Industry Notes

Builder confidence reaches eight month high. According to the National Association of Home Builders, the Wells Fargo-NAHB Housing Market Index saw a two-point jump in May after seeing a five-point jump in April, bringing the index to its highest level since September 2008. This index surveys single-home builders on their expectations for the next six months. For more information on the index and May's results, visit inman.com.

Housing affordability index reaches highest level in 18 years. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index (HOI) rose 10 points in the first quarter. The HOI showed that 72.5% of all new and existing homes sold in the first quarter of 2009 were affordable for families earing the equivalent of the national median income of $64,000. The HOI for the previous quarter was 62.4% and the HOI for the first quarter of 2008 was $53.8%. For more information on the HOI increase, visit rismedia.com for the full story.

Foreclosure activity holds steady at record levels in April. The April 2009 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report^TM, released by ReatlyTrac, reported that 342,038 U.S. properties received forclosure filings-default notices, auction sale notices or were bank reposessions during the month of April. That figure was an increase of less than 1% from the prevoius month, but an increase of 32% over the April 2008 figure. For more infomation on the report, visit rismedia.com.

Recession indicators ease in April, shows promise for economic recovery. The Conference Board Leading Economic Index (LEI)in April 2009 had its first increase in seven months, with strenths exceeding weaknesses for the first time in one and a half years. The index for the U.S. increased 1.0% in April, which followed a 0.2% decline in March and a 0.5% decline in February. For more information on April's LEI figures, read the full story at rismedia.com.

RE/MAX leads real estate industry in national television advertising. Nielsen Media Research reports for first quarter 2009 showed RE/MAX holds 99.9% of the national share of voice in television advertising for real estate, with an average 1.2 billion viewer impressions. For more information to RE/MAX's television advertising campaign, visit rismedia.com.

Lead Lines

The Basic Top Ten

The qualities leaders should learn and cultivate

 

For managers who sometimes wonder if they have what it takes to lead their team, they might find the answer in “The Top Ten Leadership Qualities” by David Hakala at hrworld.com. The following qualities will help managers lead employees to success:

1. Vision. “A clear, vivid picture of where to go, as well as a firm grasp on what success looks like and how to achieve it,” is how Hakala describes vision. Good sales managers must also have the ability to his or her vision. Also, he or she must have the drive to act on vision.

2. Integrity. The consistent application of inner values to outward acts is integrity.

3. Dedication. Natural-born leaders spend whatever time or energy is necessary to accomplish tasks. They also bring out this quality in their team.

4. Magnanimity. This means giving credit to those who deserve it. Also, it means taking responsibility for failures.

5. Humility. “A humble leader is not self-effacing but rather tries to elevate everyone. Leaders with humility also understand that their status does not make them a god,” Hakala writes.

6. Openness. Sales managers should try to listen to new ideas, even if they do not come from a traditional way of thinking.

7. Creativity. Problem solving is an important skill of leaders, and being creative certainly helps.

8. Fairness. Managers must strive to always treat others justly and equally. Checking all the facts, hearing everyone out, avoiding leaping to conclusions and gathering complete evidence before passing judgment are ways to be fair.

9. Assertiveness. “It is the ability to clearly state what one expects so that there will be no misunderstandings,” explains Hakala.

10. Sense of humor. This may be a surprise to some managers, but the ability to relieve tension, defuse hostility and fight boredom with a sense of humor increases productivity and effective leadership.

“Intrinsic traits such as intelligence, good looks, height and so on are not necessary to become a leader. Anyone can cultivate the proper leadership traits,” Hakala concludes. 

Training Tips

Not Enough Hours in the Day?

How you’re wasting time and what to do about it

 

According to Bill McCormick’s salesresources.com article “Sales Time Wasters,” there are two types of time wasting obstacles: those that come from the outside and those that are self-generated.

Self-generated time wasters include:

1. Calling the wrong people. “If you call on an account with little upside or growth opportunity, you’ve wasted a sales call that you will never get back,” McCormick writes.

2. Failing to schedule the day. It’s understandable that not all stops and calls will be scheduled, but it is important also to have an idea of what the day will hold.

3. Failing to plan well. Sales professionals should know what the purpose of each call is, who they need to contact and what materials they need to bring along or have handy.

Disorganization, failure to focus, failure to use technology correctly and procrastination will also waste time.

Outside time wasters include:

1. E-mails. Sales professionals should learn to quickly respond to and manage e-mails.

2. Internal meetings. “A poorly run meeting wastes everyone’s time, and is time that otherwise could be spent by a seller in sales planning and sales calls,” McCormick says.

3. Paperwork. It is important to gather information, but excessive reporting requirements can make things difficult.

“Successful sales people plan their sales calls, schedule their time strategically and make time to follow up by building it into their day/week/month,” explains McCormick. 

Training Tips

Enthusiasm: Use sparingly and at the appropriate times

Although enthusiasm has its place in sales, reps that over do it are making a big mistake. Shamus Brown shares his advice about enthusiasm in his sales-tips.industrialego.com article “Enthusiastic Selling — An Outdated Sales Cliché.”

“Sales was simpler when buyers weren’t overloaded with marketing messages as they are today,” Brown says.

In past decades when customers were not bombarded with offers and advertising, sales professionals could rely on their enthusiasm and persistence to always make the sale. Today, however, people have become jaded. Endless claims of how something new product or service will change their lives cause people to glaze over during sales calls. Choices abound for consumers, and it’s much more difficult to stand out.

“Overly enthusiastic sales people are often considered hype-masters, caricatures of a salesman,” Brown explains.

Effective selling today requires mastery of a wider range of emotions. Reps should behave appropriately according to where they are in the sales cycle. Showing too much enthusiasm too quickly is a big turnoff for customers. To start out, curiosity and even confusion can help sales professionals find out important information about the prospect’s needs. The more informed they are, the easier it is to sell in a way that’s tailored to the customer’s needs.

“Enthusiasm should be saved for closing time. When a buyer needs to see your confidence and have your reassurance is when you want to be enthusiastic about your company, your products or your services,” Brown writes.

Lead Lines

Afraid of Public Speaking?

 

Whether giving a keynote address at a conference or leading a sales meeting, managers must master the art of public speaking. This skill does not come naturally for everyone, and some have extreme fear when it comes to standing up and speaking in front of people. The leadersinstitute.com article “Universal Fear” gives the following tips for overcoming stage fright:

1. Understanding that most nervousness does not show. “Most of the symptoms of nervousness — butterflies, sweaty palms, faster heart beat, etc. — never show to an audience,” the author writes.

2. Making notes. Although speeches should never be written down word for word, brief notes can help with nervousness.

3. Memorizing as much as possible. As with notes, the speech should not be memorized word for word, but remembering the main ideas of the talk helps.

4. Arriving early. Getting comfortable with the space, socializing with the audience and testing equipment will help reduce butterflies.

5. Breathing deeply. Sales professionals should remember to send a good supply of oxygen to their brains. This also helps speakers get full sentences out without running out of air.

6. Picking out friendly faces in the audience.

7. Dropping your hands to your side between gestures. It is the most natural-looking stance.

8. Speak on topics you know. “If someone were going to ask you to present about a business topic, the main reason would be because you are the most qualified person to speak about the topic,” the author says.

9. Showing excitement and enthusiasm about the topic.

10. Practicing ahead of time.

“Everyone gets nervous when they present. Exceptional speakers just don’t show it,” the author explains.

Ignition

Automotive headlines since the last issue went to press:

Chrysler confirmed it was filing for bankruptcy and would partner with Fiat as part of its solution to restore it to profitability. The U.S. and Canadian governments each have a stake in the automaker's success as well, with each receiving a portion of the equity of the new company. One of the side effects of its bankruptcy was to have its anticipated marketing budget of $134 million cut in half by the U.S. government. Additionally, it notified 789 dealers that they would be shuttered by June 9, 2009. This accounts for roughly 25% of the Chrysler's 3,181 dealerships. Four out of five remaining dealerships are expected to carry the full trio of Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep as a result.

Ford is refitting a Wayne, Mich., SUV factory to produce the smaller Ford Focus car in order to meet the needs of dealers and the desires of consumers. The project will cost the automaker approximately $550 million.

For the first time in over a year, Ford outsold Toyota in United States monthly sales in April 2009. Ford took the lead by outselling Toyota by 46,000 vehicles.

General Motors (GM) confirmed that Pontiac would be eliminated as part of its restructuring and that its sale or elimination of Saturn would be accelerated to take place by the end of 2009.

GM announced it planned to reduce dealerships from 6000 at present to 3600 by the end of 2010. First on the chopping block? Saturn, Hummer, Saab and Pontiac dealers. After that, the axe will be aimed at low-volume or low-performance dealerships. The first 1,124 dealers were notified today (Friday, May 15) that their contracts would not be renewed in October 2010. GM also anticipated losing 500 additional dealerships by the end of 2009 "through natural attrition," according to reports by the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA). Those receiving notification from GM were also given instructions for appealing the decision.

Hydrogen fuel cell technology for automobiles was dealt a blow in the United States when President Barack Obama eliminated its funding, noting a preference for solutions that may be able to provide more immediate solutions. Hydrogen fuel cells would have required building a hydrogen fuel infrastructure in addition to developing the vehicles.

The NADA announced it would oppose the massive dealership cuts proposed by Chrysler and GM. They argue that the cost of dealerships is less than the value of additional sales outlets for consumers and the loss of those dealerships will neither help profitability nor help the economy recover, dumping large numbers of employees into unemployment lines.

Porsche announced that, rather than take over Volkswagen, it would ally with VW to form an even larger German automaker.

U.S. legislators are mulling a "cash for clunkers" program that would award $4,500 to consumers who trade in gas-guzzling vehicles getting 18 mpg or less for new, more fuel-efficient vehicles. A similar plan has already been effected in the United Kingdom, and some automakers there are noting advance orders in anticipation of the start of the program.

Automotive News estimated that the successful bidder for Volvo may be announced by Ford as early as the end of June now that the automaker has whittled the candidates down to fewer than five suitors. Meanwhile, GM was running through a similar process for the sale of its Opel and Saab nameplates, with an announcement for Opel possibly as early as the end of May.

Sources: Advertising Age, Automotive News, Detroit Free Press, NADA Headlines

Bits & Bytes

Facebook to test virtual currency through apps. The social site will begin testing a system in which users could use virtual currency to purchase items through applications and third parties through the Facebook network. Currently, Facebook users may purchase credits to be used in the site's virtual gift store. Some applications offer transactions powered by credit card or PayPal accounts; these transactions are expected to generate between $300-$500 million dollars in revenue this year. For the full story, visit mediapost.com.

"App-vertising" emerging as viable online option. "App-vertising" is the term coined for an emerging mix of branded mobile applications and advertising within applications. The explosion of applications, both free and paid, for mobile devices is giving many online advertisers hope for the future. Apple's iPhone and App Store have played a major part in creating a whole new channel for digital marketing, with potential reach that many did not see coming. With other companies and mobile carriers coming into the mobile app market, such as Googlea and Nokia, the market for "app-vertising" will only grow. For more information, see the full story at AdAge.com.

Industry Notes

April foreclosures up 32% year-over-year. According to data from RealtyTrac, more than 342,000 households (about one in every 374 U.S. housing units) received foreclosures notices in April 2009. April was the second consecutive month with more than 300,000 households receiving foreclosure filings. Nevada, Florida and California led the nation in foreclosure rates. To read more, visit USAToday.com.

Century 21 creates ad partnership with Realtor.com. The "Gold Standard Partnership" provides subsidies for franchise owners for the costs of listing enhancements on the Web site. Enhancements include up to 25 large property images, neighborhood information, open-house aletrs, full-motion videos and virtual tours. The deal is the next step in Century 21's move away from television ads in favor of online advertising. For more information visit Inman News.

HomeGain adds Google street views to home prices tool. The addition of Google street views to the HomeGain Web site allows users to view homes as if they were standing on the curb. In addition to viewing static photos, users can "walk" down the street and view neighboring homes in order to get a feel for the overall look of the area. For more information on HomeGain's home values tool, part of the AgentView product, visit Rismedia.

Realtor.com announces marketing alliance with Long & Foster. The new partnership will offer all Long & Foster listins prominent company branding wherever the listins appear on the Web site, including search results pages. For more information on the program, visit Rismedia.com.

Zillow launches GPS-enabled iPhone app. The iPhone app uses GPS technology to pinpoint a user's location and display Zestimate® values on homes in the immediate area. As the individual moves through a neighborhood information is updated and new homes are featured. The app will also feature home details, historical data, contact info for 3.4 million for-sale listings, data on recently-sold homes and more. For more information, go to rismedia.com.

Water Cooler, May 15

Apartments.com teamed with CBCampus.com to announce the Top 10 Cities for New Grads. The top city was Indianapolis, with average rent for a one bedroom apartment being $625. The top five also included Philadelphia, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

One company hoping to take advantage of increased interest in both recruitment and mobile is mJob. The site facilitates recruiters' efforts to contact candidates easily. The agency partners with the popular recruitment blog Cheezhead.com.

Training Tips

Just Call Back: Six Reasons Not to Leave Voicemails

Jacques Werth’s highprobsell.com article “Top 6 Pitfalls of Leaving Voicemail Messages” suggests that sales professionals should not leave voicemails because they are:

1. Easy to delete. If prospects do not recognize the name of the person and company, they will delete the message, leaving only a negative impression in their memory

2. Easy to reject. Prospects may be too busy to think about the offer, so they will delete the message.

3. Annoying. “Customers will hear your one-way communication and be frustrated because there is no opportunity to ask questions,” Werth writes.

4. Easy to judge. If a prospect does not like the sound of the voice on the message, it will be immediately deleted.

5. Easy to forget. Even if a customer is interested in the offer, he or she will probably be too busy to call back.

6. Not productive. “Approximately one out of 120 voicemails will result in a call back. Therefore, without actually talking with them, salespeople that leave voicemails alienate the other 119 prospects,” Werth concludes.

 

Lead Lines

Burnout: Causes and solutions for managers

When sales reps get burned out, they may lose their desire to grow and contribute. This may lead to turnover, lack of productivity and apathy towards customers and work. In her icmi.com article “Preventing Agent Burnout: a Manager’s Handbook,” Francoise Tourniaire discusses the causes of burnout, including:

• Long hours. Managers should consider each individual’s tolerance for overtime and long hours.

• Loss of control. “Control is an essential component of job satisfaction,” says Tourniaire. She suggests including reps in decisions about rules and protocols.

• Poor people skills. Sales professionals who take customer complaints personally or show a lack of concern for customers will find it difficult to be successful.

• Lack of recognition. Especially when financial compensation is lacking, managers must provide incentives and recognition for their employees. Reps may benefit from tokens such as a gift card included in a personal thank you note from the manager. 

• Feeling exploited. When sales professionals feel they are working too hard for little recognition while others reap the benefits, they quickly become burned out.

“Keep the workload reasonable, allow agents to use their brains and their best judgment, give them customer management skills, say thank you and keep it fair,” writes Tourniaire.  What are your strategies for preventing employee burnout? Please leave a comment and share them with us!

Bits & Bytes

2009 EPpy Award Winners Announced. The competition, which honors the best media Web sites, including those from newspapers, TV/cable, radio and magazines. Boston.com, the Web site for the Boston (Mass.) Globe, won awards for Best Sports Blog and Best Entertainment Web site. Other newspaper winners included USA Today for Best Business Blog; Baltimore City Paper for Best Newspaper-Affiliated Web site (citypaper.com); Arizona Daily Star for Best Web site (with fewer than one million unique montly viewers); and The Wall Street Journal Online for Best Newspaper Web site (with more than one million unique monthly viewers). To see more 2009 EPpy award winners, click here.

Google leads the pack in mobile search, by a landslide. Google's dominance in online search is well documented in that almost 64% of all searches conducted online are done through Google, followed by Yahoo! in a distant second with 20%. According to a new report released by Net Applications, an Internet marketing firm, Google obliterates the competitions when it comes to searches on mobile devices with 97.5% of all search queries. Read more here.

News Corp. to charge for online content. After the company's quarterly results were released, News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch stated to analysts and journalists that the company intends to charge online readers for access to online content from News Corp. papers. The switch could be made within the next year. Murdoch cited the Wall Street Journal's success as proof that newspapers can successfully charge for online content. For more of Murdoch's statements on the topic, visit Editor & Publisher for the full story.

Industry Notes

Apartmentfinder.com launches updated Web site. Updated features to the Web site include prominent one-click access to information on apartments, rich content displays, featured apartments and "virtual earth" map. Users can search for apartments through the use of varios parameters including radius, price range, bedrooms and distance to colleges/universities or military bases. For more information, click here.

Condo.com to host first online condo auction. Condo.com partnered with Elad National Properties, Cornerstone Marketing and Auction Management Solutions to hold an online auction which will take place on May 16, 2009 and will feature 40 condominium units at the Enclave at Briarcliff in Atlanta, Ga. It will be the first auction of its kind. Bidders will be able to place bids online or in person; reserves are marked 30% below asking prices. For the full story, click here.

Move, Inc., operator of Realtor.com, reports $10.6 million loss in Q1. The company cited $1.9 million in severance pay and $8.7 million in stock-based compensation charges associated with turnover at the executive level. Revenue for Q1 was reportedd at $54.9 million, down 11.3% from Q1 2008. For more information, see the full article at Inman.com.

Trulia wins Webby Award. The Web site, which one the 2008 People's Voice Webby Award, was awarded a 2009 Webby in the real estate category by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Trulia competed aginst the Better Homes and Gardens real estate page, Hotpads.com, NYTimes.com's real estate page, and RiverfrontPark.com. The winner of the 2009 People's Voice Award was Hotpads.com. To read the full story, visit the Trulia blog.

Name Dropping, 5/8

Two executive placements announced this week included:

Jeff Bergin was named senior VP of advertising for The San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com. He had previously served as VP of sales for Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing Division.

Janet Taylor was named publisher of the Bellevue Reporter and Mercer Island Reporter. She had previously served as publisher of the Montana Standard, where she was promoted from advertising director.

If you have been promoted or your newspaper has changed up its advertising staff, let us know. We'd love to help spread the word.

Video Resumes Gone Bad

For an example of how a video résumé can go horribly awry, check out this video for a quick chuckle:

Michael Spafferty's Video Resume from Unemploymentality on Vimeo.

Lead Lines

What’s the Point? The goal of managers

Managing people is just very similar to managing anything else. The goal of managing things is to direct or control the use of them in the most of effective way. For people, however, “the most effective use” must be defined carefully.

According to Bennet Simonton’s bensimonton.com article “When Managing People, What is the Goal?” machines come with obvious uses and instructions for operation, but maintenance and care is also an important part of their use.

“Very few managers are unaware of the fact that if we only used the machine and never properly cared for it, the machine’s capacity would degrade rather steadily over time and eventually suffer a casualty which would render it useless,” explains Simonton.

The same principle applies to people. Keeping employees in top operating condition includes tending to office morale, individual responsibility and ownership of work, providing an outlet for creativity and motivating them to commit to their work.

One difference between people and machines is that people have the capacity to think for themselves and decide what to do and when. This means managers are not responsible for operating them, but for maintaining their natural capabilities.

“So the primary goal of managing people is to maintain them at a high level of performance and even enhance their natural capabilities,” says Simonton.

NameDropping

Brent Arnold was named advertising director for the Journal-Advocate in Sterling, Colo. He had previously served as advertising manager for Gannett in Fort Collins, Colo., and Great Falls, Mont. Arnold replaced Sharon Friedlander, who became publisher of the Sweetwater (Texas) Reporter.

Gladys Arroyo was named vice president of advertising for the Chicago Sun-Times and the Sun-Times Media Group’s Chicago city region. She had previously served as director of advertising for Pioneer Press West.

The Forum in Fargo, N.D., named Aaron Becher advertising director. Becher had previously served in a similar position at the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune. Roz Randorf will succeed in Becher’s place at the Duluth News Tribune.

Patty Bennett was named advertising sales manager at The Daily Item in Sunbury, Pa. She succeeds Brad Bailey, who went to the Pocono Record in Stroudsburg, Pa.

David Fike was named regional vice president and publisher of the American Consolidated Media - Chesapeake Region. The Chesapeake Region includes 17 publications in Maryland and Delaware with two community dailies, a variety of weekly and monthly publications and two commercial printing plants. Fike most recently served as a division Publisher and General Manager.

Jeff Green was named president and CEO of Fayetteville Publishing Co.’s Iwanna division in Asheville, N.C., which oversees classified-advertising publications for Asheville and for Greenville, S.C., as well as Internet operations, commercial printing and Sophie magazine. He had previously served as chief marketing officer.

Craig Rogers was named advertising director at the Peoria (Ill.) Journal Star. He succeeds Tim Rollet, who resigned in March to pursue an alternative career. Rogers had previously served as director of marketing for The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. and currently acts as president of the Newspaper Association of America’s Market Development and Promotion Council.

Beverly Schultz-Joyce was named advertising director at the Traverse City (Mich.) Record-Eagle. She had served as a consultant for the newspaper industry after serving as publisher of the Hendricks County Flyer in Avon, Ind.

This information will also be available in the May 2009 issue of MacDonald magazine.

Ignition

2009 World Car of the Year Awards announced. The New York International Auto Show saw the announcement of the annual World Car of the Year Awards. The Volkswagen Golf VI won 2009 World Car of the Year; the Fiat 500 took the title of 2009 World Car Design of the Year. The 2009 World Performance Car was the Nissan GT-R, and the 2009 World Green Car was the Honda FCX Clarity.

Domestic dealerships closing faster. General Motors’ (GM) Mark LaNeve noted that the automaker had lost 165 dealerships in just over one quarter of 2009. Annual attrition is usually 175-200 dealerships. Saturn alone had gone from 420 U.S. dealerships at the start of 2009 to 384 by April 6, 2009. Chrysler’s Steven Landry added that the automaker lost 35 dealerships in March 2009, up from the 20 dealerships a month it was averaging in 2008.

Ford introduces new models. While many automakers are trimming models and even makes, Ford introduced its Fusion, a new Taurus sedan and its Transit Connect van. Industry estimates note that the number of new models in 2009 will number significantly fewer than in previous years, perhaps as low as half the number of new models for the 2009 model year.

GM partners with Segway. GM announced it is working with Segway to product a battery-powered two-seat scooter under Project PUMA, which stands for Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility. The Pumas are expected to have a battery range of about 35 miles and a top speed around 35 miles per hour. The creation is forecasted to get about 200 miles per gallon (mpg), which falls to 70 mpg when factory in electricity required to charge the battery.

J.D. Power and Associates release 2009 Vehicle Dependability Study. The study — which measures three-year-old vehicles — ranked Buick and Jaguar in a tie for most dependable at 122 problems experienced per 100 vehicles for their 2006 lineups. The next best automakers were Lexus, Toyota and Mercury. With an industry average of 170, Suzuki came in last with a score of 263 followed by Volkswagen, Land Rover, Isuzu and Mazda. The highest-ranked vehicles in their respective segments were the Acura RL, Buick LaCrosse, Lexus ES 330, Lexus LS 430, Lexus SC 430, Lincoln Zephyr, Mazda MX-5 Miata, Mercury Grand Marquis, Nissan 350Z, Scion xA, Toyota Solara and Toyota Prius.

United States government announces fuel economy standards. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced that, for the 2011 model year, cars must get 30.2 mpg, up from 27.5, and light trucks will rise to 24.1 from 23.1. The overall fleet average will rise two mpg. Automakers and other parties had until mid-May 2009 to register comments.

 

Sources: Automotive News, Bloomberg.com, JDPower.com, NADA Headlines, PRNewswire, USA Today

This information will also be available in the May 2009 issue of MacDonald magazine.

More News & Views

Canadian newspaper joins Real Estate Book network. The Globe and Mail, a national Canadian newspaper based out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, launched The Real Estate Book as its online real estate service. Real Estate Book’s searchable widget will be featured on the newspaper’s Web site and provide access to real estate listings from markets all over North America.

Residential mover rate hits lowest point since 1948. The U.S. Census Bureau announced the national mover rate for 2008 dropped to its lowest point since the department began recording the statistic in 1948. In 2008, the national mover rate fell to 11.9% from 13.2% the previous year. Approximately 35.2 million people moved into different homes in 2008, compared with 38.7 million in 2007. Regions with the highest mover raters were the South (13.5%) and the West (13.2%).

Sierra Club launches Web site to educate consumers about green homes. The Web site at sierragreenhome.com, will educate Americans on strategies to make their homes more environmentally sustainable and energy efficient. In addition to advice and articles by green journalists, the Web site will also aim to link consumers with thousands of authenticated providers of green products and services in their region.

Sources: Editor & Publisher,  furnituretoday.com, rismedia.com

This information will also be available in the May 2009 issue of MacDonald magazine.

WaterCooler

Gen Y loves tech sector. In a poll by Experience.com of 6,700 Gen Y people, Technology was the most attractive industry for those polled at 48%. New Media followed at 40%, Consulting had 36% and Advertising had 35%. The rest of the industries in order of interest were Pharmaceuticals (23%), Consumer Products (22%), Banking (20%), Manufacturing (12%) and Insurance (10%). The study demographic focused on students and recent graduates, and Healthcare and Education were omitted from the poll as they “tend to hire for specific skills sets and certifications.”

NewGeography.com names best cities for jobs. According to its recent study of 336 cities, the site found the top five cities to be Odessa, Texas; Grand Junction, Colo.; Longview, Texas; Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La.; and Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood, Texas. Seven cities fell more than 200 places in the rankings, including Yuma, Ariz.; Winchester, Va.-W.V.; Prescott, Ariz.; Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, S.C.; and Reno-Sparks, Nev. The five largest jumps in ranking were Lafayette, Ind. (up from 287 to 85); Champaign-Urbana, Ill. (up from 267 to 83); Sioux City, Ia.-Neb.-S.D. (up from 253 to 80); Lubbock, Texas (up from 242 to 74) and Wheeling, W.V.-Ohio (up from 305 to 138). With the automotive downturn, five of the bottom six cities for jobs were located in Michigan.

Schawbel promotes social career networking. When tapping social Web sites to find a job, Dan Schawbel — author of the Personal Branding Blog — recommends the following 10 sites: LinkedIn, Plaxo with Simply Hired, Twitter with blog or LinkedIn URL, Jobster, Facebook, Craigslist, MyWorkster with Indeed, VisualCV, JobFox and Ecademy.

Twitter turns into avenue for job searches. While there are many debates about how to properly use Twitter, these apps have found means to use Twitter as either a job board or notification system for openings: ConnectTweet, TwitterJobCast, TwitterJobSearch, Twellow, TweetBeep, HashDictionary, JobMotel, TweetDeck, TweetMyJobs, VisualCV, TwitterSearch, NearByTweets, Twollo and Twitscoop. Additionally, the following users specialize in job postings: @JobAngels, @indeed, @jobshouts, @simplyhired, @StartUpHire and @twithire.

Sources: Cheezhead.com, Experience.com, PRNewswire

This information will also be available in the May 2009 issue of MacDonald magazine.

Bits&Bytes

Classifieds Web sites see major traffic increases, likely due to recession. Traffic to classifieds Web sites was up 84% year over year in February, according to a recent Hitwise report. The increase is largely attributed to an increase in traffic to Craigslist, but the report found that smaller classifieds sites also enjoyed double-digit growth.

Cox partners with Adify, aims to target struggling auto industry. The partnership between Cox Enterprises and the network provider was forged in order to capitalize on holes in the current vehicle advertising market. Cox plans to offer attractive, low-cost online advertising packages to struggling automotive advertisers as well as bring together the company’s local Web sites like automart.com, greencar.com and askpatty.com.

Fair Syndication Consortium seeks to gain share of revenue from pirated content. The Constortium, comprised of a group of online publishers, teamed with Redwood City, Calif.-based tech firm Attributor in an attempt to find a way publishers can capitalize on revenue from ads placed on sites using pirated news content, according to paidContent.org. Newspaper publishers have taken issue with bloggers and content aggregators posting full versions of copyrighted news content and collecting revenue from such pages. Currently, Attributor tags news content and notifies publishers if their content is being used inappropriately so publishers may contact the site to request a takedown. The Consortium is moving away from publisher-to-publisher negations and toward an approach in which Attributor contact a pirating Web site’s ad network directly to petition for a cut of revenue.

SeatttlePI.com sees drop in online traffic after print issues stop. The Seattle (Wash.) Post-Intelligencer, which published its last issue March 17, saw a 23% drop in unique page views on its Web site, falling from 1.8 million unique viewers to 1.4 million. The site ranked 28^th on Nielson Online’s top 30 list of newspaper Web sites in February, but dropped off the list in March, coming in at number 32. Before print editions ceased at Seattle P.I., page views for the newspaper were higher than those of the Seattle (Wash.) Times. However, The Seattle Times saw a jump in online readership in the month of March, taking them from 1.5 million unique users in February to 2.2 million uniques in March.

USA Today launches user-generated photo contest. The newspaper, based in MacLean, Va., teamed with discoveramerica.com to launch an online photo contest in which readers submit photos that represent America to international travelers. Three winning photos will be chosen to be used in a marketing campaign to promote the United States as a destination for international travelers.

Sources: Cheezhead.com, Editor & Publisher, MediaWeek, paidContent.org, SFNblog.com

This information will also be available in the May 2009 issue of MacDonald magazine.