Is a yellow pages add worth it?

[carpenter383]

I'm thinking of placing an ad in the local Yellow Pages, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. Any thoughts on the subject? Anyone have any experience with phone book adds?

 

[rharkins]

AT&T in Missouri just got permission to stop distributing phone books unless you ask for one. I suspect every phone company would like to do the same.

I know I threw all of my phone books away a long time ago, and recycle the ones that show up on my doorstep.

 

[dgl24087]

I rarely look for anything in a phone book, normally just Google whatever I'm looking for. I live midway between 2 metro areas, so I get both area phone books. With all over the different ones being published, I get 9 per year. All but 2 go straight to the recycling bin at Kroger.

 

[radman1]

Depends on how much you can afford and type of business. Larger ads cost more. Color costs more. Depending on business, you may want to be in 2-3 different locations and that will cost more. You will get a lower price the first year, then it steadily increases each year. It may be double or triple of starting price in several years. Trying to measure the worth of a yellow page ad is difficult but some business say they need it no matter what because their business if directly from public traffic/consumer. I do a small yellow page ad but my business does not come from the average public consumer.

It also depends on who's yellow page you use. Some "yellow pages" are not mainstream for your region and may not be used by the average consumer. Maybe low priced but doesn't reach many consumers.

 

[tallyho8]

The answer is "it depends". If you have 5 or 10 locations around town it is almost always worth it to advertise in the book because the cost is split 5 or 10 ways.

If you only have one location and the whole burden of the cost goes to you it is much more difficult to answer.

I advertised for 38 years in the yellow pages and found that different ads worked differently under different situations. Many people find that they are in partnership with the yellow pages when the salesman talks you into a full page ad and you have to work 70 hours a week to pay for the ad and wind up making less money than you did before you got the ad.

Look at the book. If there are already a lot of people advertising under the same heading that you want to advertise under, then your advertising dollar will buy you little if you can't attract customers to your ad instead of the others. Simply saying that you have better service is no good because everyone says that. Saying your widgets are cheaper that their's is no good because many others make the same claim. Paying the phone company $100 more a month to put your ad in red ink only makes the phone company richer and placing a bigger ad than the others only works for one year because the next year the others have a larger more expensive ad and you're left paying for a large ad that does you no good. It might not even help for one year because one of the other companies may have already ordered the larger ad.

If no one is advertising under the heading that you want to use, you will probably benefit from a small ad. Also, if you have a product or service that no one else has you may benefit from letting others know about it.

Last but not least, pay absolutely no attention to the yellow pages salesman who is trying to sell you the ad. He will try to talk you into the largest most expensive advertising because he gets a percentage and doesn't care if you go bankrupt next year from high advertising bills.

 

[carpenter383]

The add will be for carpenter work, they want 59 dollars per month and it includes a listing on their website, yellowpages.com. It's the phone book everyone gets around here.

 

[ToadHill]

When I was in business I automatically got my business phone line listed in the yellow pages, to increase the size of my add cost a bunch more.
I did a survey of every customer who called me and asked how I had been referred to them, I almost never heard that they got my name from the phone book even with a larger add so I didn't buy it the next year.

My Brother has a Handyman business and he left some fliers at Senior centers. Once word got out that he did good work at reasonable prices, he has all the work he can handle.

 

[thatguy]

The add will be for carpenter work, they want 59 dollars per month and it includes a listing on their website, yellowpages.com. It's the phone book everyone gets around here.

I think you will get more from referrels or word of mouth than from a yellow page add. I would not hire a carpenter from the yellow pages - I would ask friends/neighbors/other contractors for names of ppl 'they would use'..

My wife is an optometrist and we put a yellow page add in and got very little if any business from it. We were the 'independent dr of optometry' at a walmart and we got TONS of business just by being there.. A lot of our business was insurance related so ppl didnt need the yellow pages to find a participating dr..

Brian

 

[ragkar]

It's worth it. Very worth it.
For instance, I need some masonry work done and I know of nobody that does it (I live in rural NE Penn). I'll go to the yellow pages and select the most attractive to me adv to call.
When I needed carpentry to repair storm damage, I did the same.
Right now I need computer repairs, I'm going to use the yellow pages again.
If you don't advertise, how will any one know that you are in the business?
Referrals are fine once you have a large satisfied customer base, but until then?

 

[dave1949]

I did a survey of every customer who called me and asked how I had been referred to them, .

Speaking as a consumer, I have often had businesses ask how I came to them. I never mind being asked, actually take it as a good sign they are serious about their business.

I look for listings in the yellow pages sometimes, but try to follow that up with someone who has experience with the business before I ever call.

I once contacted a local timber clearing contractor I found in the yellow pages. Spoke to his wife twice, she was very nice. But, her husband never called back as promised. So, either he had all the work he could handle at the time, or whatever. Either way, he wasted his money for an ad. And I won't waste my time on him next time I am looking. The moral of this is: it's more important to return calls than most businesses think. Maybe more important than the ad - my .02.

Dave.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

with google I forgot there was yellow pages. I think all businesses should have a web site, even if it is only basic info.

 

[/pine]

I would do more research before signing a contract with the Yellow pages vendor...

look for local business directories on the www (regional,local to your location) then do some research on the amount of trafic they get...many will list your business for free and or offer enhanced listings...often your money will be much better spent on local internet business directories...
An additional option is to create a web site for your business then sign up with Google Ad Words it is money well spent...what this will do is put advertisments for your business on local business directory sites when anyone searches for "carpentry" or carpentry services" etc..etc...

Notice how the Google ads on this site are all tractor related or related to the forum topics?...local Google ads work the same way...the key is finding the most popular local (online) business directories in your region and make sure your business is listed...

I administer many different (localized) business directories...I can attest to the their effectiveness for both the advertisers and the local consumer...

Try it yourself...in most areas of the country you can find a business listing (online yellow page type) ad three times faster on the internet than you can using a hard copy yellow page book...

if you want more information on how to determine the most popular listing sites and how effective they are with Google Ad...PM me

Good Luck

 

[Hakim]

RE: Yellow Pages ads....

That era has almost come to an end. With very few exceptions, there are much better ways than the Yellow Pages to attract and maintain customers than Yellow Pages ads.

Think Google Adwords. You will get much more response, because as others have pointed out, most people today first use Google to try to locate the services and products they need. Literally, for every single person who finds you via the YP, 500 will find you from the web.

Good Ad words are sold on a "highest bidder" basis. You decide on a "key word" you think people looking for you are likely to type in; with little effort, Google will tell you (for free) the words most used, and much more information than you would get from the phone book company in 1,000 years.

There is no "fixed" cost. YOU decide how much you want to spend. Then you choose ad words that you want, put in the bid amount you are willing to pay. Sit back. If not enough people come, cancel that ad word entry, and try others. You can open a Google Adwords account with a small amount, even $10. YOU decide the maximum you are willing to pay for an ad. You only pay if someone actually clicks on the link to your site. In any event, you easily can decide on the most you want to spend, and avoid long term recurring charges (with with YP ads, often produce -0- revenue).

Many studies have proved that the people who are most likely to purchase something on the Internet, use not a single word search, but include 3 to 4 words in their searches.

Do not pay for the single search word "carpenter" for example; instead bid on a keyword sequence or phrase such as "cabinet installation Lancaster;" or "cabinet finishing Akron"; like that. Or use a specific neighborhood or area of a specific town. With a little thought, you can soon generate 50 or 75 "key phrases" all of which are directly related to people looking for your services RIGHT NOW.

You will be able to "buy" placement on the results page for the term you selected, for probably around .10 cents to .50 cents per click. If after spending say $5 on clicks to you site, they are converting, you just drop that word and try another. The object is to get your name up to the top 2 or 3 listed on the Google search results page, instead of page 15 or 500.

This works by use of database structural capabilities called "geo-targeting" that Google has raised to a high art. You can decide upon a state, a town, a city, zipcode, and various other factors. Your main marketing job right now should be to review all of the paid work you have done over the past year or so (and make sure you still like to do such jobs, and most importantly, make good profit from such work). Start with 10-20 keyword phrases. Add them to your account. Then site back and marvel at the results.

Here is the link to the Google Adwords sitehttp://tinyurl.com/d9nhpk -- tons of good info.

One other point is that you can also place ads under various categories on Craigslist for your town or area. Those are almost all free, except for employment ads and real estate in certain large market areas, like NY city, Los Angeles, etc. See here: craigslist | about > help > posting fees

All the best,

Hakim Chishti,
TBN Staff

 

[carpenter383]

Thanks a bunch guys!
Looks like there are some mixed oppinions about yellow pages adds.
I definately see the benifit from internet related advertizing. It is way over my head, but I will definatley look into the links and try to make sense of all of it. This gave me an idea, I'm gonna do a generalized google search for "trim carpenter" in my area and see what comes up.

 

[CurlyDave]

Around here we would use "finish carpenter" more than we would use "trim carpenter"...

 

[cowboy357]

I would place an ad on Your local craigslist under services ( Skilled Trade ) . its free & if You word the ad right , Sound Proffesional & maybe even post a pic of Your work or Yourself , From what I,ve seen You,ll do far better then any other advertising .

I use it all the time , as a cutomer needing the service I have to weed through the flakes though . Once I,ve used someone & was happy I,ll make a post in the same section saying how happy I was with the person. I,d Suggest never using the word handyman though . Bob

 

[Big Bri]

I think the yellow page ad is important, google will pick up on you faster with a yellow page add. i know this from experience. when we were opening our business we had gotten a phone number with a voice mail at our house to answer questions till our building was built. After the building was complete we were not able to bring that number to the building (different exchange) any way we got a new number. google still has the first number listed when you google our business and we haven't had that number for 4 years.

$60 a month is cheep for advertising. think about it what else could you do for $60 a month. if you got just one job off that add it would pay for its self.
run the add.

 

[300UGUY]

We have had YP ads for 20+ years. We are downsizing the YP ad. Word of mouth is the best, most frequent, new customer source. Next is the internet. I heard recently " Nobody under 50 uses a phonebook" That seems to be pretty accurate.

 

[Cat_Driver]

Yellow pages is the worst.

I placed a pretty good size ad with them and they put it in the wrong location and still expected me to pay - they fought me tooth and nail on that one. I never did pay.

Signed up again never got a call and it was placed in the right category.

fast forward 10 years and the wife wants to do an ad and I tell her it's a waste of money, she goes back and forth with me till I gave in. She placed the ad not one phone call ever.

Craigslist is the best.

 

[gotrocks]

I spent '56 - '68 in the tile contracting business. During that time every competitor that ran a 1/4 yellow page ad went out of business before the next directory was printed.