More than three years ago I got into a rather heated argument with our Yellow Page advertising rep. It was my prediction then, that the internet would soon replace the Yellow pages.

From our August 2008 client newsletter:

For 20 years I firmly believed that no other medium could provide us with a larger amount of motivated buyers than the Yellow Pages.

However, things were changing and changing rather quickly.

Back in 2005, we discovered that instead of looking for us in the Yellow Pages paper book, our customers were looking for us on the internet.

We soon discovered that the advantages of a web site are overwhelming.

I told our Yellow Page rep to think of a web site as a super Yellow Page ad.  The trends in 2005 showed that usage of the paper Yellow pages was dropping.  More and more, we found that our  potential clients were forsaking those heavy Yellow Pages paper books for Google and other search engines. It's easy and fast to do a search for "travel agents Springfield, Illinois "  We bravely cut our expensive Yellow Page advertising to just a listing and never looked back.

Of course our Yellow Page ad rep disagreed, at the time predicting our demise.

But just a year later, our Yellow Page ad rep returned with a proposal that included guess what?

A new online internet local search proposal....by R H Donnelley targeting the growth in internet searches for local businesses.  Of course there was a cost involved.  For several hundred dollars R H Donnelley would give us a local listing in their online Yellow Pages and help place us on Google’s local listing.

And here is where I let the cat out of the bag.

There is no reason to pay R H Donnelley to get a Yellow Pages internet listing.  Google and Yahoo will give a listing free on their web sites.

From the John Jantsch’s Duct Tape Marketing Blog:

    For local type businesses, those that just want business from around town, the Internet is becoming more and more important. As the search engines move to implement their local search strategies, local businesses will need to understand the playing field

    Here’s a tip: The Internet Is the New Phone Book and you better make sure you get listed.

    Today, Google announced the Google Local Business Center, a free tool for businesses to easily add or update their business listings that appear in Google Local. The Google Local Business Center is available for all businesses in the United States regardless of whether or not their listing already exists in Google Local.

    To access this new feature, businesses must visit the Google Local Business Center and request that their Google Local business listing be added or edited. After completing the listing information, businesses will receive a mailer from Google with a PIN. The PIN is used to confirm their addition or requested changes to the Google Local business listing. Various information about a business can be added or edited including address, phone number, hours of operation, type of cuisine, payment accepted, website and email.

    This one is a no brainer - get listed! - They have even integrated their very cool mapping system into the listings and hint that they may use the data when someone executes a “local looking search” like - Accountant Kansas City. This kind of search is already starting to include some directory type listings. (2)
  
Let me repeat Google and Yahoo will let you list your business free.

Let us say you were a savvy business owner who wants to list your travel agency on Google.  After logging into Google Maps Local Business, creating a free account, and answering a few questions, Google will give you the following listing free:








Click on this link to see our Planet Travel free listing

Along with creating a correct listing in Google Maps, each time you edit or create a new listing the information gets added to a central database that shares the business contact information with other Google services. These include Froogle shopping, Google Earth and Google Web search to name a few. All mobile Google products also interface with this database, so you are actually increasing your exposure through many other Google products and services.   Google will even keep track of how many people viewed your web page and where they came from. (By the way 57 people looked at our listing last week) Something that the Yellow Pages can never do.  They will even attach a coupon to your ad, let you add photographs or videos to your ad page.  Again, this service is absolutely free.

If you have questions or need some guidance on how to implement this free (alright I am guilty of mentioning that this service is free too much ) no - brainer call our office we are here to help.