INTERNET YELLOW PAGE ADS û ARE THEY WORTH A TRY?

By Neil Street, Co-Founder, Small Business Online, Wilton,
CT

Most small businesses do not yet advertise on the internet.
But with the undeniable growth in internet traffic, it's
only a matter of time before many businesses will need to
consider online advertising.

Everyone is familiar with the traditional Yellow Pages phone
book. Less familiar is the internet extension of the print
book û the hodgepodge of advertising options that can
loosely be termed Internet Yellow Pages (IYP). A range of
companies are jumping on the IYP bandwagon, all chasing the
elusive, and thus far unmaterialized, local advertising
dollars. Companies like Verizon, with their SuperPages
directory, or like Yahoo!, with their Yahoo! "Get Local"
directory, and assorted publishers of print telephone
directories, are all players in the IYP field. Basically,
they all offer variations on a basic theme: the structured,
directory-like indexing of information on the internet, with
added features unknown in the print books, such as mapping,
keyword searching, and website links.

The most compelling reason for a website owner to advertise
on IYP is the increasing consumer usage of the internet for
finding local products and services. Actual figures vary
widely, but well-known analysts such as the Kelsey Group
have noted the growing boom in "local search." Given this
growth, IYP becomes an advertising opportunity worthy of
consideration.

Where does a local business begin? The best place to start
is with your local phone company û investigating what online
options are available from the print yellow pages companies.
In many regions, the local phone company yellow book will
not be the only player in town û one or several print yellow
page books may serve an area. All are worth checking out for
their options and pricing. In addition to local phone or
yellow page companies, a business can consider some of the
biggest names in the world of directories and information.
Yahoo! Get Local, Verizon SuperPages, SmartPages.com,
Switchboard.com, and YellowPages.com are some of the major
players, and can be contacted by a business directly. Be
forewarned û they each have their own unique systems, and
figuring it all out takes some time. My own experience with
Verizon SuperPages, for example, indicates that they are
"rushing to market" with their online advertiser sign up û
to date, I have been unable to get their program to work as
it is supposed to, and customer service doesn't seem to know
how to help.

One of the best aspects of IYP at this time is that it can
be accessed in a relatively inexpensive way by many small
businesses. So it's feasible for even the smallest business
to check out the various IYP options, and try them out for a
while to see which works best. A business can buy into
several programs, because IYP plans come in a variety of
configurations, from national to very local.

At the present time, much about the phenomenon of "local
search" is new, and relatively untested. But given that
online browsing and shopping by consumers is growing, it is
clear that some channels of local online promotion will turn
out to be winners. Business owners seeking to stay abreast
of developments in this fast-changing field should give
adequate consideration to the IYPs.

Neil Street is co-founder of Small Business Online, based
in Wilton, CT., a website design, management, and promotion
company dedicated to the Internet needs of the small
business. His website is at
http://www.smallbusinessonline.net Send email to
neil@... He can also be reached at
(203)761-7992.





Tags: local advertising, bandwagon, website owner, internet traffic, advertising opportunity, local products, added features, hodgepodge, telephone directories, local directory