Many companies, or developers, like us do specialize in independent dealers, true, but I think this is where we, as the "smaller" guys need to begin to change things. My company develops the AutoWebEngine.com script that is used world wide, mostly by the smaller independent dealers. A big problem is that we don't have access to all the tools needed. My company just finished a partnership with a company to offer data polling of DMS systems for franchise dealers to poll their DMS systems. We have plans for much more. The bigger issue though is that all these "big" companies offering these ridiculously priced services has almost, in a way, trained dealers to want these useless sites and tools. If you walk into a franchise dealer and ask them about getting their site listed in Google, for example, many will either not know what this benefit will be, or, they will tell you they are at the top. You look at their listing in Google and see they are paid Adwords, not organic links in Google. They don't have a clue because these big companies have trained them to want their services. Some time ago, when we were first developing our AWE system, I worked as an Internet manager. I of course know all about valid design and the sort. I had a salesman come in from a popular company that specializes in Flash sites for dealers. His main goal was pushing how fantastic looking, and when asked about how their site would help our
SEO, he claimed they could help get us at the top of searches. Even though he did not specifically state it, it was via Adwords. The automotive web services industry really does need to come up with a set of standards to follow. If all of us, companies and developers like ours, can come together and develop these standards and really promote them, I think we can bring valid design and services to dealers and get these big guys to either step out of the way, or perform their jobs as they should. The biggest thing is that we really need to educate dealers on what they should be looking for in a web system. With 80% of all shoppers visiting dealer sites before they visit the actual lot, these dealers cannot afford to do this wrong.