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Monthly Archives: January 2013
From 10 Links to 1 Answer: The Coming Trend of Discovery Marketing and What It Means for SEO | Bedford Corners NY Realtor
When I was in the fourth grade, I had to do a report about the moon. My dad handed me the Encarta CD-ROM to do my research, and immediately, I wanted to talk to it. I needed to find information about the moon and specifically how it affects tide cycles, so I wanted to just ask like I saw them do on Star Trek, e.g., “Computer, cross reference X and Y…”
Of course, I couldn’t do that. The technology simply wasn’t advanced enough yet for Encarta to be spoken to, or even, proficiently recognize natural language queries such as “How does the moon effect the tide cycle?”
To find what I needed, I had to type “moon” and wade through the article looking for the relevant parts.
Fifteen years later, technology—led by Apple’s virtual assistant Siri and Google’s predictive search program Google Now—are helping us realize a world in which computers not only understand natural language queries but predict what you may be searching for and present it to you before you actually search for it.
Other than creating epic science projects for today’s fourth graders, these developments will likely have a very significant impact on the process of SEO, and on how companies will have to position themselves in order to remain relevant in a world of “answers, not links.”
The Biggest Players in Discovery Marketing: Google, Apple (& Facebook?)
Apple and Google have been carefully positioning themselves to be the biggest players in the new discovery marketing playground—both technologies let searchers receive information in new and intuitive ways. The major disruption to the current search market is the keyword in the last sentence—receive.
Instead of making users search for information by typing it in with keystrokes, Siri is a virtual assistant that delivers information to users that verbally ask questions whereas Google Now actually anticipates users’ needs.
While there certainly are differences between Siri and Google Now, they have a commonality in that Apple and Google both want searchers to be immersed in their platforms—and their platforms only. They don’t want consumers to access their tool for one thing and another tool for something else. They strive to be a one-stop shop for all consumers’ needs—search, calendar, email, contacts, etc.
This means that the more accurately and effortlessly the two can deliver relevant data to users, the more engaged their users will become. In fact, it was reported this week that Apple is in talks with FourSquare about a data-sharing deal that will integrate local data from FourSquare into Apple’s mapping application. If this partnership pans out, it will be a huge step in making Apple (and Siri) into a seamless app that users never have to leave when they’re making plans for a night out.
Users that do not buy in to these kinds of all-encompassing systems, which use information they learn about a user to make recommendations or deliver better results, will likely find that mainstream and non-personalized search results are becoming increasingly rare. Brands will also find a point of diminishing returns; they won’t be able to effectively advertise to those consumers that don’t opt in to all that the technology platform offers.
Facebook is very relevant here as well. Even though it does not yet have a category-killer search app like Apple and Google, it already knows the most about its users and has the most user buy-in into its ecosystem; therefore, the platform has the most relevant user information to leverage.
Although Facebook’s brand new Graph Search is not a category-killer in search, or even a direct competitor to Google’s brand of Web search, it is a definite indication that allowing its users to discover as well as be “discoverable” is a major priority of the company.
In fact, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tellingly called out that the new feature is designed to “return to you the answer, not the links…”Facebook also rolled out a local search service just last month, which seems to be another step in that direction, as well as a major play in local.
Imagine the following scenario: I enter the location “Dallas, TX” on my Google calendar and Google serves up ads for car rental and hotel deals in the area. Furthermore, what if I were served ads and offers based not only on my location but also on search history and geographic region?
While the above scenario is still speculative, it’s a good hypothetical example of discovery marketing: A world in which brands must work to make themselves known and “discoverable” to their users.
Here are the key takeaways for marketers ready to be “discovered”in this new search environment:
More than ever, you need to really know your customer.
In a world where not showing up via a virtual assistant or predictive search is the equivalent of showing up on page 2 or below of Google, local businesses must work to engage their customers, specifically encouraging user-generated content such as reviews which will create the kind of natural language relevance that will help their site stand out.
This new kind of search relies on the mobile device “knowing” the spoken language of its users, which would not include the typical marketing jargon one would find on a website. Businesses have to know about their customers. What is important to them when they search for businesses in your category? Whatever it is, it may be beyond the scope of traditional keyword research, but will be more important than ever.
Beyond just mastering the art of being found, you need to master the art of being useful.
In-store maps and inventories are going to become more important than ever before, because people are going to be presented with buying options predictively. Brands need to truly think about the opportunities to share more “real time feed” data into these ecosystems, so the real-time answers that we demand are always in our pockets.
When all else fails, standard links results are still going to be relevant.
Traditional links on Google search results pages aren’t going anywhere for a long time. After all, it has always been and will continue to be the backbone of their core offering. However, Google is providing layers upon layers of information and possibilities in addition to these links.
When, for example, and iPhone user asks Siri a question, Siri then pings one of its many data sources as it looks for an immediate answer to the query. If, and only if, Siri cannot answer the question by pinging Wolfram Alpha, Yelp, or something else, she will then apologize and ask the user if he/she would like to use Google to find the answer. In this way, Google will remain crucial as the backfill to users when nothing else is adequate.
To stay relevant, marketers must position themselves in these new channels by encouraging user interaction and reviews and working to remain top-of-their-class in local and mobile—even as the landscape is shifting all around them.
U.S. New-Home Sales Drop Blemishes Best Year Since 2009 | Chappaqua NY Real Estate
Purchases of new U.S. homes unexpectedly decreased in December, a temporary blemish as the industry wrapped up its best year since 2009 to emerge as a bright spot for the economy.
The 7.3 percent drop in December sales to a 369,000 annual pace followed the prior month’s 398,000 rate that was faster than previously estimated, Commerce Department figures showed today in Washington. Builders sold 367,000 homes in 2012, the most in three years and the first annual increase in seven.
Construction of new properties rose last month to a 954,000 annual rate, the fastest pace since June 2008, according to Jan. 17 Commerce Department figures. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg
Robert Shiller, a professor at Yale University and co-creator of the S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values, talks about the global economy and the U.S. housing market. He speaks with Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television’s “Surveillance” on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Source: Bloomberg)
Michelle Meyer, a senior economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, talks about the outlook for the U.S. economy, housing market and Federal Reserve monetary policy. She speaks with Pimm Fox on Bloomberg Television’s “Taking Stock.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Mortgage rates near record lows, improved job prospects and a rising number of households should keep stoking demand and benefit builders such as Lennar Corp. (LEN) and KB Home. Combined sales of new and previously owned properties last year rose 9.9 percent, the biggest annual gain since 1998 and an indication residential real estate is helping drive growth.
“2013 will show more of an increase in prices and more positive sales activity and housing starts,” said Anika Khan, a senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina, a unit of the biggest U.S. mortgage lender. “We expect to see residential investment adding to growth despite a very sluggish overall pace of economic growth.”
Stocks rose, sending the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its first eight-day rally since 2004, as companies posted better- than-estimated earnings. The S&P 500 climbed 0.3 percent to 1,498.94 at 11:51 a.m. in New York.
The strength in housing is helping extend the U.S. economic expansion even as the global economy struggles.
Britain’s Economy
Britain’s economy shrank more than forecast in the fourth quarter as the boost from the Olympic Games unwound and oil and gas output plunged, leaving the country on the brink of an unprecedented triple-dip recession. Gross domestic product dropped 0.3 percent from the three months through September, when it grew 0.9 percent, the Office for National Statistics said today in London.
In Japan, consumer prices fell in December for the seventh time in eight months, underscoring the risk that the central bank may struggle to reach a 2 percent inflation target unless it implements new easing measures earlier than planned.
The median estimate of 77 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a 385,000 pace on U.S. new-home sales in December. Forecasts ranged from 340,000 to 406,000 at an annual rate after a previously reported 377,000 in November.
2012 Sales
For all of 2012, new-home sales increased 19.9 percent, the biggest jump since 1983 and the first gain since 2005.
At Lennar, the largest U.S. homebuilder by market value, revenue jumped 42 percent in the three months ended Nov. 30 from a year earlier.
“2012 was a turnaround year that confirmed what we had been seeing and communicating for several quarters, and that is that we are in fact in the early stages of the housing recovery,” Stuart Miller, chief executive officer at Miami- based Lennar, said on a Jan. 15 earnings call. “The recovery began in micro markets across the country, and it’s continued to spread.”
Los Angeles-based builder KB Home (KBH) said this week that orders for new dwellings climbed 54 percent in the first seven weeks of its fiscal first quarter.
Today’s Commerce Department data showed the median price of a new home in the U.S. increased 13.9 percent last month from a year ago, climbing to $248,900.
By Region
In December, purchases decreased in three of four regions, led by a 29.4 percent slump in the Northeast. Sales also fell 11.1 percent in the West and 8.4 percent in the South. They rose 21.3 percent in the Midwest.
The housing data for last year show the market gained vitality in 2012. Construction of new properties rose last month to the fastest pace since June 2008, according to Jan. 17 Commerce Department data. The December figure capped the best year for homebuilding since 2008.
Today’s report showed the supply of new homes at the current sales rate climbed to 4.9 months from 4.5 months in November. There were 151,000 new houses on the market at the end of December, up from 149,000 the prior month.
Some 1.82 million previously-owned homes were on the market in December, the fewest since January 2001, according to National Association of Realtors data earlier this week.
The building environment has brightened the mood among construction companies. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index held at 47 in January, the highest since 2006. Nonetheless, readings below 50 mean more respondents said conditions were poor.
‘Fairly Optimistic’
“We think that 2013 is going to be a good year for the U.S. construction industry,” Charles Bunch, chief executive officer of paint and glass maker PPG Industries Inc. (PPG), said during a Jan. 14 earnings call. “You’re seeing a lot of anecdotal information about, in certain markets, the housing resale market strengthening. We’ve seen increases in new-home construction permits and starts, so, overall, I would say we’re fairly optimistic.”
Figures from the NAR earlier this week showed previously owned homes sold at a 4.94 million rate in December, the second- highest since 2009. Last year 4.65 million homes were sold, up 9.2 percent from 4.26 million in 2011 and the most since 2007. The annual advance was the biggest since 2004.
Sales of new homes, counted when contracts are signed, are considered a timelier barometer than purchases of previously owned dwellings, which are calculated when a deal closes. Newly constructed houses accounted for 7.3 percent of the residential market in 2012, down from a high of 15 percent during the boom of the past decade.
via bloomberg.com
How to privately share a Vine video | How To by Armonk NY Realtor
Yesterday Twitter launched a new video sharing app called Vine. The service lets you compose and share six-second videos using its iPhone app. As Sharon Vaknin pointed out, currently there’s no way to set any of your videos, or even your profile, to “private.” Any videos you upload are going to be public; viewable by anyone using the service.
There is a way to create a video using the Vine app and share it privately, however. It’s not an ideal workaround (that would be privacy settings in the app) but it’s an easy way to still be able to get creative with Vine and share your work with friends without the rest of the Vine community seeing it.
What you’ll need to do is create a Vine as you normally would. Once you tap “Next” to go to the share screen, the video is saved to your Camera Roll. Since the video is already saved, you can either turn off the “Share on Vine” switch and tap “Done,” or go back to the compose screen, tap the X, and delete the post.
With the video saved to your Camera Roll you can then share it — privately — through MMS, iMessage, e-mail, and so forth.
Again, it’s not an ideal sharing method, but it does allow you to maintain your privacy should that be a concern.
via howto.cnet.com
Mt Kisco Has Low 2012 ‘Days on Market Average’ | RobReportBlog
Mt Kisco Has Low 2012 ‘Days on Market Average’ | RobReportBlog
Average Days on Market for 2012 Sold Homes 207 Armonk 176 Chappaqua 201 Pound Ridge 238 North Salem 198 Bedford NY 235 South Salem 186 Bedford Hills 175 Mount Kisco 196 Katonah
via trulia.com
Sizzling housing prices may turn Westchester, Rockland renters into buyers | Bedford NY Real Estate
Photo credit: Angela Gaul | A “sold” sign hangs outside a home located at 293 Congers Rd. in New City. (Dec. 28, 2012)
Westchester County’s white-hot rental market trails only New York City and San Francisco as the most expensive in the country, and the combination of low inventory and high prices may be pushing prospective renters to consider buying instead, according to analysts and recent statistics.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, the average rent for Westchester County properties across all property types, from studios to penthouses, climbed .4 percent to $1,852, according to preliminary data from real estate research company Reis Inc. The vacancy rate expanded 14.3 percent — from 3 percent to 3.5 percent — but remained 1 percentage point below the national average of 4.5 percent.
Ryan Severino, senior economist at Reis, said that renters who avoided buying property as the housing bubble collapsed may reconsider.
“You have a segment of the population who delayed buying houses because of deflationary expectations,” he said. “They’ve already had to stomach 8-10 percent rent increases. What we’re starting to see at the top of the food chain is people are going to say: ‘Why pay two, three thousand in rent? Maybe I should buy into the for-sale housing market again?'”
For those who remain in the Westchester County rental market in 2013, Severino forecast that rents will climb 2.5-3 percent and that the vacancy rate will expand a hair, by .1 to .2 percent. That compares with a 2.2 percent increase in rents in 2012 and a .6 percent increase in the vacancy rate.
Steve Bernasconi, a real estate agent at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate/Rand Realty in Nanuet, said that the Rockland County rental market also is showing signs of a turn.
“More people are in a buying mode,” he said. “In today’s world [with rents of] $1,900 a month, if you’ve got any sort of credibility, you have to be buying.”
Of the 240 Rockland County rental properties on the Multiple Listing Service, the median price was $1,785 for a two-bedroom, one-bath unit with 948 square feet. Skewing the prices, however, are properties at the top end, like the nearly 7,000-square-foot single-family house overlooking the Hudson River at 28 River Rd. in Grand View-on-Hudson. Monthly rent? $18,000.
Though market forces are prompting some to consider buying, Lori Morrow, a broker with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in New Rochelle, said individual circumstances sometimes can take precedence.
“Most of the people who are renting at the high end — there’s a purpose for their renting,” she said. “They’re not going to be here very long or they want to test the area or they don’t have the down payment or the credit score.”
In some cases, renters are newly divorced and want to take a year to transition before they buy, she added.
Tougher mortgage requirements by banks and a sluggish employment market also have conspired to keep prospective buyers out of the market.
Rental prices in New York City averaged $2,985 in the fourth quarter of 2012, far outstripping No. 2 San Francisco at $1,970 and almost triple the national average of $1,048, according to Reis.
Vacancy rates in the New York City market were 2.1 percent, the tightest of the 82 metropolitan areas surveyed.
The average fourth quarter rent for northern New Jersey was $1,531, and Long Island’s was $1,609.
Morrow said scores of co-ops are sitting vacant in Westchester County, and the county’s apartment inventory would expand if the boards of cooperatives allowed more units to be rented.
“They can’t sell them and they can’t rent them,” she said. “We have co-ops all over the place just sitting there. Boards just don’t allow rentals.”
There is a 22-month backlog of co-op units for sale in New Rochelle, Morrow said, and that likely reflects market conditions in the rest of Westchester County. By contrast, at the end of September, there was an 11-month supply of condominiums, she said.
Hamptons High End Sales Way Up in 2012 Elliman.com Reports | Bedford NY Realtor
‘The Hamptons housing market had more fourth quarter sales and the fewest listings in inventory than there had been at any point in the past 6 years. Fiscal cliff tax planning was a key driver of the market, especially at the upper end, resulting in the highest average sales price in more than seven years. We saw many more sales above $1M and a record number of sales over $5M. We anticipate that the increased market momentum will continue to carry into 2013.
The North Fork housing market also saw a drop in listing inventory, which fell sharply to a four-year low. Thanks to record low mortgage rates, the fastest monthly absorption rate in more than four years, and rising sales, there was some upward pressure on housing prices. With a stable listing discount, negotiability between buyers and sellers remained stable as well, while average marketing times increased as tight inventory caused older listings to be more readily absorbed. We expected conditions to continue toimprove in 2013.’ elliman.com reports
via trulia.com
Elliman Reports Long Island Sales Up for 2012 | Katonah NY Realtor
‘In the final quarter of 2012, Long Island inventory fell to its lowest level in seven years. The market continued to gain momentum towards the end of the year, evidenced by the fact that there was a larger increase in signed contracts than in closed sales this quarter. In fact, Long Island finished 2012 with more sales than in 2011, the first year-over-year increase since 2006 and a clear sign that the market has finally turned the corner. We are excited about the improving conditions and expect to see an even better market in 2013.’ elliman.com reports
via trulia.com
Florida officials tackle foreclosure crisis | Katonah Real Estate
It was deemed America’s new foreclosure capital in 2012, with a 53% increase in filings last year, but Florida officials wanted a change. So they took the bull by the horns.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, joined by the state’s Senate President Don Gaetz and House Speaker Will Weatherford, addressed a newly approved $60 million program for housing aid in Florida on Thursday.
The program, part of the multibillion-dollar national settlement that included cash payments to states, will fund homebuyer assistance, legal aid and foreclosure prevention.
“This is real relief for real people,” Bondi noted.
Florida’s total monetary benefits are over $8 billion in the settlement, with the $60 million in housing aid just one part of a larger settlement.
Broken down, the $60 million program includes $35 million for down payment assistance, $10 million for foreclosure counseling, $5 million for foreclosure backlog reduction, $5 million for legal aid and another $5 million for attorney general’s legal fees.
“We all know, living in Florida, we have been affected by the mortgage foreclosure crisis that has been in the state of Florida more so than just about any other state in America,” said Weatherford. “This has been a long time coming, to know that $8 billion of resources has come to our state to aid people in need, but more specifically the $60 million that we’ve agreed to in the last week that’s going to help people with counseling, with down payment assistance, etc.”
Florida homeowners received billions of dollars worth of direct mortgage assistance from banks. “Almost 50,000 Floridians have received at least $73,000,” said Bondi. “That’s a lot of money.”
Bondi said $200 million is still going through the legislative process and remains to be spent.
Bondi also took the opportunity to address those who faced wrongful foreclosure, but have yet to file a claim. This group respresents approximately 49% of the harmed homeowners in the state.
The Attorney General urged those who have yet to make their claims to follow up by visiting myfloridalegal.com to redeem the money they are owe.
via housingwire.com
Manti Te’o’s Imaginary Social Relationship | South Salem Realtor
Notre Dame football star Manti Te’o’s story continues its strange course: his grandmother and girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, die on the same day within six hours of one another. His grandmother actually died; however, what is becoming clear is that the girlfriend never existed.
After reviewing the many articles that have been written about the hoax, at first it wasn’t clear whether Te’o ever actually met the girl or if this was a virtual romance, taking place through mobile phone texts and over the Internet through social media like Twitter. It has now come to light that this was a virtual romance, which explains Te’o’s reluctance to clarify the matter; indeed, he lied about it. He is embarrassed, which is understandable, but he need not be. Manti Te’o was involved in an imaginary social relationship.
It’s important to point out that pretty much everyone in Western culture engages in imaginary relationships, although it is common for people not to want to admit they do so. Imaginary social relationships may take the form of a teacher-student, parent-child, or even a love relationship, as is the case with Te’o and Kekua. Such imaginary relationships are quite normal, and only become pathological when one party stalks or perhaps attempts to physically hurt the other (the individual or individuals that perpetrated this hoax may fall into the latter category). I have studied imaginary social relationships between fans and celebrities over the past 20 years. In some instances there is a wish for a fairy tale romance; in other instances, it might include an imaginary invitation to join a rock band. The range is wide.
However, social media has been a game changer with regard to imaginary social relationships, because social media open up the possibility for the imaginary to become real or seemingly so. When a fan tweets at Kim Kardashian and Kim tweets back inviting the fan to her birthday party, or Michael Phelps tweets back to a fan asking what kind of sandwich she got at Subway, it feels real. Furthermore, with the advent of social media, we have all become media figures, at least all those who participate in it, because we are performing when we use social media, just like celebrities perform on stage or in social media.
So, the difference is diminished between a celebrity, micro-celebrity (some ordinary person who temporarily becomes a viral sensation on YouTube), or in this case where the sports figure is attracted to an ordinary person. On this point Te’o’s official statement is quite telling: “This is incredibly embarrassing to talk about, but over an extended period of time, I developed an emotional relationship with a woman I met online. We maintained what I thought to be an authentic relationship by communicating frequently online and on the phone, and I grew to care deeply about her.”
The key word in the statement is authentic. Social media provide the possibility of increased confidence that the individual is who she or he claims to be, lending to the atmosphere of authenticity. Social media also provide two key markers: first, the absence of privacy, as what takes place on social media platforms is public, making the exchange seem real; and second, spontaneity, which leads to the feeling of sincerity. The illusion engendered by tweets, for example, provides a glimpse into the inner life of the individual, encouraging him or her at the most basic level to believe (or want to believe) that the person tweeting or posting to their Twitter feed or Facebook wall is who they claim to be.
Manti Te’o need not feel embarrassed because he was duped. All of us who participate in a culture of social media dupe ourselves every day.
