of recently viewed vehicles. The list itself is a slide-out panel, so it doesn't take up valuable screen real estate. Send that list to yourself and/or others via email or SMS/text. The list contains links to the vehicle on your website along with pricing information. Problem solved!

When I was searching for my next vehicle, I became frustrated when I had to sift through what options are available on a given vehicle. Usually left for the bottom of the page - these are some of the strongest items that sell the vehicle. Why are they all the way at the bottom? Usually behind a tab?
Sure, it's a sharp looking Fusion, but does it have heated seats? Premium sound system?  One of the benefits of scratching your own itch is stumbling on these pain points and doing something about it!

The feature was incredibly easy to implement. Take a look.



Voila :) Problem solved. Now I can easily find which Silverado's are All Star Editions or which ones have rear sliding windows without having to dig through a list. I call this "feature" simply, Highlights.

It's a phrase we use in the software development world. If what's out there isn't good enough for you -- build it yourself. In my opinion, this is a prerequisite for building great software products.

I used to work for a dealer website vendor a few years ago. It was my first job out of college, a startup, that was breaking into the market. We landed quite a few gigs and the business grew like a weed. It was busy. We had a platform that did lead-gen pretty well.

We would get all sorts of requests we couldn't implement. It was a one sized fits all platform and this was our first go around. Dealer A shares the same functionality as Dealer B. I always felt there has to be a better way of doing this. If we just had the time to do it right...

I ultimately left the company but I always kept up with industry news on forums and Twitter. I would see different posts and finally said to myself, "you still like this, and you're really good at it. I think this is a good opportunity for you".

I decided that I'd build my own platform. I knew all the rabbit holes and I had a lot of ideas up my sleeve. I knew that if I stuck with it there would be a market for it. Seeing complaints from people looking to get more functionality out of their current vendor validated my idea.

In the coming weeks, look for more posts detailing what I've been up to.