Whatever Happened To The Yellow Pages?
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 2/22/2016 1:00:00 AM
When was the last time you used the Yellow Pages? Chances are, it's been years because most of us use the web as our primary way to find just about everything. The trouble is, although search engines like Google do a great job when you're looking for something specific, it does a terrible job when you're looking for something generic, like a local plumber or appliance store.
That's because search engines weren't designed for people searching for local businesses by category. So although Google does a good job of finding a specific business when you search for it by name, you can't browse local listings as you would with a traditional Yellow Pages directory.
One reason is that search engines like Google are optimized to find popular web pages, but some businesses don't have a good web page, and in many cases, they don't have a website at all.
What made the Yellow Pages popular was the fact that every business with a phone number was listed in alphabetic order, and those who paid for display ads would stand out with eye catching graphics. Although Google, Yelp and even YellowPages.Com (YP.com), have local listings, they lack the eye popping ads that made one business stand out from the crowd. This was a critical feature of traditional Yellow Pages because it often made it easy for businesses to draw attention to their features and benefits.
The solution is to create a REAL online Yellow Pages specifically for local merchants, where each merchant can pay for the online equivalent of a display ad where they can highlight their features and benefits. So, a plumber could draw attention to their 24 hour emergency service, and a mechanic can let people know they specialize in foreign transmissions.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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