Larry was an attorney who made a simple mistake that cost him ,000, and he didn't even know it was a mistake.
Like most attorneys, he made a fair amount of money, but he also had a lot of debt from law school and life (he was married with four kids). Money came in, and money went out. So long as he had clients, he had money. If the clients became scarce, then the money did too. (Sound familiar yet?).
One day, Larry had a lunch date with a guy from the yellow pages (we'll call him Chip). They were going to meet at the Chinese buffet around the corner for lunch, on Chip, and in exchange for his time and lunch, Larry agreed to look at some "numbers" chip had drawn up regarding advertising in the phone book. Larry was looking for a way to get more customers, and Chip promised the answer.
2 hours later, Chip left with a check for $1416.66, and the promise of eleven more. In exchange, Larry was promised front billing in the yellow pages for his law firm, a big color ad with a photo, "plus" a prominent listing on their searchable website (have you ever intentionally gone to yellowpages.com?), along with more customers than he could imagine.
12 months later, the special 800 number linked to the ads had received less than a dozen phone calls, and only 6 had become clients. Larry didn't even make back half of his "investment."
You need customers. That's a given. If you own a business and you don't have customers, you own a hobby (assuming you like what you do). Larry is in his early 50s, and he grew up using the yellow pages all of his life. Sink broke? Flip to the P's. Car trouble, go to the A's. Find the listing that looked the best (forget the ones that are just a small print listing, usually), and then give them your business.
So when Chip visited him over that fateful lunch, he already understood just how the yellow pages worked. Afterall, he'd been using them for half a century!
And when they spoke, Chip promised him prominent listing on their internet site, too!
The problem is, people don't use the yellow pages the way they used to. They don't even use the white pages any more. Seriously, when was the last time you used the white pages to find a name? And when was the last time you turned to the yellow pages (or worse, their online site) to look for a business?
The reason the yellow pages was successful for so long was that it was the only searchable database indexed in a common sense and readily useable format.
Know what else is a searchable database indexed in a common sense and readily usable format?
Here's a hint.
What made Google so powerful was it's ability to give you what you want. Quickly. Accurately. And they're getting better all of the time. Their Google+ Local pages for business are now the new yellow pages. "Google Local SEO" will be what drives the next 10 years of business.
You've already gone to Google to search for a plumber or an auto mechanic or an attorney, I'd wager. So has everyone else.
We live in a culture of search. You either get found, or you get left in the dust.
