Advertising has taken a more aggressive stance via the internet. It can now solicit direct and proactive responses from its target market by encouraging them to post comments on a certain product, write product reviews, or interface online via chat messaging regarding a product or service. Advertising online, unlike the Yellow Pages phonebook, delivers measurable results at once, more appeal at less cost.

This is the woe of Yellow Pages ® Directory advertising. It appears recent years have seen its steady decline – it is possible that it is it heading for the worst, now that the more prominent search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and America-On-Line (AOL) have started to touch base with the local market? Advertisers can now connect with their local market by city, or by a specific locality just like the Phonebook through the emergence of advertising products that deliver streams of higher revenue via a website. Google’s Adwords for one, as the forerunner in this new era of clickable and location-targeted advertising has taken internet marketing by “leaps and bounds”.

The apparent demise of Yellow Pages ® Directory advertising is caused by the following handicaps:

1.) The phonebook requires an immediate cash outlay, regardless of results;

2.) Your ad is placed under a category where your product or service belongs; imagine the number of competitors you have on the yellow page. A prospect who runs his finger up and down the list ends up in a comparison shopping-spree;

3.) Your ad cramped on a 2×3 size in order to save on cost will get you unnoticed;

4.) Lots of competitors vying for the same attention; to get noticed your ad has to come out in a bigger size and in a more prominent design – this can be costly;

5.) You cannot effect a change on your printed ad at anytime;

6.) Advertisements on the Yellow pages look similar; it will cost you more to look different and unique;

7.) If you want your ads to appear in all states or cities, you have to advertise in different phonebooks – imagine how much it would cost;

8.) Regardless of the number of people actually using the phonebook, which continues to decline, you are still paying the same advertising cost.

A few years after its inception, Adwords has positioned itself as one of the primary revenue-generating programs of Google Inc. It has gained widespread acclaim and recognition from several online communities; the blogging industry, as well as marketing and advertising companies worldwide. Google Adwords presents a flexible marketing flagship, wherein advertisers are given the ability to promote their products and services on the Google Search Engine, as well as millions of websites signed up under the Google Adsense program. Google Adwords primarily target advertisers, while Adsense caters to different ad publishers. Publishers get a percentage from the clicks made on the ads posted on their website(s).

Viral marketing has taken a strong footing these past few years as well. With the rise of Search Engine Marketing, people have seen the potential of gaining revenue, in a much faster pace, from different online activities. Google Adwords, as well as other revenue generating programs like Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN Adcenter, contribute a great deal to the success of online viral marketing.

As the success of online marketing progresses, it appears the existence and popularity of the Yellow Pages ® wanes, pushing people and companies to seek the cheaper, yet more versatile offers of PPC’s and other online marketing ventures. A large percentage of global companies use the internet everyday. Advertisers, as well as publishers are seeing the big picture; taking hold of a flexible and affordable marketing program like Google Adwords assures them more exposure at a lesser cost.

What does the future hold for Yellow Pages ® Directory Advertising? Unless it reinvents itself, it could not collide with the giants and eventually might just sign up the pages of advertising history as a “has been”. What a waste of something that was once very useful.