[squeaky]

Has anyone ever used yell.com to host your web site?

When I first had a web site I got yell.com to host it for me,all went ell for the first year (I paid monthly by DD)
I had heard nothing from them and assumed that everything was all ok.
I then had a phone call from a friend (also runs a cleaning business) to say that my web site was no longer on air.
I contacted yell.com to ask them what the f*%k is going on to be told that the 12 months was up and as I had not contacted them to extend for another year they had assumed that I had made other arrangements.I said that surely it was up to them to contact me but they basically said why should they!
And to cap it all they did not say anything about them hosting it for another year or asking me if I wanted them to.

What a bunch of morons.

Like yellow pages they assume that because they are the biggest that everyone will bend over backwards to advertise with them.

I now do the absolute basic adverts (which is still a rip off )

Mark

[maggie67]

Hi all

searching for some input re advertising! 

I have a one line ad in our local yellow pages (there aren't actually that many domestic cleaners in our directory!) but haven't had a great response.

 Reading through recent postings the yellow pages seems to be generating a lot of business. I have arranged for an enhanced listing from May, when the new directory goes out, which is costing £131.00. but wonder whether I should spend more money and go even BIGGER!

Any advice would be gratefully received

Regards

Maggie

[Tim Downer]

Morning

If you have a look at the adverts in the yellow pages.....which ones grab your eyes?

If you can afford them, the quarter page adverts can be utilised to your advantage, although the size smaller than the quarter page ad's can be just as good.

You don't need to write too much down as you will loose the interest of the potential client, but have a look at how all the other ad's are worded and combine all the best of these ideas for your own one.

Your logo and a brief summary of what you do / services you provide....Contact details etc  and maybe why you are different from all the competition in the yellow pages.....

I found that when i used a quarter page advert it worked very well for me, although the statistics that the yellow pages sales people give you about how many people will call you because of the advert, was far higher than what i actually had. More than got my money back with the new clients though.....

Bit of an expence, but don't forget, any form of advertising comes off the tax bill as expences.....If you can afford it....go for it!

All the Best

Tim

[Jan K]

mines 1/8th size, its very simple and it attracts business mainly because of that simplicity, although I have attracted some purely because people like the name Done 'n' Dusted

[thegmcleanmachine]

Hi there,

Although I am in valeting & not cleaning, I have some a suggestions. We dont get many enquiries from the yellow pages but more from www.yell.com. With todays technology most people dont even pick up a yellow pages anymore.

What I have done is registered my business for free on their website but instead of the actual company name, under my companies domain name www.thegmcleanmachine.co.uk this means that if people want more info without picking up the phone or are just nosey they can have a look. (if you asked www.yell.com to put a click thru to your website it would cost you)

What I have also done is registered the same company under 4 different local towns by using friends addresses and a collection of mobile & landline numbers. (you cant list the same company address twice or the same company number at different addresses.)

The other way to get good FREE advertising is to do a press release to your local paper. All the details of how to go about this are on www.businesslink.gov.uk under marketing.   I sent our local paper a piece on our company and they gave me a half page spread. We got quite a bit of work from it and it was FREE.

In my experience the best advertising is by doing a good job and getting word of mouth recommendations. Give all your existing customers a referal card with something like refer a friend and get £5.00 off - everyone likes something for nothing.

The last piece of advice is to get some leaflets printed and post them thru doors when you are quiet. I designed an A4 leaflet and got a friend to take it to work and photocopy it thousands of times - another FREEBEE !!!

The one thing I have learnt is to spread your time, efforts and budget over many different forms of marketing rather than concentrating on just one.

matt - www.thegmcleanmachine.co.uk

[Jan K]

My Yellow Pages ad went live in January and my yell.com and telephone yell ads went live last September...........I have only had 1 Client from Yell and that was a lady looking for someone to clean her holiday let. However as said previously Yellow Pages is working wonders for me...........i paid for all my yell advertising (I don't have a website) but I m purely a local business so Yell.com/telephone yell isn't working for me and I shan't use it again...

[Sarah2005]

All these points are good points and what I was advised to do at a course I attended.  It is about grabbing attention and the business name can be so important as Jan has proved by her response and the feedback she has received    I was also told that a lot of people go for a name beginning with 'A' so that they appear at the beginning of their particular section, so Jan without perhaps even realising your name also begins early in the alphabet and so by grabbing their attention early on, you are preventing them looking any further 

An accountant told us a funny story, this guy had a business name starting R........ ............. (he couldn't tell us the name for obvious reasons) and because he wanted to appear at the front of the Yellow Pages, he paid out a lot of money to change the name, stationary, business cards etc to 'A' R........ .......... which didn't sound quite so good for a start and when the Yellow Pages came out.....he was listed under 'R' 

[Jan K]

Sarah, that one made me giggle........I think I am on the 2nd or 3rd page (without getting the YP out), but I am in the top, outside corner, so that probably helps too. I just think I am very lucky to be getting enough business to keep me going (signing up another one on Monday). The way I see it is this......the advert grabs the potential Clients attention, BUT when I think the way I secure the appointment is purely because I have the gift of the gab! I try to come across as knowledgable, and experienced and I tell my clients what they want to hear....don't get me wrong I don't lie to them I am completely honest, even to the ponit that if someone goes sick, they might not get a clean (there are only 3 of us at the mo), but I do say we are a small and exclusive business, and there are prices to pay for that.....as long as you do not come across as hesitant or that you have lack or experience or knowledge I think believe the contract is yours......as everyone has said to me in the past few weeks......I now believe in myself and am confident both myself and my girls can do excellent, top rate jobs.......if I can convince potential Clients of that ten I've won the battle.....it's just getting the foot in the door then the war is won (so to speak)......waffle, waffle, waffle

[CMS]

Now, I'm not in the business of domestic cleaning but have been in commercial cleaning for over twenty years.

My view (and the view of my wife, I hasten to add  ) is that most women would employ domestic cleaners on impulse. What I mean is that I would not have thought that they would 'plan' to look in a Yellow Pages and start using cleaners.

I would have thought that a leaflet drop in a posh area of town would be far more cost effective. Imagine that leaflet dropping onto a doormat JUST as the housewife/working mother has had a REALLY bad day and the housework is piling up.

Impulse would make her pick up the phone.

It's a similar situation in the commercial sector. I have never secured any new  contract through advertising in over twenty years. There is no substitute for knocking on doors. I may just visit a company at the time that  the decision maker has not had his bin emptied for the umpteenth time this week and impulse will make him change!

[Jan K]

Hi CMS!

Fraid I totally disagree with you there..............fair enough my dom cleaning business has only been in force since September (but I have been cleaning for a while before that purely on my own). I secured a few Clients through sending spec letters to professionals (eg teachers - bit over 100 schools in my area - and solicitors, wrote to about 70 of them). I just sat down and looked through the Yellow Pages and spent a little while with my standard letter and mailmerged the addresses into the document.....took me a couple of hours, but it was worth it. I did get quite a few solicitors asking if I would clean their offices, but I am not in the market for that type of cleaning. I have secured 7 referalls over the last 18 months or so, but most of them are my own personal customers. Now my Yellow pages advert went live about 2 month ago, and I have had regularly had 2 - 3 calls every week. I have to say although I have only signed up 5 people from the ad, it is not from lack of wanting the jobs, it is more to do with lack of staff, as I have said a million times in the past. Also I have turned about 4 or 5 jobs purely as I am not prepared to travel to far out of my designated areas. If you average it out  my Yellow Pages advert has brought me in the most work. 

[CMS]

Hi Jan K

I'm a little unsure where you say your business is coming from. The first part of your post says how you sent speculative letters to addresses you got from the YP. That is NOT the same as you getting work from advertising in the YP.

I'm glad you think your own YP ad is working for you. You say you've had it for 2 months now and have signed up 5 people therefore I assume it would generate 30 Clients over a twelve month period. I'm not sure what it costs to advertise in the YP but that doesn't seem a good return to me. It is less than one a week.

I still maintain that a leaflet drop in a posh area would be more cost effective.

[Jan K]

Hi CMS, maybe I didn't explain myself properly. I looked through the YP for addresses of schools and solicitors who  then sent spec letters to (this was September of last year), and got a good response from that. BUT, my Yellow Pages ad went live in January and relatively speaking I have had a better response from that. Bear in mind I am speculating to accumulate, and I do not expect to make much of a profit, if any at al in the first year or so. Yes YP ads can be expensive, but I only have an 1/8th size and it is simple, but it is placed where it can be easily seen and it is obvious from just glancing at it without reading it what swervice I offer. My logos are simple but obvious. All of my Clients secured from the ad have told me that what attracted them to me was the simplicity of the ad or even my busines name.. Put it this way the ad itself consists of my business name with my logos, followed by 4 short lines describing what I offer, then my phone number and address. I only offer domestic cleaning, I have no intention of branching out into any other type of cleaning, at least not yet. OK, now the price of the YP ad is the cheapest one on offer. My business advisor suggested I get in the YP as soon as I could possibly afford it, so I did. On a weekly basis I need 4 hours a week just to pay for it. Today I have secured my 6th customer from it (total weekly hours are 18.5 just from the YP ad, which averages out at about £50.00 per week, after paying staff and before other expenses). I expected iinitially to make a fair old loss as I started paying for my Yell.com/telephone Yell ads about 6 months ago, but over time the YP ad would make up the loss and generate a profit. Call me naiive if you like, but as long as I generate enogh income to pay my girls and my bills, if there is nothing left for me, then I have to live on the income I get from my partner and child benefits etc. Also anything anyone else is happy to throw at me without expecting it back (like my dad for instance). I personally feel the Yellow Pages ad is invaluable to anyone in the domestic cleaning agency, and I also think we are in the line of business where people WILL look in the YP (unless they know someone who can recommend them a cleaner). OK even if I only secure 1 Client a week wanting a regular 3 hour clean a week from the YP ad, after a year that will be 52 Clients each generating £73k turnover per annum (the YP ad is only a bit over £600.00), Even if only 30 Clients came on board that will still be a bit over £42k per annum, quite a satisfactory result from one simple ad. I still think it is worth it. I was lucky my ad didn't cost me anything as I applied for a grant at my local small business advisory centre and got it (don't get me wrong it wasn;t that simple, I had to do a course, product a 36 page business plan and after 8 months then I got the grant and got the business uip and running). Anyway as usual I have deviated off the subject, but what I am getting at the way i works for me is I speculate to acumulate, definately don't expect to make a profit in the first year and claim back as many tax expenses as I can get away with, and eventually I will make a compfortable living, my girls will be earning a nice wage, and I will have a database of very happy Clients. And before any of you say dream on, I am sure it can work that way!

[CMS]

Call me naiive if you like, but as long as I generate enogh income to pay my girls and my bills, if there is nothing left for me, then I have to live on the income I get from my partner and child benefits etc.

Jan, as much as I admire your 'get up and go' that is not the right attitude. You are in business to make money FOR YOURSELF.

OK even if I only secure 1 Client a week wanting a regular 3 hour clean a week from the YP ad, after a year that will be 52 Clients each generating £73k turnover per annum

Can I have a bit of that please?

Jan, please don't take me the wrong way..........I am all for supporting new, small businesses but PLEASE, do your sums. I have seen so many people get their fingers burnt and yours are red hot at the moment!

[DP]

Jan
Very entertaining, seems like you have it all worked out. I'm sure when you feel you need advice, there will be plenty of offers.
_hook

Good Luck  

[Jan K]

yea ok, so i've had too little sleep and too much of the old red stuff, i get there in the end lolwhtaver turnover whether it is 74k  or 34k or 600 quid, shoulda just used an excel spreadsheet instead of the calculator , if the ad generates enough to cover all your expensed and make you a decent living, surely it is worth it. At the end of the day you gotta have the time to leaflet drop or pay someone to do it. each to their own I suppose and whatever worksd best for one may not works so well for another....there Im off to have the rest of me plonk now

[CMS]

whtaver turnover whether it is 74k  or 34k or 600 quid, shoulda just used an excel spreadsheet instead of the calculator

I'm sure you're a lovely lady but I'm so glad you're not working for me! ......lolol

[Jan K]

perhaps i am just a little too laid back! I'm not greedy and I'm not ambitious to the extent I want to earn loadsa money, if it happens it happens if not, oh well! I don't plan on working myself into an early grave, neither to I intrend to sit back and let everyone else do the work. I do know what  am doing, in respect of myself, I have done the figure work, consulted business advisors, accountatns, solicitors and am prepared to take it slowly and build gently. I admire those of you who are earning big bucks and have done so in the first year or so, but hey thats not me.....if I can earn a comfortble living that's cool. I am doing this because I DON'T want to work for someone else. I am tired of being told what to do by someone else, and like havig control of my own destiny, even if it isn't a big buck destiny 

[martin19842]

hi there,

ok so there i was yesterday morning (sunday) sitting by the river, after a quick blat on my bike, when the mobile rings,

do you do floods?

we do

when can you be here?

in about an hour

so arrived on site sucked all the water out applied microsan to all contaminated surfaces, final clean up and finished, one and a half hours, 50 gallons of water removed, £250.00 thank you very much

and thats out of the yellow pages.

and the chap said to me he had rang several companies, no answer, werent interested, all the usual.

if you want to make it happen then you can.

have a great weekend

regards

martin

[Prestige1]

Its that time of year that Yell are knocking at my door, the first year spent over £3000 for 2 adds with very poor returns, this year spent £1600 on a smaller add and still a poor return so I am considering pulling it all togaether, I get a lot of my work via smaller local add mag and leaflets, whats your thoughts?
Kind regards Phil

[martin19842]

hi there,

we spent £600, to go in the yellow pages, and 2 years 118247,

its only a small ad, but has paid for itself over and over already. and its only been in since 1st August.


our opinion really is, that its a presence, and thats it, but we do have a good position, top right of a facing page!!, and it didnt cost anymore.

we dont spend a lot on advertising at all really

regards

martin