The top business strategy for 2014: All roads lead to Google

Robert SimeonDecember 7, 2020

It’s that time of the year when businesses start working on strategies to implement for next year and removing the strategies that failed – the biggest question is what should be priority one? It’s pretty simple actually given all roads point to Google. In 1998, Google’s first year, the annual number of Google searches reached 3,600,000, in 2010 it reached 1,324,670,000,000 and in 2012 it jumped to 1,873,910,000,000. The problem for most businesses is their online activity is being ignored by Google as it has tightened the way in which it collects data, today it rewards those businesses that adapt their online activities using Google as the platform.

For example businesses now need to be feeding into Google+, Google+ Business Page and Google Places to name a few to start with. In recent years we have seen many businesses moving to Gmail as they align themselves to the power of Google’s web asset leverage. Google+ is closing in on Facebook with Google+ now attracting 1,203 million visitors per month and yes, you guessed it, you can’t operate Google+ without a Gmail account.

Joseph Healy from the NAB wrote an interesting piece this week – Who dares wins in a brave new world. “We’ve seen new business models emerge and old ones decline. Established institutions have gone out of business and new leaders have emerged – often through radically altering their business models or even government intervention. The fact is however, looking historically this sense of change is nothing new – for century’s industries, economies and even geographies have been ebbing and flowing. In many ways we have moved to a phase of change that is less evolutionary and more revolutionary or transformational in nature.”

So as we cast our attention to 2014 it’s reassuring that economists forecast steady growth for Australia with economic growth set to climb steadily in the two years ahead. The Australian economy grew 2.6% in the year to June, down from 3.7% a year earlier. The forecasters anticipate that growth will hit 2.9% in 2014 and 3% throughout 2015.

The RBA is eying the housing market amid signs of lower rates working which is becoming increasingly obvious to all watching the Sydney property markets – I’m tipping that houses in Mosman sales for 2013 will break the $1 billion in sales which has not happened since the global financial crisis. For the heftiest loans, the winner is Sydney; “The harbourside municipality of Woollahra had the nation’s heftiest monthly mortgage repayments of $3250 in 2011, closely followed by Mosman and Manly (both $3033). The council areas of Hunters Hill, Ku-ring-gai, Leichhardt, Pittwater and Waverley were next, each with a median monthly repayment of $3000. Two exclusive waterfront Perth neighbourhoods, Cottesloe and Nedlands, were the only two areas outside Sydney to figure among the top 10 council areas for mortgage repayments.”

18-11-2013 12-03-16 PM

Strong price gains over the past year mean Sydney has 123 suburbs with a median price in the $1 million to $2 million dollar range, seven suburbs with a median price in the $2 million to $3 million range and three suburbs with a median price over $3 million, according to Australian Property Monitors. All the signs are there for the property markets to further improve in 2014 and beyond. Mosman briefly hit 100 houses on the market earlier this week then dropped back to 99 when I do the figures each Thursday.

18-11-2013 9-32-03 AM

Generation rent left out in the cold with the roaring popularity of property investment – aided by generous tax breaks – is turning us into a nation of landlords. And this is inflicting a hefty toll on younger generations. Throw in the strong injection of Chinese buyers and it’s no surprise that the market demographics are so strong. People in China traditionally associate fortune with lucky numbers. Number eight has long been regarded as the luckiest number is Chinese culture and why is Mosman now so popular? Aside from the obvious the postcode is also 2088. The number two usually suggests germination and harmony.


Robert Simeon
is a director of
Richardson  Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay and has been selling residential real estate in Sydney since 1985.

He has also been writing real estate blog Virtual Realty News since 2000.

The RWM real estate model has sold in excess of $1 billion in database sales globally.

 

Robert Simeon

Robert Simeon is a director of Richardson Wrench Mosman and Neutral Bay and has been selling residential real estate in Sydney since 1985. He has also been writing real estate blog Virtual Realty News since 2000.

Editor's Picks