Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Steve CM on October 24, 2008, 03:49:25 pm
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I have signed up for some hefty advertising with yell and yellow pages today and i was wondering if anyone has done the same at any point? was it any good for them? etc etc.
if you could state how much you spent and how much business you gained from it i would appreciate it.
I can still pull the plug on it all if i need to but i'm hoping i get the answers i want ;)
Many Thanks
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PULL THE PLUG NOW !!
I advertised in the YP last year had a decent box cost me around £400-£500
can count on one hand how many domestic jobs I got.
I now do a free one liner on yell.
Gets a few but nothing too exciting.
Save your money and go for more local advertising.
Just my opinion
Russ
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spent £500 last year and it cover the out lay ,only probs is u get lots of calls out of area we cover. spent double this year on buget but still wanting 4phone to ring!!! sign of the times maybe ? still only takes couple of good jobs to come in,hopefully!
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spent £350.00 last year and got very little from it , cancel if you can , you would be much better off getting a canvasser or better still knock the doors yourself , seriously cancel while you still can regards alan
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ok, it seems the domestics are out! but what about a half page full colour concentrating on commercial? anyone gone for it? has anyone spent thousands rather than hundreds to get the results?
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about £500 for yell.com - no resi calls or commercial calls - as someone said maybe a sign of the times.. but if i get no calls by May - as commercial contracts would have been renewed by then, i will pull the plug on any form of advertising of the like of yell.com, and stick with my own delivered flyers, letters etc.
I spend nothing on Google, got good position on the local map - and I get calls that way! Of which 3 have been small commercial.
Considering im not looking for commercial but upper residential, i will take them nicely anyway.
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I threw away £2k last year ,
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sorry to agree but I spent £400ish this year in yp (since june), got 1 decent job and about 6 crap small enquiries, out of area. can't say about yell.com
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I have signed up for some hefty advertising with yell and yellow pages today and i was wondering if anyone has done the same at any point? was it any good for them? etc etc.
if you could state how much you spent and how much business you gained from it i would appreciate it.
I can still pull the plug on it all if i need to but i'm hoping i get the answers i want ;)
Many Thanks
I spent about £500 on YP last year and more than covered the cost with the work I got from it. It was worth doing but not anything spectacular. I've gone for a paid one on yell.com as well now (about £320 a year). Only just gone live so too early to tell yet. I intend to fund the yell.com ad by reducing to a three liner in YP.
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I spend about 1.5K a year and it always more than pays for its self. I advertise for commercial only with no mention of the words "domestic" or "residential". I am also the first in the section ;)
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We have been with the Yellow pages, Yell.com, BT clicks and it has been a complete waste of money and time. They phone you up and promise you the earth and you get sweet F A in return. Also watch out for for some people
acting on behalve of charities incuding sick kids and the Police it is a con!
Although some may be geniune the best bet is for you to approach them.
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Lot of it depends on where you live!!, i live in west yorkshire and its rammed so therefore its not worth it in my opinion, however if you live in an area with not alot of advertisers it will be more worthwhile, i spent 1k and got £300 of work so all in all a bad loss!!
Alot of it is luck, its a numbers game!! i did generally advertise commercial only due to one off residential calls which in my eyes can be worthless most of the time!!
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I have just spent over £5,000.00 on Yell.com alone
2 Sponsored listings & 3 web links.
I decided to take out the sponsored listings (1st and 2nd positions) to be at the top of my areas, and i have backed them up with web links, meaning if a potential customer decides to look past the top listing then i am also below it mixed with the others.
Last year i picked up a few commercials resulting in roughly £5,000.00 worth of work per year for 3 commercial jobs =
£750 x 4 times per year
£50 per month
£120 per month
and also a commercial one off for £6,700.00
I decided with the credit crunch i would invest and take a gamble = it will either work or not.
Nothing gambled - Nothing gained is my motto.
I have took a serious gamble.
if you need more info call me and will help you with anything: 07788 503775 chris. ;)
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I have just spent over £5,000.00 on Yell.com alone
2 Sponsored listings & 3 web links.
I decided to take out the sponsored listings (1st and 2nd positions) to be at the top of my areas, and i have backed them up with web links, meaning if a potential customer decides to look past the top listing then i am also below it mixed with the others.
Last year i picked up a few commercials resulting in roughly £5,000.00 worth of work per year for 3 commercial jobs =
£750 x 4 times per year
£50 per month
£120 per month
and also a commercial one off for £6,700.00
I decided with the credit crunch i would invest and take a gamble = it will either work or not.
Nothing gambled - Nothing gained is my motto.
I have took a serious gamble.
if you need more info call me and will help you with anything: 07788 503775 chris. ;)
5k with yell, how many listings did you get for that!!!, i totally agree you have to be in it to win it, i have heavily invested in yellow pages and yell.com in the past!!!
Without hugh success, i hope they gave you alot for 5k!!
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I just said what i ordered = Totally my choice & i seriously thought about it
2 x Sponsored listing
and 3 x weblink adverts
totalling £5,000
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i just done the 2nd place sponsored listing for £1600, i just need 1 commercial job at £160 per month to pay for it
theres a firm local to me who has 3, 1st place sponsored listings and has done for the couple of years, their vans seem to be getting newer! although that doesnt mean that much
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I have just spent over £5,000.00 on Yell.com alone
2 Sponsored listings & 3 web links.
I decided to take out the sponsored listings (1st and 2nd positions) to be at the top of my areas, and i have backed them up with web links, meaning if a potential customer decides to look past the top listing then i am also below it mixed with the others.
Last year i picked up a few commercials resulting in roughly £5,000.00 worth of work per year for 3 commercial jobs =
£750 x 4 times per year
£50 per month
£120 per month
and also a commercial one off for £6,700.00
I decided with the credit crunch i would invest and take a gamble = it will either work or not.
Nothing gambled - Nothing gained is my motto.
I have took a serious gamble.
if you need more info call me and will help you with anything: 07788 503775 chris. ;)
thanks archer this is what i'm looking for. I think i may give you a ring at some point if thats ok ;)
and thanks to all you other guys that are building up a general picture for me! ;)
my overall bill is 6.6k that will include a number 2 sponsored listing on yell and a half page full colour ad in the YP
my aim seems to be similar to yours archer where by i need a 1 or 2 contracts to get over £600 a month to break even. which from what i've got with just my web link in yell should be acheivable.
I don't mind putting my money where my mouth is but i want as much a calculated risk as possible!!
the way i see it is i will be 1 of 2 companys that will have the main coverage out of my areas in the YP and Yell.com
any more advice or experiences from guys that have spent a lot of money would be appreciated. i want to build up enough info before i decide to go with it or not
Thanks guys!! ;)
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I just said what i ordered = Totally my choice & i seriously thought about it
2 x Sponsored listing
and 3 x weblink adverts
totalling £5,000
Absolutley your choice, i hope you do well for yourself and it pays!!!
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id sooner have a well sign written van .
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I spent £1200 a couple of years ago, from that I only picked up about 8 jobs, but they were good jobs!! and it more than paid for itself. You have to make sure that your ad stands out from the others in some way, and i don't mean by calling your business AAAAAA window cleaning so that you are the first on the list! this puts most people off in my opinion!! ;)
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when i first started i spent £900.00 advertising in yellow pages ( a lot of money in 1991). it was money down the drain. these days i have a free line in yellow pages and thompson, it gets me listed on the web,yell.com 118 ect. did a conserv. roof clean,as a direct result of this , custy saw my van drive pass here office, saw my van sign writing, but did not have time to get number, she went online and got my number through yell.com, so well pleased, and did not cost me a penny. would i pay for a listing again?
not likely, my advise would be cancel, and stick to free listings.
daz
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Free listings may well work
Sponsored listings may also work
I decided the top slot was for me, im not bothered about getting my money back in first 12 months.
I want any decent commercial jobs,
the more you have, the more you get seen, the more you can be recommended.
I want people to see me everywhere
My adverts are on display, my van is signwritten, £600 spent on best quality flyers,
BRING IT ON, i ready................................. ;)
If you want to phone me ste, please do
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i believe it is not a thing that gets instant results you need to be patient and do it for 3 or 4 years to reap the benifits, which is 20k if you can afford that then im sure you will win but some years may be slow others better and the longer your there the longer companys keep seeing the same company the more likely they are to ring you!
Steve/Archer hope it works it takes balls to spend that kind of money without any guarentees of results but you have to be in it two win it and when my company is at the position were i dont have to be hands on im sure ill be going down this route.
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anyone else gone for a large advert as opposed to a smaller one? has anyone had both? did you notice any difference in jobs gained?
thanks
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cheers ronnie :D :
mine goes live in gatwick area on wednesday so fingers crossed,
i just need 1 office block cleaned monthly for it to pay for its self
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cheers ronnie :D :
mine goes live in gatwick area on wednesday so fingers crossed,
i just need 1 office block cleaned monthly for it to pay for its self
Hands off.
That's MY patch :)
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shiner- i would have had the brighton area but theyve gone already :-\
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Just thrashing out a deal with yell at the moment, as it seems they are desperate to sell space at the moment. Steve CM did you run with an ad? If so any response? Steve UK have you had any calls yet from your ad?
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mine all kicks off in february/march next year. i still have till february to decide what i want to do
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mine all kicks off in february/march next year. i still have till february to decide what i want to do
Oh right, cool. If you haven't paid for it yet, may be worth calling them to say its too much ect ect, may get a better deal.
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you have mail nice and clean
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Purely from the domestic cleaning point of view, I have tried various combinations over the years.
At one time I had the Fed corporate ad all to myself - the space would have cost me over £1,000 if I'd had it as a display.
I've also tried a similar size display.
For some years now I've had a 3cm box in two directories, costing about £400 for both. This seems to be the best arrangement, bringing in a steady trickle of enquiries which usually pay for the ads within 2-3 months.
Now we have several liveried vans on the road, our logo is being recognised, so this year I've gone for a 3cm box with the logo, phone numbers and web address. It stands out, and it looks just like the van signwriting.
The ad only came out in November, and we've had several enquiries so far - we always monitor sources to see where our money has the most effect.
It says on the vans: 'Look in Yellow Pages' under the logo, so when they look, there we are :)
I paid a fortune for an enhanced Yell.com ad. Never again - useless >:(
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Purely from the domestic cleaning point of view, I have tried various combinations over the years.
At one time I had the Fed corporate ad all to myself - the space would have cost me over £1,000 if I'd had it as a display.
I've also tried a similar size display.
For some years now I've had a 3cm box in two directories, costing about £400 for both. This seems to be the best arrangement, bringing in a steady trickle of enquiries which usually pay for the ads within 2-3 months.
Now we have several liveried vans on the road, our logo is being recognised, so this year I've gone for a 3cm box with the logo, phone numbers and web address. It stands out, and it looks just like the van signwriting.
The ad only came out in November, and we've had several enquiries so far - we always monitor sources to see where our money has the most effect.
It says on the vans: 'Look in Yellow Pages' under the logo, so when they look, there we are :)
I paid a fortune for an enhanced Yell.com ad. Never again - useless >:(
(http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f234/ianlancaster61/Scanneditemsfordeleting0002.jpg)
My Ad :)
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Our Yell/Yellow Pages bill is around £2,500 pa, I would say it has paid for itself at least ten times over, probably more, we always ask where people got our name from.
Just done a job this week for an interior designer who got our name from yell, she lives local to us but wanted a full house clean done for a client who lives 38 miles away, job was £650, done yesterday. She's got another one for us to do on the Monday before Christmas and we are now also doing the windows at her house and her neighbours £30 & £25 each, 4 weekly.
So if my calculations are correct, this client alone has given us work totally around £1960 and will possibly result in more.
I have found that in general professional people and businesses contact us from Yell, whereas the more local domestic work comes from local advertising, van livery, word of mouth, etc. This interior designer had a budget of £170,000 from her client to refurbish this property we did yesterday........credit crunch, what credit crunch!!
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it only works if you are running an avertising campaign at the same time. people wil only look in the yellow pages if they already know the name. Eg people in my opinion only use it as a phone book to look up the numbers of companies they already know, i don't know of anyone who would just pick up the yellow pages to look for a random trader, most people ask for recomends from friends then look the number up, so unless its a part of a 6/ 12 month marketing campain. Cancel it!
take it from me i used to sell print and marketing packages
tom
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it only works if you are running an avertising campaign at the same time. people wil only look in the yellow pages if they already know the name. Eg people in my opinion only use it as a phone book to look up the numbers of companies they already know, i don't know of anyone who would just pick up the yellow pages to look for a random trader, most people ask for recomends from friends then look the number up, so unless its a part of a 6/ 12 month marketing campain. Cancel it!
take it from me i used to sell print and marketing packages
tom
so if they know who they are looking for anyway why would you need any kind of advertising? you wouldn't as a single line would give them a phone number.
I think i'm gonna give it a whirl. in for a penny and all that. but my thinking is if your gonna do it then you have to be the biggest in there to gain as much exposure as possible otherwise you will just get lost in the sea of ads
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Tom,
Don't agree, we get a lot of work from Yellow pages from people who have never heard of us and only found us because of it.
That's probably why you're not selling print and marketing packages anymore ;D
Remember everyone is different.
Target your audience, our yellow pages covers a vast area with several different dialing codes, we highlight our dialing code so that people know what area we work in.
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it only works if you are running an avertising campaign at the same time. people wil only look in the yellow pages if they already know the name. Eg people in my opinion only use it as a phone book to look up the numbers of companies they already know, i don't know of anyone who would just pick up the yellow pages to look for a random trader, most people ask for recomends from friends then look the number up, so unless its a part of a 6/ 12 month marketing campain. Cancel it!
take it from me i used to sell print and marketing packages
tom
Hence my ad is the same as my van signwriting - they see the vans, they look in YP and there we are!!
Having said that I know that many of our enquiries via YP are from people who one day think to themselves "about time I got a window cleaner" and they turn to the window cleaning pages in YP.
Of course it works like that. Housewife looks through window - sees dirt hanging off it. She's not going to hang around until she meets up with her mates so she can ask them who they use, YP is sitting on the table so she picks it up.....
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been there done that wouldn't go there again
pull out as soon as you can
nearly went bang and gone because of them and all other directories i advertised in never going there again
only advertise with the likes of yp pb tl if you can afford to loose the money i couldn't and nearly lost everything
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been there done that wouldn't go there again
pull out as soon as you can
nearly went bang and gone because of them and all other directories i advertised in never going there again
only advertise with the likes of yp pb tl if you can afford to loose the money i couldn't and nearly lost everything
how much did you spend annually on each publication??
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Ive just signed up with Yp and Yell cost £400. Ad won't go in yp til June 09, but ad in Yell has been live for two weeks. Only phone calls I've had so far are from other publications asking me to buy advertising space from them!!!!. Some of them just won't take NO for an answer. :(
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I had a small black and white advert in the yp which worked well enough to think any money I spent on phonebooks would work. I got adverts in 2 thompson locals and a full colour 16th of a page ad in 2 BT phone books. Had them in for between 6 - 14 months now because 2 books came straight out and 2 came out approx 6 months later and I know the phone will ring for the first time very soon now. ::)
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steve cm
too much
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seriously simon. how much. i think i'm building up a good picture from previous posts and if you can say how much even on yp along it will be a help