True statement web is the way to go, a local HUGE newspaper in the DFW area just laid off huge part of their staff due to lack of advertising easy go direct to the web than reading material.  Matter of understanding the art of now a new form of marketing.

Wow i've been waiting for someone to call out the truth.  I tell my clients all the time that the reason we have a print budget is because of the sellers requesting it.  Our company tracks everything and I can tell you print advertising does yield some results but not nearly enough for there always rising rates.  They'll eventually price themselves out of the market.

Robert, I quit newspaper and magazine advertising a few years ago and I have not looked back.  I had one client who thought that is what she needed so I just let her find another agent (there were other reasons also and it uncomplicated my life).  I'm not going to waste money on something that I don't see working. 

Robert, you are right, it is the sellers that look to the local papers for their "house portraits", but what would I use to line the puppy's cage, if newspapers all shutdown?  There is a bit of a sick satisfaction watching the "SOLD in a DAY" ad from the agent that turned down my clients' contract get defecated on:)  

But just like with papers, we need to watch the web.  With IDX and multiple links to the same search engines, my clients require even more placating when they see their listing next to another agent's face or with an old price, because one picks up changes more frequently than another engine.  And in the end, I have realized it is the magazine ads that we do that attract people to our area and the ads we place are more like Chamber of Commerce or Department of Tourism ads than a showcase of homes.

The balance is hard to find, but we need to use ALL media outlets in a way that will not only show our listings in the best light, but promotes our community and company, too.  Afterall, we do not want to be accused of joining together to put any one out of business or use our influence as a whole to control pricing- that would be a violation of Sherman Anti-Trust. 

This question is being answered as the circulation numbers for the largest to smallest newspapers nationwide are dwindling quickly. Ad revenues are in such dire straits in print newespapers that Google made a public statement that it wants to help save these papers not hurt them.

The facts are indisputable: ad revenues are huge online for any newspaper because newspapers are essentially blogs in print. The biggest papers are going online and still delivering print. Once old school agents and clients understand what most already get, everything is going online, then that portion of the paper business model will go away.

dean