[Steve Rothwell]

did they inform you before each DD was taken out?

did they get anything wrong on your business name etc?

[Jim_77]

It really makes me laugh when people slate "the book".  What about your f****g advert?!  I've heard nobody say "Oh my advert was crap so i ditched it".

Insanity, utter madness.

Of course people still look in yellow pages, but nowhere near as much as before admittedly.  If your advert is pants, so will your return on it be.  YP will never be the income source it used to be 10 years ago but it is still used by many people, more specifically the 60+ age bracket who are least computer-savvy (many don't even have a computer)

It's dead easy to be a baaaaa baaaaa sheep and copy everyone by saying the YP book is no good.  It's really difficult to admit you've wasted money on a bad advert.

Now, yell.com that's a different story, because everyone's advert looks the same.  Therefore if you don't pay to keep top position all the time you'll never be anywhere near the top and never get a call from it.

Before they re-vamped yell.com 3 or 4 years ago I used to spend around £400 a year on it and it just about broke even, maybe a slight profit.  Then when they changed its layout and the results ranking, price went up and the enquiries went down.... I'M OUT!

[Linds Russell]

I'm finding the opposite with Yell.com.

It works well for me and from January to December last year, I had just over £3k in work from it. Most of that was commercial work and I had £360 in domestic work from it in December. What I find with Yell.com is that hardly anybody (in my area) bothers to complete their profile. Utter madness - you have paid for it and it is there to sell your services.

I have binned the Yellow Pages advert though. I have tried 3 different adverts - all designed by Yell and year after year they had my lowest ROI.

Linds

[Jim_77]

I have tried 3 different adverts - all designed by Yell

There's your problem.

[Linds Russell]

Agreed. The "experts" get it right again

[graeme marchbank]

Hi Lindsay,

I too have had not bad results from Yell in the past (not the book) and always seems to be the odd large commercial job, no domestic tho, seems it is just businesses that use it now....


Graeme

[Colin Day]

It really makes me laugh when people slate "the book".  What about your f****g advert?!  I've heard nobody say "Oh my advert was crap so i ditched it".

I stopped YP because I was paying £180 a month and YP generated £400 for the year... A no brainer

Was my advert bad? Probably! It was my first year...

Are you suggesting I should have kept trying until I got it right???

[Steve Rothwell]

Are you suggesting I should have kept trying until I got it right???

Yup

that is why we still have a Navy................

still tryig to get it right

 

[mike roberts]

It really makes me laugh when people slate "the book".  What about your f****g advert?!  I've heard nobody say "Oh my advert was crap so i ditched it".

Insanity, utter madness.

Of course people still look in yellow pages, but nowhere near as much as before admittedly.  If your advert is pants, so will your return on it be.  YP will never be the income source it used to be 10 years ago but it is still used by many people, more specifically the 60+ age bracket who are least computer-savvy (many don't even have a computer)

It's dead easy to be a baaaaa baaaaa sheep and copy everyone by saying the YP book is no good.  It's really difficult to admit you've wasted money on a bad advert.

Now, yell.com that's a different story, because everyone's advert looks the same.  Therefore if you don't pay to keep top position all the time you'll never be anywhere near the top and never get a call from it.

Before they re-vamped yell.com 3 or 4 years ago I used to spend around £400 a year on it and it just about broke even, maybe a slight profit.  Then when they changed its layout and the results ranking, price went up and the enquiries went down.... I'M OUT!

Our f**king adverts were fine thanks very much   - we would not spend over £7000 for sh*t ads!

For us the returns simply did not warrant the 'spend'. If you wish to target the ederly then yes there is still a limited place for the book but this is gradually decreasing   , I think it is surprising how many are computer savy! (just looking at emails we recieve from inlaws and all the ccs   )

If we spent £400 a year and it just broke even we would of binned it then   before they modified the ranking sytem  

Personally I got fed up dealing with a national company who would send a different rep with different ideas year on year, with no clear plan. Hence each year you spend a pot of money without any progression. We have now moved this pot of money elsewhere to market our company with a defined market plan ...you certainly will not get that from YP.
If your spend is limited the first place i would look is the local parish mags - these produce by far the highest returns .. for us anyway, howvever if these are successful there is usually a long waiting list  

[Russ Chadd]

My ad on Yell.com looks ok to me, i have taken the time to write a good profile about my business and the service i provide.
Also just to make clear, i signed up for this in early Nov, was told the ad would go live in about a weeks time... well due to "technical"  problems the ad did not go online for nearly 2 weeks, when it did the 5 chosen areas (towns) were totally wrong and not anywhere near where i lived!
Also updating my profile was proving to be a pain, spending 20 mins typing text into the online box only to have it refresh once i hit send losing all the content!

Then the invoice was cocked up, there were different figures on the invoice compared to what i had agreed....
When i threatened to pull out a chirpy salesman called me and assured me he would be taking over my account and everything would be put right, NO mention of any form of compensation for all the poor service i had already experienced but even more sales patter to persuade me to part with another £400!!!!
"how many more calls could your business handle per week"? i was asked... that extra £400 was for a larger ad in the directory! I said NO absolutely not!

And finally once the new account had been finally set up and was live my invoice showed the two accounts and a bill for over a grand!
My direct debits had been doubled!

Have i got grounds for termination based on the above events? should i go and see the C.A.B?

I spoke to them yesterday and as far as they are concerned "the ad is up and running and we have sorted things out our end, you are in a 12 month contract"

[garry22]

It really makes me laugh when people slate "the book".  What about your f****g advert?!  I've heard nobody say "Oh my advert was crap so i ditched it".

Spot on Jim. The same applies to leaflets and websites.

Most say exactly the same... e.g.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our products and services.

Fully insured. Trained operatives.

Using the latest machinery and chemicals 

Members of .... that no-ones heard of  etc, etc

If we spent £400 a year and it just broke even we would of binned it then

Why? If an ad is breaking even (especially if you get referrals) then you are picking up customers for free.

[mike roberts]

It really makes me laugh when people slate "the book".  What about your f****g advert?!  I've heard nobody say "Oh my advert was crap so i ditched it".

Spot on Jim. The same applies to leaflets and websites.

Most say exactly the same... e.g.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our products and services.

Fully insured. Trained operatives.

Using the latest machinery and chemicals 

Members of .... that no-ones heard of  etc, etc

If we spent £400 a year and it just broke even we would of binned it then

Why? If an ad is breaking even (especially if you get referrals) then you are picking up customers for free.

Why  why ?? what a q ? when I buy advertising I expect more of a return then to simply break even + referrals     

[garry22]

Why... lifetime value.

Many companies will take a loss to aquire a customer because long term, it's worth it.

If that customer spends £ 100 a year for the next five years then was it worth aquiring that customer for free?

I'm not having a go at you Mike, I'm just saying we need to look beyond straight (immediate) return on investment.

If all advertising only breaks even, then yes, you have a fair point.

[clinton]

Russ why dont you get some more web sites done too mate..

[mike roberts]

Why... lifetime value.

Many companies will take a loss to aquire a customer because long term, it's worth it.

If that customer spends £ 100 a year for the next five years then was it worth aquiring that customer for free?

I'm not having a go at you Mike, I'm just saying we need to look beyond straight (immediate) return on investment.

If all advertising only breaks even, then yes, you have a fair point.

[/b]

Same here   just different views  

As you say if all our advertising only broke even we would not be in business  

Why persist with YP for min return, if it was local mag could understand as your still marketing the 'brand' locally. I think it also depends how the company has treated you, as with the poster our experiences were frankly shocking, hence why I am so against it.
But simply blaming the quality of ads is lame.
The simple fact is the book is dying hence its getting thinner every year    

With £400 i would expect a far higher return ratio from a suitable adwords campaign along with referrals .... quick put the tin hat on