Google Pin Point.jpgAt this point you would have to be crazy if your business is not located in the major Internet Yellow Page search engines. Or perhaps you don’t know about them. If the latter is the case, welcome; visit the sites below and begin placing your business in as many of these sites as you can!

What are the Internet Yellow Page search engines (IYPs)?

you ask, well my friend they are a number of websites that list your company or organization based on a geographic location. And many of them are FREE! I won’t bore you with unnecessary jibber jabber, I’ll just list a number of IYPs I’ve found over the years. And please bookmark this page as I will be adding to this list as I continue my everlasting search. Do visit these sites and take a few minutes to add your company. It will help us die-hard local searchers find your company, and bring you additional customer to boot.

Without further ado, in no particular order, the list:

Nationwide Internet Yellow Page Web Sites:
Click the “Add my business” link to add your business today.

Local City Guides and Recommendation Web Sites:

Region Specific Internet Yellow Page Sites:

Mobile/Cell phone Friendly Internet Yellow Page Sites:

Coupon/Savings Internet Yellow Page Sites:

Info/Data Companies for Internet Yellow Page Sites:

If this has helped you in anyway let me know. Leave your comments below. Thanks.

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With the arrival of the next great internet boom – the internet marketing boom - the possibilities are limitless. The internet is exploding with new features and technologies such as interactive shopping, podcasting as well as newly emerging E-marketing tools and ideas. Among these new features are WiFi advertising (advertising to users of your WIFI network), and Internet capabilities on wireless phones such as 3G (AT&T’s network).

For those of you not in the industry, internet marketing is the buzz in the advertising and marketing world. With ever changing technology and improved techniques, and a now solid foundation of return, internet marketing is slowly coming to the forefront of marketing discussions.
And this internet revolution is even outpacing newer, less conventional forms of marketing and sales. Take for example traveling on any major airline. E-ticketing is available 24 hours a day and is convenient (whereas if you call the 800 or 888 number, you will be billed a transaction fee); you can print your ticket(s) 48 hours before the flight or 1 hour before the flight, at no additional cost attached.
I think that it is important that the advantages and disadvantages are carefully studied in contrast to traditional marketing. But that doesn’t mean the industry is without its evils. Issues that are still prevalent in and around internet marketing include: spam (which needs to be more heavily regulated), consumer loyalty (which needs to be studied more), and the different advertising strategies and performance that internet marketing has over traditional marketing.

However, one of the largest concerns of the general public is security and privacy on the internet. For example, if you read my previous post “Flirting with Diaster”, the attached You Tube video has a prime example of this: When Sarah Lacy asked the audience to begin asking their questions, an audience member stood up and said “What is the biggest obstacle that Facebook faces?” Zuckerberg replied “Building systems that allow users control of their applications/information.” The audience member replied, “Is it a security issue allowing users to control of their applications/information?” See how security is reiterated each time the audience member asks a different question? I have to say, it is a major concern of the general public, and must be addressed.

On the other hand, Internet marketing has truly revolutionized the marketing industry as a whole; traditional advertising and marketing firms better sit up and take notice and quickly adapt to the to the ever changing internet/technology as the general public consumes more media, does more searches, and spends more time online. Additionally one major advantage that internet marketing has that stands out ahead of traditional advertising is that with internet marketing you are able to customize and personalize your site from start to finish, making the process interactive between the internet marketing agency/firm and the client. And these custom solutions are growing the internet eco-system. For example, custom interactive shopping has revolutionized the way the general public shops, while improving the online shopping experience.

With that said, do you think internet marketing will revolutionize traditional marketing? You be the judge.

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It’s Sunday morning and you’re in the “library” flipping through the newspaper sales ads. Joe’s Furniture Store (Art Van where I’m from) has a full color circular in the mix every week. Why? They’re hoping to catch the attention of someone who might be in the market for a recliner.

It’s the end of April and the temperature is starting to rise. Now’s the time window & siding people come sniffing around. How? Door to door, if you can believe it! This is incredibly intrusive and annoying.

Mail arrives daily with offers from credit card companies hoping I’ll spread some of my debt to them. Like I need help increasing my debt!

What about the phone calls at dinner time? TV ads that aren’t watched because we’ve all got DVR? Radio ads we tune out, billboards we don’t notice anymore… The list goes on.

What do these marketing methods have in common? They’re not targeted. They waste a lot of money on consumers who won’t or aren’t ready to consume. They’re fishing for sales rather than strategically positioning themselves where those searching for their product can find it. This is where search engine marketing (SEM) comes in. If the goal is to sell a recliner, money should be spent wooing people who are in the market for cushy seating. Consumers are savvy. They’re online researching products, suppliers and prices. SEM nails them when they’re most interested. Benefits include, but are not limited to; low cost, measurable, and easy to change. Cost is low because you’re only spending money on consumers who are interested in your product. Results can be measured on a number of variables such as click through rate, conversions (did they do what you wanted them to), and at what point shoppers abandon your site. Campaigns are easy to change if they’re not producing desired results. Testing can be done on multiple campaigns simultaneously and results are available in real time. Can’t say that about print ads.

I’m not saying the other methods don’t have merit. If used in conjunction with one another they can be effective, especially if personalization is included. BUT, nothing is as cost effective or has as great a return on investment as SEM. With SEM you don’t have to hope that the consumer seeing your ad might be looking for your product – they came looking for you, they want it. And that is the furthest from annoying.

For more information on how Atilus can help with your SEM, please contact us at www.atilus.com

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Excellent article authored by Ali Mustika Sari, Increasing Sales Through Strategic Internet Marketing:

The Internet has now become an important medium for product and service advertisements. Almost every company that can afford print, radio and TV advertisements have also ventured into placing ads on the Internet.

But with millions of websites out there being visited by millions of computer users, how can you make sure that your ad can be seen by your target customers and that your leads will be followed by these users? Here are a few tips.

Read The Rest…

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A blog is commentary or news on a particular subject. A blog allows the reader to leave comments in an interactive format, unless comments are blocked by the administrator. The majority of blogs are text, while others focus on music, videos and social networking, blogging is considered “free marketing”.
I can’t stress to you enough, how important blogging is: Blog, Blog, Blog you can never blog enough. I recently attended a blogging class, and 94% of the people in the class stated that they don’t blog because they didn’t know what to blog about. Blog about topics that are relavent to your target audience (Just ensure that it makes sense and flows well). For example: Top 5 or 10 lists are among favorites, they are simple to write, yet very powerful. Make sure and set about 15-20 minutes a day to blog. Where do I blog? There are many blogging sites such as Active Rain, Wordpress, Typepad, or Blogger. When you are blogging; to ensure that users continue to read your content, make sure what you are writing is accurate and reliable remember to quote all information that you have “borrowed”. Now that you know what to do to create and maintain a successful blog, have fun and go post your first blog. (It won’t hurt I promise!)

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