thebestof question

[Coppock]

Hi, has anyone been listed on thebestof and seen a return?
thanks
Jen​

 

[eventdomain]

Not yet, according to their website you must phone them:

If you think your business is one of the best in UK and should be featured on thebestof then call
0121 765 5550

this could mean 2 things:

1. seems like a complicated way to 'get listed'
2. could be charged for entry

it might be worth being listed as people can leave testimonials about you. Might be good for the local 'word of mouth' exposure.

So the only way to know is to ring them I guess

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I think there are a fair few franchise owners still waiting to see a return too......

 

[streetslocal]

I think there are a fair few franchise owners still waiting to see a return too......

Having spoken to many best of franchisees i concur with this statement.

 

[Coppock]

i spoke with our local one - they came round and interviewed me. He wants to list us, but they want an upfront payment and monthly subscription.

I'm just debating whether or not it is likely to provide a good return, you get to use their logo for your promotions so I guess you look more serious and professional even if the directory doesnt send much...

Hmmm... I guess the question is will £400ish be better spent on google adwords, printed marketing, pr or being listed in thebestof....

any views welcomed!

Jen

 

[Morgy]

Why would you look more serious & professional using the logo of another business?

 

[Coppock]

Dunno, guess having "the best of" logo at the bottom would make you look a bit more serious... maybe not... maybe just me reading into things a bit too much!

 

[Morgy]

'the best of' isn't a body or professional membership it's a business.
If you put their logo on your advertising materials you are giving 'the best of' free advertising! People won't even know what the best of is. Look into some sort of body for your industry, maybe join the FSB.

I never understand why people put those ugly Yellow Pages stickers on their vans saying 'We're in'. Why would you send a potential customer who has just seen your details on your van to pages full of your competitors?

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

I would agree with FSB membership. And it's a lot cheaper. And you get some real benefits, partic if you use Streamline.

 

[QVA - Emma]

Yep I concur with the FSB theory - in fact spend the £400 ish on other stuff rather than a listing on thebestof!

Split your budget into 3 or 4 different ways of marketing your business.

Emma

 

[eventdomain]

Hmmm... I guess the question is will £400ish be better spent on google adwords, printed marketing, pr or being listed in thebestof....

£400 is a lot just for a listing, I'd want quite a bit more for that cash. But I'd suggest spending it on public relations first, then look to the various directories to buy links.

Other things you need are:

Recommend Us tool
Add to Favourites link
Testimonials page
Basic SEO work done/Social network links
Give something for free in exchange for a link (eg: Logo & weblink)

 

[DotNetWebs]

I think there are a fair few franchise owners still waiting to see a return too......

There was a very interesting thread on this forum a year or so ago which ended up as a bun fight between a majority of angry franchise owners and a minority who disagreed with them.

I seem to remember that thread was one of the ones that lead to the demise of the old franchise forum.

Regards

Dotty

 

[david64]

I heard someone talking (on speakerphone) to the franchisee of TBO Telford. He has put in £35,000 and was advertising on TVs in Tescos and getting nowhere. Seems to be doing ok now though - 3 years later.

However, the only time I have every heard of TBO is people asking me, "The Best Of have contacted me and want me to advertise. Who are they?" Although us folks involved in SEO all seem to know who they are, the general populous doesn't. To me it just seems like another company trying to eek out a slice of the saturated directory pie. Although, they have done quite a good job at driving web traffic. That site must be getting about 75,000+ uniques a month.

 

with any form of online advertising it all comes down to mathes.

first question.

How many uniques per day does the directory have.?

How many business's are there to divide into that traffic.?

how many business's doing the same thing as you are there on the directory.?

where on the page will your listing be.?

No you would be much better off spending your £400 quid on a bit of SEO or PPC.


Earl

 

I think you should answer the question the other way up...

Have you , or do you know ANYONE that has ever used "thebestof" to search for anything. I have not, and I dont know anyone that does.

And if you dont, why do you assume your customers do?

Where everybody knows someone who uses google (various flavours) , ebay etc..etc etc.

 

I think you should answer the question the other way up...

Have you , or do you know ANYONE that has ever used "thebestof" to search for anything. I have not, and I dont know anyone that does.

And if you dont, why do you assume your customers do?

Where everybody knows someone who uses google (various flavours) , ebay etc..etc etc.

To true Google is the daddy.

And I'm your Dutch Uncle.

Earl

 

[Private Detective London]

As admagic has said, would you visit 'thebestof' in order to find a service you are looking for?

I wouldn't as whats the point, with its listings not being impartial you would be as well searching via a search engine, like most people do.

 

[DotNetWebs]

...listings not being impartial...

That's the point. They says things like:

"Every business that is featured on our Site has been visited and checked out by us and recommended by other local people"

They Clearly imply that the listings are "the best", have been vetted and only "recommended" businesses will be unaccepted.

In reality it is just another directory and most franchisees need every listing they can get - I wonder how many get turned down?

Here is a thread from some time back which has some very interesting replies about the impartiality' of some of the 'recommendations':

'http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=39077

Regards

Dotty

 

[Coppock]

I think you should answer the question the other way up...

Have you , or do you know ANYONE that has ever used "thebestof" to search for anything. I have not, and I dont know anyone that does.

And if you dont, why do you assume your customers do?

Where everybody knows someone who uses google (various flavours) , ebay etc..etc etc.

Very true! Although I must admit I was looking for a gym in wrexham last night and the second one down was someone on thebestof lol. I'm going to go down and see them...

I was also looking at some franchise options for a relative, just browsing really and found thebestof franchise - summet like £13000 to start one... guess for that amount they might not be as fussy as they sounds...

Thanks for all your advice guys, I think the money will probably see more return through ppc.

Jen

 

[eventdomain]

For a general all-purpose directory, the bestof has done very well, but the franchise idea is unworkable in my opinion as anyone could build their own general directory for less than 13k

Still, I find myself liking the 'community' aspect of it, and it probably has some legs, provided it's run/managed correctly, but leaving this open to anybody, which is what they will get from franchisees isn't the best way to do this IMHO.

But at the end of the day it's just another general directory and I'm looking at this from a users perspective. I guess the question is - would anybody search it? and that can only be answered by driving the masses to it. My take on this whole directory thing is:

Too many general ones available
Competing is too difficult
It doesn't specialise/not niche
Re-inventing the wheel is now pointless
Market is flooded
Directories MUST solve a problem - most don't.

Directories must now go totally niche and the owners need domain expertise to make it stand a chance of success. 99% will fail and less than 0.5% will get media exposure of any kind.

It's one hell of an undertaking and knowing what I know, I would have done things very differently

 

[eventdomain]

with its listings not being impartial you would be as well searching via a search engine

Are you saying there's zero trust regarding 'company reviews'? But user reviews are the best measure of credibility bcos searchers won't know otherwise.. So what about Amazon, do you trust the reviews on there?

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon, and find the reviews most helpful when deciding to make my purchases...

 

[streetslocal]

Very true! Although I must admit I was looking for a gym in wrexham last night and the second one down was someone on thebestof lol. I'm going to go down and see them...

This is the key business directories can be found on the major search engines as well and this is an excellent way to help the local builder or plumber who does not want a website.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Are you saying there's zero trust regarding 'company reviews'? But user reviews are the best measure of credibility bcos searchers won't know otherwise.. So what about Amazon, do you trust the reviews on there?

I buy a ton of stuff from Amazon, and find the reviews most helpful when deciding to make my purchases...

I don't think that the model means that there's zero trust in the recommendations/reviews, but that there's zero trust in the listings. ]]Most people have been approached by a franchisee looking for advertisers, the company pays for the advertising and then gets the reviews from selected past customers.

I don't see the model helping increase trust. because the franchisee is effectively cold calling and selling, he has no idea of trust, reputation, standing of the companies he calls.

Can companies advertise without any recommendations? I am assuming so, otherwise the franchise model is restricting the franchisee from making an income.

It seems that the business model and the website objectives are slightly at odds.

 

[eventdomain]

This is the key business directories can be found on the major search engines as well and this is an excellent way to help the local builder or plumber who does not want a website.

It works to an extent, a certain point. But marketing these general b2b models is hard, bcos it's not newsworthy anymore. Business ideas need the media big-time and thus must be unique or their too tough to promote.

@ Boxby --

but that there's zero trust in the listings.

Well, if that's true then that means the companies listed aren't trusted? Na, it can't be that way, bcos the word of mouth would need to be out and readily available to know that.

the company pays for the advertising and then gets the reviews from selected past customers.

Are you suggesting that the companies that end up listed, are 'hand picked' by thebestof?

Past customers? Are these customers that used eg: Company A = Plumber ltd -- then posted a rewiew or do you mean 'any old review' is granted to a new company listing?

See I don't think a select directory service is what the bestof are attempting. There's too many b2b businesses for that to be the case. No, I think this is a review based b2b general directory, using franchisees as it's 'building block' strategy.

 

[TheBestOfFranchisee]

TheBestOf - Warning Don't Buy the Franchise, as an ex franchisee I warn others not to buy the franchise, everything presented in terms of sales revenues has not been verified by a third party auditor, and they are not a member of the British Franchise Association and I personally know a lot of people like myself who have lost tens of thousands of £pounds to these people, I'm surprised someone hasn't taken them to court, I can only assume its due to the lack of funds.
Further more none of my clients ever made anything from being on the site, which is why they left in droves in the second year.

 

[harryboon]

God you see their adverts everywhere here in Cheltenham - Big banners on the side of the road!

So they are cr*p then??

 

[popunder]

Cheltenham is thebestof's flagship territory and has gone from nowhere to "THE place to advertise" in Cheltenham in under 3 years. They DO only approach quality businesses and many are turned away. However it is a franchise so other towns may operate differently, and may not have the blanket coverage of all media that Cheltenham has.

A lot of people say "I haven't heard of thebestof so they can't be any good" whereas in fact their site is heavily SEOed and a paid-for page on their site can often generate powerful Google links within days. If you're in a competitive business this can be very cost-effective compared to your own SEO and PPC (often a PPC campaign is included too as part of the price). The SEO benefit of the link itself can be worth the money. I know plenty of thebestof-listed businesses doing quite nicely from their very modest payments, although it's true the website part won't "work" for every business, that's why they do bus ads and billboards and all that as well.