Yellow Pages for SME, but eYP for SME?

The Yellow Pages we get from PLDT (or Bayantel) comes from Directories Philippines Corporation (DPC). They're sort of like the paper version of Google as an advertising company, only worse. They have a very firm monopoly over phone directories. And because of their position, they can dictate very costly "royalties" for ads in their directory. They no longer need to be comprehensive -- if you don't get listed, there are more than enough choices. And they game their customers (the SMEs) into a system of unending rat race for the most colorful and biggest ads, and terrible categorizations that exist only to add to their wallet.

I hesitate to compare them to Google. Google has a sort of motto to "Do no evil". I do not hold DPC to the same standards. But we're still their customers. That's their power. I would be more than happy to see the thick sets of yearly phone books go the way of the dinosaurs sooner rather later, replaced by the interconnected network.

Which brings us to eYP, their electronic yellow pages. They're a rather late entrant to the easy world of internet directories. They're all too easy to make, but not all gain critical mass to last a lifetime. I was disappointed that Google made them a Philippine partner for maps or directory, because eYP is even worse as a directory than the Yellow Pages is.

Perhaps DPC foresee eYP as replacing the Yellow Pages as their primary cash cow or herd. In their struggle to make it an important revenue source as fast as they can, eYP has evolved from a clunky directory search engine to a Premium List realty company.

Before, when you search for "restaurants", you go directly to the Restaurants category. If you type "restaurant" instead, it looks for records with the word "restaurant". While that does not really make good sense, I think it's worse now.

Now, when you search for "restaurants", at least a 3rd of the page is now devoted to a rather long Premium List, the internet's version of real estate taxes. Afterwards follow not restaurants but categories that may or may not always be related to what you're looking for. Categories. When I type "water heaters", I want at once a list of where I can buy water heaters. Not a premium list, plus a slew of categories that are unrelated.

If eYP hopes to improve, perhaps they should focus first on user experience and premium services second. The value of eYP is how well its users like their services. They are no longer able to distribute yellow pages to everyone with a DSL line. It's all in the web, where they no longer have monopoly position. They compete with Google, Microsoft, sulit.com.ph, Facebook for the people's source for "direction".

We don't want another race until everyone's in a premium list. By then, in their hopes of continued growth, eYP might just introduce another indirection like Super Premium List, ad nauseam. Right now, as an SME, we still have a say in this regard.

For the SME, should we try eYP as a marketing medium? We've tried their website link "ala carte" last year. It was useless for us in the construction industry, barely registering 5 clicks per month. Perhaps companies in the retail, food, or consumer industry do better. Their email blast might be more effective, although I still think it's overpriced. But that's their business.