Internet Yellow Page Ads - Are They Worth A Try?

Written by Neil Street


INTERNET YELLOW PAGE ADS – ARE THEY WORTH A TRY?

By Neil Street, Co-Founder, Small Business Online, Wilton, CT

Most small businesses do not yet advertise onrepparttar internet. But withrepparttar 118706 undeniable growth in internet traffic, it’s only a matter of time before many businesses will need to consider online advertising.

Everyone is familiar withrepparttar 118707 traditional Yellow Pages phone book. Less familiar isrepparttar 118708 internet extension ofrepparttar 118709 print book –repparttar 118710 hodgepodge of advertising options that can loosely be termed Internet Yellow Pages (IYP). A range of companies are jumping onrepparttar 118711 IYP bandwagon, all chasingrepparttar 118712 elusive, and thus far unmaterialized, local advertising dollars. Companies like Verizon, with their SuperPages directory, or like Yahoo!, with their Yahoo! “Get Local” directory, and assorted publishers of print telephone directories, are all players inrepparttar 118713 IYP field. Basically, they all offer variations on a basic theme:repparttar 118714 structured, directory-like indexing of information onrepparttar 118715 internet, with added features unknown inrepparttar 118716 print books, such as mapping, keyword searching, and website links.

The most compelling reason for a website owner to advertise on IYP isrepparttar 118717 increasing consumer usage ofrepparttar 118718 internet for finding local products and services. Actual figures vary widely, but well-known analysts such asrepparttar 118719 Kelsey Group have notedrepparttar 118720 growing boom in “local search.” Given this growth, IYP becomes an advertising opportunity worthy of consideration.

Where does a local business begin? The best place to start is with your local phone company – investigating what online options are available fromrepparttar 118721 print yellow pages companies. In many regions,repparttar 118722 local phone company yellow book will not berepparttar 118723 only player in town – one or several print yellow page books may serve an area. All are worth checking out for their options and pricing. In addition to local phone or yellow page companies, a business can consider some ofrepparttar 118724 biggest names inrepparttar 118725 world of directories and information. Yahoo! Get Local, Verizon SuperPages, SmartPages.com, Switchboard.com, and YellowPages.com are some ofrepparttar 118726 major players, and can be contacted by a business directly. Be forewarned – they each have their own unique systems, and figuring it all out takes some time. My own experience with Verizon SuperPages, for example, indicates that they are “rushing to market” with their online advertiser sign up – to date, I have been unable to get their program to work as it is supposed to, and customer service doesn’t seem to know how to help.

Internet News Services Explode Online

Written by Jim Edwards


It seems no matter how much information comes available online, people thirst for more.

To illustrate this point, just take a look at allrepparttar online news services sprouting up onrepparttar 118705 web like garden weeds.

Withrepparttar 118706 click of a mouse you can instantly search thousands of news sources for specific and timely information on virtually any topic you choose.

Heck, if you're a real news junky, you can even get up-to- the-minute news emailed straight to your desktop!

Now, I'mrepparttar 118707 first one to say that nothing beats a good old-fashioned newspaper you hold in your hands.

Few things rate as relaxing as a cup of coffee, a quiet morning, and today's newspaper ready for my inspection. In fact, my day doesn't officially start until I walk torepparttar 118708 end of my driveway to retrieverepparttar 118709 paper (occasionally from under a bush).

But as much as I loverepparttar 118710 paper, it rarely contains stories on highly-specialized subjects such asrepparttar 118711 latest email marketing laws, html parsing, and search engine promotion.

Of course, it doesn't make sense for virtually any local newspaper to carry news about email marketing laws (other than how they affect consumers) becauserepparttar 118712 market demand simply doesn't exist on that level.

However, aroundrepparttar 118713 world, thousands of people just like me want to knowrepparttar 118714 instant a news story breaks onrepparttar 118715 latest "Can Spam" legislation, and that's where online news services come into play.

Log on to http://news.google.com, http://news.yahoo.com and www.news.com to search thousands of different news sources from aroundrepparttar 118716 world.

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