Another successful business transition has come to pass as DexOne and SuperMedia complete their merger and move forward as Dex Media™, which trades on the NASDAQ with the symbol DXM.  Originally expected to happen by the end of 2012, the merger was completed on April 30th, 2013. So, what does this mean?  Again, as discussed …Read full entry

Five years ago, at Microsoft’s Strategic Advertising Summit, Bill Gates made the following prediction: “Yellow Page usage amongst people in their, say, below 50, will drop to zero, near zero over the next five years.” Five years later, I can assure you that his prediction did not come true. Not only is the industry still …Read full entry

A recent study by CRM Associates entitled “Yellow Pages, Search, and Other Direct Marketing Media: Not all Leads Are Created Equal” reports that Yellow Pages (both print and online) provide higher conversion rates than other direct marketing options.  Although other media may provide more leads, the leads brought in from Yellow Pages come from ready-to-buy …Read full entry

Coming seemingly on the heels of AT&T’s directory business acquisition by YP Holdings, DexOne and SuperMedia today announced a company merger expected to be complete by the end of 2012.  The newly merged company will become known as DexMedia. It is expected that the media properties that each company owns (i.e. supermedia.com; dexknows.com; switchboard, etc) …Read full entry

In a word, leads. Internet Yellow Pages (IYP) is an interesting medium. When implemented correctly (content rich, localized whenever possible, tracked properly with call tracking as well as analytics), they can provide tremendous value to advertisers. Many times I am asked… “Well, which *one* should I be in?” The answer is not as simple as …Read full entry

…is the headline! In a world of instant gratification, spoiler alerts on news sites, spoiler headlines when you are trying to time-shift the Olympics, headlines can often lead us to believe that’s the end of the story. A good headline can lead us to believe that we know the ‘guts’ of a story, without reading …Read full entry

With nearly a decade of testing and measurement experience in both print and online Yellow Pages, I can tell you one thing for sure, service related businesses should be advertising a local phone number. Why, you ask? Because local phone numbers have been shown to bring upwards of 68% more leads in total, on average …Read full entry

Let’s wax poetic on the value of a phone call for a moment.  I often speak with advertisers on what a call is worth to them.  Is a six second call valid?  Some may say ‘yes’, some would argue ‘no’. Is it really in the eye of the beholder? Let’s take a glimpse into my life …Read full entry

Recently, directory publisher AT&T reached a deal to sell a majority stake of their Yellow Pages division to Cerberus Capital Management, a deal that values the business at about $1.42 billion in equity.  They are one of many directory publishers who have had to  re-organize their businesses in recent years. For decades, directory publishers have …Read full entry

Do you get 80% of your leads from your top four markets? Is your franchise aligned to service only certain zip codes? Do you know what directories (if any) your customers are using?  Successful local search campaigns are built through targeting specific local market areas and ensuring that your message reaches consumers in that area. …Read full entry