The Yellow Pages are a great way to advertise your business simply because they are a directive medium (as opposed to a reactive medium like newspapers, radio or TV advertising). In other words, consumers and businesses use them when they are ready to buy not because they are simply curious.

One of the main advantages of the Yellow Pages is that people can only get information on your products or services if they call you, which gives you a chance to convince them that you offer the very best in your industry. When people decides to call they are motivated to get something they need. The problem with Internet advertising is that people simply fill out an inquiry form or send you an email to get the information they need, BUT it does not show any commitment on their part. If prospects do not want to talk to you, it will be a lot more difficult to close them.

It is a lot more powerful when someone decides to call you as oppose to someone who hides behind a computer.

Local Search makes any small business stand out nationwide or in the neighborhood. Consumers and businesses want both online and local information.

Consumers look for information about local products and services on the Internet but studies show that 35% of online searches are about local businesses. About a quarter of all Internet users conducted local searches. They would do even more of it if the data for small businesses were better compiled. Small local businesses haven't gotten much benefit from the widespread shift toward global and online commerce. But the combination of search engine marketing and Local Search can put even small operations on the radar screen.

Find out whether your business is already included in various search engine databases. Make sure the data about your operation is accurate and complete. Then make sure to get listed in the others.

http://www.local.google.com http://maps.yahoo.com http://www.mapquest.com http://www.superpages.com Additional Players:

CitySearch AOL - In Your Area www.topix.net www.vivante.com www.mobilemaps.com How many of these Internet Yellow Pages are you in?

Yahoo.com Excite.com SuperPages.com NetScape.com Switchboard.com MapQuest.com Lycos.com InfoSpace.com MSN.com Smart Pages.com AltaVista.com 411.com AOL.com Verizon.com WebCrawler.com BigBook.com CitySearch.com DirectoryStore.com And many more.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of Yellow Pages advertising?

Advantages of Yellow Pages advertising:

Your ad works all year long. It gives your prospect a method of easily locating and contacting your business. Many consumers and businesses feel more confident about doing business with a local company than someone who is out of state. It can help you describe the differences between you and your competition. You pay by the month instead of one large payment. Disadvantages of Yellow Pages advertising:

You must commit to an entire year of advertising. You are immediately placed with a group of your competitors, making it easy for the prospect to shop around. That is the same problem with online search engines, although online advertising is probably even worse. Some classifications are so cluttered with advertising that your ad becomes buried and ineffective. It is only effective when a prospect looks you up in the correct classification, assuming the prospect knows what classification to look for in the first place. How can I determine if Yellow Pages advertising will benefit my business?

Probably the easiest way to determine whether or not Yellow Pages advertising is effective for your particular business is to look in the Yellow Pages under your business category and observe the types of ads that your competitors are taking out. In fact I suggest you call your competition and ask them if they are satisfied with their Yellow Pages advertising. If you see a lot of ads (and especially big and expensive ads), you can assume that these businesses are making this type of investment because it has paid off for them.

How to be successful using Yellow Pages Advertising

I would highly suggest you to get a decent size ad because listings are too small and nobody will bother calling you.

One important rule that applies to Yellow Pages advertising is to have a larger ad than the rest of your competition. When you have the largest ad, 30 percent of Yellow Pages shoppers motivated, ready-to-buy people will call you first. The bigger the ad the more calls you'll get and the more sales you'll make.

Use multiple colors in your ad. It costs you more, but adding a color improves readership by as much as THREE TIMES.

Last and most important:

Be aware that writing ads is not something that everybody can do. There are copywriters out there who study how to write advertisements. If I were you, I would hire one immediately that would write all my ads. There are very successful copywriters out there that will make a very big difference in the success of your business. There is nothing more important for a business than hiring a copywriter to write powerful and effective ads. It will probably determine how successful you will be in business.

About the Author

Andre Plessis is the author of "The Smartest Way to Grow Your Business." Find out how he has helped thousands of businesses succeed, using the most powerful, proven and cost effective marketing tools. Visit his web site to find out how you can get a free consultation http://smartbizconnection.com or mail: andre @ smartbizconnection.com.

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