Yep, we’re talking about Yellow Pages again. In an effort to keep up with digital marketing trends and online marketing agencies, the phone book company now offers online advertising and web design. Sure, it may seem convenient to hand your website over to a big company that will make most of the decisions for you, but, remember, we’re talking about Yellow Pages.
Let’s do a quick review the current state of affairs over at the offices of this marketing dinosaur, shall we?
Yellow Pages usage has been steadily declining since 2005, which means that revenue has been plummeting for nearly a decade. What’s more, about 80% of the time consumers are tapping on their computers, phones and tablets when researching local fabric stores or who to call about their rattling HVAC system. Here’s the implication: Yellow Pages has become irrelevant to the modern consumer.
Here at PCR Agency, a digital marketing agency, we believe that friends don’t let friends hand their websites over to Yellow Pages.
1. Their sites are expensive.
If you worked with a local web designer or small web shop, you would likely pay a larger fee in installments during the design process for your shiny, new site. On the other hand, with a big company like Yellow Pages, you’ll pay a monthly fee for the entire time you have a site with them. Over the course of several years, this gets really expensive.
2. You don’t actually own your site.
Wait, what?! Yes, it’s true. “Buying” a website from Yellow Pages is actually just “renting” a site. That goes for your domain name, too. We’ve even heard a few horror stories about the legal nightmare that ensues if you try to take your domain with you.
3. They mass produce a bunch of template sites and call it “design.”
With a Yellow Pages site, you’ll simply choose from some templates, the same templates that thousands of other businesses are using. The thing about templates is that they are meant to appeal to a lot of different buyers and businesses. They are an Internet “neutral,” if you will. And no one stands out in beige. So if you want the “wow factor,” you certainly won’t get it here.
4. You’ll have to sacrifice on content.
A common complaint about these sites is that you can’t upload very much content. As an inbound marketing agency, we have to warn you: this will negatively impact your SEO efforts, and, eventually, your bottom line.
5. And you’ll sacrifice a high conversion rate, too.
Basically, your site will consist of a template and very little content. These kinds of sites often yield a disappointing number of visitors. The end result? The visitors you do get won’t take you seriously or convert on your offers.
6. They haven’t heard about social media.
One of the ways to market your business is to share pages, blogs, articles, and offers on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. However, if you have a Yellow Pages site, this isn’t possible. We know, it’s a huge bummer.
7. You’ll have to cross your fingers and hope that you won’t need technical support.
If you use a local web designer to build your site, you’ll likely get technical support as part of your website package. Not so with Yellow Pages. Because you will be sold a mass-produced site, you will probably be given responses that are, well, produced for the masses.
Want to learn more about our design and marketing services? Or, you can read more about web design strategy and building an app for your business.
