As if it were any surprise, Verizon is currently asking legislators from Virginia and Maryland for permission to stop delivering the local white pages to everyone except those who explicitly request it. One of the country’s premier phone service providers, Verizon has already been granted these permissions by five other states. By early next year, the company hopes to have these changes made in all twelve states in which it offers its services.

What director of public relations Harry Mitchell calls a shift to “on-request delivery” heralds the inevitable death of the phone book. According to the Washington Post, about 2 percent of residents are actually requesting phone book delivery in states where forced delivery is out of practice. While also citing environmental benefits, Mitchell also noted that “the nature of the way people are getting information is evolving.” Both Verizon and AT&T–who has reportedly pursued similar permissions–say that “most people search for numbers online,” according to the Post.

This news has immeasurable implications for your business. Though these changes only affect delivery of the white pages at this time, rest assured that the yellow pages are on their way out too–well after people have stopped using them entirely. This is especially important if you are wasting money on advertising in the phone book or have not established a visible online presence for your business. Talk to a small business specialist at Outrank.com to see how you can achieve this at a fraction of the cost of other advertising methods.

This week, Outrank.com brings you some compelling data to prove how effective SEO is for small to medium-sized businesses. The study I’d like to discuss today was put together by Bain & Company (one of the world’s most prestigious consulting firms), in collaboration with the Interactive Advertising Bureau (whose members account for over 85% of online advertising).

The findings of this study (located here) reinforce the power of advertising on the internet for businesses interested in closing sales as quickly as possible. The figure below illustrates this potential:

In this chart, we can see five “brand objectives”–in other words, the effects that TV, magazine, newspaper and internet ads have on potential consumers. Clearly, most small business owners (including everyday contractors, photographers, insurance agents, landscapers, etc.) are more interested in using their hard-earned advertising dollars to drive actual sales. When comparing internet advertising (most notably, SEO) against these other mediums, we see that the internet is the most effective way to turn your advertising dollars into “purchase intent”, A.K.A. profit.

The chart also indicates that, in 2008, companies spent over $35 million on TV ads that were only successful in “Creating Awareness”. Only a minute amount of TV ad spending was shown to result in actual sales. Think about it from the consumer’s perspective. We are all aware of the commercials we’re subjected to when we are watching our favorite shows, but that doesn’t mean we have any intention of buying their products.

With an extremely low cost and access to a large number of customers that are actually looking to buy products and services, SEO empowers the little guy more than any other advertising method. Call Outrank.com at (877) 332-4321 to learn more.

In the search engine marketing industry, there are many imitators and only a few legitimate service providers. As small and medium-sized businesses realize they need an online presence, scam companies prey on their lack of SEO knowledge. At best, amateur SEO’s charge for tactics that provide little value to their customers and involve little real work. At worst, they use sketchy tactics that get a site penalized or banned, such as keyword stuffing and buying spammy links from notorious providers.

In sharp contrast to the scam companies, Outrank.com draws from a solid repertoire of SEO knowledge and experience. They invest in your success and take accountability from day one with their “work for free guarantee” and dedicated team of client service support specialists. Outrank selects keywords based on your services that are designed to bring you quality front page rankings, while scam SEO “companies” mislead you with useless rankings for low-volume search queries.

Outrank.com works hard every day to give you a better presence in both local and organic rankings. They provide each client with a customized website that allows the business owner to add their own information.  Each site has unique content, your contact information, and a description of what your business does. Outrank then optimizes the site to achieve front page rankings in the major search engines for your targeted keywords.

Outrank offers value that no other SEO company can match. To find out how Outrank’s services can bring you more business, call 877-332-4321.