Video: Why paper yellow pages are so 20th century

This video might be called, "Google maps for hypnotherapists". Learn about how 82% of people (according to a Google video on the Google Local Business Center, linked below) search for the business services they want, including hypnotherapy.

Not everyone knows it yet, but word is spreading quickly: the easiest, fastest and most comprehensive way to find the businesses and services you are seeking is online searching, not the yellow pages.

This video shows how amazing and sophisticated the searching has become in Google maps, as an example.

If you are planning your advertising for 2010, be sure you know about this before you commit to spending dollars on the dozens of yellow-pages books that are around now.

Video is 10:03 in length. See the video by clicking the 'Read More' link, below.

The video mentions creating your own free business listing on Google to boost your rankings and appearances in search results. Visit the Google Local Business Center to get set up with your business listing.

Also mentioned:
Create your Yahoo! Local Business Listing
CitySearch, shown in the video, is not free to list your business. It seems to cost a minimum of $269.95 per month, which probably wouldn't be the right level of expenditure for most hypnotherapists. There are far better ways to bigger bang for your buck - or even for free - using Google, Yahoo! and many others.

o - o - o

The 21st century is amazing. It's incredible to think that the resources available to us now, for free, are far superior to resources of just 20 years ago that required so much more money, trees, water, ink and other toxic chemicals, gasoline and storage... and even then it was incomplete and slow to update. Businesses could be around for 11 months before the new phone book could list them. Businesses could be out of business for 11 months before the listing could be removed. And, only business that paid for listings would show up at all in the yellow pages. That means that there were many businesses and resources around that you just didn't see when searching the paper books.

Play with Google maps, and be amazed.

PS - Even the Yellow Pages know that the age of paper phone books is over, they now also offer interactive reviews and free business listings at YellowPages.com. I did have a hard time finding a good category for hypnotherapy in their categories system, and the free listing takes up to 30 days to become active and is removed after 1-year. You can sign up for another free listing at that 1-year point, though. However, creating a free business listing puts you on the call list for their sales department, who will be calling you.

Full Disclosure: AAPH is not an affiliate nor an employee of Google, Yahoo! nor CitySearch; we receive no commissions, gifts or benefits for any recommendations, new accounts, or links. We do have accounts on Google and Yahoo!