Small Business Commando News

Now THAT’S what I call special financing for well qualified buyers.

Have a good weekend.

A recent release from Deutsche Bank Equity Research’s Paul Ginocchio recommends RHD (RH Donnelly) as a buy based on their growth and shift to a dividend valued stock.

They also included some interesting research showing 11% print growth for the independent print yellow pages publishers. Granted, some of this growth is through acquisition. Nonetheless, the market for local advertising continues its push forward.

Small Business Commando News Podcast Issue #3

Marketing lessons from a pig-farming banker.

 Small Business Commando News #3 - A Pig Farming Banker [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Click to watch video - Kid From Brooklyn Yellow Pages

The Kid from Brooklyn turns his ranting toward the Yellow Pages.

What he fails to understand is that the Yellow Pages continue to drive value for local businesses, and that while he might not use them, millions of others use them quite frequently.

That being said, the traditional Yellow Pages is an easy kicking dog, but it is rather disrespectful to all those honest, hardworking businesses that wisely invest in directive media.

We advise clients to continue advertising in the Yellow Pages, but to closely monitor the performance using call tracking numbers.

The Internet (search engine optimization and search engine advertising) is a viable alternative in attracting high quality clients.

Ever wonder how Google decides  which sites get top billing across their various properties?

Yeah, me too.

This post on Small Business SEM does an excellent job of identifying several possible components tha affect positioning.

It’s mostly conjecture based upon observation, but I found it to be very helpful in clarifying my own thinking about local search engine optimization.

I should point out that relying on pure organic traffic from any search engine is a dangerous strategy, because a few minor tweaks in the rules can bump your from the top spot to the not spot.

A brief news release announced that LiveDeal.com is incorporating the infoUSA database into its platform.

infoUSA is one of the top suppliers of national directory listings to the Internet Yellow Pages publishers.

This move signifies that LiveDeal is branching out beyond the classified ad business and into the firecotry business.  I can tell you from personal experience, an IYP can be a VERY profitable business.

Note that I didn’t call it an EASY business.

THis data can be useful in SEOing their site and becoming more relevant.

Chatanooga has a new Yellow Pages targeted at seniors over 55.

Years ago, the Silver Pages attempted to target seniors. That project ultimately failed, but it’s possible that the world has changed enough to support a taargeted directory.

Maybe that’s the future of the printed directories.

A savvy independent publisher could be successful by keeping the ovehead low and by developing a high quality publication.

Here’s a video of a TV interview

I sure wouldn’t want to publish a directory targeted at anyone under 50.

Peter Krasilovsky popped by the other day to share a double-double from In-N-Out Burger.

He showed me some cool upgrades on CanPages.com, the turbo-charged Canadian independent Yellow Pages (and now Internet Yellow Pages) publisher.

In my first run throughs, I am impressed with the integration with maps a la Google maps.

It’s all about driving quality customers to the advertisers, so only time will tell if it is a successful strategy.

I had a great conversation with Paul Youlten, founder of Yellowikis.org.

Yellowikis is to Yellow Pages what Wikipedia is to encyclopedias and what craigslist is to classified advertising.

It has the power to change the game forever, and to bring the open source movement to small business information.

 Small Business Commandos conversation with Paul Youlten, founder of Yellowikis: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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It’s heating up down under with Google and Sensis locked in an all out battle to control local search dominance in Australia.

My bet is on the team with the local sales channel, and that would be Sensis.

See, it comes down to human nature. Small businesses that advertise in the Yellow Pages do not BUY advertising. They are SOLD advertising, and there is a big difference.

Until Google has a way to reach the local advertisers and to sell them on the concept of local online advertising, the game will go to the sales team.

Here’s the deal.

As long as the Sensis product is good enough (and I understand that it is quite good), a better mousetrap won’t change the outcome.

You don’t need a better mousetrap if the first trap killed the mouse.