The Internet is the Phone Book of Tomorrow and Today
When was the last time you used an actual phone book? And I do mean as something other than a booster seat for your three-year-old niece. When you needed a phone number or an address you probably went straight to your computer, instead of paging through the phone book.
The truth of the matter is that the Internet is gradually replacing the phone book as the nation’s primary directory for service providers, phone numbers, and addresses. Between mapping Web sites and search engines, it’s generally faster and easier to get information from the Internet.
That’s where online, local advertising comes in-while internet yellow pages do exist, all they tend to give you is a long list of indistinguishable entries, which doesn’t help much when your sewer pipe just exploded and you’re looking for a sewer pipe expert. Moreover, few people use online phone books: they prefer to “google” things. (Have you ever heard anyone use “yellow page” as a verb? Didn’t think so.) The point is, local online advertising is far more relevant than an IYP because people want to search and find relevant Web sites for their needs, not another list they have to sort through. That’s why local online advertising essentially serves as the phone book of today in terms of connecting businesses with customers: using targeted language, Web sites can be optimized for service and location. Meaning, for example, when you search for “broken fridge in Boston” you get connected with an appliance repair company in Boston.
No more flipping through those flimsy pages squinting at tiny type: local online advertising is more efficient, and because Web space is virtually unlimited customers get way more information than the 2 x 3 inch box the phonebook provided. Even better, as a business, your return on investment is trackable: with online advertising you get hard data including number of visitors to your Web site and calls received. Phone book companies can quote statistics all day, but their numbers are based on distribution-and books passed out doesn’t mean books read: a huge percentage of phone books end up in a dumpster or in a heap in the gutter.
Of course, advertising local businesses online does have some minor complications. With online, local advertising you have to keep in mind that instead of 3 pages of dry cleaners, you get six million hits. That’s why seo-search engine optimization-is important in this type of advertising. The more specific key words, for both services provided and location, used in the Web site, the more effective it will be.
Now is the best time to get onboard with online advertising, because phone book usage decreases with every day. As Bill Gates, Microsoft maven, said, “Yellow Page usage among people, say, below 50, will drop to zero — near zero — over the next five years.” And, while online, local advertising is the way of the future, it’s also the way of today. Thousands of small, local businesses are connected with customers everyday via the internet. Whether they developed their marketing strategy independently or with the help of an seo provider like Prospect Genius, online advertising is succeeding in bringing them business. As phone book usage continues to dwindle, companies that got online in the vanguard will already be established on the Web and stand to benefit even more.
The Internet is the best tool today for connecting local service providers and businesses with potential customers. Some business providers may think that the phone book is working for them since they still get calls, but at least 60% of people use the Internet to search for local services, not the phone book. Sure, you’ll still get the occasional call, but that’s from only 40% of the population. Imagine how many more customers you’d get if you accessed the people who look for businesses online!
And, while phone books may generate a small amount of business today, they won’t forever. Phone book readership declines everyday and will eventually die out. Without branching out into local online advertising, your business will stop getting calls… As the phone book becomes extinct, the Web only becomes a more important means of advertising. Because frankly, as Paul Collins so humorously put it in Slate magazine, “Ask anyone under 30 about phone books, though, and you might as well inquire about Victrola needles.”
local seo
#Internet #Phone #Book #Tomorrow #Today
Will be pleased to have you visit my pages on social networking .
Facebook page here.
Twitter account is here.
Linkedin account here
Post byBedewy for info askme VISIT GAHZLY
