Can you direct me to resources online that will allow me to download
Yellow Pages information, most particularly the actual ads published in the
directories, for all the major cities in North
America along with information about when the books publish and
deadlines to submit ads?

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Jun 2005 12:58 PDT

If you want to see a cross-section of Yellow Pages ads from numerous
cities, your best bet might be a library with a good Yellow Pages
collection.

This is not to say there isn't Yellow Page ad information available
online.  But accessing it, and learning to use it, is not a
straightforward task, and it may well be one of those infrequent times
when good old fashioned paper publications are easier to use than
their electronic equivalents.

Having said that, I can certainly steer you to some online sources for
YP information -- but be warned, there are some hurdles to overcome
before being able to use them all.

Perhaps if you told us a bit about your goals here -- what, in
particuar, you need to know regarding YP ads -- we might be able to
fine-tune our research to get you what you're after.

pafalafa-ga

---

Clarification of Question by moistlotus-ga on 10 Jun 2005 14:26 PDT

What I want to do is send a direct mail letter to selected advertisers
in all the major cities in North America. I will send them a copy of
their ad with my comments and information about how to get better
response.

From time to time I've acquired a directory -- one way or another --
and have done this with some success.

I have found an online resource for four western states which allows
you to print out the ads. This is a great find, but, I only have it
for four states.

And, I no longer know for sure when the directories come due. The
yppa.org website used to offer that information, but no longer does as
far as I can tell.

The central reference library in Toronto has a few directories but
they have a lousy copier and it's very difficult and fiddly to do it
(and expensive) and I've tried it and can definitely say that option
is a non-starter.

Let me know if this clears things up.

Thanks,

Tom

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 10 Jun 2005 16:49 PDT

Thanks for the added information...it's a big help.

I can get you access to directories in probably about 25 states across
the US.  It's a scattershot collection -- lots of big cities, lots of
smaller towns as well.

I can also get you a lot of the close dates for Yellow Pages around the country.  

Odd thing is, though, the YP's in the first set don't overlap very
well with the closing dates in the second set, which probably wouldn't
meet your needs all that well.

Here's what I mean:


If you head here:


http://www.sbcyponline.com/list.htm


you'll have instance online access to YP's in 13 states, with full
images of all the pages, ads included.  This is probably your
easiest-to-use resource on the web.


There is one other equally-rich resource as well, but it is more
difficult to access and use.


Unfortunately, I saw nothing on the SBC site regarding closing dates
-- I think you would just have to call them to find out.


However, there's plenty of closing date information on the Verizon site:


http://verizon.superpages.com/prodserv/AvailDirs.jsp?type=23&state=11
Directory Availability 


They publish more than 1,000 YP's...click on a state and you'll get a
list along with the closing dates of each.

HOWEVER, there are no Verizon directories online that I know of that
will display the ads.

That's what I mean by the lack of overlap -- SBC directories, but
Verizon close dates!


Like I said, I can provide other online directories, as well as other
lists of directory close dates.  Let me know if I should post these as
an answer to your question.


pafalafa-ga


P.S.  You said you found YPs for four states already.  Can you tell me
which ones they are, so I can make sure to add them to my
'collection'.  Thanks.

---

Request for Question Clarification by cynthia-ga on 11 Jun 2005 01:08 PDT

Here's a resource for you, but it's not free. You can order the actual
directories, or get them on CD. You can select single cities, groups
of cities, or entire states.

Select a directory by state
http://www.directorysource.com/PickPriceListState.html

The full Directory
http://www.directorysource.com/SplashPagePrices.PDF
283 pages of available phone books, includes month it's distributed.

Contact info:
http://www.directorysource.com/

Is this any help?

~~Cynthia

---

Clarification of Question by moistlotus-ga on 11 Jun 2005 04:41 PDT

Hi Cynthia:

Thanks for the information. That one online resource you shared is
very helpful. The mismatch between the directories we CAN work with
and the deadlines is annoying, but as you say, we can always call them
with a list of books and find out the closing dates.

The website with the four states can be found at www.feist.com.

Can you please send me every resource possible? I would like all the
online ads available in North America. If there are any in Canada it
would be very helpful because we are in Canada.

The ideal is that we have all the major books in all the cities in
North America. For instance there are Yellow Books and "real" Yellow
Pages and others as well. So, the ideal is we have all the ads and all
the closing dates for all the markets.

When marketing to one of these advertisers, for, for instance,
Chicago, it is best to approach them when the most significant
directory is coming up for renewal. That directory anchors the entire
year in their mind. So even though they are in the Verizon books and
the Yellow Books for the downtown area and several outlying areas
(Perhaps 15 or 20 books in all), there is one book that is most
important. That book is usually the biggest downtown consumer book
published by the biggest publisher in that territory. Of course it's
not the same in Chicago and Memphis.

I don't have complete information about who the biggest publisher is
in these markets. But knowing what the big dog book is and having the
closing date is the key to success in this.

Thanks for what you've done so far. You've found what we haven't been
able to despite many efforts. If there's anything left in the $50
budget, please point me to the information that will allow us to
approach each market well-armed.

Thanks,

Tom

Hello Tom,

Thanks for getting back to me, even though you called me Cynthia!

Just to clarify, I am pafalafa-ga, one of the GA researchers. 
Cynthia-ga is also a reseacher who provided some information as well
(your question is open to hundreds of researchers, any one of whom can
offer information or opt to answer it if they see fit).

Your comment seemed to be addressing the information I had provided,
so I am posting this answer with the additional information I have
available.  I think we both realize that it's not perfect -- there's
still the mismatch between close dates information, and online
directory information -- but I think you'll agree it's an awfully good
start.



First off, let's get to the close-dates lists in the US and Canada:



http://www.bellsouth.com/bapco/close_dates.html
BellSouth--Directory Closing Dates 

Alabama 
Florida 
Georgia 
Kentucky 
Louisiana 
Mississippi 
North Carolina 
South Carolina 
Tennessee 




https://advertisers.yellowpages.ca/media/pdf/en/DirectoryPublishing_EN.pdf
DIRECTORIES PUBLICATION SCHEDULE [Canada]

[Lots of information referenced here throughout Canada]




And I mentioned the Verizon link already:



http://verizon.superpages.com/prodserv/AvailDirs.jsp?type=23&state=11
Directory Availability 


but just want to point out that there's a link on this page to pull up
close-dates for their entire list of over 1,000 directories.  The page
(which takes a while to open) can be accessed by clicking on the text
that says:  "Click here to see a list of directories independent of
State"

  
===============


As for other online directories, your absolute best resource (beyond
what I've posted already) is an odd-but-extremely-useful tool that
you'll find at:



http://www.tearpageslive.com/


"Tearpages" is a term you might be familiar with, and refers to copies
of the actual ad pages in the Yellow Pages directories.  As the
TearPagesLive site notes:

-----
TearPagesLive! is a resource developed exclusively for the Yellow
Pages CMR community.

TearPagesLive! offers Tear Pages users the following features:  
 
  Multiple publishers' content in one environment 
 
  Look up by Heading, Business Name or Page Number 
 
  Ability to tear by page or heading 
 
  Compile brochure of customized content and change page order once compiled 
 
  Search by YPIMA Code 
 
  Export to PDF to JPEG 
 -----

       
At the bottom of the page is a link to "Get the software--Go".


which will bring you to:


-----
http://www.tearpageslive.com/register.htm
Please register with us.
Tear Pages Live! is available exclusively to the CMR community. We
will send you an email with a link to download the software once your
registration has been approved.
-----


I registered at the site a while ago, and they then emailed me the
full information for obtaining their TearPages software at no charge. 
Go ahead and register at the site, and I imagine they will do the same
for you.  Once you have their software installed, you can access a
substantial online library of Yellow Pages directories from the
following publishers:


  Ad Ideas Inc.
  Alaska Communications Systems
  Area Wide Directories
  BellSouth Advertising and Publishing
  Bilingual Yellow Pages
  Bridgerland Phone Book
  Cincinnati Bell
  Community Phone Book
  Consolidated Communications
  Dex Media
  Directory Plus
  Double D Directories
  Downey Publishing
  Eagle Publications/Hometown Phonebook
  Everyday
  GoldLeaf
  Hill Country Directories
  Independent Pinnacle
  Local Advantage Directories
  SAIA Publishing
  Savannah Publishing
  SuperPages of Canada
  Sytek Communications
  The Beach Book
  The Data Source
  The Paradise Pages
  White Directory Publishers/Talking Phone Book
  Yellow Pages Group
  Your Local Directory 


Note that SuperPages of Canada is included here, as are some other
publishers with coverage in Canada.


This is a fantastic resource, and I think you'll love having access to it.



==========


Lastly, you may already be familiar with the term CMR, which stands
for "Certified Marketing Representative".  This is industry lingo for
yellow pages specialists who coordinated local, national and
international ad campaigns for companies that want to appear in
multiple Yellow Pages.  They are an obvious source of information for
you on close dates, etc. and may even turn out to be viable business
partners for your activities.

A list of CMR's can be found here:


http://ypcommando.com/links/certifiedmarketingrepresentatives(cmr).html



Note, particularly, C-K Yellow Pages at:


http://www.ckyellowpages.com/


as they specifically mention their access to Canadian publications.



===============



I trust this information will prove useful to you in your efforts.  


However, please don't rate this answer until you have everything you
need.  If you would like any additional information, just post a
Request for Clarification to let me know how I can assist you further,
and I'm at your service.

All the best,

pafalafa-ga





search strategy -- Google search on [ "yellow pages" ("publication
schedule" OR "close date") ] and use of existing bookmarks to online
YPs


P.S.  Thanks for the "feist" link -- I wasn't aware of that.