Why use the BellSouth Yellow Pages for your local business when you can put your business online yourself and possibly save thousands of dollars?
There are many trends signaling the end of an era for the traditional yellow page directories.
The 15 pound yellow pages directory cannot compete with the realtime and instantly updatable results of the major search engines like Google and Yahoo.
The BellSouth Yellow Pages and other yellow pages publishers really have their work cut out for themselves if they plan to survive in the coming few years.
People are increasingly using the internet for research and purchasing decisions for many goods and services that were once under the sole monopoly of the yellow pages.
What does that mean for you, the small business owner, today?
Well, if you are one of the many small businesses not utilizing the power of the internet right now, you are missing out on the increasing amount of sales and research generated through the internet every day.
If you are only using the BellSouth Yellow Pages and don't have a web site, you need to get a web site today!
You might think that the internet, more specifically your own web site, offers few opportunities for businesses with a customer base clustered in a small geographic local area. After all, the Web is accessed by millions of people around the globe.
And you would have been fairly correct, up until recently. But matters have been changing rapidly...
More and more, your potential clients are forsaking those heavy BellSouth Yellow Pages paper books for Google, Yahoo and other search engines.
And it's not just the clients. Faster and faster, local businesses are coming online. Your competitors are beating you in the world of cyberspace. They are using the internet to...
- build trust and deepen relationships with existing local customers by providing friendly, personal information about the business, great content (ex., valuable "do-it-yourself" articles), "web site only" specials, etc. (but this is only the first and most obvious step)
- raise their local profile above that of competitors (that would be you!)
- promote locally and take customers from competitors (you again!)
- and much more.
It's time - develop a solid internet presence, generate targeted traffic, build loyalty through a newsletter for your customers, get the edge on local competition, and add new income streams.
If your small, local business does not use an internet presence to promote itself, keep in touch with its customers, extend its reach, and take your competitors' customers, your competitors will do it to you, and soon, if they haven't already!
Whatever your local business may be...
Are your BellSouth Yellow Pages ads worth it?
Does your BellSouth Yellow Pages ad...
- attract hundreds, even thousands, of visitors, many of whom become new business, per day?
- PREsell prospective customers before they call you?
- nurture, encourage and develop the relationship you already maintain with existing customers, increasing both loyalty and repeat business??
- command undivided attention? Once they are on your site, you have their total attention (unlike a crowded Yellow Pages page)!
- take clients away from competitors?
- develop new ways to monetize your skills and knowledge?
- give you the ability to update instantly and to reach your clients with seasonal specials, interesting tidbits, etc.?
