LoopNet Expands Its Marketplace

Online commercial real estate marketplace LoopNet last week announced its acquisition of Cityfeet.com, an online distribution network for commercial property listings that has more than 100,000 active listings. Cityfeet.com's network distributes its listings to more than 100 partners, such as the web sites of The New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Dallas Morning News and Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

LoopNet paid $15 million for Cityfeet.com and will spend another $3 million if performance goals are met. In a company statement announcing the deal, LoopNet said it expects at Cityfeet.com will add about $1 million in revenues for LoopNet for 2007.

LoopNet also expects the deal, which combines LoopNet's marketplace with Cityfeet.com's distribution network, to increase exposure for both companies’ listings. If it works, both LoopNet and Cityfeet.com will accomplish their goals of being leaders in their segments.

Customers of both companies are certainly positioned to benefit. LoopNet's customer base, which consists of commercial real estate agents, brokers, buyers and tenants, are seeking the largest possible audience to see listings or find appropriate properties and LoopNet and Cityfeet.com are doing that through this deal--something they couldn't achieve on their own. Chances of satisfying customers within the real estate sector should only increase as the LoopNet/Cityfeet.com listings become more prominent in the online space; something online customers expect these days. The acquisition should prove to be a smart move by both companies. It won't be surprising if LoopNet contemplates future deals to expand its marketplace even further.

The New FreeERISA

FreeERISA has reinvented itself. The database provider of business tax IDs has introduced a new interface and new data--along with a new Web site. Perhaps with the goal of marketing its services to a new audience, FreeERISA is making its searchable database available on EINfinder.com.

In its promotional material, FreeERISA touts the data now located on EINfinder.com is validated by the government and that users can easily determine whether businesses are active or inactive. The site also offers special passes to enable unlimited search capabilities. Users can have the data integrated into their in-house systems for increased ease of use.

By making its data available on this new site as well as improving its interface, FreeERISA appears to have succeeded in making an old product new again. Perhaps the FreeERISA site wasn't effective enough in attracting relevant new customers. This rebranding of sorts is a relatively simple idea, but it's got the legs to be very effective. While launching new products is nice, it's not the only way in which to expand your customer base. This effort by FreeERISA is definitely worth a try.

Social Networking Friday

A number of blogs are reporting that on Monday, Plaxo, a company best known for its revolutionary service that synchronizes and updates user contacts lists, will apparently transform itself into a social networking company, under the brand name "Pulse." It seems that Plaxo has decided that it likes the Facebook business model more than its own.

I like Plaxo, an InfoCommerce Model of Excellence award winner way back in 2004. Its business of synchronizing contacts among user databases information is brilliant, and its technology is breathtaking. That's why I am disappointed to hear that Plaxo may be trying to move in a whole new direction. My free advice to Plaxo: before re-inventing yourself, focus your creativity on building out more applications based on your remarkable technology, and oh yes, stop giving away so much value for free.

And what of Facebook, the social networking site formerly the province of college students, but now open to the rest of us? Industry pundits are now whispering (loudly) that Facebook is poised to give Linked-In a run for the money since it is now re- defining itself as a communications platform on which third parties can build and extend Facebook capabilities. All this massive expansion comes with the risk that Facebook will lose its identity as the addition of users like me likely drives its coolness factor to zero among the college students who fueled its rise. Further, I am willing to make a small bet that Facebook's cavalier attitude towards data privacy is going to explode loudly in its face in the near future.

And what about Linked-In, another 2004 InfoCommerce Model of Excellence award winner? I am not sure that Linked-In's original premise, building on the "six degrees of separation" notion to foster professional contacts, played out in reality as well as it did in theory. At the same time, the company has been nimble and creative in finding ways to monetize what to my eyes is one of the single greatest treasure troves of data on business professionals. Importantly, Linked-In understands the information value in implicit and explicit connections as its users voluntarily indicate their connections to others. I think it's also telling that Linked-In seemingly is doing so well selling access to its data in various ways. There's something about proprietary content!

Bottom line: Plaxo is getting off the turnpike at the wrong exist; Facebook needs to do a lot of growing up before it becomes a real tool for grown-ups, and Linked-In seems to offer confirmation once again that content is still king.

Labels: FaceBook, Linked-In, LinkedIn, Plazo, Pulse

Polk + ROADTODATA = More Robust Product

Automotive information and marketing solutions provider R.L. Polk & Co. and ROADTODATA announced this week that Polk will acquire a majority interest in ROADTODATA, an automotive price and specifications data supplier. The new combined entity will be called Polk ROADTODATA and will offer customers price and specifications data and sales volume information globally.

Customers will now have one main source for this content; and they will eventually also gain access to vehicle comparison and data tools. Essentially, this will enable Polk to offer a more robust, value-added service to its customers. Content providers should always seek ways in which to provide a better user experience; to give customers the content and tools they need. For some providers, this means an increased focus on internal development of products and services. For others, this translates into a need for a partner that can help power those additional offerings--which is what Polk has done. Value-added services are no longer "nice to have" features. They have become "need to have" offerings. Content providers definitely "need to have" these content offerings within their portfolios in order to attract and maintain valuable customers.

Acquisition Converts Questex into Service Provider

Business-to-business media company Questex Media Group has acquired Five Star Alliance, an online luxury hotel booking service that caters to affluent travelers. Questex already serves that audience with a slate of publications, such as Premier Hotels & Resorts, Luxury Travel Advisor and Travel Agent Magazine. The company also hosts travel-related conferences.

Criteria to list properties on Five Star Alliance is very strict—it's by invitation only. The site currently features more than 1,300 hotels, including The Carlyle in New York and Washington, D.C.'s The Hay Adams. Newsletters and blogs on the site offer visitors recommendations. The site averages more than 3 to 4 million page views and more than 400,000 visitors each month.

Questex understands the importance of making its pages come to life. For a traditional b-to-b publisher like Questex to add a transactional service to its product and service portfolio is a good move. This acquisition really rounds out Questex's offerings to serve the affluent traveler, hotelier and travel advisor at every step of the customer life cycle. Customers can now research destinations and book their trips without leaving the Questex portfolio of products. These days, it's all about becoming a complete service provider; and that's exactly what Questex has done.