Business Opportunities Weblog

August 12, 2009 by Jaclyn Wells | 1 Comment

photo credit: How can I recycle this

I recently came across an article posted on Small Biz Survival suggesting that the yellow pages really don’t serve as much of a purpose for small businesses as they used to. The days of people relying on the yellow pages to find a company or service are coming to an end. This I would have to agree with. While every now and then I will open up the phone book to search for something, more times than not I remember from memory, call information, or look on the Internet because it’s faster and easier.

The yellow pages are becoming more of a way for the yellow book to make money off of small businesses advertising with them rather than a way for companies to bring in more customers. It’s a small expense to advertise in the yellow book which is why most companies still do, they figure it’s no big deal to spend that little of money.

There is also the guilt of knowing that your competitors are listed in the yellow book, so you almost feel obligated to do the same in order to meet the competition. But, when you think about it, how often do you go get that yellow book yourself and look something up? Mine are crammed in a cupboard somewhere collecting dust and usually only get moved when the new one comes in and I throw out the old one.

You’ll get next to nothing for your money, if you bite. The directory may or may not even be printed! These are so common, you can read about them at the Federal Trade Commission. You have to catch and eliminate them, and be sure they don’t make it into your regular bill-paying process.

In Advertising, Habits, Scam, Small Biz | 1 Comment