Online Yellow Pages are officially known as IYP or Internet Yellow Pages. On a broader scale they are known as vertical directories. There are consumer oriented and business oriented varieties. All providers of IYP offer online advertising. IYP's have largely formed as a result of yellow pages publishers needing to replace rapidly declining print revenue by chasing the migration of shoppers toward web-based information.
IYP offers listings differently than standard search engines. Where search engines return results based on relevancy to the true search term, IYP returns results based on a geographic area.FONT>
Studies by independent companies such as Nielson and comScore have shown that Internet Yellow Pages have a very slim percentage of total Internet searches. That slim margin is further divided largely among eight key providers. comScore Releases IYP Share Data. The majority, over 85% of all Internet searches occur on the major search engines Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Advertising on IYP is typically available with numerous a la carte choices. These choices become small "individual sales presentations" which makes it easier for sales reps to sell large advertising packages. Advertisers should closely monitor any IYP ad programs to measure their ROI.
A new breed of IYPs are popping up. Some of these, such as getyp.com, are focused on providing consumers with top-rated local businesses based on reviews submitted by other consumers. This can be more useful than other IYPs that cater to top-paying national advertisers. Some others are just Yellow Page directories without reviews and all the other distractions GoMyLocal.com. Also, many others combine a traditional internet yellow pages with social networking and other "Web 2.0" functionality. An example of this can be viewed on MojoPages.com. Others include yelp.com and www.yellowpagesnationwide.com. On these new sites you can connect with friends and other people in your neighborhood to share reviews and feedback on local businesses.
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