Where to Place your Ad Dollars in 2007

I will go out on a limb and make a few predictions for 2007. Disclaimer: These are only guesses on my part. I do not have any inside info on my competitors, just forming guesses based on information that is publicly available.

• I think we will see RentalHouses take over the number one spot from RentClicks in terms of traffic in 2007. Not rental listings, but traffic. I monitor my competitors on 4 free metric sites in terms of traffic and then I average them out. The graphs I am looking at show RentClicks dropping and RentalHouses holding their own. At the current rate RentClicks will drop below RentalHouses towards the end of 2007.
• HomeRentalAds has already lost the #2 spot to RentalHouses this year and I predict that Homerentalads will continue to fall a few more spots.
• One to look out for is RentalHomesPlus. By my calculations they are currently holding the #4 spot in terms of traffic. Their site is “young” like mine but I hear they have a good team working hard getting traffic. I predict they will move up one spot this year to #3.
• The new Rentals com beta site will move up in the rankings but will not be a contender in 2007.
• Currently RentVine holds the #6 position in terms of traffic. I predict RentVine will move up to the #4 spot. I have been working very hard at this and have many new ideas to boost traffic in 2007.
• One of my competitors will outbid RentClicks from their high level sponsorship (”Official Partner”) with NARPM and will secure that oh so precious link from the home page of NARPM.
• I predict property managers will voice their disapproval of all the new banner ads that have been placed all over the rental sites this year. While these will not go away I predict they will tone them down a bit.
• Prices? What will happen to standard pricing for placing an ad? I predict they won’t budge for 2007. However, watch out for sites like findhomerentals com which appear to be gaining traffic. Prices won’t drop in 2007, but I will predict prices will drop in 2 or 3 years because a free site will invade one of the top 3 spots in terms of traffic and listings. I think the large 30+ sales force used by the current top two sites will start to decrease as the free sites start to gain market share.
• Look for more consolation in 2007. I will guess that Primedia will purchase yet another rental site this year.

So here is what I think the order will look like at the end of next year:

1. Rentalhouses
2. RentClicks
3. RentalHomesPlus
4. RentVine.com
5. HomeRentalAds

I know that traffic is not everything in this business but it does play a large role.

I do not have the money to subscribe to the $35k yearly fee for more accurate numbers from Comscore or HitWise but I am guessing that my numbers are pretty close. If anyone has access to those traffic numbers and wants to correct anything said here - please share!

What are your thoughts for traffic in 2007? Who will win with the most traffic?

[tags]traffic, home rental sites, predictions, hitwise, comscore[/tags]