NEW YORK — A trio of industry veterans is aiming to put more power to generate productive online leads into dealers' hands.

By recently launching the Automotive Advertising Network, these executives believe member dealers can secure unlimited leads and online promotion of their inventory on national, regional and local Web sites. They contend the placement would be strategically positioned to appear on top of the most popular search engines, social networks and blogs.

Brian Benstock, general manager of Paragon Honda/Acura, recapped the online dilemma many dealers face and how the Automotive Advertising Network could provide relief.

"Many third-party lead providers sell the same leads to multiple dealers, and this hurts the closing ratio and average gross profit because many dealers are chasing the same lead," Benstock explained.

"The network gives us exclusive leads that are not sold to other dealers so the closing ratio is a lot higher," he added.

"The network has the national and regional search authority so our vehicles appear on top of the results in our market," Benstock went on to highlight.

"All of our vehicles that are listed on the network link back to our dealership Web site so our Web site gets more traffic and relevance on search engines because we inherit the search authority of the network," he continued.

Brian Pasch, Sean Wolfington and David Boice outlined their goals for the Automotive Advertising Network. Basically, it can be a path to help dealers generate more leads for less cost.

"It is very difficult for dealers to come up on top of the search engines for these phrases because there are many lead providers competing for the same 10 results on the first-page," Wolfington pointed out.

"The network's advertising technology gives dealers broader exposure for their new and used inventory online by helping them appear where customers start their shopping process: search engines and social-media Web sites like Facebook," said Pasch.

The network executives further highlighted their initiative at the Digital Dealer Conference in Orlando, Fla., on Monday. They emphasized six attributes dealers can gain for a $995 membership fee:

—Unlimited leads from consumers who are actively searching for a vehicle in their market.

—Promotion of a dealership and its inventory on CarDealerSale.com, as well as regional and local Web sites in the primary markets.

—Promotion of dealership and inventory on the most popular social media sites with live inventory posted on the store's Facebook page.

—Unlimited vehicle inventory publishing on popular blog platforms and WordPress plug-in for optimized inventory listings.

—Banner advertising on the network's local Web sites, as well as members do not see competitor ads on their inventory listing pages. Executives contend this is the first search optimized, dealer centric advertising platform.

—Access to the networks automotive press release publishing system and unlimited press release publishing on national and regional Web sites.

Timothy Martell, Internet director of the Albrecht Group in Massachusetts, gave a brief evaluation of what the network has done for his store.

"The network helps us dominate search results for every day search phrases that are the bread and butter for organic traffic and first party leads," Martell noted.

Management of a Toyota dealership also shared how the network helped the store overcome turmoil surrounding recalls of the certain brand vehicles.

"We have a smart strategy to optimize our own Web site to appear on top for local search, but the network helps us reach people who type in the more popular national and regional search phrases like ‘Toyota recall,'" stated Alex Snyder, an executive with Checkered Flag Toyota in Virginia Beach, Va.

"All our cars are available for consumers to see on CarDealerSale.com and the hundreds of regional and local sites that have top position on the search engines," Snyder added.

Another dealer from the Northwest summarized what Automotive Advertising Network executives believe their system can do for dealers nationwide.

"The ad network is our best new source of leads because they have a high closing ratio and are inexpensive because we pay a flat fee no matter how many leads we receive," explained Jon Sherrell, Internet director at the Rairdon Group of Washington.