The importance of having a small business web site is underscored by news that small businesses are moving their marketing dollars online as print directories such as the Yellow Pages™, a long-time staple for small business marketing, rapidly lose their market share and effectiveness.

New projections from industry-leading research firm, Borrell Associates, indicate that “by 2010 most U.S. adults will not crack open a Yellow Pages™ book in any given month”, reports Online Media Daily.  Spending on print Yellow Pages™ is forecast to “plunge by 39% in the next five years to $7.8 billion as small businesses increasingly shift marketing dollars online.”

Yellow Pages™ is struggling against this growing trend by focusing its efforts to transitioning itself into an online marketing player.  The trouble with that strategy, however, is that it faces very stiff competition - Google and Yahoo!, the two internet search giants that sit on approximately 80% of the overall online search market.  Moreover, according to the reported figures from Borrell Associates “pure-play Internet companies [such as Google, Yahhoo!, MSN and the other Internet search engines] dominate local online ad spending with 57.3% of the market, compared to 24.6% for newspapers and 7.8% for directories.”

Online Media Daily reports that “local internet spending overall is expected to jump 50% this year to $13.1 billion this year.”  For a small, local business having an effective small business web site that can be used as an online marketing tool on Google and its search engine competitors becomes a business necessity as  local customers increasingly turn from the Yellow Pages™ to the Internet to get information about local products and services.  Relying on print and online Yellow Page advertising may no longer be a sufficient strategy to satisfy a company’s small business marketing needs.

Sesimi.com offers an affordable one-stop solution for local businesses with its unique small business web site hosting domain.  Search engine optimization specialists at Sesimi.com design, build and host smal business web pages that are consistently found and ranked by Internet search engines for local products and services, giving small businesses with a small business web page hosted on the Sesimi.com site a distinct advantage over competitors that rely solely on the dwindling effectiveness of Yellow Page advertising.

SearchEngineWatch  reports that IYP publishers are gaining ground on Google local. Yellowbook’s traffic numbers jumped 137%  over the past 3 months  thanks to the initiation of an aggressive local search engine traffic campaign.Market fragmentation leaves the door wide open for even the smallest directory to expand, as long as they are engaged in search engine marketing.

Every year your YellowPages™ rep calls and you are so busy with your business or fed up with the costs of placing even a bold listing that you tell him/her to renew the ad. Then one day you are searching your keywords on Google local and guess what? You’re not there!

Since Google and Yahoo! and MSN (Sympatico) draw their Canadian business listings from the YellowPages™, the heading you choose when placing your ad or free listing with YellowPages™ has gained importance.

Here are a 3 tips for using YellowPages™ in your local search efforts.

1. Make sure the heading you choose when placing your ad or listing relates to a highly searched keyword term.
2. Add you keywords to your company name. Instead of Oliva Services, use Oliva Carpet Cleaning Services.
3. Ask your YellowPages™ rep if you can provide him with a keyword list. Several types of ads
   come with a keyword form that allows you to provide a keyword list so customers can find you with keywords, not just under a specific heading.
4. Make sure your keywords are in your print YellowPages™ ad. Most YellowPages™ companies can add your print ad online. Your print ads are digitized and will appear when a user uses a keyword search and the keywords are in you ad.
5. Don’t get carried away by jamming keywords in your ad. You still need a good tag line, list of benefits and a call to action if you want a potential customer to call or visit your website.

If you think the Yellow Pages™ is dead in Canada, think again. Search for a local business on Google Maps Canada or Yahoo! Canada Local and you scroll down to the bottom of the results pages, in the fine print you will find the statement, “Business Listings distributed by YellowPages.ca™”

That’s right, YellowPages.ca™ supplies the local Canadian business search results for both Google and Yahoo!, as well as the following national websites:

• AOL.ca
• Canada.com
• GlobeandMail.com
• NationalPost.ca
• Netscape.ca
• Sympatico MSN
• Yahoo! Canada Business Finder

Still, don’t think Google is going to walk away from the lucrative Canadian local search market any time soon. Just scroll down to their comments in their Google Local Business Center.

Update your listing at any time. Use the Local Business Center to edit your listing whenever and however you like. Your Google Maps results will be updated in a few weeks, not next year.

“Update your listing in a few weeks, not next year”. Obviously Google is referring to the annual YellowPages™ renewal system that drives small business owners crazy.

It’s time to take YellowPages™ seriously. You may not agree with the sales pitch that your local YellowPages™ representative brings with him each year but now is not the time to cancel your YellowPages™ advertising program.

We’ll tell you how YellowPages™ effects your small business in your search engine marketing efforts in our next post.

Google puts feet on the ground in Canada. Yellow Pages™ Group has announced that they have reached an agreement to become the first reseller of Google adwords in Canada.

The deal makes sense for both parties; Google now has the feet on the ground to reach out to the enourmous small and medium business audience that Yellow Pages™ Group has spent decades developing and Yellow Pages™ Group teams up with the search king. Google owns approximately 78% of the search market in Google Canada.

The only thing missing is organic search. Let’s keep our eyes open to see if yellowpages.ca listings start appearing at the top of natural search results in Canada.

Day 2 at SMX Denver provided a couple of sessions that exemplified what people expect to see when they come to any conference or seminar.

In the SEO Best Practices for Mobile session, three different presenters laid out step by step guides to mobile SEO. Cindy Krum from Blue Moon Works Inc gave a terrific presentation. Read Cindy’s seo/ppc/email blog for a how to on mobile search.

Greg Markel from search engine marketing firm , Infuse Creative and Rachel Pasqua, from digital marketing agency, iCrossing also provided clear game plans for mobile search.

During the, “Show Me the Money! ” afternoon session Justin Sanger from local advertising firm LocalLaunch provided a clear roadmap for small business marketing.

During the same session, Alfred Chow of (IYP) YellowBook commented on an audience question of consolidation in the local search space. I have often wondered why a major search engine hasn’t acquired an internet yellow pages company. The feet on the ground that IYP’s possess would be huge for the right company.

But, for the first time I am beginning to understand..why would IYPs sell when they believe they can win the local search battle. Stay tuned…

Day one of the first local and mobile search expo proved to be an interesting day. Highlights included presentations from Michael Jones, chief technology officer, Google maps and Google earth and Chris Smith , lead strategist, Netconcepts.

Michael Jones gave us a vision of the new local search, including, not only building geographically organized information but creating “a sense of place” around the image it presents.

Chris Smith, of NaturalSearchBlog discussed the difficulties surrounding mobile search and PPC options for mobile.

ClickZ reports that at a recent Kelsey Group conference, discussions revolved around:

The fact that over 50% of consumers who click on a local businesses site within the local profile at an Internet Yellow Page (IYP) site hit the “back” button.

Local businesses that invested in a local business profile page didn’t see that happen. Most likely because of the lack of meaningful content contained within the local business owners site.

An optimized business profile page is well organized and structured to give consumers important information about a business.

In addition, the profile is then optimized to meet search engine guidelines so the page will be found by the search engines.

Don’t be fooled by fake local directory Yellow Pages™. The FayObserver reports of a sales rep badgering a client to renew a listing they never had for a mere $ 399.00.

Always be wary of someone cold calling you for a “renewal” of a directory listing. An accredited directory will provide you with plenty of information and a signed contract from the previous year.

The Kelsey Group and Search Engine Strategies (SES) are partnering in order to enhance the content of both events.

SES will provide lead tactical SEM and SEO sessions for the upcoming Kelsey Group Interactive Local Media 2007 conference.

The Kelsey group has provided powerful data for the directory business for years and they will provide local content sessions for SES Chicago.