While you are reading this, there is a potential customer on Google.

Whom will they find: You or your competitor?

Do you have a small business that is largely offline?

Are your clients mostly local?

You might think that the Net offers very few opportunities to businesses whose clientele is clustered within a small geographical area.

And you would have been almost correct, up until recently.

But things are beginning to change rapidly.

Sure, some clients are still using Yellow Pages, but more and more are doing searches online. It is fast and simple to do a search on Google or another search engine.

Say, you type in “spray tan Bondi”. Nothing there? Widen this search to “Spray tan Sydney”, or “Spray tan NSW”. Try doing it with Yellow Pages!

And it's not just the clients.

Faster and faster, local businesses are coming online. Why?

Because online gives a much better Return on Investment, (ROI).

Let us have a look at how does a Yellow Pages ad compare to a well constructed webpage?

There is very little that you can fit into the tiny rectangle that Yellow Pages allow. Big companies, which can spread their costs between many businesses, will get the biggest ads and most business. Small operators get only crumbs. On the other hand, on the net you can put a lot of information that can “sell” your clients, and it puts you on a level playing field.

In Yellow pages customers “scan” many ads at the same time looking for big one that will catch their attention.

On the net once you get a customer to your webpage, you, have their undivided attention.

How many calls do you get from Yellow Pages ads?

On the other hand a well constructed webpage can attract hundreds, even thousands new clients every year.
What competitive advantage do you have over your competitions with Yellow Pages? Near zero, unless you are one of the big guys.
On the net you are on the level playing ground. You can look just as good as them.
With Yellow Pages, if you bought an ad for a particular geographical area, that is where it will be shown. Potential customers from other areas will not find you.
Yellow pages ads are very expensive; they can cost you hundreds of dollars a year. A webpage costs very little in comparison, and once put up, it stays there for a very minimal cost.

Despite overwhelming advantages of the Net, most small businesses have at least one Yellow Pages ad, but they do not have a website (or if they do it is dying from lack of traffic and no results and No attention).

If you are a small local business it is absolutely crucial to get a web presence. When done right, a webpage can pay for itself within weeks.