Search Engine Results Give Yellow (Pages) The Blues

Like it or not, the traditional print industry in Australia is in big trouble as advertisers increasingly shift more of their advertising dollar to online looking for better returns on their investment and superior value for money. But why do advertisers still prefer the Yellow (Pages) printed phone directory over online search and directories?

In fact, in the year ending June 2008 Australian advertisers invest approximately AUD$1 billion advertising with Yellow (Pages) print directories versus something like $700 million with various online search and directories for the same period.

What advertiser’s are forgetting is that Australian consumers have changed the way they search for products and services. Yellow (Pages) print directory may get delivered to over 10 million Australian homes and businesses every year, but the vast majority of people use online search engines like Google to SEARCH.

Today, Australia has over 14 million online users and according to recent research conducted by Ansearch, “each month over 8 million of these users hit one of the various search engines EVERY DAY.”

“And depending upon the source it is generally accepted that between 50-80% of all searches are commercial-in-nature.”

Compare these figures with Yellow (Pages) own published figures of over 7.7 million people using their printed directories to search for businesses EACH MONTH.

Presenting these numbers heavily in favour of online search and with the growing trend for Australian consumers to shop more online makes a very strong argument for advertisers to move all or a good size of their print directory budget over to building their online presence and making sure its more search friendly by investing in Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM).

And then there is the COST! Yellow (Pages) advises businesses to go for ‘SIZE, COLOUR & POSITION’ to be noticed, an advertising exercise that may well cost upwards of ten to twenty thousands dollars for a single ad.

And, if an advertiser needed to place ads in all or just a few of Yellow’s (Pages) 6 metropolitan and 49 regional print directories, then this becomes a very costly campaign that can neither be changed or easily measured.

Whereas a SEO campaign identifies where and what people are searching, places your website where people are looking, ability to target multiple audiences and locations and flexible enough to change focus, if required. Depending on the programs complexity and advertisers needs, an SEO campaign start from a few hundred dollars a month and it’s measurable.

Here at Sticky Advertising, 53.45% of all web traffic originates from organic Google searches, 16.68% come direct, 9% Sticky blogs, 3.41% Yahoo, 3.20% Twitter and 1.36% www.yellowpages.com.au (paid).

If you are not convinced of this argument then ask yourself. When did you last use a Yellow (Pages) print directory? When did you last have a product enquiry from someone using a Yellow (Pages) print directory? And how do you search for products or services?

Before you sign-off on the next Yellow (Pages) directory have a good look at the opportunities available to your business via online search. We’d be very happy to show you the number of searches done online around your industry each month and how easy it is to put your business near the top of these searches.

Posted by gordon on December 22nd, 2008 |
Posted under: Digital | SEO Newcastle | Sticky Advertising | Television | branding