Consumer Price Index Seattle

sEATTLE-TACOMA-BREMERTON AREA
CONSUMER PRICE INDEXES: OCTOBER 2008

The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported consumer prices in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton area decreased 0.8 percent for the two months ending October 2008. Regional Commissioner Richard J. Holden said that the decrease in the all items index was mainly due to lower prices for transportation. From October 2007 to October 2008, overall prices rose 3.4 percent and the all items less food and energy index increased 3.0 percent. Local Consumer Price Index (CPI) data are not seasonally adjusted.

The transportation index fell 7.9 percent during the past two months, primarily due to a 21.6 percent drop in gasoline prices. The two-month decrease in gasoline prices was the largest decline since the 1998 CPI revision. Over the year, the transportation index rose 3.0 percent and gasoline prices advanced 4.1 percent.

The housing index increased 0.9 percent for the two months ending October 2008 and was 4.3 percent higher over the year. Shelter, the primary component of housing, also increased 0.9 percent over the past two months and was up 5.3 percent compared to one year ago. Within the shelter category, the rent of primary residence index rose 1.1 percent and the owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence index advanced 1.9 percent from August to October. Over the past year, the rent of primary residence index rose 6.6 percent and the owners’ equivalent rent of primary residence index increased 7.4 percent. Shelter also includes lodging away from home, an unpublished subcategory. Fuels and utilities, another component of housing, increased 0.5 percent during the past two months and was 4.8 percent higher over the past 12 months. Within the fuels and utilities index, prices for electricity declined 1.2 percent over the past two months, while prices for utility (piped) gas services moved up 10.4 percent. Compared to October 2007, prices for electricity increased 0.7 percent and prices for utility (piped) gas service rose 10.8 percent. Prices for household furnishings and operations increased 0.9 percent during the latest two-month period, but were 1.3 percent lower compared to one year ago.

The food and beverages index advanced 2.0 percent from August to October and was 6.0 percent higher over the year. Grocery prices, as measured by the food at home index, moved up 3.1 percent over the past two months and were 8.0 percent higher than a year ago. Food away from home rose 1.0 percent from August to October and advanced 4.5 percent for the latest 12-month period.

Medical care prices decreased 0.2 percent for the two months ending in October, yet were unchanged over the year.

Apparel prices increased 0.2 percent for the latest two-month period, but were 6.4 percent lower over the past year.

Among the remaining major expenditure categories, prices for education and communication rose 2.4 percent, while prices for recreation moved down 1.8 percent for the latest two-month period. Over the past year, education and communication prices advanced 4.5 percent and recreation prices rose 1.9 percent. The other goods and services index advanced 2.1 percent from August to October and rose 1.2 percent over the latest 12-month period.

The All Items, Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area measured 225.915 (1982-84=100). This means a market basket of goods and services that cost $100.00 in 1982-84 would have cost $225.92 in October 2008.

Internet Advertising 101

Website Marketing Online

Online advertising and search engine marketing, (usual referral’s are SEO, SEM, PPC, Web 2.0, Blogging, Linking, Affiliate Marketing, Email Marketing, Banner Ads, URL Rewrite, Content Copywriting, or Back link popularity) have been sold like snake oils at a traveling circus from Bellingham Washington to Bellingham Massachusetts since the white text scandal.  It seems everyone is looking for a quick fix and everything is going to go bonkers like the .com craze.  While the economy settles to a rumble around us, small business is looking for the best bang for your buck, ROI (Return on investment), efficiency, go green.  I noticed some of the first stocks to turn upwards were internet related, computer industry, or website marketing based, like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Apple.  My presidential campaign slogan: Google ad-words internet marketing based advertising will save the economy, they make dollars and they make sense.

Paid Listings

You learn a lot about ROI while you get involved in a Google ad-words or pay per click campaign because you can actually track your marketing budget’s success.  Unlike paper advertising like direct mail, business cards, flyers; or media advertising like Television and Radio you can analyze visitors’ activities to a very specific page of your site and visibly see the spike in traffic or bounce effect or bounce rate.  That makes it very easy to justify spending dollars.  For example,  if you spend 100$ in sponsored listings and make 500$, you can usually assume then that a 500$ investment equates to a 2500$ return.  A great way to cut some fat off of your PPC advertising campaign is to optimize the titles, descriptions, and landing pages for your sponsored links.  Banner ads, the most targeted of all markets are a great way to advertise locally.  A local daycare shouldn’t be spending advertising dollars in Seattle, it is a waste of energy and money, their relevant market is local to Whatcom County. WWW.Neighborhood-kids.com would be a perfect saturated target market for a local daycare.  Sure, a lot more people would see the ad if it was on the Bellingham Herald, but how focused would that person on kid related activities be and what percentage of those viewers would have daycare age children?  The point is you still pay for all those irrelevant views to your advertisement and then even the relevant views may not be in a phase of the “buying cycle”.

Organic Search Engine Ranking

Natural search engine optimization is a horse of a different color, but still a pony.  I’ve found most of the best tactics are done behind the scenes by the great and powerful Oz, the code gurus.  Aspects of indexing a site’s content that are easy to figure are title tags, content, keyword density, internal links, site maps, and alt tags for images…just to name a few.  Remember the search engines spiders’ are reading a site like brail, usually blind to most design features like color and creativity.  The easier to use, more organized, and relevant a sites’ content the more likely it will have the answers the internet searcher is seeking sooner.  Don’t make me think.

Website Popularity Contest (the black sheep)

What if two sites are built almost the same?  What if a site doesn’t meet certain criteria?  The search engines will have to take into other factors.  It is the search engines job to be the most popular so in turn they want to have the most popular sites populate for the princes and the paupers peeping their peeps.  Therefore, they track hits to the site, links to the site, activity coming in from outside sources like articles or videos and so on.  “Viral marketing” was coined based on the relation to the way a virus spreads person to person, like an old fashionpyramid scheme.  One of the best ways to keep your site popular is by having a blog and blogging.  The big directory back links like DMOZ, active popular hip trendy quirky revolutionary un-politically correct political stylish well written nerdy blog sites, and educational websites(.edu) are anchors also.

Old Money

The search engines also will take into consideration a site that has proved itself as a Big Kahuna, it has rode the waves since America online.  Google is the most trusted brand in America and it got there by putting it’s trust in trusting trusted brands.  Start ups can earn some street creds by showing there website is a serious investment and they plan to be here for awhile.

Keyword Strategy

The most important part of all of these are…drum roll…keyword searches, besides viral marketing I guess…and just having enough money to buy anything you want.  If you want to pop up for “Black leather purse”, first of all good luck.  Second of all, you want to be the last website that person sees when in their buying cycle, Last?.  Yes, last, they stop searching when they find what they like and…drum roll…make a purchase, or call you, or find directions.  When you are buying BMW you search “BMW”, once you find that you want an X5, you search “BMW X5”, then “2003 BMW X5”, then “2003 BMW X5 Bellingham Wa.”.  You must find you niche in the market and make sure your site is usable.  I could pop up # 1 in the search engines for “ purple poslovian pirate puppies ” but what good would that do me?  So if a company promises you ((#1 OVERALL IN GOOGLE)echoing)…for what? And will it be my website or a listing on your site? Target those “buying” keywords!  Visitors are great, buyers are necessary.

Purple Poslovian Pirate Puppies (Analytics)

The most important part for you as a business owner in Bellingham or where ever, whether you are marketing internationally, over seas, or buying locally is supplying the demand.  How do you know what is in demand without analysis.  Get trendy, trends make mucho peso, look at NSync, they are like the cabbage patch dolls of the music industry but they dance.  Be ahead of the curve, insider trading is legal online or is that offshore, I think…I can’t remember.  Actually, don’t quote me on that.  These search engine marketing robots show up somewhat unbeknownst and who they really, I mean truly are inside is still a mystery, they put up there walls to keep themselves from getting hurt.  “You complete me” your website says.  Maybe search engine spiders are eerily a lot like the Rene Zellweger’s of the WorldWideWeb but doesn’t that make you want your website to be their Tom Cruise?(minus the whole Tom Cruise thing)

The Cold Hard Facts

Most of SEO and SEM results for the average yahoo can be likened to applying tactics to an Idaho power ball drawing.  There is a lot of SEO 101 information up there in that blog post.  This is just the tip of the iceberg and it is still an educated guess based on experience.  A smart, original, and innovative business model is still the best recipe for success, we can ad rocket fuel and coordinates on your trip to the planet Google.

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