TaxTalent.com

Growth and question marks ahead - and we'll try to sort it all out for you.

       If you're an eagle-eyed reader of CIR, you may have noticed that this is issue 4.01 - the first of our fourth year. That, my friends, colleagues and clients, is a notable achievement in the Internet age. We owe you our thanks.

       We've actually been tracking interactive classified advertising for about 5 1/2 years, dating back to when Gene Tye produced a one- or two-page monthly grid tracking "who's doing what with whom" in online classifieds for Hearst president George Irish, (then) VP-newspapers Kirk MacDonald, and newbiz whiz Buzz Wurzer. Lots of companies were offering interactive classifieds and the software to run them, but no one understood this newfangled industry. The Hearst folks wanted to pay very close attention.

       Even back then, Hearst was an interactive media leader. (To this day, Hearst properties are among the smartest in the interactive classified business.)

       When Gene took a corporate job, Hearst asked me to tackle the project. Within a few months, the grid had grown into five extensive reports. After about 18 months, I realized the reports could be an industry resource rather than just a proprietary tool. So I asked if I could publish them in a different form; George, Kirk and Buzz graciously agreed, and Classified Intelligence Report was born. (Thanks again, guys!)

       The industry, and we, have been through a lot since. But since I'm much more interested in the future than in the past, here's a look at the year, and years, ahead.

       AUTOMOTIVE: Internet tools have truly changed the car-buying experience. A Wall Street Journal article five years ago quoted a Chrysler exec saying, "In a very short period of time, the last stupid customer is going to walk through our dealership doors." He wasn't dissing customers; he was talking about buyers having easier access to more information than ever - dealer prices; safety reports; current rebates and financing deals; blue-book values. His prediction has come true. The playing field between buyer and dealer has been leveled substantially by interactive services.

       Very few people buy cars directly online, but most people today (in the U.S., at least) use the Web to study, research and even negotiate before buying a car. And the used-car marketplace cars has never been more robust or easier to navigate.

       Expect more growth in all aspects of autos online, and more robust tools for dealers and buyers.

       EMPLOYMENT: This field is changing fastest. Monster, CareerBuilder and HotJobs have become the Big Three, but thousands of other sites like TaxTalent.com and LatPro.com are successfully building targeted sites - which may ultimately be stronger than the big guys. Newspapers are still struggling to figure out their role in the future of employment advertising.

      In 2003, tools will be the growth engine: tools for helping recruiters sort through the flood of resumes and assess candidate skills; allowing candidates to narrow their job searches and hone their interview skills, and "reciprocal matching" that puts candidates and employers together more quickly and more successfully.

      REAL ESTATE: Rich media services will grow significantly in 2003, with sellers posting video clips and virtual tours of their homes, and buyers demanding more information online before beginning their door-to-door search. In the U.S., the National Association of Realtors will continue to struggle with the issue of rights to multiple-listing data, and Homestore.com - the market leader that nearly collapsed due to accounting scams - will slowly sort through its mess, focusing most of its efforts on rebuilding relationships with real estate agents and brokers.

      PERSONALS AND MERCHANDISE / AUCTIONS: In each, there's a clear category-killer: USA Interactive, with Match.com and soon Kiss.com and UDate.com, and EBay. All are profitable and growing. Will they stay so? And keep growing at breakneck speed? Or will the specialty sites and niches gain on them? We're voting for "both of the above."

      As for Classified Intelligence, we'll keep analyzing interactive classified advertising. Our 2003 Employment Research Report, due out in late April, will be our biggest ever. We're planning another major research report, about which you'll hear more in a few weeks. Our client list continues to grow, and we've just launched a free new newsletter, Classified Intelligence Case Studies, to help us reach a wider audience - and to help you find out who's doing the best and most exciting revenue-generating projects in classifieds.

       Thanks to you, our colleagues and clients, for bringing us to this point. It's been a great ride.