Yellow pages - is it all worth it.

Electricalserv · Jun 24, 2011

I'm at that stage where I'm lookicg to go in the pages to boost work and maybe take a couple of lads on full time. I have Nothing for the lads I had working with me the last couple of weeks so I'm feeling a little embarrased. I know I should only be looking after myself but just feel for them.

Anyway, does it grab you enough business for the cost. Some say yes some say no. I'm looking for a small advert with 6 lines. Its cost £300 without internet presence or £550 with internet presence.

Also they are now sending salesman out direct to your door to discuss prices. The lady said its the only way they can give prices now. So I said leave it. Then she did a U-TURN saying she can give me prices but she needs more information from me!

Amp David · Jun 24, 2011

For me it was a total waste of time and money, not 1 job from it. But others on here it has worked.

Looking back now, i just see it as one big waste of dosh!

zedess · Jun 24, 2011

Im in the same boat as you electricalserv, so ive bit the bullet and went with the advert,6 lines of text and full internet pressence..so now its wait and see...but i had to do summit, work is pretty scarce at present and it just wasnt coming in.

Electricalserv · Jun 24, 2011

zedess said:
Im in the same boat as you electricalserv, so ive bit the bullet and went with the advert,6 lines of text and full internet pressence..so now its wait and see...but i had to do summit, work is pretty scarce at present and it just wasnt coming in.

Keep me updated then mate.

electromonkey · Jun 24, 2011

I used the Yellow Pages a few years ago. £1200 for a decent sized colour advert. I think I had about 2 calls from it. Yell.com however, is a different story. That has been value for money in the past defo.

Electricalserv · Jun 24, 2011

electromonkey said:
I used the Yellow Pages a few years ago. £1200 for a decent sized colour advert. I think I had about 2 calls from it. Yell.com however, is a different story. That has been value for money in the past defo.

How do you differentiate Between Yell.com and the pages then?

1shortcircuit · Jun 24, 2011

For my sins I worked for 118247 (Yellow Pages) for a short while.

It was compulsory that if someone called and asked for the number of an Electrician in Cardiff (for example) The first four paid adverts were read from start to finish (the 6 lines or so)

The above is all well and good if there are only four in the area that you are in but if there are 14 or 24 then they come up randomly so the ad you are paying for may not get read out very often.

My advice would be to push to see if you can find out how many electricians are actually already using this service in your area. Also try to find out if there is a way of finding out if you will be able to know how many times your advert has been read out to a caller if you do decide to take up the offer.

In my opinion though whilst there are many good people who work in these places they may not be the most enthusiastic when reading ads which means you may as well have just flushed the money you spent down the pan. Also, accents were a nightmare to deal with so bear that in mind also

Also, IIRC yell are closing the centre in Wales AND cutting jobs in the Bristol centre and farming the business out to India. Don't quote me on that being one hundred percent but do ask. I'm sure I read it in the local paper

1shortcircuit · Jun 24, 2011

The move will mean members of the public using Yell’s telephone directory service to find a restaurant in Caversham, for example, will be speaking to an assistant more than 4,000 miles away.

This isn't the article I read but it does show that what I claimed to have read does carry some weight

electromonkey · Jun 24, 2011

Electricalserv said:
How do you differentiate Between Yell.com and the pages then?

They're the same company but the Pages and the .com are separate. You can just go on the yell.com website. I think it's always on page 1 of google. They give you a few lines to put your key words in etc and you can put your company logo on there and they give you a code so you can edit it if you need. I think they put my number in the Yellow Pages too FOC. The one line advert.