Tell my audience about yourself. What made you want to start your website whitecoatinvestor.com?

I’m a full-time practicing emergency physician. I started The White Coat Investor website two years ago in order to help highly-paid professionals avoid being taken advantage of by financial professionals.

Please name some quick and easy ways for a person to improve their credit even if they’ve recently been through a divorce or some type of financial calamity?

The best way to improve your credit is to simply pay your bills. Check your credit report and make sure it’s accurate of course, but mostly, lenders want to lend to people who pay their bills. If you pay your bills, you won’t have any trouble getting credit. Obviously, they might not want to lend to you if you don’t have any income either, but that’s less of an issue than just paying your bills. All the other things that improve your credit, like the right number of accounts and the right percentage of available credit being used etc are miniscule compared to whether or not you pay your bills and how long you’ve been doing so.

When a person walks into a car dealership what are some credit questions you recommend that consumer ask the salesman or finance manager?

I don’t recommend that a person buying a car ask ANY credit questions nor that they talk to a finance manager. Cars are a depreciating asset, and should be bought with cash only. I’ve owned 5 cars in my life and paid cash for all of them. I was doing that long before I had a “doctor’s income”. This idea that you have to have a $10,000 car or even a $30,000 car in order to have reliable transportation is stupid. A $2-5K car may last another $100,000 miles with an occasional repair. The best deal I ever had on a car was one I paid $1850 for, then sold 4 years later for $1500. It was almost free transportation.

How long does the credit restoration process take?

It can take up to 7 years since that’s how long a bankruptcy will stay on your credit report. But I suspect it would be a matter of just 2-3 years to get your credit to the point where you can buy a house, which is really all you should be using credit for anyway. It will likely take you that long to save up a down payment anyway if you’re recently out of a bankruptcy, foreclosure, or other financial calamity.

If a person can’t purchase a vehicle in cash, what’s the ideal down payment you recommend they have? Does a larger down payment mean a shorter loan and APR?

Ride the bus. Walk. Ride your bike. Move closer to work. Car pool. Ride with co-workers. Borrow your mom’s car. You get the picture. The ideal down payment is 100%. Buying a car on credit is a technique that will keep you in the poorhouse. If you have a car loan now, pay it off as soon as possible, then keep making those payments into your bank account. It won’t take long before you have enough to buy your next car with cash.

If you’re a first time car buyer and you’ve never shopped for insurance before, what are some tips to get the lowest rate possible? What are some questions you should ask your insurance agent to know your getting the best possible deal?

Call two or three places including Geico and USAA if you’re eligible and get quotes. Insurance isn’t just about low rates, it’s also about good service when you have a claim. If you wish to use an agent, use an independent one that can sell you a policy from any company. Then he can shop around for you and get you the best rate.

Besides whitecoatinvestor.com what are some of websites/blogs you would recommend our visitors visit while trying to improve their credit?

Bogleheads.org is full of millionaires and soon to be millionaires who got there by living frugally, boosting their incomes, and investing smartly. Fat Wallet Finance Forums are also a great resource for those who are looking for special deals to maximize their financial opportunities.

James M. Dahle, MD
Editor
The White Coat Investor
http://whitecoatinvestor.com

This is our sixth interview in our “1000 Interview Challenge” If your interested in an interview, please contact me.

This interview was conducted by Shane McC. Shane currently is attending RISD studying computer programming. He enjoys traveling and plays hockey. He played for the Boston Junior Bruins of the EJHL during the 01-02 season. You can follow him on Google+

Tell us about your social media book “Welcome to the Fifth Estate”. How can a car dealer benefit from reading this book?

What someone should understand after reading this book is that they are completely empowered to go out and become their own media voice. With the existing social media tools and networks, one can create community and build a following. It’s not easy — for example, what’s going to make your dealer’s social media more interesting and valuable than the usual fodder — but it can be completely rewarding, and also reduce traditional marketing costs.

Tell us what it was like to work with Fortune 500 companies. How is it different from working with a small to medium sized business?

Everything is slower. Process and silos force you to embrace more cultural change and work with people to become better at systematic integration. At the same time, there is budget and resources, so once you do move, you can execute with authority and accomplish greater things on a much wider scale. I find the latter makes the prior worth the effort.

What are some common mistakes that you see small and medium sized businesses make when implementing a social media strategy?

They don’t listen or interact with people, and just broadcast messages out. This is a huge mistake. Talking about the fastest way to repel audiences and stakeholders. And if a brand wants to cultivate word of mouth and evangelists, it pretty much crushes any hopes of doing so by broadcasting on social channels. The second thing is to try and do what every one else does. You’re not going to be Red Bull or Oreo in social media. You’re going to be you. Be you and let that stand on its on.

If a car dealer or business has a bad online reputation what are some ways to repair it?

Listen to complaints, publicly acknowledge them, and then resolve them. Sorry doesn’t cut it. Fixing problems does.

If a car dealer walked into your office and asked what’s the easiest and also most cost effective way to better my online brand, what would you tell that car dealer?

Listen to your customers and provide them the actual information they want. Put your inventory online in a responsive design format that allows customers to peruse your wares anywhere, including your lot on the mobile phone. Be of service, generally. It’s an opt-in world so make people want to talk to you.

What marketing/ publicity advice would you give a small used car dealer. I’m not talking about the massive used or new car dealer off of the highway. I’m talking about small “mom and pop” corner car lot. How can that business compete with the bigger, better funded new and used car dealers coming from a social media/marketing standpoint?

When people buy used cars they really need advice on avoiding lemons and maintenance. So provide it. I think most car dealers are so quick to make a sale they forget how much people appreciate the truth and help. It’s basic human relations, and it can make a big difference for you!

Geoff Livingston
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This is our third interview in our “1000 Interview Challenge” If your interested in an interview, please contact me.

This interview was conducted by Shane McC. Shane currently is attending RISD studying computer programming. He enjoys traveling and plays hockey. He played for the Boston Junior Bruins of the EJHL during the 01-02 season. You can follow him on Google+

Annabel please tell my audience about yourself. Give us a background. What made you want to start successfulblogging.com?

Thank you for inviting me here Shane. I’m a freelance writer and web designer. I have an MA in Design for Interactive Media from Middlesex University in London and I’ve been writing and designing for the Internet since 1995.

I started a travel blog called Get In the Hot Spot after moving to Australia in 2009 to share my writing and travel stories. Then I discovered that my blog was a great marketing tool for my web design services and also brought me heaps of other new opportunities.

I soon got hooked on blogging and wrote Successful Blogging in 12 Simple Steps to help other small business owners and writers tap into the power of blogging. Later I set up Successful Blogging.com to share more blogging tips and give other business owners, freelancers, consultants and writers on-going support and motivation.

Please tell my audience about your ebook called “Successful Blogging in 12 Easy Steps”

The aim of the book is to demystify blogging because when I started I noticed that most of the advice about blogging was geared towards the make money online brigade or to people who were quite techie. I wanted blogging to be accessible to people who weren’t that technical, especially creatives who I knew would benefit from blogging to help sell more of their services or products. The book is a combined course and workbook so that people can plan their blog before they set it up or hire a web designer and also come up with a clear strategy for what to write and how to promote their blog. It’s available on Amazon in print and (very soon) Kindle.

In this new marketing environment do you believe small and medium sized businesses are taking advantage of social media branding/advertising and blogging?

Well I hear that many small business owners don’t even have a website so anyone who does has a big advantage over their competitors What I’ve always liked about web design is that I can help people market their business very cheaply online because once a decent site is set up it should keep doing its job for years.

The difference with blogging and social media is that business owners have to invest time or money on the marketing on an on-going basis so that puts a lot of people off. But for those people who are prepared to invest in blogging and social media will reap the rewards.

As social media and content marketing continues to grow do you see traditional advertising avenues becoming obsolete. For example, tv, radio, print, classifieds etc ….

Not obsolete no but I believe those things are a poor investment for small business owners. You’re much better investing in your own website. TV, radio and print ads air a few times then people forget about them. If your website is set up well it should attract and convert customers soon after set up and if the search engine optimisation is done right then it should attract more customers in the long term. Social media is a great way to get customers to your website fast.

What are some cost effective strategies a new or used car dealer can employ to help improve the look and feel of their website?

Think like your customer. Remember they are looking for specific information and they want to get it fast. If they can’t do that on your website they’ll give up and try somewhere else.

Every site will be different – some may have a searchable database of cars, others just an overview and a contact phone number. Think about what actions you want those site visitors to take and design your site around that.

Clean and simple designs are best – they load fast and do their job well. People often pay more for flashy animated sites which really don’t add any value to the clients and slow download times.

If a new or used car dealer is on a tight advertising budget, what specific steps would you recommend that business take when promoting their brand online?

Don’t use your logo for your Twitter or Facebook avatar, use a photo of yourself smiling. Be friendly and approachable, not pushy and try to offer useful, relevant advice to people who might be looking to buy a car.

If a car dealer has a bad online reputation what are some ways you could suggest to repair it?

Make sure people find your site or social media outposts first and that everything they see there is consistent and builds trust. Testimonials, photos of yourself and personal stories work well.

How often should a car dealer or local business blog?

As often as they have time to write a useful post. I tell people to pick a schedule and stick to it to begin with so they get in the habit. Once a week is ideal and realistic but if you can only manage once a month that’s better than nothing.

What are some problems you see car dealers having with blogging and social media.What do you think they should do to improve their social media presence?

As someone who doesn’t know that much about cars I’d love to see simpler sites. I think car sale sites are too complicated when people have a big budget or, if they have a small budget, they often look amateur which will put buyers off. If you’ve got photos of real people instead of logos that goes a long way as does being responsive to people who are confused, worried or have questions about the car buying process.

I’d be looking for ways to reward customers for recommending me to other people via social media. It doesn’t have to be big, even offering car wash vouchers as a giveaway to people who send their friends or family to you is a small way of saying thank you and showing you appreciate the recommendation.

The big thing with social media is to remember that the longer you do it the better you’ll do so stick with it, even though it may not appear to work to begin with you should start seeing benefits in six to twelve months and they should increase the longer you do it.

Annabel Candy
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This is our second interview in our “1000 Interview Challenge” If your interested in an interview, please contact me.

This interview was conducted by Shane McC. Shane currently is attending RISD studying computer programming. He enjoys traveling and plays hockey. He played for the Boston Junior Bruins of the EJHL during the 01-02 season. You can follow him on Google+

If a car dealer walked into your office and asked what’s the easiest and also most cost effective way to better my online brand, what would you tell that car dealer?

Since nobody cares about your products and services, it is essential to understand “Buyer Personas.” A buyer persona is essentially a demographic group of buyers that you have identified as having a specific interest in what you do or a specific market problem that your organization solves.

What marketing/ publicity advice would you give a small used car dealer. I’m not talking about the massive used or new car dealer off of the highway. I’m talking about small “mom and pop” corner car lot. How can that business compete with the bigger, better funded new and used car dealers coming from a social media/marketing standpoint?

By doing some basic research on your buyers (just listen to them!) and then creating content that appeals to them, your digital marketing will be much more effective. The content could be such forms as video, text based content (long form ebooks, medium form blog posts, and short form tweets), or images (photos or infographics.

The rules have changed. The traditional campaign marketing & PR model—sticking closely to a preset script and timeline—no longer works the way it used to. Public discourse now moves so fast and so dynamically that all it takes is a single afternoon to blast the wheels off someone’s laboriously crafted narrative. Enter newsjacking: the process by which you inject your ideas or angles into breaking news, in real-time, in order to generate media coverage for yourself or your business.

David Meerman Scott is the international bestselling author of 8 books including The New Rules of Marketing and PR, now in its third edition with more than 300,000 copies sold in over 25 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese.

My blog http://www.webinknow.com/
Twitter @dmscott
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We’ve now officially started the 1000 Interview Challenge with our first ever interview with marketing and leadership strategist David Meerman Scott!

This interview was conducted by Shane McC. Shane currently is attending RISD studying computer programming. He enjoys traveling and plays hockey. He played for the Boston Junior Bruins of the EJHL during the 01-02 season. You can follow him on Google+