WebProNews has a thought provoking article today: Yellow pages publishers watching revenue head to the Internet. The author cites a client report by Classified Intelligence: “the shift to the Internet for information represents, perhaps, an end to the era of big printed books filled with everyone from auto mechanics to zydeco sellers.”
The way customers search for local goods and services online is reaching a tipping point - according to a recent Comscore survey online search has overtaken the print Yellow Pages as the primary way consumers look for local goods and services.
Many of the small businesses I’ve talked to were spending between $90 and $1,200 per month on Yellow Pages advertising before they recognized the alternatives. The online alternatives to Yellow Pages advertising are compelling because they are more efficient and deliver a measurable return. With the prospect of a recession, businesses will turn to ways they can measure their ROI.
In the client report, “CI senior analyst Joe Michaud said the yellow pages model of once-a-year buys to keep pace with competitors left it vulnerable to innovators who could nimbly serve customers in a more favorable way. Michaud likened the situation to newspapers, watching helplessly as readers departed while online classifieds sites pulled in the ads people would have once paid the paper to run.”
As some of you know, I worked at Microsoft on the Office Live initiative. In one of the presentations Bill Gates did early last year, he was famously quoted as saying:
“Yellow Pages usage amongst people below 50, will drop to near zero over the next five years.” - Bill Gates
And recently Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer boldly predicted the death of print media in the next 10 years.
Whether or not these bold predictions proves true, it’s clear that there are some big changes happening in these industries.
What can you do to take advantage of this trend for your small businesses?
- Get a website if you don’t have one.
- Optimize your site for “local search” keywords.
- Get your business listed in Google Local, Yahoo Local, and MSN Local directories.
There are lots of ways to get these three things done very quickly. The Expand2Web Quickstart guide contains some free tips and resources to get you started!
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Do You Sell Camels? Then Don’t Worry About Being Online | The Expand2Web Blog // Jun 20, 2008 at 10:52 am
[...] In talking with small business owners, I get that comment from time to time as well. Not everyone understands the shift that is happening in how people find local goods and services. [...]
2 Tips From Yahoo Local For Small Business Owners | The Expand2Web Blog // Jul 5, 2008 at 7:59 am
[...] rely exclusively on the Yellow Pages or Internet Yellow Pages for your advertising. As I’ve mentioned before and Brian states in the interview, consumers are changing the way the find local goods and [...]
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