If you’re one of the tens of thousands of business owners who spends money advertising your business locally in the yellow pages – the winds of change are blowing and you need to take note – and prepare your business for what may be one of the biggest and quickest shifts ever in the history of advertising.
Have you seen one of the latest web enabled phones in action lately? If you aren’t the proud owner of an iPhone or a Droid – perhaps you haven’t seen how absolutely amazing these technological wonders are – and more importantly how the people who buy these hand held computers use these incredible “smart” phones.
These people rarely if ever touch a traditional phone directory – and instead merely type into their phone what they want and VOILA – an online directory listing complete with local map appears with all of the local options available.
It won’t be long before the traditional printed yellow page directory is obsolete – because even your mother will be using her cell phone instead of having her fingers do the walking.
Even businesses who haven’t made the leap to the web need to take note- because the search engines and other local search directories aren’t going to wait patiently while business owners decide to embrace. Instead, they’ve begun populating their own listings from the dying yellow page directory listings.
One thing most business owners aren’t aware of is that the yellow page directory publishers are in a panic. Their printed directories are not only becoming obsolete – but in some areas of the US – states and municipalities are allowing consumers to opt out of receiving the printed directories due to the burden the directories place on local landfills. Meanwhile, those same directories are as baffled about how to get their listings on to the first few pages of a SERP (Search Engine Results Placement) as is the typical business owner – meaning most online yellow page directories are finding local business listings within their directories buried and obscured in consumer search results.
Meanwhile – the search engines and other internet savvy developers are creating local business online advertising directories which regularly get GREAT results when prospective customers search for the products and services you sell.
Local business owners take note: your free local search listing is meant to get you hooked on using the web to promote your business.
The search engines and entrepreneurs have taken aim at winning the hearts of local business owners. By providing free online local search listings – they are hoping to build a long term relationship with local business owners. They know that once your phone begins ringing thanks to your free online local search listing that the next time your yellow page representative comes to renew your local print directory listing – that you’ll be shifting your advertising dollars from print to online.
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