Say goodbye to phone books and say hello to local online searches. Two new reports say local search will increase considerably in the near future, and businesses would be smart to bring their ad dollars to local search results.
Digital Journal — If you want to find a certain business, you used to flip through the phone book or Yellow Pages. But today’s Webmania is powering local online searches as the search option of choice.
According to a report from the Kelsey Group, more than half of consumers surveyed have substituted Internet search instead of phone books.
The growth of local ads is seen as a trend destined to ripple through the Web. Local online ad spending will increase by a whopping 48 per cent in 2008 to $12.6 billion, a new report from Borrell Associates states.
The report predicts three classified categories — jobs, cars, real estate – will own a 37.7 per cent share of all online ad spending in 2008.
The Borrell report offers a hint as to why local search ads will increase in the coming year: “The main agents behind this relentless growth are the popularity of search engine and online directory advertising and, to a lesser extent, the growing popularity of low-cost video commercials.”
What’s the appeal for businesses to advertise online? A statement from Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, sums up the sentiment succinctly:
You might see an ad for the new Honda Accord that will direct you all the way down to your market and a particular dealer in your area where you can test drive the car. That approach combines the brand advertising, which has historically been disconnected from local distributors, to a place in the market where you can find the product. The challenge for small businesses is making it simple enough.
It makes sense for the printed Yellow Pages to face obsolescence in the face of local online search’s popularity. Many web wanderers use Google Local to find phone numbers, and 411.com is winning favour with those who don’t want to spend money dialing 4-1-1.
It will be intriguing to see the meteoric rise of local ad spending in the coming years, as more social networks gain success and less businesses invest in the standard phone book.
Environmentalists should be in good spirits about this news. Think of all the paper we’d save by scrapping that encyclopedia of a phone book.
