Money Spending Down, News Interest Up

By Jason Lee Miller - Thu, 09/11/2008 - 17:13

Visits to auto, shopping sites flat

Visits to places where one can spend money are down or flat compared to this time last year, according to Hitwise. News, however, is hot.

Hitwise’s Heather Hopkins reports that visits to automotive and shopping/classified sites are flat this year compared to metrics taken last September, when both categories showed increases. Flat’s not as bad as decline, though, which is what has happened in the travel sector. Visits to travel sites have fallen by 15 percent, over twice the decline they saw last year at 7 percent.

The obvious answer is the struggling economy—even it is just a “mental recession” among a “nation of whiners.”

News websites, though, are experiencing a lift from the RNC/DNC/Hurricane season. Visits to news sites are up 17 percent over the past month, compared to a 12 percent increase in the same period last year.

Social networks, too, saw their seasonal decline as kids head back to school. Heather provides a nice chart showing the inverse relationship between social networks and the beginning of the school year.

News Tags: Search, traffic, Trends

About the author:
Jason Lee Miller is a WebProNews editor and writer covering business and technology.

5 Comments

By Guest (WPN reader) - Sat, 09/20/2008 - 05:21

Travel Bargains

Yes, the recession in Europe has particulary affected travel to Mombasa Kenya but there are some great special offers currently in place and holiday makers from Europe, Australia and the US are getting excellent value for money. Visit www.coastbreak.com for details.

Regards

Tom

By Guest (WPN reader) - Mon, 09/15/2008 - 06:12

Bargains or bust

Companies always find ways to make money even when the economy is going flat. Now it's just bargain stores that do better (just pretend to have a sale ;-) and when the economy goes up people spend more on luxary things. It makes sense.

Strange though that social sites go down when school is in, because kids these days always seem to be online.

By Olin Coles (WPN reader) - Sun, 09/14/2008 - 11:36

Capitolizing on a down economy

There isn't an easy answer for the problem, but what I did was take a consumer-necessary website and inject a topic of interest focused at the sinking economy. I wrote an article called "Finding the Best Deals on Gadgets and Computers" and so far it has helped others while helping my own site cope with the reduced number of visitors.

By Recession Proof SEO (WPN reader) - Fri, 09/12/2008 - 09:50

PR vs PPC - What's best in a recession?

Does this mean that PR could be better value than normal relaitve to, say. affiliates or PPC in a recession?

Also, do changes in total search volume directly affect conversion rates i.e. have they both dropped or is it simlpy that few people are shopping, but a similar percentage are buying.

By Kim Castle (WPN reader) - Fri, 09/12/2008 - 00:22

My consuming confidence has

My consuming confidence has declined as well because of the tough economy and the prices of everyday items going up. Instead of cutting back on my spending I have become a follower of bargain hunting websites like Unodeals.com to be able to afford the same things as before.