A report from real estate media company Inman.com reveals that search-engine marketing is the most popular online advertising tool for real estate agents.

According to the report, "The State of Real Estate Marketing," most of the 770 real estate professionals surveyed use search engine marketing as part of their online advertising strategies. In the coming year, 52 percent of those polled expect to use keyword searches and 42 percent will invest in search engine optimization.

Industry newcomers make up a large percentage of those purchasing keywords, with 38 percent working in the real estate field for fewer than five years; 28 percent have been in real estate for over 15 years.

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Click fraud is a major concern to most advertisers.

While advertisers should monitor their PPC activity and be aware of any possibilities of click fraud, there are several tools within Google AdWords and Yahoo Search Marketing accounts which can help to protect advertisers from potential click fraud.

Many industry observers suspect that the majority of click fraud occurs on the content network, rather than in search results.

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User-Generated Content is the No.1 Threat to Media and Entertainment Industry according to an Accenture Survey

Media and entertainment executives see the growing ability and eagerness of individuals to create their own content as one of the biggest threats to their business, according to a recent Accenture survey.

As part of an annual study to examine the growth strategies of companies in the media and entertainment industry, Accenture surveyed 110 senior executives at advertising, film, music, publishing, radio, Internet, videogame and television companies in North America and Europe.

• 57% of the respondents identified the rapid growth of user-generated content — which includes amateur digital videos, podcasts, mobile phone photography, wikis and social-media blogs — as one of the top three challenges they face today.
• 70% of respondents said they believe that social media, one of the largest segments of user-generated content, will continue to grow, while only 3 percent of respondents view social media as a fad.

The new landscape offers opportunities as well as challenges:

• 68% of the respondents said they believe that within three years their businesses will be making money on user-generated content.
• 62% said they believe their companies will make money through advertising and sponsorships of social media. Other sources of profits cited were subscriptions (21 percent) and pay-per-play offerings (18 percent).
• 24% of respondents said they do not yet know how their businesses will profit from user-generated content.

The executives surveyed in 2007 showed greater optimism about content driving their revenues than those surveyed last year: 32% of respondents in this year’s survey said that content will drive their revenues, compared with only 21% of respondents in last year’s survey.