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Meet the team Leadership
Alex Melen
Co-Founder
Alex Melen co-founded SmartSites in 2011 with his brother Michael and wrote Automotive Search Marketing (second edition, 2026). He has spoken at NADA, Digital Dealer, DrivingSales and NIADA, and writes about dealership search, paid ads and AI search. More at alexmelen.com.
- HometownFranklin Lakes, NJ
- CollegeBabson College
- At SmartSites15 years, 6 months
SmartSitesLeadership
Clients love working with Alex.
★★★★★Brian K.Bentley Manhattan“A special shoutout goes to Alex Melen and Ben Stewart. Thanks to their combined efforts, we have seen a massive spike in high-quality traffic and a substantial return on our investment.”“I cannot recommend SmartSites highly enough. Working with them has been an absolute game-changer for our business. From day one, their professionalism, data-driven strategies, and commitment to our growth have been unmatched. A special shoutout goes to Alex Melen and Ben Stewart. Thanks to their combined efforts, we have seen a massive spike in high-quality traffic and a substantial return on our investment. If you want a digital marketing agency that treats your business like their own, look no further than SmartSites, Alex, and Ben!”
★★★★★Patrick B.Bakersfield Hyundai“Alex Melen has been an excellent resource and very quick to respond. The data he shares with my businesses is sorted and arranged so I can understand it immediately.”“Alex Melen has been an excellent resource and very quick to respond. The data he shares with my businesses is sorted and arranged so I can understand it immediately. They always answer when I call, and I appreciate their professionalism. This, with no mention of their capabilities and advice (which is high end and top notch), is why I am happy with our arrangement. Thank you.”
★★★★★Bryon E.“SmartSites helps our marketing by driving traffic to our dealership to help us grow in volume and profitability Alex and his team is always responsive and up to date with new technology to help us”“What do you like best about SmartSites? SmartSites helps our marketing by driving traffic to our dealership to help us grow in volume and profitability
What do you dislike about SmartSites? Alex and his team is always responsive and up to date with new technology to help us
What problems is SmartSites solving and how is that benefiting you? Changes in the technical reports and changes in technology Definitely would recommend Alex Melen and his team at SmartSites SmartSites is driving targeted clients to us and helping us grow as a business Great Experience with SmartSites”
★★★★★Benjamin H.Los Angeles Colon“Love SmartSites and Alex Melen's PPC knowledge. The team answers emails so quickly!”“Love SmartSites and Alex Melen's PPC knowledge. The team answers emails so quickly! They have a full staff with a wide range of domain expertise. We are very happy with results. Keep up the good work!
More about us: We are a large medical practice from Los Angeles, CA. We have a PPC budget in the low to mid thousands per month. SmartSites is running our Adwords and Bing campaigns as well as doing some on-page optimization.”- ★★★★★Shari W.
“At first we were nervous working with anyone but Alex Melen who is both Founder and a Marketing Genius. However; no matter what Marketing Manager you work with, Alex is also always there for the clients and is very approachable.”“Michael Guzman is an excellent Google Marketing Pro that has now been managing our account for the past six (6) months. Upon working with Michael from Day 1, we instantly felt his enthusiasm and dedication to the growth of our business. He is a seasoned Marketing Pro, who always make himself available and ready to correct any issues or jump on a trending opportunity to increase business!
At first we were nervous working with anyone but Alex Melen who is both Founder and a Marketing Genius. However; no matter what Marketing Manager you work with, Alex is also always there for the clients and is very approachable. But Alex had felt that Michael with all of his Google Savvy; could spend more time with our new and growing business, and provide the time and support that we really needed. We feel confident that Michael and the SmartSites team will always be dedicated to helping us build our future business. If you have the good fortune to work with Michael Guzman from SmartSites as we do, be assured that his goal is the clients growth. Michael responds timely to your needs and I feel confident that with his guidance and impressive Google Ads Knowledge, Search Engine, and Campaign Expertise, we will have the ability to continually build of our business.
Thank you Michael, for the integral part that you have contributed to our future growth. Additionally, we are grateful for your kind and caring disposition you always show for both us and our business.
With Gratitude, Shari Wasserman President Lifestyle Directives Group, Inc.” - ★★★★★Alexei C.
“SmartSites and especially Alex Melen, you are the best! They where hosting my site for a couple of years by now and I could not be more satisfied!”“SmartSites and especially Alex Melen, you are the best! They where hosting my site for a couple of years by now and I could not be more satisfied! Thank you, Guys for the wonderful job you've done for me so far and I wish you a huge success with your business! You definitely know what you're doing!!!:)”
- ★★★★★Nick D.Ntiva
“Alex was always super responsive and helpful. 5/5!”
- ★★★★★NtivaNtiva
“Alex is super responsive and helpful. Always a pleasure”“SmartSites service is always great. Alex is super responsive and helpful. Always a pleasure." Describe the project or task the provider helped with: Website migration project. We are very satisfied with SmartSites. Alex was very knowledgeable and responsive. He helped us a lot with a big website migration project. We had to migrate multiple website from our servers to SmartSites hosting platform. Alex was always responsive and helpful. Was always a pleasure to work with SmartSites
What do you like best? Alex was very responsive and knowledgeable. Always a pleasure. We are very satisfied with SmartSites. Alex was very knowledgeable and responsive. He helped us a lot with a big website migration project. We had to migrate multiple website from our servers to SmartSites hosting platform. Alex was always responsive and helpful. Was always a pleasure to work with SmartSites
What do you dislike? I liked everything. Alex always was very helpful. Always a pleasure
Recommendations to others considering the provider: We are very satisfied with SmartSites. Alex was very knowledgeable and responsive. He helped us a lot with a big website migration project. We had to migrate multiple website from our servers to SmartSites hosting platform. Alex was always responsive and helpful. Was always a pleasure to work with SmartSites
What problems are you solving with the provider? What benefits have you realized? It was a big site migration project. Alex helped us to migrate multiple sites to their hosting platform. We are very satisfied with SmartSites. Alex was very knowledgeable and responsive. He helped us a lot with a big website migration project. We had to migrate multiple website from our servers to SmartSites hosting platform. Alex was always responsive and helpful. Was always a pleasure to work with SmartSites”
Results from Alex's clients.
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Automotive Competition Mercedes Benz of Smithtown
Smithtown Mercedes-Benz Dealership Drives Conversions by 43x
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Automotive Competition Mercedes Benz of Huntington
Huntington Mercedes-Benz Dealership Boosts Revenue by 93%
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Professional Services NJ Lux Real Estate
NJ Luxury Real Estate Brokerage Drives Site Traffic by 178%
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Automotive Manhattan Bentley
Manhattan Bentley Dealership Boosts Lead Volume by 42x
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Automotive Competition Auto Group
Auto Dealership Group Expands Lead Volume by 107%
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Automotive Land Rover Solon
Luxury Automotive Dealership Increases Conversions by 127%
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Automotive Toyota of Stamford
Connecticut Toyota Dealership Drives Site Traffic by 57%
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Automotive Empire Subaru
Subaru Dealership Boosts Conversions by 6x
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Automotive Route 23 Nissan
Nissan Dealership Expands Lead Volume by 49%
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Automotive DiFeo Kia
Kia Dealership Lifts Conversions by 32x
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Automotive Audi New Rochelle
Audi Dealership Grows Lead Volume by 34x
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Automotive Empire Toyota of Green Brook
Empire Toyota Dealership Drives Conversions by 25x
Alex's talks & podcasts.
47 talks, 2 webinars and 9 podcasts.
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Preparing for ChatGPT Ads & the AI Search Ad Economy – eCommerce Expo & Technology for Marketing ’26
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The Next Gear: Turning Next-Gen Ad Formats into Marketplace Advantage
AutosBuzz 2026 -
Scaling Agencies: What Still Works, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next
Digital Marketing Europe 2026 -
Search Marketing for WordPress in the Age of AI
WordCamp Canada 2025 -
Mastering Modern WordPress SEO
WordCamp Canada 2025 -
WordCamp Canada
Recent posts by Alex.
- SEO · Oct 29, 2026 AI Overviews for Car Dealerships: What Google’s New Report Shows Google's new Search Console report shows how often dealership pages appear in AI Overviews. On two dealer sites it counted 1.5M+ impressions, led by owner help…
- PPC · Oct 28, 2026 What 73 Advertisers Taught Us About Microsoft Ads Across 73 advertisers that ran search on both platforms, Microsoft search clicks cost 47% less than Google over 12 months. The data, by industry, quarter and…
- PPC · Oct 27, 2026 What 11 Car Dealers Taught Us About Microsoft Ads Across 11 dealerships that ran search on both platforms, Microsoft search clicks cost 46% less than Google Search over 12 months. The data, by quarter and…
- Microsoft CTV Lift Study: What Happened When a NJ Toyota Dealer’s Ads Hit the TVOct 2026
- AI Search Case Study: How a Florida Ford Dealer Grew Its Visibility in Google AI Results and ChatGPTOct 2026
- AI Search and Car Dealerships 2026: What 81 Dealer Websites Show About ChatGPT Traffic, Direct Traffic and the Click That Never ComesOct 2026
- Automotive Search Marketing, Second Edition: Why I Rewrote the Book for AI Search and What Is NewOct 2026
- GEO for Car Dealerships: How to Get Your Store Recommended by ChatGPT and Google’s AI OverviewsOct 2026
- What 18 Car Dealers Taught Us About Connected TVOct 2026
- Automotive SEO in 2026: What 69 Dealerships’ Data Says Still Works (and What AI Took)Oct 2026
- The Dealership GEO Playbook: 7 Moves to Get Recommended by ChatGPT and AI OverviewsSep 2026
- Generative AI for Independent Car Dealership MarketingJul 2025
- The Dirty Secret Behind VLA AdsNov 2024
- 10X Your Dealership Marketing Efficiency with ChatGPT & Generative AINov 2024
- How To Leverage ChatGPT For Your Car DealershipFeb 2023
Off the clock with Alex.
Alex’s Story
Alex Melen is the Co-Founder of SmartSites and brings over 10 years of digital media experience. Before SmartSites, he spent 3 years heading up digital analytics on the Walmart account at Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG). In the late 1990’s, Alex founded T35 Hosting – one of the first and largest free web hosting providers.
Alex has been featured numerous times in Business Week, Forbes and other publications. In 2001, he was named the #19 teen entrepreneurs in the U.S. by Young Biz Magazine. In 2006, Alex was named one of America’s Top 25 Best Entrepreneurs by BusinessWeek. Alex is a graduate of Babson College, one of the top entrepreneurial schools in the nation. Alex completed Babson with honors and was awarded the highly prestigious Babson Student Business Initiative Award.
Alex is the author of Automotive Search Marketing and a frequent conference speaker on search and AI marketing. His talks, slides and transcripts are at alexmelen.com.
