All I hear about is what a bummer the economy is.  Enough already.  All our futures are at stake here.  Yes?  Well, I suggest we all focus on what we can do tomorrow when we get up in the morning and make it a better day, a better economy, and a better country.

Do not misinterpret me for someone who does not care.  Quite the contrary, I care a lot.  That is why I want us to focus on the positive.  So I looked at some online stats at www.compete.com. 

What does this tell us?  Traffic has dropped off significantly, but that is an annual cycle.  Look at the year-to-year, it is down but not massively.  Among these three travel sites there were almost 30million people in Nov that were shopping for travel.  30 million is about 4X the population of my native Austria.

Now below is the traffic for VRBO and Homeaway.  Again look not only at the seasonal trend, look at the year-to-year traffic.  It is actually up for both these site. 

So before you stick another pin into that Ben Bernacki voodoo doll, take a closer look at the stats and think about what you can affect, what you can change, how you can drive your business further.

Full of hope.

Ralf
www.LiveRez.com

I thought maybe it was just my wife and kids (I have been watching then get more active on www.Facebook.com and my wife has developed quite a following on her blog www.wenderful.com), but I have come to realize that we seem to be at an inflection point in the utilization of online social networking.  Here is the most scientific  evidence I have for this – my mother-in-law has a Facebook profile.  Now it is mainstream for sure!!

If that is not scientific enough for you, here is some more data from a recent study by Universal McCann International Social Media Research.  Check out this study for some amazing detail and info.

• Watched a video  82.9%

• Read a blog 72.8%

• Visit a photo sharing site  63.2%

• Manage a profile on a social network  57.3%

• Leave a comment on a blog  54.8%

• Leave a comment on a news site  44.8%

• Subscribe to an RSS feed  33.7%

What this means to you?  Here is my opinion. 

• First, you get familiar with these sites, tools, networks.  Understand them, do not rely on anyone else to define them for you.  If you do not consider yourself technical, do not let than be a roadblock, the point of these social sites and networks is that they are for humans – not techie guys. 

• Second, match your target audience and target message to the appropriate online social channel.

Hope this helps in your vacation home rentals.

Ralf

www.LiveRez.com