Advertisers Using Local SEO vs. The Ailing Yellow Pages
Why do businesses still buy the phone book?
I still remember back to the days of thumbing through the yellow pages to locate someone to fix the kitchen sink, fix the car, or even to discover a place to eat. Along came the internet! Habits slowly began to transform. As search engines and community directories have evolved, the yellow pages are becoming less and less relevant. With nearly 70% of cellphone users owning smart phones, most of us have a tool much more powerful than the usual phone book right in our own pocket. A simple search on the pc or smart phone now will give you access to information like menus, pricing, reviews, maps, and all the information that can help you as a consumer make an informed choice when searching for services.
Yellow pages future looks very bleak. A static directory without access to the information you would like is archaic. Yellow page and directory companies are doing everything they can to shift content online to battle against losing clients. Bottom line is that the yellow pages are soon to be a figment of our imaginations. As always, there are always exceptions to every rule. Businesses who keep trying to attract senior citizens who will be sitting in their rocking chair, close to their rotary phones onto of the butter churner, can still incorporate some success in the yellow webpages. However, even these consumers will certainly soon be fully transitioned in online search. My grandma is on facebook, is yours?
As a digital marketing company, you can have a much greater effect on your potential customers through web strategies. For a fraction of what we are spending on yellow web site advertisements, you can have some good visibility (and better yet, results! ) on the web. Whether using paid search(PPC) or perhaps optimizing your Google Places (push pins around the map) profile, online can offer you an immediate impact and cost much less than advertising in the yellow pages. Search engine advertising makes sense on so many levels. Every day, there are thousands of people actively searching for the services you offer. You need to become listed where your business can actually be a part of the conversation. Get in the game and let iBuildSocial build your companies social presence! To find out more about how to build your business local search, check out iBuildSocial.
