Escape from Phone Book Island in 3 Easy Steps

About a month ago, my wife and I welcomed our fourth child into the world and the team at Kutenda presented us with a gift certificate to a restaurant near my house. Needless to say, our hands were full, so ordering in seemed like the perfect option.

It was a surprise to me when I did a Google search and couldn’t find a web site for the place. This was a bit frustrating, as it’s tough to order for delivery when you don’t know what is on the menu. Fortunately, the place was only a 6-minute drive, so I went there to find out.

I entered the restaurant and asked for a takeout menu. The hostess said their takeout menus were located in the Yellow Pages. Wow.

Since it was a small business, I asked if the owner was around and she introduced me. We had a nice chat about her place and then I asked why she didn’t have a web site. She told me that she didn’t need one because everyone already knows about their small business or could find them in the Yellow Pages. I told her that I don’t keep a phone book because it takes up too much space and showed her how I could find it all on my iPhone. Again, she said that people just call and place an order. Confused, I said, “but I don’t know what’s on your menu.” We ended the conversation back at the Yellow Pages.

It was clear she was marooned on Phone Book Island. (Well, it was more of a self-imposed exile.)

This experience showed me how vital it is that small local businesses understand changes in consumer behavior and the importance of having a web presence. To cling to the phone book is to isolate your business on an island with a rapidly declining population. The phone book now trails the Internet as the most popular source for local business information, and the proliferation of smart phones will add to the web’s lead.

Just creating a profile on Google Local Search would dramatically improve this restaurant’s chances of being found. The amount of revenue being lost by this small-business owner could be substantial.

As with many small proprietors, she probably does not know where to start with online marketing. According to a 2009 Opus/AllBusiness.com survey, a plurality of small businesses, 25 percent, chose “confusion” as the reason they do not market themselves online. “Lack of budget” was close behind at 24 percent.

Though web marketing may seem daunting and expensive, there are three easy and affordable steps businesses can take to get started:

1. Create a web site
2. Submit to Google Local Search
3. Build an email list

Just starting with these three steps—none of which is harder than setting up a free email account—would allow a small business to be found online. If this restaurant had a web site with a menu, more people would be able to order for delivery and decide if it’s a place they want to go to eat.

What did we think of the food? It was excellent. I would send you a link, but you’ll have to paddle out to Phone Book Island to have a look at the menu …