Yellow Pages: Extinct In 5 Years
ByThe Internet is destroying old style advertising. Newspapers are going belly up right and left. Yellow Page usage is declining every year.
Here is my prediction: In 3 years all the third party Yellow Page companies will be gone and the phone companies will only give out phone books upon request. In 5 years we will begin seeing phone companies abandon phone books altogether. They will provide an online data base for phone numbers instead of the hard copy white pages. They will sell ads within those online white pages and maybe offer their own version of online Yellow Pages.
Until then, Google will keep doing what they do and attracting more and more local searches. A Google search for “Atlanta bakery” provides far better and more detailed information than the Yellow Pages ever could. Plus, that search in Google only takes about 2 seconds. You can’t even reach for the Yellow Pages in that length of time.
I have not used the Yellow Pages in over a year. Honestly, I’m not even sure which drawer my wife has put them in. But who cares? I have Google.
Do you still use the Yellow Pages a lot? If so, I worry that you may think that is normal practice and everyone does it. Everyone does not!! If you base your marketing on the fact that YOU still use the Yellow Pages, you are leaving piles of money on the table. You are missing out on the enormous opportunities local search provides.
The majority of consumers today EXPECT your business to have an online presence.
Here’s a fact from the Pew Internet Project:
50% of American consumers are more likely to visit businesses providing information online (even if they are not selling online).
When you finish reading this post, I want you to open Google.com and do a local search for what your business offers. For example, if you clean carpets in Reno, search for “Reno carpet cleaners”.
Did your business show up in Google Local (right there by the Google map)? If not, you are losing money every day to those businesses who do understand the power of local online marketing.
If your business relies on the Yellow Pages, don’t put off local online marketing. Listings in Google Local are free. Scroll to the top of this page and sign up for my newsletter. The first installment includes videos and advice about getting your business placed well in the Google Local listings.
Not using yellow pages at all. Can’t remember the last time I used it. 🙂
Anyway, we got our team to work on a little random survey around Melbourne and asked people around where they go when they’re looking for information. Here’s what we got as a result:
Q1. How often do you use the print version of the Yellow Pages?
7.69% use it regularly
23.08% once a month
15.38% once a year
53.85% never use it
Q2. How do you search for products and services you’re looking for?
92.86% use Google.com
7.14% use Yellow Pages
Respondent Quote: “I reckon the yellow pages is obsolete, why would you spend money on the yellow pages when they’ll just as easily find you on Google.”
Now that really speaks well of Google and less of this big yellow book right?