When you opened your local business, you probably thought, or were led to believe, that you HAD to place an ad in the Yellow Pages, SuperPages, Little Red Book, or some other form of printed local phone directory for businesses. After all, this form of advertising has been around since the late 1800′s, and EVERYONE knows that if you let your fingers do the walking….well, it’s a snap, so they say.

The key to the success of phone directory advertising lies in the fact that people who call you or visit your store after finding your business in them, are actively seeking a product or service. Chances are very very good that those people are ready to make a purchase. Because of that, there’s a FEAR that if you’re not in the book, and your competition is, well… you know who’s going to make THAT sale.

All else being equal, that fear is often realized. If a customer is ready to buy and they don’t know about you, but find your competitor, they will not buy from you. The question is then, do you need to list your business in the printed yellow pages directory (where you’ll contract for 1 year and pay dearly (oops, I mean monthly) for the ad).

So, what’s a business to do?

Considering that times have drastically changed since 1883 and the fact that the internet has grown faster than any other media in history, why would any business put hundreds of dollars a month into print directory advertising? The newest research shows that print directory references are dropping, while internet searches (using search engines, internet yellow pages, and local search sites) is increasing exponentially.

So where should your money go?
>Google Adwords is tough competition – and why pay for what you can get organically with the right SEO (contact Inspired 2 Design for info on optimization). We have three clients who’ve tried Google Adwords without much success (more clicks, but no additional sales), or
>Superpages.com is worth a look, but even local search returns national, unrelated results that pop to the top, above your listing.

Our pick:
>Hyper-local mini-city sites like CantonGeorgiaDirectory.com and WoodstockGeorgiaDirectory.com make a lot of sense for small and medium sized businesses around town. Offering low cost banner ads, coupons, events, search engine optimization, AND the added feature of email marketing to OPT IN consumer lists – you’re getting so much value for the money. They’ll even provide you with statistics.

The value of consulting with Inspired 2 Design? Help in determining where to spend your advertising dollars. Consult our blog, our articles, or call us BEFORE you make the move.