Planned Obsolescence? Is the Phone Book going away?
Cheryl Mullins www.metro-seo.com
Sometimes you have one of those “ah-ha “ moments when you read something on the news. Today was mine, as I read a story about Verizon getting permission to get rid of the white pages in their California phone books. It seems that they have found that the white pages listings of all residential information is non-profitable. To support the request they actually posted pictures of people dumping phone books. I personally found it funny how they missed the point that they were dumping the entire book, not just the white pages.
Just like other planned obsolesce plans that look at the “green” aspects of getting rid of paper bags, plastic bags, etc, it really seems to come down to economics. Stores have figured out a way to get you aware enough to bring you own bags, and better yet get you to purchase those from them with their logo stamped on the side. Wow what a way to get cost effective advertising, while turning a profit.
It looks like the phone industry is headed the same direction. It was not that many years ago that you could easily find a phone booth and a phone book at most business and almost every corner. Phone booths started going away and the cell phone market increased. We are indeed in the midst of another giant change as we watch more and more companies adopt a model of having a company website and use that along with social media to drive information. There was a time that only big business needed these tools, however as life shifts more and more to being “virtual” then it becomes more critical that midsize and small business join the information age. As that shift continues to happen it is more important to make sure your website is really working for you.
USA Today reports. People can pretty much get the information they need on the Internet now.
As we shift to more and more information being available on the Internet verses the model that is advertising on paper, it becomes more important to review how your website is working for you. Is it attracting the customer market that you want? Always keep in mind that it is an ongoing process to develop and maintain a great website and that SEO ( Search Engine Optimization) is not a one time only “magic bullet”. It is important to review the content, links, keywords and the rank of the most common search engines and review the messages that customers see.
To survive and thrive, you must continue to adopt measures that enhance your site’s ranking to steadily increase targeted traffic to your site.
