IYP searches gain substantial ground in 06

I've added Dick Larkin to the list of people that have blogs I'll watch regularly. Actually, Dick has been sending out such a great newsletter, that I have only infrequently visited his blog but have read every word of the newsletter for the past few years, since I published the Star Directory in Fredericksburg, VA.

IYP searches are growing rapidly. Dick's top two rules for advertisers in IYPs:

1. Make sure you are at the top of the list for your primary search terms in your service area. Internet Yellow Pages are linear in nature, meaning that users start at the top and work their way down. They also tend to be much more structured than typical one box search engines.

If you can't afford to be in the top 3 search results, don't waste your money.

2. Users of IYP sites tend to be further along the buying cycle. So a click or an impression on an IYP is inherently more valuable than that of typical web search.

Pay more, get more.

If you are advertising in or selling into a local IYP ("I" for the "Internet" version, not necessarily the "independent" version), visiting the YPCommando blog regularly is a must.