How to Use Search for Your Business - Part I

In the earlier post I ranted against the "yellow pages". That comes from many years of paying thru the nose, as a business owner, for listing in their book. They would then go across town and drop the hint of my plans to my competitor. That would cause the market for material handling listing to really grow. They did...because they could. I don't forgive easily and I never forget.

Now there is a version of the same advertising using the vertical market search directories. I won't call them by name but look at your checkbooks and I'll bet you can call out a couple. Here is what happens....they offer you a program to list your company in their directory. Programs range from a few hundred a month (on annual contract) to tens of thousands per year. You get a listing or a page or many pages in their book. The book is searchable so the many thousands of visitors to their site can find you easily and according to their logic the phone should just start ringing.

It is quite impressive. They show up in lots of searches. You reason; they must dominate and so you pay. What happens next should sound familiar.....you ramp up your program and your competitor does his as well. Wonder how that happens.

The larger problem is this; the phone never really starts ringing. Oh, they will furnish you with reports that show thousands of impressions. An impression is when a page is displayed on a computer screen somewhere in the world that has your company's name on it (somewhere). Their report will also show that x number of people looked at your profile (read about your company). The important thing there is all that happened on their servers ...not on your website. It does not indicate anything other than curiosity although that couriosity might be cultivated to interest.....but that would happen better on your website.

The next injustice is that ...with you paying the bill....they buy more adwords and get more hits. The traffic on their website (including the people reading about your company) generates hits (clicks) on their site (not yours) and the price of your program grows because of their success.

There is help coming ....actually it's already here but not widely known. A little company named Google is changing the rules "one more time" and it can be exciting for the local businessman trying to create and market value in his or her market area.

Come back tomorrow and I will tell you about it.