If you’re still doing business with the yellow pages, it’s likely not your decision: many yellow pages customers have long-standing relationships with them, so it’s probably your boss that wants to continue advertising there. But by now, even your boss probably realizes the print yellow pages are going the way of the dinosaur; usage is tumbling and ads are dwindling.
In an effort to justify their outrageous fees, the yellow pages now try to promote their online offerings as some great benefit. But the truth is, not only are the internet products not worth the money, they’re also ineffective. Here are three reasons why YP’s internet products will disappoint you and your boss.
They’re unnecessary
An online business directory doesn’t really make sense when you consider that Google already functions as a directory for the entire internet. Thanks to its algorithms and web crawl, Google has spent more than 100 million computer hours indexing all publicly available webpages, and its crawl continues to catalog new sites and pages daily. Do you really think the yellow pages have the technical knowhow to compete with Google?
If properly optimized, your website can easily be found through Google searches, eliminating the need for an online directory service.
They may actually hurt your site traffic
An online directory is simply adding an additional step to the search process. The yellow pages are acting as a gatekeeper for your business, which just makes it take longer for a visitor to find your site. Research has shown that the more “clicks” a visitor must make to get what they want, the more likely they are to abandon the site altogether – on average, users will flee if more than three clicks are required. Inserting the online directory into the search will mean at least two clicks before the visitor even reaches your site.
There are better options available
As we discussed above, a properly optimized site can rank highly in Google search on its own. One very effective way to do this is through content marketing. With content marketing, you use things like blogs and eBooks to attract visitors to your website. This content is informative (not self-promotional) and utilizes common keywords associated with searches related to your field. For example, a local pharmacy may use keywords such as “pharmacy” “meds” “RX refills” etc. Not only is content marketing successful, it’s also much cheaper than yellow pages advertising.
YP's internet offerings aren’t worth the expense, especially when there are much more effective options available. If you’d like to learn more about leaving the yellow pages behind, download our FREE eBook: A Six-Step Plan to Transition from Yellow Pages Advertising to Content Marketing.
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