Preliminary findings of an NAA survey of newspaper World Wide Web sites show 75 percent of respondents offer online classified advertising. The results are based on 146 responses from an initial mailing of 415 surveys. About 500 dailies operate Web sites, up from 175 at the end of 1995. But they shouldn't count on that, he notes. The online world is more efficient and the economics change.
Individual newspapers face other threats.
Visitors can search the Globe's classifieds for autos, jobs and homes, along with real-estate listings in Homes Magazine. The site features more than a quarter million new jobs every month and is updated daily. Managers estimate that users conduct nearly three million searches monthly. ListingLink, a Santa Monica company, manages the online feed to the Times and offers Realtors the opportunity to upgrade listings to include more text and photos for an additional charge. Besides searching listings, Homesource browsers also can check out what homes sell for, scan by city or ZIP code, calculate mortgage loans, get community news and information such as school data, and study past news articles for tips on landscaping to earthquake-proofing a house.