Realtors, if you're wondering if half the money you spend on advertising is wasted, but you don't know which half, take the Classified Intelligence-Realty Times' 2007 Real Estate Advertising Survey.

Since we did the survey a year ago, online services and offerings have proliferated which has put pressure on print mediums. Social networks such as YouTube have flourished, blogging has become commonplace, and behavioral targeting is gaining strength. Meanwhile, advertising portals such as Realtor.com continue to add cool features to impress consumers. Cyberhomes is making a comeback, and newer sites like Trulia are clamoring for real estate listings.

Realtors know they need to choose the best platforms for their advertising -- and to offer the best ads -- but the question is - "what works, what doesn't work?"

Just click on this link for a brief questionnaire, and you'll see where advertising spending is headed.

There are lots of people who are interested in your responses, not the least of which is the newspaper industry, which has been scurrying to improve its one-dimensional appeal to Realtors.

According to two recent reports from Merrill Lynch, which says the newspaper industry might be in "perpetual decline," and Belden Associates' report which looks at the declining loyalty of newspapers' online readers, newspapers who depend on the real estate industry for revenues have a long road ahead. And Realogy Corporation's announcement this summer that it will shrink Coldwell Banker and Century21 newspaper spending by two-thirds this year, and move that spending online, could not have come as welcome news.

One wonders if Smith's action wasn't as much declaring war as it was a financial decision. The national newspapers particularly have been brutal toward the real estate industry in the last few years, with nearly all taking sides against agents on how they share their listings with the public, to blaming them for the housing bubble, to criticizing the commissions they charge. Smith, not a man to take attacks lying down, is clearly sending a heavy cannon ball across the newspapers' bows. Otherwise, why announce?

Online services didn't do much better. Remember Zillow's founder Rich Barton criticizing Realtors' commissions when the site launched last year? HomeGain has encouraged agents to compete for consumers by cutting their commissions.

So maybe you're feeling a little frustration, too. Advertising choices have grown, but return on investment is more in question than ever, particularly when you're not sure why traffic partners would like to eliminate you or see you make less money.

Perhaps your responses to the survey can help all advertising venues, both in print and online, treat real estate agents, brokers, and franchisors a little better.

"Many newspapers, I would dare say most, don't really know what their marketshare is and are only adept at quoting their circulation and readership figures to advertisers (and each other)," suggests Jim Townsend, editor and principal of Classified Intelligence, a news and information broker and consulting firm for the advertising industry.

Classified Intelligence is a consulting firm for the advertising industry, and pays close attention to news of the real estate industry since real estate composes one of the three largest advertising categories for newspapers along with cars and jobs. Classified Intelligence Report is the industry's "must read" news alert, designed to keep subscribers "up to date with overviews, analyses, trends, deals and spotlights on who is on the move, as well as who are the real movers."

Realty Times is an award-winning online news service, an independent residential real estate news source for consumers and the industry. The editorial focus of the service is to benefit consumers by promoting the use of real estate professionals and alerting consumers to the news and events that will help them buy and sell homes using a Realtor. Agent News is the industry section of Realty Times and focuses on news and advice designed to help Realtors make more money, adhere to higher standards, and enjoy their lives as real estate professionals.

"We know Realtors have lots of choices when it comes to spending their ad dollars," says Jody Lane, founder of Realty Times. "We're doing what no other company is doing -- getting a meaningful snapshot of Realtors' ad-publishing preferences. We suspect this insight will be of value to ad publishers as they try to anticipate trends and adjust their ad offerings to meet the real estate industry's needs."

Help us help you.

The survey will be available on Realty Times until August 15, 2007, when it will be taken down and the results tabulated for a report in late August 2007.

Click here NOW .