Advice desperately sought on where to advertise?

kbh4031

I am on yell.com & had it upgraded for £21 pr month. It only just pays its way, ive not had mush response from it at all. I also got a free yellow pages line which i have never had a call from.
I personally have decided to go in my local Phone Book as for my line of work(upvc) this is probably where someone would look for urgent repairs.
In your line of business I dont see it helping you at all.
Try placing a business ad on all of the free ads sites (pm me if you would like a list) also you could try freecycle cafes to tell everyone what your hubby does and get the word round.
If you do decide to go with YP remember their prices are negotionable and if you find out when their next book is going to print, then phone up a couple of weeks before it will probably be cheaper.
Remember ALWAYS when someone calls ask "where did you get our number from?" Then you can access what advertising works and what doesnt
GL
Kelly x

Tesla

Speaking from experience i think YP is a really bad means of advertising, especially for the new small business.

When you are just starting out you never have a full diary, this gives lots of time you can devote to promoting yourself. This will cost a little bit of money but doesn't need to be expensive. If all your money is tied up with YP then you cannot do anything except wait for the phone to ring.

greyteam1959

After 25 years in business I personally would save your £600 YP is old hat now I bin all mine straight away along with all the other phone directories.
I only ever use Google (and BT online for phone numbers).
These days you MUST have a web presence even if it is just 1 page with contact details.
Dont even pay someone to build a website.....you can build a simple one using BT or who ever your ISP is.

You just click and build dead simple dead cheap.

Lizbetty

oldtoolie wrote: »

You aren't in the Southampton area are you? We need forklift training occasionally at my charity's warehouse.quote]

Thanks for that :beer: - we're in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, which is quite a distance. Si would have loved to have helped though, his sister's friend had a lot of involvement in a similar project near Fochabers, I'm not sure if it's still ongoing since he sadly passed away a few months ago.

I'm about to print off all of your suggestions and set about attempting to build a website at some point in the next couple of days, which sounds like the way forward. Si mentioned that you need to pay quite a lot to be included in the searches like Google, etc, I'm not sure if this is the case? Our friend has a car valeting business - he paid a fortune for a website setting up and can we hell as like find his website by searching, even when we use his full company name! I'm sure that there's a way round this. It's something that I just don't know a huge amount about. I did try to set him a website up a few months back, I got to a point where they mentioned URLs and then never got to find out more as the kids are quite a distraction (I'm typing now with the baby in a sling and one eye on the eldest who's looking for mischief..!). I'm with Madasafish for broadband so I'll try picking their brains and see if it's a service they offer, as well as looking into all of the other sites people have mentioned.

Thanks again for all of your advice. It's a bit scary all this but I know he's glad he's done it. It's not to get rich (though that would be nice! ), just to get out of the stress of working balls out for someone else to buy themselves an ivory backscratcher! And spend a bit more time with the little uns, while they're little. We'll get there eventually! :T

Lucy

lovinit

i would agree with others that advertising with yp is a waste of money. we spent nearly £700 and got less than a hand full of calls and no work from them. like some one said its mainly people ringing for apprentiships or asking you toadvertise with them.
we got aught out in the begining with the 'charity advertisers' and spent hundreds and got no calls!!!!!!!!!!!
we have found the best thing is work of mouth and direct leafleting.
we also had someone from the same line of work call up to see if it was worth them advertising as yp were presuring them telling them that you have a great increase in work by advertising with them i told him that for us it hadnt hadnt.
i think it may depend on different businesses though
good luck the first 12 months are the hardest:rolleyes:

mikewebs

Hi there again

I read somewhere recently that if a business doesn't have a name that is at the earlier part of the alphabet, then any advertising in the Yellow Pages is pointless - people get fed up of wading through to try and find a supplier. I think this has a lot to psychology and less to do with laziness but it is an interesting factoid. I would, however recommend the BT Phone book (the one that has business and domestic listings) because it seems to be laid out better - I know I use it all the time, my yellow pages is redundant and only gets receycled (does that improve my carbon footprint?).

barrymung

Lucyeff wrote: »

We had two calls from just being on Yell.com for free in the first week (nothing since mind!), and I thought it meant that it was a guaranteed earner.

Strange..I had the same experience. Couple of enquiries over the first week and not much since then!

I have a few enquiries from a free listing in YP but it's quite unpredictable.

oldtoolie

You can make your own website but if you haven't done it before it probably won't look good. My first one didn't but you may be different. It is important that it look professional because people look to hire a professional. So a few pounds to someone with experience may be well spent.

Don't waste money on anyone offering 'search engine optimisation'. If you Google, "forklift training Wakefield,' this discussion is on the first page. So a website with the words in the title, "forklift training Wakefield, West Yorkshire" will be found. If you Google 'forklift training Yorkshire' you will also see the website of what I imagine would be a competitor doing exactly what you are trying to do. Your website should be as nice as his.

A website is not independent of other marketing. Business cards with the web address which get to prospective customers in whatever way will send them to the website where they can find out who you are and what you do.

saraharrow

Hi Lucyeff,We had an ad in YP, got tonnes of calls from people wanting to sell to us, none wanting to use our services (Courier / Transport). We are currentl;y on Yell.com and to be honest thats a waste as well, although other couriers swear by it.We found leaflets, cold calling, sending brochures and handing out pens and business cards worked better than alll the money spent on YP.There is a website that some of us on here use as well, its called https://www.salesandmarketingforum.co.uk and they have people from a wide range of business who are happy to advise you in a marketing capacity free of charge, they may be worth a go for you.Also have you tried your local business link and local authority for networking events? you can meet a few people, hand round a few business cards and generally get a few glassess of wine or breakfast as well! Ive met people at these events who I could never get in touch with when I cold called.Good luckSarah

barrymung

oldtoolie wrote: »

You aren't in the Southampton area are you? We need forklift training occasionally at my charity's warehouse.

Larry at Tools for Self Reliance
www.tfsr.org

Hello neighbour! TFSR are just down the road from Mung Towers!