The migration has begun.

I'm talking about real estate advertising – billions and billions of dollars' worth – that is shifting from traditional print (primarily newspapers and home guides) to the Internet, marking one of the most profound transformations our industry has witnessed.

Case in point: collectively, our industry spends a whopping $11 billion per year on real estate advertising. Yet only 11 percent of that money is being spent online – a number that is sure to rise significantly during the next few years. While no one may be ready to issue a death certificate for real estate print advertising just yet, times are changing -- in a hurry.

If you don't think so, just look at what's occurred in traditional classified advertising: Research shows that newspapers saw a 50 percent decline in advertising revenue from job classifieds in just a three-year span as those dollars shifted to more efficient online advertising options. What caused such a dramatic shift? Job seekers stopped looking to newspapers as their primary information source, and instead began their job search online.

The real estate industry is in the midst of a similar transformation primarily for three reasons: 1) home buyers and sellers are predominantly online 2) online advertising is more cost effective and 3) online advertising offers more return and better access to targeted consumers.

Although old habits generally die hard, this transformation should come as no surprise to anyone in our industry. After all, more than three-quarters of all consumers now begin their real estate experiences online – and savvy real estate agents know they need to be where their customers are to generate leads, referrals and repeat business. It's the new and growing breed of real estate agents who are taking their businesses online where they can meet consumers who are starting their searches for real estate.

In fact, the National Association of Realtors points out that nowadays, more buyers and sellers find their real estate agent via the Internet than from yellow pages, newspapers and direct mail combined. NAR also tells us that 74 percent of consumers start their search for homes online. And yet, only 11 percent of agent advertising budgets are spent online. Your buyers and sellers are starting online, and using the Internet as their primary source of information.

Shouldn't your marketing dollars follow?

Many agents are already seeing firsthand how the Internet can transform their careers and income potential. When was the last time you heard anyone say that about print advertising?

The Internet is not only enabling real estate professionals to convert leads into transactions, but sophisticated tools help agents manage relationships with hundreds of prospects -- at once.

Real estate is, and always will be, a professionally assisted transaction – and the Internet is empowering agents like never before by helping them profitably attract and build long-term relationships with home buyers and sellers.

In fact, one agent recently told me: "I was the type of Realtor who used to do a lot of door knocking and sent out a lot of postcards for prospecting. Now, my Web site and lead management program automatically communicates with prospects. I can start an e-mail newsletter campaign that updates potential buyers and sellers about important local real estate information. I no longer have to prospect, nor do I do any door knocking."

Agents like this are discovering that technology has arrived that allows them to automatically manage literally hundreds of prospects and spend considerably less time doing things they don't particularly enjoy – like spending hours canvassing neighborhoods in an endless search for business.

Inevitably, as consumers increasingly ignore print advertising and turn to the Internet for their home-buying and selling needs, individual agents and brokers are following suit and are apportioning larger and larger shares of their advertising and marketing budgets online.

Are you putting your advertising dollars in the places where your customers are?

Ian Morris is President and CEO of HouseValues, Inc., a company that provides innovative marketing services that enable residential real estate professionals to capture and cultivate leads, and convert these leads into closed transactions.