6/26/09

Yellow Page vs Internet Advertising

There are a lot of questions out there regarding this issue and I am going to offer my opinion based upon the information I have gathered over these last few years.Lets go back to the year 2000. Most American households still did not have a computer, maybe 30% and of that 30% I would venture to say that a majority of those did not have high speed Internet access. I know I did not. I was still using dial up and believe me it was SLOW!!!! I still remember trying to download a preview for the first X-Men movie. After HOURS of trying, it never did dowload. My friend Craig Fisher did have high speed and I remember it only took him a few minutes.Why do I tell this touching story? Because back in the "old days" using the Internet for all those searches was too tedious. The yellow pages was much more efficient at that time. Something else to keep in mind that is VERY important; searching for information online was not as easy 10 years ago as it was today and 20 years ago it was impossible so the yellow pages was really the only place to go if you needed to find information.Lets skip ahead to today, 2008. I would say most American households have computers at home and of those that do, a majority have high speed access AND using Search Engines like Google, Yahoo or MSN.Why is this important? Because now people feel comfortable using the Internet to find whatever information they are looking for. In fact, it is far easier to use the Internet instead of the yellow pages. More and more people go online to find what they need today and that trend will continue to grow. Now, I work exclusively with Attorneys, and I have asked every lawyer I have ever met with how their yellow page advertising is working these days and 100% of the time I am told that they have seen a steady decline in the amount of business they are getting from their yellow page advertising.Another factor to consider for those wanting to advertise in the yellow pages is which book? Yellow Book, Qwest Dex, Verizon Super Pages, all the small towns in a metro region??? Is it a waste of money to advertise in the yellow pages? I don't know. I do think the more places you can have people find you the better but at what point does the return on investment become harder and harder to achieve. And yellow page advertising is not getting cheaper, just the opposite. I will say this, if you are not spending a minimum of your advertising dollars on the Internet then you are missing out a huge demographic that has turned out to be a very strong consumer base.If you have any more questions on what it takes to have a truly effective presence online please go to my website.

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