Yellow pages- your thoughts

[masona]

So am'I right saying if you advertise in the yellow pages, it's automatically entered into the Yell.com or is that another payment ?
For info, the only time I use the yellow pages is if I can't find what I'm looking for online. I find the local advert better.

 

[chambsesf]

I tend to try to get a word of mouth recommendation first, then look at local paper and Thomson Local, then YP as a last resort.

 

[WoodYouLike]

Masona,

You can get a free listing on yell.com (any business can, even without having to have 'n ad in the yp book). Only an enhanced listing will costs you money, but these are shown above all the free listings.
And since per selected region (eg Kent) only 60 to 100 companies are shown on yell.com, the free listings miss out. They only show normally when you type in a specific town/village.

No, I'm not a Yell rep )) Had to go through all their marketing materials to find this all out. I think the book ads could be half the price if they stopped sending everyone so much marketing materials for other books and upgrades!

For your records an enhanced listing (with link to your web site) costs around £ 260 (plus VAT) per year (payable in 10 periods by DD)

 

[Thermo]

wouldyoulike, you must have a better rep than me or your in for a shock when you renew with yell.com, as its gone up to around £500 as they know more people are using the web now

 

[WoodYouLike]

Well, that gives me time until next year Aug then = next renewal ) Finding new ad mediums already (see here under: find a supplier. Flooring supplier Ashford Kent area).
Lets just hope DIY not is not reading this, they might put their prices up also ))

 

[Thermo]

Just thought id give a little update to the story. After yellow pages trying to hold us to ransom, we took the decision not to take out the ads with them and go with smaller and local advertising instead. Two weeks after my complaint (and the dealine) a useless lady from customer services phoned to apologise and explain that its not there responsibilty to get me proofs of the advert that im going to have printed by them, and she was a little sorry about the price hike just before the deadline. I did ask her how i was supposed to approve the adverts (which is part of the process they list) and why it had taken two weeks. In the end i got very bored of the pathetic excuses and politley told her that they had lost my business and that she was now wasting my precious time!
Thank you all for your advice and views, it helped us make some decisions at a time when we felt that we were being pushed into an expensive decision. My humble opinion of Yellow pages is that they are shoddy and an expensive waste of time, but then you take as you find

Thermo

 

[securespark]

I decided on a qtr column ad. To cap it, they decided to issue me with a new phone number so they could track progress of calls.

This cost 800-900.

Got very little from it, and then they had the cheek to ring and ask if I wanted to renew.

Er have a look at your Adtrack figures - how many calls have I had? Goodbye!!!!

 

[Thermo]

Ha Ha Ha Ha. i have the last laugh. Sorry to resurect this old topic, but after all the hassle ive just seen the new yellow pages and theyve put me two free ads in for me instead of the one im allowed. A small but sweet victory!

 

[planenut]

What a winner! It would be interesting to see if your incoming enquiries increase.

 

[Thermo]

Double Ha Ha, just got a phone enquirey from the new yellow pages, revenge is sweet!

 

[securespark]

0800 28 28 20. They had an owl in the ad - was it insurance, car, maybe?

Hold on.....

Just dialled it and it answers as AXA Direct. There's your answer. Although methinks AXA have taken over whoever originally advertised with that number.

0800's are good: I had one, but cancelled it recently-funnily enough, if you dial it, you get a BT message giving you the new landline number, so there's obviously a connection there!

I had mine with a co. in Kent, Transglobal??

Paid nothing except 6p/ minute for all calls. Sorted!! No other charges whatsoever.

Excellent. Especially for wayward teenage relatives who are always running out of mobile credit and never have any silver for a payphone (remember when it was 2p???)

I always said BT added nothing to the service when they privatised it.

Ha, ha get it? 2p. 20p. Add nothing? Oh, forget it!!

 

[carpetpaul]

Why not add a link in your signature for all the forums you use, that way you'll start to build some links to your website, combined with some SEO work on your site,

_______________________

Moderator

sorry you can not advertise for free on this forum

 

[Thermo]

whats seo work?

 

[carpetpaul]

Search Engine Optimization - ie, making your webiste a little more prominent. The more work you do on the content of your site, the more you update it, the higher up the list it will be placed when people search. Also, getting other sites to link to your site will make your site more important as far as the search engines are concerned. It's a lengthy process, and requires some hard work, but does give results in time.
There are also some good websites to help in measuring the amount of backlinks to your site, and for showing the ranking of your pages.....that way you can see if you are improving.
Also submit your site to some free directories to help the search engines to find you easier, configure some good META to give further help to search engines

Even the links that you can put in your signatures on forums ( just discovered that this forum does not allow this practise, most do ) will help, as they all count as a link to your site, and all get spotted eventually

any more help, just ask

Paul