Earlier this week I met with a client about building a web site to serve as a hub for people to find local contractors for residential work.  It was very interesting, because one of the contractors who will be included in the web site’s directory attended the meeting and we discussed advertising in the Yellow Pages.

The contractor currently has a web site and said he gets over three times the call volume from the internet than one of his friends, who is also a contractor providing the same services.  His friend does not have a website and is currently paying almost $40,000 a year for a full page ad in the Yellow Pages!  The contractor also informed me that the Yellow Pages rotates their advertisements on a yearly basis, so over time your results tend to get worse.  Someone mentioned how a fair number of people throw out newer versions of the phone book when they recieve them since they feel they don’t need it if they already have one.  At this point during the meeting I asked the client to get out their phonebook to see how recent it was; its was from 2002!

It has been known for some time that the Yellow Pages is on its way out as an effective way to promote a company since more people use the internet at work, at home or on their phones to find businesses, but this was a clear example of just how poor of an option it really is.