Why advertise with the Yellow Pages? 10 Reasons not to.

We have said it before, we think there are better ways to spend your money on advertising than the Yellow Pages. Need more convincing? Here are 10 reasons why we thing it is a waste of money.

1. They are no where near number one, or even on the front page of search engines, for any important search terms. All the important categories are either taken by major firms operating in that arena, or other directories like startlocal.com.au
2. They are expensive for what you get. Could that $1000 be better spent on a new website, on Google Adwords that you can tie directly to sales, on optimising your website?
3. Most of the hard copy books are left to rot, or get pulped.
4. Google Maps is the number one preference for finding local businesses
5. Yellow pages ads are static, so if you have a complex story to tell, you are out of luck.
6. The ads can’t be updated for AN ENTIRE YEAR, so you had better not move, change email or web addresses.
7. You can’t test copy, with different targets across different parts of the year.
8. If you are looking to reach out to your local community, you will get more mileage by spending your money on sponsoring a local soccer club and sponsoring your local paper’s community awards.
9. If you are a B2B business, working with your current customers on a testimonial video campaign will give you a greater reach than the Yellow Pages.
10. If all the free advertising was removed from the Yellow Pages, there would be very little of the book left. Think about that. Most of the Yellow Pages appeal, to both advertisers and readers, is that it is given away.  Compare that to advertising of value, like Google Adwords, a billboard over a major road, or even traditional newspaper advertising.