[drive surgeon]

hi guys,  i have been in the garden services section for 3 years in yellow pages and had a quite a bit of work from it but its seasonallike gardeners.  so im looking at going in the cleaning and maintenance section instead.  does anyone get much response from this section?  and do you do well from yell.com? :

[drive surgeon]

a lot of people have said they have had no response from adverts in yellow pages.  i did not do to bad as i said in garden services but not this year, no one was having barbecues etc cos of weather.  im not sure what business's look in when looking for a trade?  google??

[BDCS]

Yell pages are total merchant bankers. They have a bit called driveway cleaning but won't put my advert there because they say its a sign post and not a catagory.  The rep said it was not a problem and he'd sort it, took the money and did nowt. I complained but they just don't listen so I complained again but they don't give two hoots so I cancelled everything with them. They put me on yell.com for 4 months and I never knew til they sent me a bill, and in that time only 1 click through to my web site. In the past I have been in drives and cleaning but never really made enough to cover the advert. Look in the book and see if your area has the drive cleaning sign then see if you can go there !

[Roger Oakley]

For me
Yellow pages & Yell.com waste of time and money, closely followed by Thomsons local etc.

[drive surgeon]

i asked 50 people i know what they would do to find a tradesman if they needed one, would they look in yellow pages?   google?  the bt phonebook? or other?

most said yellow pages but a lot also said google!

so it seems i need to cover both areas 

[BDCS]

Yes that may be true but will they find you - yp suggest blast cleaning then you got hundreds of duster weilding cleaners in the cleaning section. I got best trade in the drive section but that was not swift. With google if they want a drive cleaner thats what it attempts to find them

[drive surgeon]

cleaning and maintenance section covers, graffiti, high pressure cleaning, driveway cleaning, and all so is not that the best? :

[darrenbale]

Best thing to do is to ask people what they would look for if they needed your type of work doing. no point advertising in the cleaning section if people would look under driveways for example. So much easier with online as you can target keywords.

[chosker]

Yellow pages works very well for us (about 4-6 calls a week). However... we bloody pay for it! I think that if you have a large ad (1/4 page or more) then you will always get business but having a smaller ad probably just wouldn't do as much because people's eyes are always drawn to the bigger ads.
This may be an assumption... but when I use the yellow pages I do tend to call the big ads and go onto the smaller ones afterwards if no-one offers what i want!

Hope this helps 

[drive surgeon]

HI CHOSKER WHAT SECTION DO YOU ADVERTISE IN?

[ollie]

yp are still chasing me for around 3k which Im refusing to pay as the rep verbally (no written one) guaranteed i would make 4 times the amount my ad cost This was two years ago and they still havent got their money and I still use a free one liner. It messed my credit rating up but I just cant stand being done over. She sat in my lounge and said "if you dont make 4 times the amount you pay we will not charge you"   of course "never said it"  I hate the company.   
p.s It was a waste of paper anyway. I get just the same amount of calls from my free one liner.

[chosker]

Actually - I've just checked and its not cleaning and maintenance - it's cleaning services- domestic that we are in. We used to advertise in cleaning and maintenance but didn't get much back.

I think that this is because on the domestic side people do use YP a lot, or Thomsons. However on the commercial side a)there would be no YPprobably at work b) google probably more popular and c) commercial cleaning companies tend to cold call more so they may already have lots of quotes and therefore wouldn't need any more.

Are you domestic or commercial? I am presuming domestic but obviously I could be wrong!

[clinton]

Why dont you try a web site

Doesnt have to be a large one just a four or 5 page site and am sure would get work from it

[drive surgeon]

yes but i need to advertise my website in yellow pages maybe.

[mark.laycock1@ntlw]

whats your website called then?

[Scotbrite]

Hi Guys,
I have been concidering yell.com for adv.They quoted £2000 for 2nd. place listing or about £550 for general listing. Amate in the business says its the lifeblood of his company - BUT - can it be justified. What do you all think
Cheers,
Ron
(ScotBrite Services) 

[BDCS]

Yell.com is carp

[steve_doyle]

are you being koi?

[drive surgeon]

you "bass" tards!