Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

[Pat-UK]

Hi guys,

Been plodding on slowly for last few years and feel the need to increase my workload a bit now.

Had over the last few days a barrage of phone calls from Yell trying to tempt me back in the book with a promise of a discount and free web link, 20 photos, first born and everlasting life type thing, to say they seem desperate is an understatement ……

Been out of YP for about 5 years, not missed it really, but as I said need a bit more work now.

Is it worth the money, or would I be better off spending the money on a few good takeaways so I at least have indigestion to remind me of where the money went.

Is anyone still using it here ?

Have seen the older threads, but a new year and a whole new lot of reasons at to why it may or may not be the way to go.

[admin]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

ive pulled out of yell pages 2 yrs ago,people just dont look in this book anymore ,never lost any trade so its a no go for me in this one,

canufixit

[Gazman1000]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

We had our new Yellow pages put through the door, hardly anyone in there now from our trade. Don’t waste your money, it is very thin due to the shear number of trades people giving it the elbow. In my view Yellow pages has had it’s day.
Yell, the web version is over priced for what it is and every time I had renewed it they messed it up and I had a break in advertising till they got the paperwork processed. Always some lame excuse even if I sent the paperwork in three weeks early. Last time I had to remind them it was due to end, did not even get a call. No wonder numbers are falling on Yell and YP.

[Alex]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

I’ve now got to the stage where I take off the polythene wrapper from the new one before it goes straight into the recycling bin. Being nosey the last time I done that (6 weeks ago) most of my neighbours had done the same.

It says it all when it is half the thickness and size.

I do have a link from yell.com to my website, and according to Google Analytics, not one hit in the last 12 months.

This is the posting I made in 2009. The difference between now & then is that I’m 3 years older, just as busy, increased my staff and nearly £24k better off.

I rest my case!

Alex

This is the way I look at it. From a consumers point of view, even a “silver surfer”

I’m in the plus 55 age bracket, I never use the telephone book, nor do I use yellow pages. I Google everything. Like many I have wireless B/Band and apart from accessibility in the office, the home machine is on-line all day. A few years ago we all had 1 phone and that would have been on the hall table with the books underneath, now we all enjoy cordless handsets, and consequently the books could be anywhere, (in my case so could the phone). So much easier to press a button, and see instant up to date information on the screen.

Therefore I have no need for books or directories which end up at the back of the cupboard or wherever. So being a typical consumer, despite a lack of youth, my first port of call is the web. If I’m doing it that way, you can be sure so does most of a younger generation.

Now looking at it from the business point of view:-

I used to spend £6k p.a. on Yellow pages, now reduced to less than £200 p.a. The Y.P. salesmen cannot deny they are finding life difficult. Even Yell.com is a no brainer.

When the Y.P. rep met me 2 years ago he told me I was mad. I keep everything on spread sheets, and I can confirm there is no drop at all in chargeable work. My warranty work and insurance work has increased, and so has the chargeable pro-rata. I was prepared to take a drop as I never thought I was pulling in enough traffic from Y.P. to cover the outlay, and I’ve proved it.

[stevebunyan]

Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

I had a different thought and went for the cheapest line add in the 2 relevant sections.
My reasoning was that if I got just one call per add, the whole year then that’s paid for its self. Mostly rely on yell and google but set the advertising budget at no more that £1000.00 for these.
Stats show that about 85{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} of all searches are done on google now.

So a good web site is key.
Dave at Juice-e web design is offering 20{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} discount for all WTA members 01472 806320
http://www.juice-e.co.uk

Sent from Steves
iPhone using Tapatalk

[Martin]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

….also, if you are the only firm in the surrounding area it is important to hold some small presence in YP. A small block insert (costs around £200-£250’ish) for those folks that still thumb through to find a local man in their neck of the woods. The bonus for doing that is that you at least get a listing in their yell.com directory search as well. 😉

[boselecta]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

I would say save your money, the books got smaller, less people use it and prices haven’t gone down.

I suppose thats why they have such pushy sales people. They know the yellow pages are dying.

In a just world, they would put there prices down to reflect this, I will keep my fingers crossed!.

[ChrisR]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

If Yellow Pages mess your ad like they did mine,is there a legal process for compensation?.

I agree with whats been said here.
Yellow Pages has had its day

[Martin]

Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

ChrisR wrote:If Yellow Pages mess your ad like they did mine,is there a legal process for compensation?.

As you can appreciate Chris “where there’s a blame then you can claim!”

Unusual for YP to cock up adverts though as usually you have to sign and authorise each stage of their advertising process. From first order to proof approval long before advert is published. I’m intrigued as to what went wrong here?

[stratfordgirl]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

YP have comprehensive T&Cs which cover compensation if they get it wrong. From memory, you get a proportion of what you paid back depending how much impact the error is estimated to have on reader response. So wrong colour would probably get lttle, if any compensation, but wrong phone number might get you a complete refund.

[Pat-UK]

Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

Again today a barrage of missed calls and messages left by Becky from Yellow pages. Some withheld and some from the 108579 Freephone number.

It Does appear they are getting more and more desperate this year for sales.
One on thee thing I have just looked at out of curiosity is the share/value of yell, it’s at an all time low. Also announced today is that the Yell brand is going to be renamed HIBU Plc in July so any online brand recognition Yell had is going to disappear , the printed directories are going to Keep Yell on them for now though.

[Madmac]

Re: Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

My local rep quit just as this years edition was going to print, didn’t even let me know, she lives just 4 miles away too :rolls:

I was left to sort it out over the phone but didn’t get a further chance to amend the proof as I wanted to. 🙁

It does appear they’re getting pretty desperate,recently shrinking the size of the book(and the ads) now upping the ad size this year for the same price.
Headless chickens running around trying to adapt to a rapidly changing world IMO 😯

Eddie.

[twicknix]

Yellow pages 2012 ( is it any better this year )

in my own opinion, they will keep ringing you until you break. They are a waste of time, I don’t think people nowadays will be as faithful to the Yellow Pages even though it is now all web-based.

Customers will simply pick up the local advertiser that comes through the door and ring whoever is in that advertiser. I do know from experience that this methods works really well. You need a patience of a saint for work to crop up.

There is this Thompson Local vying for your slice of attention, just simply register with them for free advert. You will be surprised how many people will ring you from that one line advert that is free. Oddly enough they never pester you, I think they generated their income from how many clicks.

[Author]

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