"By leveraging the high-quality assets of YellowPages.com, we can improve AOL Yellow Pages that's available across the AOL Network, as well as better meet the needs of online consumers searching for local resources," Riesenbach said.
Charles Stubbs, president and CEO of YellowPages.com, said existing advertisers will be included in the new extended network at their existing rates, but added that those rates could change over time with growth. "All of our advertisers will be included at the same rates, but over time as traffic and usage increases that could have an impact on rates," said Stubbs.
Stubbs, eager to focus on the present development, added: "Our advertisers, with a single buy, will now be in front of millions of consumers through the fastest-growing Internet Yellow Pages distribution network in the industry."
The overreaching goal for AOL and YellowPages.com is to encourage more of the nearly 13 million businesses throughout the country to advertise and invest online. "Even though only a fraction of those 13 businesses advertise online currently, these sorts of partnerships will prove to more and more local businesses and nationals looking for a local reach just how important the Internet is," Riesenbach said.