Selling your car or truck online is a great way to put it in front of potential buyers. In step one of this series, titled “Sell Your Car Online: Step 1, Taking High Quality Pictures of Your Automobile”, you learned how to take great quality pictures of our vehicle.

The second step in placing an ad is selecting the pictures of the vehicle you want to use in your listing. Remember the hypothetical situation from step 1? Using multiple pictures in your listing can give the potential buyer loads of information about your vehicle before the buyer even reads the first word about it.

You must choose the correct combination of pictures to display with your listing for maximum effect. If you followed the directions in step 1, you should have at least 15 to 20 pictures to choose from. Group the pictures into categories depending on the angle (for example: front, left, rear, right, front right, rear left, under the hood, interior, etc.). Then select the best picture from each category and discard the rest.

Now you should have a group of about 7 to 10 high quality pictures. Comb through these pictures and select the ones that, if displayed together, would show the most detail about your vehicle. The goal is not to overwhelm the potential buyer with tons of photos showing the same details, but to display great photos of different areas of the vehicle that convey the overall condition of the vehicle.

A great example of photos to use is: front driver’s side, rear passenger’s side, under the hood, interior, and any after market add-ons to the car. You should use at least 4 photos with each listing, but feel free to use more.

After you select the correct photos, you need to edit them. Most auto classified web sites have a maximum file size for photos you can upload with your listings. The highest quality settings for digital cameras can be anywhere from 1 MB to 5 MB per photo and greater depending on the camera. So what do you do if the photos you take exceed that size? You have to edit or resize them. But before you do that, you need to know how images are displayed on computer monitors as opposed to print.

High quality images displayed on the web are actually low quality when printed. Computer monitors display images at 72 DPI. A good quality printing will be 300 DPI or greater. A photo displayed on a monitor at 600 pixels (8.33 inches) wide will only be 2 inches wide if printed on paper. To get a good quality 8.33 inch print on paper, the photo will need to be at least 2500 pixels wide. This is a big difference in file size (and download time).

The optimal size for photos on the internet is approximately 600 pixels wide by 400 pixels high. If your camera can’t take pictures this size, even in the lowest quality setting, you will have to manually resize them. To do this you need an image editing program. Most computers have at least a simple image editing program on them. If your computer doesn’t have one, you’ll need to download one from the internet. You can find free and low cost image editing programs by going to www.download.com and searching for “image editing software.”

However, you can skip the image editing step if you find a car classifieds site, like VINclassifieds.com, that automatically resizes the photos upon upload so they are the optimal size for the internet. This could eliminate the need for you to manually resize your photos before upload.

Choose the right pictures for your classified ad and viewers will set up and take notice. Look for the next installment titled “Sell Your Car Online: Step 3, Using the Right Information to Help Sell Your Automobile.” Happy selling.

If you are like most car dealers when prospective buyers visit your current website you only have 2 ways to capture their information.

They must either submit a vehicle inquiry (less than 3% will do) or apply for financing (less than 1% will do), that means 96% of your website visitors are leaving your site without you even knowing who or what they were looking for.

Now some car dealers will have savings certificates and free test drive gifts but that still only captures the “in the market right now crowd.”

Consumers use the internet for information and most of the time they will look and shop a few months before they are actually ready to buy. With your website only offering 2 ways to capture your visitors information and these two methods being designed for ready to buy now consumers it is totally eliminating your chance to follow up with the “not ready to buy at this exact second” crowd which is over 96% of your website visitors.

Studies have also proven that generating automotive leads from your own website offers the best closing ratios however if you do not have effective ways to capture those “ready to buy now” and “just looking” automotive sales leads you will never see the true success of your Internet Sales Department.

You need to look at your current website capture methods and try to incorporate a system that will be able to capture your visitors information no matter where they are at in their own buying cycle.

By focusing your capture efforts and trying to build a large database of email addresses you will have greater success and sell more vehicles online.

If you would like to see what some of the top automotive groups are doing to build their database visit: http://www.HiddenAutoLeads.com

The Internet has allowed for the growth of many local websites that cater to their respective communities. While there are many local web sites that allow for the exchange of conversation and photographs, there are also sties that allow for the buying and selling of goods. More specifically, sites that allow you to buy or sell a car or home in your local market. Dealing with smaller websites, when attempting to buy and sell cars and homes, can offer several advantages. Unlike large sites, these small sites are usually pretty flexible and their prices for listing an item, if there even are any, will be much lower. With most big sites you need to go through drawn out sign up processes.

Most large sites will want bank account information and/or a credit card number. And before they even let you conduct business you will have to wait for this information to be verified. The verification time can vary from a few days to a few weeks. If you need a big ticket item, like a car, really fast, these sites will be a pain to deal with. Additionally, large auction sites that sell high value items will take a percentage of your selling price as a fee, if you happen to be on the selling end of a transaction. For a car or house sale, this can really eat into your profits. If you are on the buying end of one of these expensive purchases, you may need to be a member for a certain number of days before you are allowed to make purchases or bids. This can be quite frustrating if you want something fast.

In addition to having to pay fees and registration costs at many large national Internet sites, you will also have to abide by the rules governing how you are allowed to contact sellers and buyers. Most sites will want you to only conduct communications through their platforms. You will have a difficult time getting phone numbers and personal e-mail addresses. Not being able to get in direct, immediate contact with a person, will really hamper a sale, especially when trying to buy a house or a car. Most of the time, there are many parties interested in a sale, and if the lines of communication are slow, buyers usually miss out on prime buying opportunities.

Small local sites are becoming increasingly popular because they have less stringent rules and they have cheaper transaction fees. Most small sites will allow you to trade phone numbers with other parties so you can enjoy immediate communication. Additionally, if you have some question about how to use the site properly, such as how to upload pictures, contact buyers or sellers, or simply navigate the site efficiently, you are much more likely to get a quick answer from the people who run the site than if you were dealing with a huge company. So the next time you think about purchasing a car or a home look to your local sites for help.

With the average price of a new vehicle passing $25,000, it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing you have to spend a small fortune to drive anything worth writing home about. Unless you’re all about impressing your friends, neighbors and co-commuters with the size of your monthly payment, the entry end of the market is filled with a higher concentration of cool cars, trucks and SUVs than ever.

After putting together a list of all the vehicles available for less than $18,000, the editors of Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com then picked the 10 coolest. Instead of reporting based on vehicles’ Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Prices (MSRPs), the list is based on each model’s New Car Blue Book value, the price buyers are typically paying in the market. Your actual payment will be determined by the down payment on the vehicle and the finance rate.

The Top 10 Coolest New Cars Under $18,000

• Toyota Yaris-With a long history as a best-seller in Europe, the Toyota Yaris migrates to the U.S. as the least expensive vehicle in the Toyota lineup. Sporting unusually cool styling, Toyota quality and a 34/city and 40/highway MPG rating, the Yaris’ value more than exceeds its under-$12,000 starting price.

• Scion xB-The xB has proven to us that, these days, it’s cool to be square. Not only does its slab-sided styling set it apart, but its boxy dimensions also mean this diminutive and fuel-efficient vehicle is a surprisingly commodious hauler of people and stuff.

• Dodge Caliber-Caliber changes the small-car game by offering a larger, more flexible interior filled with way-cool features like an air-conditioned storage bin to keep drinks cold, rear speakers that flip down to project outward from the open tailgate, a 110-volt outlet for powering small electronics and a self-charging flashlight.

• Kia Sportage-When buying your first SUV, bang-for-the-buck is a very cool thing to find. Pricing out the Kia Sportage is almost fun when you get to include a sunroof, a great stereo and a tire pressure monitor all for under $16,500.

• Chevrolet HHR-As cool as the 1940s-style exterior is, the Chevrolet HHR is equally cool for its efficient use of space and worthwhile features like remote start and the increasingly requisite iPod connector. It offers hauling ability like a compact SUV, yet it handles like a car.

• Ford Fusion-Size does matter, so getting a well-styled, contemporary midsize sedan with the roominess and comfort of the new Fusion is cool. Even better is the unexpected level of equipment for the price, including remote keyless entry, tilt steering wheel and cruise control.

• Nissan Frontier-Utility is in, and nothing’s more utilitarian than a pickup. The Frontier backs up its sharp styling with excellent ride and handling.

• Mazda3-Available as a hatchback or sedan, the Mazda3 is a deft one-two punch to the compact-car segment. We can’t decide which model we like better, but the combination of fine driving dynamics, upscale interior and arresting looks make this a “cool cars” list repeater.

• Honda Civic-You know how U2 were cool, then in the mid-90s they weren’t so cool, and now they’re as cool as ever? Well, the Civic has traveled a parallel path to regain its stature as arguably the finest economy car ever built–and cool once again.

• Scion tC-If you’re cool enough to appreciate it, the slick styling and fashionable features in the tC deliver Lexus-like technology in an affordable package. This year, the improved audio features stand out, including steering-wheel gauges and iPod connectivity.