Yell - does it work?

[streetslocal]

I know what I'm talking about.

Never said you didnt.
But you were the one who wrote into the paper asking for advice was you not:|

 

[sjr4x4]

What seperates the three directories that you mentioned above? I mean I see the 'local aspect' thing but hasn't this been done a million times before on the web by Google, Yell, Thomson, TouchLocal etc....

To be honest, I could have a General B2b directory set up in 2 weeks, and totally full with 20'000 listings within 2 years and totally decimate every living directory on the web. The reason I choose NOT to do this is bcos it would be pointless as the saturation is huge...

.....I know what I'm talking about.

I thought you were putting some intelligent points before, now your arguments fell off a cliff.

emotional attachment? I'm running a business. Yep its been a journey, but were building a profitable business, with employee's, offering a service people are voluntarily subscribing to.

Listening to your points, I'd expect to be blown away with your site, a masterpeice of 21st century web design... instead I'm confronted with a 1990's portal.

If I spend a fiver and download your latest filed accounts, will I be blown away with your revenue and profit?

You obviously have a drum to beat, and obviously have the best business in the world, but the argument is now starting to stagnate, and with that I'll bail, and hand out the P45's before we get decimated...

 

[streetslocal]

I thought you were putting some intelligent points before, now your arguments fell off a cliff.

emotional attachment? I'm running a business. Yep its been a journey, but were building a profitable business, with employee's, offering a service people are voluntarily subscribing to.

Listening to your points, I'd expect to be blown away with your site, a masterpeice of 21st century web design... instead I'm confronted with a 1990's portal.

If I spend a fiver and download your latest filed accounts, will I be blown away with your revenue and profit?

You obviously have a drum to beat, and obviously have the best business in the world, but the argument is now starting to stagnate, and with that I'll bail, and hand out the P45's before we get decimated...

Just out of curiosity how do you operate so cheaply just looked at the pricing and thought WOW!

 

[eventdomain]

Never said you didnt.
But you were the one who wrote into the paper asking for advice was you not:|

Na, i don't think so hehe.

I had NO say in what was published, in other words it was out of my control. The Mirror article was used solely for the purpose of exposure, and it worked too bcos no matter what anyone thinks, it got me infront of 8.1 million people. That article then got picked up by a top industry magazine, so the Mirror thing served a useful purpose.

See, no matter what press release is sent out, it has a very high chance of being turned into something or used for a different purpose.

The press can take a release and chop it to bits, so only a single line of text or a quote is used. They don't ring you up and tell you what they did, they just do it hehe, the press has so much power, it's amazing what comes from it.

It wasnt a sudden rush of traffic, but over time the traffic picks up, I got quite a few enquiries, quite a nice plug from the paper and some sales. I was getting recognised walking down the street! Press is so powerful..

 

[streetslocal]

Na, i don't think so hehe.

I had NO say in what was published, in other words it was out of my control. The Mirror article was used solely for the purpose of exposure, and it worked too bcos no matter what anyone thinks, it got me infront of 8.1 million people. That article then got picked up by a top industry magazine, so the Mirror thing served a useful purpose.

See, no matter what press release is sent out, it has a very high chance of being turned into something or used for a different purpose.

The press can take a release and chop it to bits, so only a single line of text or a quote is used. They don't ring you up and tell you what they did, they just do it hehe, the press has so much power, it's amazing what comes from it.

It wasnt a sudden rush of traffic, but over time the traffic picks up, I got quite a few enquiries, quite a nice plug from the paper and some sales. I was getting recognised walking down the street! Press is so powerful..

 

[reddingl]

Important to note:

Not many people know this but Yell has a deal with Google and it will help your website (as long as you include the URL on the yell.com listing) rank on Google.

 

[am:pm graphics]

Wow I started this thread over 3 years ago!

Just to add - we still advertise in Yellow pages and never bothered with paid advertising in yell. Had lots of work through YP

From discussions with others I don't think Yell would have been right for us and other paid directories (online) have never worked for us..so we stay clear now.

Pauline

 

[eventdomain]

I thought you were putting some intelligent points before, now your arguments fell off a cliff.

emotional attachment? I'm running a business. Yep its been a journey, but were building a profitable business, with employee's, offering a service people are voluntarily subscribing to.

Listening to your points, I'd expect to be blown away with your site, a masterpeice of 21st century web design... instead I'm confronted with a 1990's portal.

If I spend a fiver and download your latest filed accounts, will I be blown away with your revenue and profit?

You obviously have a drum to beat, and obviously have the best business in the world, but the argument is now starting to stagnate, and with that I'll bail, and hand out the P45's before we get decimated...

1990's portal? okay, yes it could do with a redesign sure - no problem there. Really not bothered mate.

And the 3 section style is very popular with many websites. It never effected results anyway.

and obviously have the best business in the world

Getting there, but the UK is fine for us at this time.

If I spend a fiver and download your latest filed accounts

Companies only list with Companies house if they are of Ltd ownership for Corporation tax purposes, but we aren't as it just makes more sense to be Sole Ownership status at this time...

Who wants to be Ltd anyway, think about the increased paperwork and Corporation tax liability. We have enough admin to do without adding to it thanks hehe Also registration fees etc - who needs it, and all for the brief, limited ego of saying "I'm a Director of a Ltd company" - who gives a stuff. But whatever floats your boat....

with employee's, offering a service

At the end of the day you have an ordinary B2b database with an added niche attachment of building companies. Perhaps you should just stick with the building side of it? Bcos that would make you stand out more.

You obviously have a drum to beat

Nothing wrong with a bit of innovation in this world Matey, and staff photos of ex builder types don't make people spend more money, so I'd lose that if I were you. Nothing worse than a company photo of beaming smiles, and some would say that's very 1990's.......

But hey, good luck with your directory okay.

 

[streetslocal]

The thing is event domain........
If you were making major money you would surely be limited as it has major tax benefits

As for a little redesign of the site.....
Well your template is out dated and not effective in anyway.
www.streetslocal.co.uk and my local services are light years ahead in design terms and we are going web 2.0 very soon.

The problem is event domain....
You try to come across that you know it all when it comes to the directory business but the reality is....your directory is achieving very little.

 

[Scarlet583]

The problem with Yell.com is that yes web based sales have gone up but the company are just transferring print revenue onto the web. They are losing print customers all over the country. The old tactics of taking a bigger advert or adding colour has lost it's punch. The other problem as this happens is that unless Yell spend heavily to increase traffic To Yell.com that Yell advert just becomes weaker and weaker. So unless customers spend more on a dominant listing they are wasting their money. More money to Yell!

Having spent 4 years at Yell I've seen countless companies complain about the response and with new call counting measures some customers now have absolute proof that the advert campaign didn't generate calls. It does however work for many businesses but the ROIs are questionable.

A company heavily in debt due to acquisitions in Spain & USA needs all the money it can get. UK businesses will therefore pay the price.