As with many others, I have family members who live near Houston so the past couple of weeks have been very busy for me. All of them are doing fine and will be busy for a while removing tree limbs, checking roofs and windows, cleaning up debris, etc. Okay, enough about my family for now - on to the subject at hand. 
A new product must be available. How else would you explain the flurry of emails announcing that the Yellow Pages are dead? The thought of making quick cash on the latest launch has some people cutting and pasting copy at record speeds. Now there is nothing wrong with being an affiliate marketer, and nothing wrong with trying to sell products. However, your reputation is at stake so wouldn’t it make sense to verify the statements or claims made before sending out the latest offer to your list?
Case in point: The Yellow Pages are dead. Knowledge Networks SRI, a world reknown analytical service found that 13.8 billion Yellow Pages searches were conducted compared to 3.8 billion online searches. Also, Simba Information, another research company focused specifically on media and technology declared: “Last year, Yellow Pages publishers logged about $16.8 billion in revenue. That figure is on pace to rise to $17.2 billion this year, and $17.6 billion in 2009, according to Simba’s projections.” (View the full article at http://www.biz-journal.com/articles/2008/08/09/national_and_international/doc489e6d39770e5288007744.txt)
“Yellow Page delivery is being banned in some cities for environmental reasons (such as Albany, NY),” says the copy of the cut-and-paste emails arriving in my inbox. This is not true. An Albany city councilman has tried several times, without success, to get a bill passed that would restrict the distribution of phone books in Albany. Other cities, counties, and states have also turned away legislative attempts concerning the banning of phone books. Internet advertising revenue is increasing in size and scope, but so are other forms of advertising.
The Yellow Pages are dead? Why insult your customers’ intelligence by making such outlandish claims?
So, feel free to see if you can get an email out quicker than others in hopes of making “the sale” before they do. Yes, some will say you can always make more sales. But if you don’t care about your reputation, why should those on your list care about the latest product you want them to buy from you?
Part five of Six Men Who Made Internet Marketing Possible will be posted soon. Thanks for reading my rant, and as always feel free to post a comment!
