There was a time for small business when you purchased some yellow page advertising, got a phone and you were in business. But more so now than ever the yellow pages have become an antiquated advertising dinosaur.

Search marketing is quickly becoming the new standard, replacing the yellow pages as the go-to place for consumer searches. Lead by the tech savvy younger generations, consumers know that a quick trip to a search engine will yield quicker more relevant results for a local pizza parlor, a roofer, an auto body shop, or a web designer. Google leads the way as the yellow page killer simply by building a better form of search.

Search marketing has improved the process for both the consumer and the marketer. From a marketer’s perspective, search engines have effectively killed the yellow pages by out-performing them in three unique areas.

Analytics: Search marketing is much more appealing to metric hungry marketers. Search marketing provides rich, in-depth analytics. You can get traffic information, conversion rates, impressions, clicks, bounce rates and more. And now with the new Google Local Business Center, marketers and small business owners can get detailed stats outlining crucial metrics. Yellow pages provide zero metrics. The only way you can track your success is through inbound phone calls.

Flexibility: Search marketing with pay-per-click gives you the ability to modify your ads on the fly. You can quickly respond to competitive pressure and you can continually improve the performance and position of your ad using the built-in analytics. Unlike the yellow pages, which require you to sign a one-year contract, you can use ad words at your disposal.

Control: With search marketing, you direct the consumers to the relevant content you want them to view. You can present different messages and ad copy using multiple ad versions. You are able to use landing pages to convert leads. In short, your ad is more than just a piece of paper; it is a dynamic, informative portal leading to more information that aids in the selling process.

Despite all the up sides to search marketing, I continually come across small businesses and clients who rely too heavily on the yellow pages. Many small businesses still make the yellow pages a substantial portion of their yearly marketing budget. The yellow pages continue to be a huge industry. According to Simba Information, the “U.S. yellow pages revenue is expected to total $16.54 billion in 2009. ″

Like many things in business, our marketing expenses are often institutionalized and remain in use even when better alternatives exist. Take a good look at your marketing budget and see if you can put your yellow page spending in a better place. My recommendation is to reduce or eliminate your yellow page spending, opting instead for ad word search marketing and a continual search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. Search marketing will likely give your small business more bang for your buck.

Tags: bye, bye yellow pages, google ad words, search marketing, yellow book.

Google has recently added a new feature to their bourgeoning search engine, SearchWiki!

SearchWiki is a dynamic tool that allows users to manipulate the positioning of results on their search inquires. With a simple click of a button users can add notes or comments and rearrange results.

Users can move their favorite sites to the top of the page or include a site that does not show up in the results. Users can also remove results they think don’t belong on the page.

The changes that are made only affect the users searches. Whenever the user is signed into their Google account their altered search results will show up for identical search inquires. Other Google users in the community can view the changes and comments users make. An official statement from Google states:

The changes you make only affect your own searches. But SearchWiki also is a great way to share your insights with other searchers. You can see how the community has collectively edited the search results by clicking on the “See all notes for this SearchWiki” link. See the Link

From a Search Engine Optimization standpoint this new feature strikes an interesting question. What will Google do with all the data collected from user generated rankings and notes? Will this information affect search rankings? And if they do will SEO firms be able to take advantage of this feature?

Google is a very innovative firm and it is in their best interest to have relevant items returned in searches. We have seen how user generated search results can have a profound affect on the integrity of results think DMOZ.

Googles new web 2.0 search feature will be an interesting one to watch. And it appears to be a move towards including user generated result suggestions into their search algorithm.

My suggestion would be to add notes to your site and improve its page position, it can’t hurt and you never know it might help improve rankings! It could also drive traffic since notes for the SearchWiki can be viewed by all users at the bottom of the page.

So be proactive and get notes on your site and rank it to the top!

Tags: DMOZ, Google SearchWiki, Search Engine Optimization, Web 2.0.