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Part
01
Site Selectors - Top Online Tools and Services
The top resources for site selectors are site magazines (82%) such as Area Development; B2B industry related magazines for specific industries (37%),; and general business/financial papers such as IndustryWeek and The Wall Street Journal (74%). When searching online for economic data on specific sites and locations, site selectors also used listings/directories such as FastFacility (78%) while others used specific state economic development agencies' websites (50%).
2017 SITE SELECTOR CONSULTANTS SURVEY (Area Development)
- Area Development Magazine, the leading online magazine for corporate site selection and relocation, released the results of its 31st Annual Corporate Survey and the 13th Annual Consultants Survey in 2017.
- Only 38 percent of surveyed corporate respondents said they used third-party or consulting site selectors when needing to make business decisions about location. Majority therefore act as in-house / corporate site selectors.
- According to the survey, over 80 percent use site magazines such as Area Development as their primary source of site selection information.
- The secondary source of information was general business and financial papers such as IndustryWeek and The Wall Street Journal, used by 74 percent of site selector respondents.
- The last source of information mentioned was B2B industry related magazines for specific industries, used by 37 percent of respondents.
- Site selectors who searched online for specific locations also leveraged online listings and directories such as FastFacility, according to 78 percent of respondents.
- Others went to specific state economic development agencies' websites, used by 50 percent of respondents.
SITE SELECTOR DIGITAL HABITS
- The Area Development 2017 survey also gave the top types of information searched by site selectors online.
- Majority searched for economic data on specific areas (78%)
- The second top online information searched was listings of available locations and infrastructure (68%)
- More than half searched for specific economic development agencies' (EDA) websites (51%)
- Site selectors also searched for planning strategy and information (49%)
- Lastly, site selectors searched for contact information for consultants and real estate professionals (42%)
AREA DEVELOPMENT TOP COMPETITORS
- The top competitors of online magazine Area Development according to Spyfu are: Business Facilities.com, TradeandIndustryDev.com, JAstreet.com and MandyRockefeller.com
- Area Development is the leader among these with 36,000 clicks per month compared to just over 2,000 clicks per month for its closest competitor BusinessFacilities.com.
FASTFACILITY TOP COMPETITORS
- The top competitors of online listing/directory FastFacility.com according to Spyfu are: FastGIS.biz, Technoltelephone, HoorHoorseNo, Pyromeeef, and Ppeiadpopypodyz.
- There is little information regarding competitor data, however FastFacility seems to hold the lead followed by Techno.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DIRECTORIES
- Here is the Economic Development Directory with regional and state office contacts by the Economic Development Administration.
- Here is the Economic Development Directory with a brief overview of each state's ED agency as well as county offices.
RESEARCH STRATEGY
We looked for surveys and industry reports for site selectors and found Area Development's Annual Corporate Survey and Annual Consultants Survey which are conducted among in-house/corporate and consulting site selectors respectively. The most recent surveys (2018, 2019) did not contain any information about online tools used by site selectors, so we backtracked and researched the next most recent report (2017). This issue contained the information we're looking for, but only for in-house/corporate site selectors. However, as majority of companies used in-house site selectors, we considered this as qualified for majority of site selectors. These tools are also targeted towards site selectors in general, whether in-house or consultants, so we considered these. We then researched the type of online tools mentioned, specifically the two resources: online magazine Area Development and online listing/directory FastFacility. We ran these through Spyfu which gave website analytics including top competitors. These have been included above in our outline.
In summary, the top resources used by site selectors are site magazines ex. Area Development, general business and financial papers ex. IndustryWeek, and B2B industry-related magazines. When searching for economic data on specific locations, site selectors also used listing and directories ex. FastFacility as well as state economic development agencies' websites.