Internet Yellow Pages - Reach Out and Type Someone
by Brian D. Chmielewski

Almost every home and business has the yellow pages of the phone directory. According to the Radio Advertising Bureau's media facts, over sixty percent of adults say they use the book to locate addresses and/or phone numbers at least once per week, with seventy-seven percent going to the book monthly.

Now, compare these statistics to Internet Yellow Pages (IYP's). Anyone with access to an Internet connection or an online promotions company can get their own listing, whether they have a web site or not. Every person with an Internet connection, can let their fingers do the walking through a phone directory equivalent to the size of, well, a compilation of every phone book in the US. At this time, most IYP's cater only to Canadian and US businesses, but the growing Internet force in the international marketplace will not accept this for long.

The basic function of the yellow page listing contrasts with that of both search engines and directories. Think about IYP's just as you would the yellow pages in your phone directory. The phone book is an excellent directional reference, but it doesn't create demand. By entering your company's contact information, you will have an electronic detailed version of your basic phone directory listing. Therefore, online yellow page listings should be viewed as a crucial, yet ancillary ingredient in your complete online promotion campaign.

Just as the phone book is useful in locating a service or business when you have made a decision to buy, Internet yellow pages cannot create associations between a consumers expectations and a certain product, aid in product reinforcement or recall, or promote a special sale or event. In fact, only fourteen percent of people who make purchases with the yellow pages in hand, say the advertising actually influenced their buying decisions.

So, how can IYP's actually assist in promoting your online service? A link from an IYP will bring more traffic to your web site by linking the product or business listing to you. In fact, thirty-six percent of consumers do not have the name of a store or business in mind prior to looking in the directory and consumers often rely on the yellow pages during emergency situations.

IYP's go beyond the conventional directory, by allowing you to access listings throughout the world. Most services allow users the freedom to search by locality, category, state, city, or company name, making it simple to locate your targeted interest even when you have many unknowns. This gives businesses a national, sometimes international, competitive advantage that they never had before.

There is a regional advantage as well. For example, if you know that product x can be found only in a certain region of the world, you can locate a source about product x within minutes. If you are the company that manufactures product x, the potential for exposure is enormous.

A few points about IYP's.

• IYP's make searching for a person or business much faster than picking up the actual books, and cheaper than calling the operator if you are already online.
• IYP's present you with a long list of targeted entries, leaving the extraneous entries out. You can locate a business without having all of the geographical information about it or search a region or category for a company name in a certain field. Unlike a telephone inquiry, you simply scroll down a list of choices until returned facts look familiar.
• You can update your IYP listing faster than you can in the printed telephone book, with the option to alter or delete your entry at any time and as many times as you like without a fee.
• IYP's allow you to have an online presence unknown in the conventional phone directory, by listing your fax number and e-mail address in addition to your basic information.

uPromote Directory Listings Services can strategically place your business into the major IYP's as well as the top search engines, directories, industry specific sites and more.