The Yellow Pages are Dead

In the old days (last week?) Yellow Pages ads were some of the most affordable and effective way to market your business.

People spent THOUSANDS to get that yellow page ad to look just right.

But a shift has happened, and if you are NOT on board, you’re going to miss the train!

Check out this article from CNBC’s FAST MONEY –http://www.cnbc.com/id/23502950/Are_The_Yellow_Pages_Dead

Some of you are probably saying:

I STILL GET CALLS FROM THE YELLOW PAGES! IT CAN’T BE DEAD!

But the numbers don’t lie. Their FINGER’S AIN’T DOING THE WALKING ANY MORE!
You may get a little bit of residual traffic from the phone book. But I’ll be honest. I haven’t picked up my phone book in a year. I surveyed a few of my friends, and they all told me the same thing.

So HOW do people find your business?

My MARKETING TIP for today is this:

Don’t beat a dead horse.

Right now, people are using GOOGLE to find your business. Try it out. Go to http://www.google.com and type in “Realtors Jamestown, NY” or “Lawyers Pittsburgh, PA”

THAT’S HOW PEOPLE ARE LOOKING UP YOUR NUMBER.

It works on the computer, and it works on mobile phones.
They’re also using Yahoo, Bing, and a few other sites, but the VAST majority are using GOOGLE to find you.

Chances are, Google Maps/Places probably ALREADY has a listing for you!

But based on their formula for search relevance, you may be buried amongst all of your competitors!

We’ve learned a few secrets and tips to help raise YOUR Google Places Listing in that list, and help you stand out a little more above your competition.

Do you remember back in the OLD DAYS when people would name their business “AAA Plumbing” to get to the top of the list?

It takes a little work, but our methods are proven to help raise your ranking to a notice-able level.

“Isn’t this something I could do myself?”

Certainly!

And I could get online and learn how to fix my minivan too. But who has time to do it themselves? Especially when you can do it this affordably?

I’m not knocking the DIY Marketers out there. In fact, I hope to GIVE them good information that they can use to get the word out. It doesn’t hurt my feelings if you choose to do this on your own. I HOPE I’ve helped you out.

BUT – Just keep in mind, just like with an automobile, your Search Engine Listings have a lot of complicated factors, and I’ve spent a LOT of time educating myself and researching those factors, and how to make it better. In fact, I’ve been working on this pretty exclusively for a several months. So you could take several months to research it, or you could budget your most valuable asset (your time) and get it done for an affordable cost.