Did you have a chance to check out Heather’s recent post on the Trulia user? In it, she captures the highlights of our most recent user survey.

The survey includes a lot of nice data, but wearing my industry hat I always have to ask, “…and why should brokers and agents care?” So I decided to slice and dice of few of the big data points on Trulia users:

• 40% plan to list their home in the next 6 months
• 81% plan to buy a home in the next 12 months
• 94% will likely return to Trulia in the next month

Translation: Proactive buyers and sellers. There is no question that the market is softening across the country, but Trulia.com users continue to be an active and engaged group, with a definitive, near-term time frame to buy or sell.

• 52% earn over $100K per year
• 68% are currently home owners
• 46% are pre-qualified for a mortgage

Translation: Affluent users who are prepared to buy/own a home. I’ll put a big disclaimer on the fact that these numbers do not account for all the other financial variables in a Trulia users’ life, but the overall statistics are certainly promising in the midst of a credit crunch.

• 69% are not yet working with an agent

Translation: More prospective leads for you to turn into satisfied customers. Make sure your listings are prominently displayed on Trulia – with a logo, in the top three search results, featured in a skyscraper banner. Learn how here. If you’re a buyer’s agent and/or you want to connect directly with these engaged searchers today, share your market knowledge and start chatting with them in the Trulia Voices community.

Finally – let’s take a look at the age bracket for Trulia’s users that are real estate professionals–they account for roughly 20% of our users. You know, those tech-savvy, under-30 agent 2.0s…right? Not exactly.

• 75% are over 35 years old
• 45% are over 45 years old
• 19% are over 55 years old

Translation: Get on the bandwagon! To all of you industry veterans who are still contemplating whether it makes sense to invest in Trulia advertising – for that matter, any online advertising that promotes your listings assets to serious home buyers/sellers—your peers are already one step ahead of you.

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We’ve continued our consistent trend of double-digit monthly growth to the site, and even higher increases to partner Web sites, which now average three million user visits per month. That means we’ve outpaced fellow online real estate marketing sites Google Base, Craigslist, HomeGain, Realtor.com and Zillow.

In fact, Trulia referred, on average, 11% of the traffic being directed to a diverse group of franchisors, regional franchisee firms and independent brokerage firms, including Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC, Century 21 Real Estate LLC, ERA Franchise Systems LLC, Keller Williams Realty, Intero Real Estate Services, Weichert Realtors, Alain Pinel Realtors, Watson Realty Corp., among others.

We think that’s something worth mentioning because in today’s uncertain market, we recognize that it’s all the more important for our broker partners to tap into a huge audience of qualified consumers. The Hitwise data confirms that our model works to connect these consumers with robust real estate information and agents. That’s exactly what we will continue to do!

See the full press release here.

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Without a crystal ball, we can’t predict exactly what is going to happen down the line, but we do know that at a time when companies are being forced to tighten their belts, the efficiency of any advertising spend becomes more important than ever.

We think that the best online advertising plays will see this slow-down not as a storm on the horizon, but as an opportunity. After all, had we been extolling the virtues of online real estate advertising over newspaper classifieds five years ago, our pitch may have fallen on deaf ears. Who re-evaluates their marketing plan when they’re making money hand over fist?

But in these times, the market forces advertisers to evaluate the effectiveness of their existing marketing programs and consider the alternatives. Realtors and brokerages are learning that they can advertise on multiple online sites for a fraction of the cost of a print ad, boosting sales and referrals. Case in point, last month, Alain Pinel Realtors, one of the Bay Area’s largest residential brokers, signed a one-year contract with us that will allow the brokerage to purchase banner advertising for the region.

Furthermore, the oft-quoted report from research and consulting company Borrell Associates found that online real estate advertising grew from a $1.2 billion market in 2004 to a $1.7 billion market in 2005, increasing in its share of ad spending from 10.3 percent to 14.7 percent. And the company projects online ad spending to grow to a $3.1 billion market by 2010.

This isn’t to say that all online real estate advertising is created equal. There are plenty of options that are as effective at reaching consumers as flinging a pile of business cards out your window. Online real estate sites now have a window of opportunity in which to prove to advertisers that every dollar spent provides a real monetary return.

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Having previously discussed WLN’s incredible impact on quality, speed, and numbers of responses to consumer queries and their 5-Prong Marketing Strategy, in this video we are able to see the actual working environment where WLN implements this process.

Kudos to Mike Montsko and his team, for allowing us to see this finely tuned machine in action!

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Part 2 discusses WLN’s 5 Prong Marketing Strategy and Mike’s 5-year industry forecast.

Today’s video blog release coincides with a panel discussion at RISMedia’s 18th Annual Leadership Conference in NYC. Who does it feature? None other than Trulia’s Sean Black and WLN’s Mike Montsko.

In conjunction with today’s panel entitled “Clicks for Cash - How to Make Lead Generation and Conversion Work for You”, we are announcing a Trulia case study, that outlines the WLN method of Lead Conversion. For a free copy of the case study, click here.

Stay tuned for Part 3 of our video series, that takes you into the guts of WLN’s Call Center……

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Weichert Realtors has grown since 1969 from a single office into
one of the largest privately held real estate companies in the U.S.
A wholly owned separate entity, the Weichert Lead Network (WLN) is
responsible for generating and distributing leads to more than
14,000 participating Weichert company and affiliate agents.

Join us as Trulia’s Sean Black, sits down with Michael
Montsko, President of WLN, to talk about WLN’s focus on providing a
fast, quality response to consumer queries. Watch Michael discuss
the themes, goals, and processes that comprise the Weichert
Lead Network and what makes WLN the Kings of Conversion!

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OK - you might notice the striking similarity in names, but we aren’t lifting Brad’s nomenclature. In reality, we considered the program’s goal, took a team vote, and the overwhelming majority went with Trulia Connect since it describes what we’re trying to do for more listing brokers and agents and home buyers & sellers: connect.

So what is it? Trulia Connect offers brokers and agents who have limited technical resources, or no Web site pages where they can post their listings, an easy method of putting their listings on Trulia.

We know that 70% of our users plan to buy/sell a home within 12 months, and our goal with Trulia Connect is to partner with vendors and MLSs who can quickly enable real estate professionals to get their listings on Trulia.

If you don’t think this is a big deal, consider that only 65 percent of Realtors have a Web site, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR) 2007 Realtor Technology Survey.

Here are just a few of our marketing partners: a la Mode, Delta Media Group, iHOUSE Web Solutions, Threewide (ListHub.net) and the MLS Property Information Network, Inc. (MLS PIN), the largest MLS in New England and one of the top ten in the nation that includes 65,000 active listings in the Massachusetts area.

And for those of you wondering, the answer is “yes” – we still maintain our “free to join - free to leave” policy for listing brokers and agents to promote their listings on Trulia.

See more coverage of the Trulia Connect announcement here and here and here. And the official press release here.

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Often I get my in-depth research on advertising trends from Borrell Associates, who reported that Internet real estate advertising spending will propel from $2B in 2006 past $3B by 2010, surpassing newspapers in ad market share (2006 Update: Online Real Estate Advertising).

There is a new report on the block and I was one of the lucky ones given an advanced copy. Launched today, Inman News put out an ambitious, new 51-page report, The State of Real Estate Marketing – 2007: Assessing Marketing Budgets, Trends and Opportunities for Real Estate Agents and Brokers.

Well, with exclusive access AND an opportunity to prep myself for super intelligent industry networking and banter at Inman’s Real Estate Connect SF conference next week, I couldn’t resist.

Statistical feedback is provided on responses to survey questions like:

• Will real estate ad/marketing spends increase or decrease over the coming year?
• What percent of real estate ad/marketing budgets will go towards online services?
• What are the most popular categories of online ad/marketing (keywords, lead gen, SEO, etc.) for agents/brokers?

The conclusions:

• 42% plan to spend more than half their advertising and marketing budget online.
• 48% plan to buy Featured Listings ads as part of their online buy.
• 68% plan to promote their properties on Web sites offering free listings, with Trulia being in the top 3 most often cited (whoo hoo!).
• SEO & social networking will play a notable role in ad spending.

The report reveals how new media is becoming more a part of real estate marketing in the midst of a shifting business climate (ahem, no secret that this is good news for us at Trulia, given our Featured Listing product, newly launched Trulia Voices Q&A community, and media revenue model).

I’ve given you a sampling of the data above, but it’s absolutely worth a read. We’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on how these findings compare with your own experience in the space!

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In the 3rd and final installment of our interview Barbara tells us how she broke through the noise and rose to the top before cashing in to the tune of $67M. It’s all about Marketing.

In this last interview, Barbara gives us the scoop on:
1. How to differentiate or die!
2. How to get Donald Trump to take out two full-page ads in the New York Times with your name on it!
3. How to seduce people even if you don’t have big breasts.
4. How to become a millionaire real estate agent.

A HUGE thanks to Barbara for being such a great sport. She is a very hard act to follow!

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1. How to make people love you.
2. How to spot people that have the potential to sell $300 million a year in real estate like Corcoran top producer Carrie Chiang.
3. Who makes it in real estate and why.
4. How to keep top producers happy (buy them a Bentley with a full-time driver?).

Last but not least, find out if she thinks technology will replace the real estate agent.

Stop back next week for the 3rd and final installment of our Barbara Corcoran interview.

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