GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The vice president of Santa Fe Ford, based in Gainesville, Fla., reports that his store didn't need Cash for Clunkers to maintain strong sales.

While the store used to pay money for bad credit leads, he says this is no longer needed.

Greg Waitcus, vice president of the store, credits the dealership's success to used-car sales and to one marketing advantage he says he has over the competition.

"Since the deployment of a highly focused car dealer Web site and SEO campaign, we have become highly visible online and for many profitable Google search terms," he explained.

"Customers in Gainesville searching for a used Toyota, used Nissan, used Honda or any vehicle make, returns our actual inventory that is a match to the customer's search queries, oftentimes above the actual (related-franchised) dealership in Gainesville. We track the sources of our sales diligently and currently between 72 percent and 75 percent of our used-car sales originate from our Web site," Waitcus continued.

He went on to say that the Ford franchise is in Alachua, about 20 miles North of Gainesville, and yet despite this distance, Waitcus indicated that his store's site ranks high for competitive searches such as "used cars Gainesville."

So, what's the secret? Waitcus said his store's online success has been due to a highly targeted, database-driven Web site built on Microsoft's ASP.net framework, along with the backing of an Internet marketing team.

"We provide Santa Fe Ford with a relevant link-building campaign that dovetails beautifully with its 100-percent search engine optimized Web site," said Christian Jorn, of JP Marketing. "The sales success that has come from this combination has surprised even us.

"In addition to SEO services, we also manage a PPC campaign for Greg that drives an additional 18 percent of targeted traffic from search engines," Jorn added. "The ROI and sheer results from search-engine marketing is so amazing that Greg has reduced his ad budget for traditional marketing to nearly nothing."

The dealer site also incorporates YouTube videos that are created on demand by Santa Fe Ford's savvy Internet manager Randy Holt.

Apparently, Holt offers to post and e-mail a link of a custom-produced video of any vehicle to interested customers that may live too far to take a chance on a wasted trip.

Additionally, Holt says he syndicates the films to many high traffic video posting services. Officials said these vehicle videos also receive preferential treatment and high visibility in the search engines as well.

"We used to buy bad credit leads for $23 per lead. The only thing we knew for sure about that expense was that it was going to be tough to get financing done. We no longer purchase leads and now my department is paying out far less and is driving well-qualified customers to the dealership that can and are buying cars. It's amazing," said Holt.

For more on the dealership, visit santafeford.com. For more on the marketing company, visit JPAutomotiveMarketing.com.