Yellow Page Ads Cost You Big $$$

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Spend Your Advertising Dollars Wisely

Successful advertising is based on getting your message in front of potential customers.  Both yellow pages (a.k.a. printed telephone directory of businesses) ads and Websites certainly do that, but Internet marketing allows you to communicate with your audience on a more targeted, detailed and personal level.

People are now, more than ever, searching Online...according to Jupiter Media, over 64% of people who are looking for information Online, use search engines.

The Website / YP Ad Showdown

Think of even the simplest Website as a dynamic yellow page ad...with the potential of reaching and attracting thousands of new customers.  On the other hand, yellow pages are historically associated with finding business information (especially with the over 30 crowd).  We think the winner is clear, but here are a few things to consider when deciding how your company's marketing budget should be allocated:

	Yellow page advertisements	Search optimized Websites
Content	Limited - depends on size and number of ads.	Plentiful, current and scalable.
Traffic	Decreasing by the day.	Increasing by the day.
Portability	Yes. It's a good work out lugging this thing around.	Yes. Thanks to Wi-Fi and cell phone technology.
Measurability	Difficult to measure return on investment.	Comprehensive. Web analytics track/measure visits, clicks and conversions.
Interactivity	No.	Yes. (Forms, Blogs, Wikis, Surveys, Social Media, etc.)
Geographical Reach	Local.	Local, regional and worldwide.
Targeted Keywords	No - listings are for a single category.	Yes – we can target the most frequently searched keywords.
Modifications/Updates	Yearly.	Hourly, daily, weekly, or as often as needed.
Cost	Expensive – hundreds or thousands a year. (per ad, per geographic area, per category)	Cost-effective – an entire Website can cost less than a small Yellow Pages ad.

Search Engine Traffic Trends

Interesting Google Trend* showing increasing traffic to Web-based search engines.

Conclusions

We do not recommend abandoning your YP ads.  But many businesses are saving on marketing costs by slimming down their YP presence and investing the money into a search friendly Website.  Your marketing dollars can generate a much better ROI when you focus on providing relevant content that converts your visitors into customers.

That's where we come in.  Our Website design and SEO services can help your business by creating or improving your Online presence.