Yellow Pages vs Search Engines
Trends that will impact how companies advertise:
- Let's face it; people will do what is easy. Access to the internet has made getting online easy. According to Jupiter Media, over 64% of people looking for information online, use search engines. If I can type what I want into a search engine and find what I need, I don't need to go through the 100 pages of ads in the Yellow Pages. Search Engines are getting more precise down to an industry specialty and geographic focus, while also continuing to be easier to use.
- I'm not sure about you, but as a business owner, the last thing I would do is give my prospects a list of my competitors. The Yellow Pages does just that. Using search engines, you can differentiate yourself from everyone else. Given that your site is optimized, when the ideal client is looking for what you do, they find you, not your competitors.
- And did you know that as far back as February 2004, The Kelsey Group and Bizrate. Com found that 64% of Internet users who make purchases online prefer search engines to conventional Yellow Pages. Go figure.
- The Yellow Pages Integrated Media Association commissioned a study finding that the printed Yellow Pages have seen usage decline from 2.0 average weekly lookups per person in the mid 1990s to 1.4 average weekly lookups in 2003. However, the economics of publishing printed Yellow Pages remains incredibly strong, so even with decreasing usage; the books continue to appeal to advertisers at maximized ad rates. With more research validating Search Engine Optimization and benefits, listen for the ripping of those Yellow Pages rate cards.
- And finally in the series of trends: The cost model of Yellow Pages vs. Search Engine. Let's look at the traits and cost basis of each media.
| Yellow Pages | Search Engine |
| a. Printing Costs | Yes | No |
| b. Mailing Distribution Costs | Yes | No |
| c. Sales Rep Cost Model | Yes | No |
| d. Per Click or Action Model | No | Yes |
| e. Commitment level | 1 Year | None |
| f. Flexibility of Ad | Once a year | Anytime |
Clearly the Yellow Pages model is more expensive and less flexible than online search engines.
Bottom line: Realize that yellow page books and yellow page online directories do not differentiate you from everyone else. Make sure your site tells what you do, where you are located and invites the client to take action with your firm. Welcome to search, the killer application that is leapfrogging the current directory model. Search is the future: the question is - are you are going to be a player or a spectator? Good Selling!
SEO & Web Design
More and more business owners have realized that search engine optimization (SEO) is a powerful online strategy. When compared to traditional print ads or TV commercials, search engine optimization is much more cost-effective in bringing in more quality leads and sales. If done right, SEO can make it easy for millions of internet users find your products or services through popular search engines like Google and Yahoo.
However, not many business owners have realized that SEO should not be considered an after-thought of web design. SEO can only reach its maximal effect when it is built into web design. If you want to build an energy-efficient house, would you start by building the house the traditional way without considering energy efficiency? Of course not! If you did, you would likely have to do some serious remodeling work after the house is built. That can be very costly. Same goes for SEO and web design. If you start building a website without taking SEO into consideration, you may have to make major changes in the website structure, navigation, coding, layout, etc. Such changes can be very costly. Some websites can't be optimized unless they are completely rebuilt.
The close relationship between SEO and web design makes it absolutely necessary for business owners to hire a web design team that is knowledgeable in SEO. This can be a challenge because the majority of web designers do not specialize in SEO. Many web designers or design companies can build a professional-looking website, but these websites can't be understood by search engines because search engines don't read websites the way we read websites. Very often what looks very pleasing to our eyes can be very confusing to search engines.
How do you avoid hiring a web design company that is clueless about search engine optimization? One way to avoid such a costly mistake is to ask the web design company's SEO experience. Also ask search engine ranking examples of the sites they build. If you can find your web design company through search engines using some generic keyword phrase, such as "Twin Cities Web Design", you won't go terribly wrong. However, if you can't find the web design company through keyword searches, chances are that the company does not specialize in SEO. Just because a web design company market itself as an SEO expert doesn't make it so.
Google's Index
In order to have any search engine rankings, search engine must know about your site first. What do all the search engines know about your site? Here is a quick way to find out. To to Google and type in the search box:
site:www.YourDomainName.com
If Google hasn't indexed your site, it will return a message, "Your search - site:www.YourDomainName.com - did not match any documents." If you have a brand-new site, it is likely you will see this message. However, if your website has been around for months or years, seeing this message may mean there is something wrong with your site.
If Google has indexed your site, it will list all the pages it has in its database. If you don't see all the pages of your site listed by Google, don't panic. If you have many new pages on the site, Google may not have enough time to find these pages or have not updated its database to include these pages. Another reason why pages are not included in Google's index is that Google's spider has a difficult time finding these pages while crawling your site. Some websites do not have a well-designed navigation structure that guides search engine spiders to various parts of the site (not having a well-designed navigation structure is like a highway without exit signs). In that case, you can either re-design your site navigation or create a good sitemap that enables spiders to find all pages.
One thing to pay close attention to is how many of your web pages are labeled with "Supplemental Result" by Google. Pages that carry this label are very unlikely to be ranked. If most of your web pages have this label, it is a sign that Google doesn't have enough confidence in your site - it is time to either work on search engine optimization on your own or bring on a pro to make some changes. However, if the majority of your pages are not "Supplemental", there is nothing to worry about.
We have developed some unique techniques to have such "Supplemental Result" label removed quickly. Contact us at:
Minneapolis Search Engine Optimization
