It's that time of year again when I need to renew my Yellow Pages contract for local books. I cringe when I see how much it can cost a year to advertise in the Yellow pages and I'm not sure it's worth it anymore.

I know that referals are my greatest source of business, and from the marketing studies done by ASHI, it appears I'm not alone. But I want to continue marketing and increasing my exposure and business.

I also feel that Yellow Pages will probably be a dinasour in a few years as WEB based ads take over.

So Now I have a web page, but I'm inundated and overwhelmed with ways to increase traffic on the web. I'm now faced with how best to spend for advertising on the WEB?

My state (MA) doesn't allow Realtors to refer home inspectors or home inspectors to solicate realtors, it's illegal, therfore I'm always looking for ways to increase marketability without them.

I am interested in your thoughts on:

1. Does anyone think the Yellow Pages are still the best source for advertising?
2. If Web based ads are your recommendation, what is the most cost effective way of increasing traffic??
3. How does one get to be the in the first position on Google? Any ideas of cost for this?
4. What pitfalls to avoid? Any horror stories out there?