Is the Yellow Pages Dead?

Or, should I say ARE the Yellow Pages dead?  I believe the singular tense is correct.  But, I digress!  ;-)

Who uses the Yellow Pages (YP) today?  I don't recall the last time I picked up the big yellow paper book.  If I need the phone number or location of a business, I just Google it.  Even for local businesses.

The Yellow Pages is:

• Slow.
  
  
• Outdated as soon as it's printed.
  
  
• Cumbersome - in many ways, but the categories in particular because they are rigid and limited.
  
  
• Expensive!  For the MONTHLY cost of a very small ad, I can fund an entire website for a year
  
  
• A sea of identical ads (especially with dental ads).  They all say the same thing.  So, your only edge is to try to be either the biggest or at the front of the category (which, are limited and rigid, by the way!).
  
  
• Static!  You can't change a YP ad until NEXT YEAR'S edition comes out.  You're stuck with it for a year.
  
  
• A tree killer!  I'm not really a greenie.  Hardly!  But, I couldn't resist saying it!  ;-)
  
  
• Did I mention slow?  I promise I can find a phone number faster with Google than you can with a book.

What about YellowPages.com?  Too Many Clicks!!

So... Knowing that the YP book is a dinosaur, the brilliant folks at the Yellow Pages came out with YellowPages.com.  They took the useless YP book and duplicated it online.  And for a ridiculous sum of money, they'll put your listing in their online version of the cumbersome paper book.  Same rigid categories.  Same layout.  It's the same thing, except it's on your computer screen.

If I get my listing at the TOP of the category of "dentist" in the YellowPages.com, it will take a minimum of THREE TO FOUR clicks for consumers to find it.  First they've got to type in "yellowpages.com."   CLICK.  Then they've got to type in the city and state.  CLICK.  Then they've got to type in the category of "dentist."  CLICK.  Then they get to the listings.  And, depending on how much you've paid, you may or may not be on the first page of generic, uniform listings that look JUST like the paper versions. So, if your on top... another CLICK to get to your site.

Web searchers are lazy and have short attention spans.  They want to get the info easily and quickly.  If they have to work to get it, they give up and go elsewhere.  They go to Google.

But, what if a consumer is looking for a cosmetic dentist?  Or a dentist who focuses on porcelain veneers?  Or a TMJ guy?  Or one that does implants?  Dentures?  Sorry... those aren't in the YP categories.  All you've got is just "Dentists."  You can't search for a "porcelain veneers dentist in Boynton Beach" on YellowPages.com.

Google Rocks!  One Click Is All You Need.

On the other hand, Google can be searched with any keyword you want.  If you want a dentist who does implants, you can just search for that and INSTANTLY get relevant results.  And, a dentist with a great website can optimize it to show up for those searches on Google.  It's not difficult at all.  You can optimize your website for any conceivable keyword that consumers may search for.  Google is not limited to rigid categories.  And, you can find what you're looking for in ONE click.  Not three, four, or more.

The Traditional Media Graveyard

I stopped my YP listing in 2007.  And, I haven't missed it a bit.  I was spending thousands of dollars for a NEGATIVE ROI.

Print media is dead or dying.  Newspapers are dead.

Television as we know it is next.  You can bet on it.  Subscription TV (cable and satellite) is on the decline among young people.  They get everything on the internet.  So where should you focus your marketing efforts and money???