In yesterday’s blog post, I showed why yellow pages ads are losing effectiveness and, therefore, why a web site is better investment; today I want to demonstrate the negative environmental effects of the yellow pages and what you can do about it. Let’s go green!

So now you’re probably going “ok, Doug what’s this non-sense about going green?” Going green is simply taking yourself or your business in an environmentally friendly direction. So how does this going green thing tie back to telephone books? Fair question. And an easy one too.

It takes 24 trees and 7,000 gallons of water to make a ton of paper. The result is a several hundred phone books, each weighing 3.6 lbs. In 2007, 540 million phone books were printed. Less than 10% of those phone books used recycled paper. Those numbers add up to over 1.7 billion trees wasted on phone books last year! Without even considering the many other costs in effect here, that’s a lot of waste.

Bill Gates (2007)

Bill Gates has even recognized that phone books and yellow pages are going the way of the dinosaur. Gates said in 2007,

“Yellow Page usage amongst people in their, say, below 50[s], will drop to zero, near zero over the next five years.”

Phone books still have their place, but ask yourself, when was the last time you picked one up? If you’re not using it, go green and find out how to opt-out of getting new phone books. You’ll just throw them away eventually anyhow.

Now if you’re a business, do a critical evaluation of your marketing strategy and consider eliminating or reducing your phone book advertising. Not only will you end up saving money, but you’ll be doing the environment a favor too! Your advertising dollars could be much more effective if applied to other forms of online and offline advertising.

Want to go green by helping eliminate phone book waste? Here are a few places to start:

• Yellow Pages Goes Green
• PaperlessPetition.org

More reading:

• Yellow pages fights the opt-out movement
• Say Good Bye to the Yellow Pages – Borrell Associates Report ($995)

Our next article will highlight what people are doing instead of using the yellow pages (iPhone anyone?) and how your company can take advantage of newer technologies.

This is a post from the Nullvariable Web Consulting Blog.

Go Green, Lose the Yellow Pages

Still not promoting on the internet? Going Green?

If you’ve been in business for a few years you probably have a listing in the local Yellow Pages, and maybe in the online version as well. Every year, you pay for a new ad and wait for people to notice it among the hundreds of other listings in your category. But how much business does it actually bring you?

What you really need is a website. Let’s face it – these days, if you’re not easy to find on the web you don’t exist, at least not in the eyes of your potential customers. Consumers are increasingly using the net as their go-to place to search for local stores, restaurants, service providers and other companies and compare information from their websites before calling or visiting. Who wants to look anything up in a book anymore? That’s so last century!

With a bit of thought, your website can easily be set up to target your local target market while remaining global in reach. You can include pages and pages of information, or just keep your site short and sweet. It is also simple and economical to make changes – compare that with a Yellow Pages listing where you have to fit everything into a little box, and once you’ve paid for your ad you’re stuck with it for a whole year.

In the Yellow Pages, you are only listed in one category, so you just have to hope you picked the right one. With a properly SEOed website, though, you might be found on the first page for a whole range of relevant search terms. Think about it: the very fact that a potential customer can find your company easily online says that you are a professional outfit that is equipped to handle their business.

A good website is a wise investment rather than an expense. Think of it as 24-hour sales and marketing, customer service and order fulfillment functions all rolled into one, and you will see how your investment will keep paying off for years to come. Where else will you find an employee that works hard evangilizing your brand and selling your products 24/7?

Making the choice to abandon your yellow pages ad is not for everyone but makes a lot of sense for many businesses. Need help evaluating your online and offline marketing strategies? Contact us!

Tomorrow I’ll follow up with a post about how moving your business away from the yellow pages is a great way to go green and can be a real publicity boost.

[Update: Read the follow-up post titled "Go Green, Lose the Yellow Pages"]

This is a post from the Nullvariable Web Consulting Blog.

Wasting Money on the Yellow Pages?