Yellow pages have recently started making a lot of noise about their new web design and online marketing services that they are now offering. For years, especially before the age of the internet, the Yellow Pages had been a faithful companion to many. Whenever you needed something you would automatically open up the Yellow Pages and all the information was there in front of you – a fantastic service.
Yell identified that with the popularity of search engines, (Google in particular), they needed to up their game. Yell’s solution was to launch the online version of the Yellow Pages – Yell.com. It was great to see Yell move with the times, but with the wide spread use of Google Places and better forms of online advertising, Yell are definitely feeling the pressure.
Yell Sites is a service that offers fixed price web design at a low cost. They offer 3 web design packages starting at £125.00 for a basic website. They also offer a premium package that costs £3000.00. These packages come with an ongoing monthly fee that could be as much as £100.00 although they are not clear about what this fee is for. Is the monthly fee for hosting or online marketing? If you stop paying the fee does the website get taken down?
They offer a search engine optimisation service. This is the process that is used to help your website climb higher in the search engine results page for specific keywords relating to your business. However, SEO is an ongoing process and isn’t just a case of including relevant keywords on your site and inserting a few images. To perform a successful online marketing campaign you must first analyse the target market and aim for keywords that are achievable within your budget. You then have to promote that website online by utilising various different methods in order for your website to rank highly on the search engine results page.
It’s great to see that Yell are moving with the times, and now moving away from traditional print advertising and focusing on online advertising methods for their customers. If you have a look at the newest edition of the yellow pages it’s about a quarter of the size of the traditional directory. Is this the end of the Yellow Pages as we know it? Will Yell eventually evolve to become a purely online marketing company?
Gordon Campbell
