I will share with you the research from several sources the 4 reasons why this is true. Many business owners that are 45+ years in age grew up with the yellow pages. It was an effective means of advertising, however today is different.....

1. Ease of Use - According to Jupiter Media, over 64% of people who are looking for information online, use search engines (in 2004). People do what is easy. Access to the Internet via work, home or any library have truly made getting online easy. Which would you rather do...type your problem or what you want into a search engine and find what you need OR go through the 100 pages of ads in the yellow pages. Search engines are getting more precise down to an industry specialty and geographic focus, while also continuing to be easier to use. As of 4th quarter of 2008 the major search engines Google, MSN and Yahoo have all been reprogrammed for more precise context indexing including the contents of mp3's and flash applications.
2. Cost Model of Search Engines vs. Yellow Pages - In reviewing these two models we need to compare the traits and cost basis of each media.

3. Differentiation vs. Directory - Yellow Pages offer various ways of advertising allowing any of your competitors a choice in size of print for page focus. It lists businesses alphabetically and not by popularity or frequency or even by user ratings and by the time you find out your competitor yellow book listing, it is too late for the year, it's in concrete. However by using or catering to various search engines through Search Engine Optimization, you can differentiate yourself or business from everyone else. So when the ideal client is looking for what you do, they find you, not all your competitors.

   The Yellow Pages industry is over well over 100 years old and according to the Direct Marketing Association is a 12+ Billion dollar market. It does not seem like it is going away. Yellow Pages Online and many industry specific directories are now being aggressively marketed. In many studies, there has been evidence that has seen very little traffic or lead generation coming from these online directories. If you are approached to be in an online directory, ask if you can pay for it by the number of visitors and/or leads to your site. You won't get many takers on that offer.

4. The Future Big Winner in Search ... Local Firms! - The traditional success model for winning online has been the ability to sell your product or service nationally or internationally. However, local or regional firms could not leverage the national and international traffic that search engines brought because they were only licensed or had services available in a specific city, state or region. The Internet has given the small business a bigger chance to thrive, even in this economic downturn.
5. Current Internet Stats - Taking a look at the chart below you can see that just the Internet Users Growth is just staggering at 227.5%. This from literally the 1^st generation of Internet users, that is those that were around and watched the home computer being born in the 1980's, and then the Internet take off in the 1990's.
   

   INTERNET USERS AND POPULATION STATS FOR THE AMERICAS THE AMERICAS Population ( 2008 Est. ) % Pop. of World Internet Users, Latest Data % Population ( Penetration ) User Growth ( 2000-2008 ) World % Users All the Americas 918,822,841 13.7 % 413,183,671 45.0 % 227.5 % 26.2 % Rest of the World 5,791,206,229 86.3 % 1,161,129,513 20.0 % 394.5 % 73.8 % WORLD TOTAL 6,710,029,070 100.0 % 1,574,313,184 23.5 % 336.1 % 100.0 % NOTES: (1) Internet Usage and Population Statistics for the Americas were updated for December 31, 2008. (2) Population numbers are based on data contained in the US Census Bureau. (3) The most recent usage comes mainly from data published by Nielsen//NetRatings , by ITU , and other trustworthy local sources. (4) Data on this site may be cited, giving due credit and establishing an active link back to Internet World Stats © Copyright 2009, Miniwatts Marketing Group. All rights reserved.

6. Future Internet Speculation - Think about this, just about all the people that were born in since the mid 80's most likely have had a computer to use in their home as well as Internet usage. These kids grow up using the computer and the Internet as a tool, like much of our generation used a calculator, when the previous generation used a slide rule. Technology is developing at an extremely rapid pace and with each new generation of computers is another generation of kids using an incredible new tool for doing business, including marketing. As you can see from the table to the right, the amount of money that will likely go in to online marketing is in deed forcasted to exapand greatly.

   Based on these trends there are five things you need to do today to differentiate you or your business from your competition. We suggest that you change your strategy and reallocate your budget as follows:

1. Look at your Yellow Page investment - What did it cost you last year and what business came directly from it? If the numbers work, keep doing it. However if the answer to this question is "I don't know", we have a suggestion. Keep the yellow pages ad, just make it smaller. Take the 50% you save on your budgeted yellow page fees and use it to directly drive online prospects to your firm. If you are satisfied with your results with yellow pages, take 20-30% of your current budget to be online. As phone books and directories continue to diminish in value, you will be ahead of the curve.

2. Have your own site - If you are in a directory and it has created a simple site for you, don't worry about tracking traffic, you probably are getting little to no traffic at all. Make sure you have your site set up as your own on your own domain name and that people can find you through normal search engines, not just through the directory. Also, remember that if clients find you through directories, find out which one, some directories are still very popular, but know that they are a dying breed. There are different strategies that do work in different directories, but remember, as search engines continue to evolve, it is only a matter of time that the Internet directories effects on traffic will be very diminished.

3. Measure - Look at your site. You should know how many people come to your site, a simple hit counter is not good enough, you should be using analytic software. If you are signed up with an online hosting company or directory service, get your analytics from them. You will probably be surprised with the low amount of visitors and leads you get. If the hosting company or directory provider can't (or doesn't want to) get you your performance numbers, get RID of them and do it yourself or hire someone or a company to do it for you. The data received by analytic software can be an invaluable tool for determining market strategies.

4. Add Relevant Location Text to your Site - People today are using search engines to find what you do in your city. Make sure that the search engines can easily know your address, city, state, zip and area code. If you have areas that you specialize in, make sure location information is on those pages. In addition, make sure you have a contact us page that has this information on it.

5. Invest in online marketing - This doesn't mean hit the Yellow Pages, Google, MSN, or Yahoo looking for an online Marketing expert, unless your desire is to aggressively place your products and/or services beyond your local area. The budget can range from a few hundred dollars for a simple Search Engine Optimization Evaluation to several thousand dollars for a complete web site overhaul. Online marketing can be fully customizable, it can grow along with your company or help your company to grow, which is something the Yellow Pages can not do dynamically or online directories evolve fast enough to your desires.