The Yellow Pages are Extinct and Local Search Rules

There was a time when advertising in your local Yellow Page Phone Book was almost a must do form of advertising for local businesses that wanted to reach local customers. From plumbers, gardeners, and lawyers to accountants and restaurants everyone knew that having an ad in the phone book was almost a sure way to have more sales walk through your front door. And the companies that owned the phone books went out of their way to sell you as much ad space as you wanted, for a price. And that price could be very high indeed. Literally thousands of dollars every month. And to get an ad in the phone book also came with that big fat one year commitment. It was definitely a decision that could have a huge financial impact on a small business. But for many small businesses that wanted to attract new customers the decision to spend those dollars on phone book ads was an easy.

Times though have changed dramatically. Because of the internet small business owners now have more options. In fact I’ve talked to a lot of small business owners in the last year that fully believe the days of advertising in the yellow pages are gone. In fact they say it’s become a huge waste of advertising dollars and they are ditching the phone book in droves and moving those advertising dollars online. The idea of committing the few advertising dollars that a small business may have to a one year contract costing hundreds or thousands of dollars a month is no longer appealing.

So here are the questions I have.

1. If your business has traditionally advertised in your local phone book have you seen a decline in sales that come from advertising there?

2. Do you believe that phone book advertising is dying or is already dead?

3. Will you continue to advertise in your local phone book or do you intend do drop your advertising when your contract is up?

4. Assuming you are going to drop your yellow page advertising where will you spend those dollars in the future to market your business?

I’m interested in hearing the opinions of small business owners, so please take the time to comment on this post.