Comments on: Is The Yellow Pages A Money Machine Or Fools Gold?

By: Crikey

Crikey — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:19:21 +0000

My Dad used to use yellow pages and i do not believe it was worth it for the price… With the many ways of getting exposure you can get a lot more value for money in other ways.. It is just my opinion though..

By: Mattg

Mattg — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 09:28:23 +0000

Excellent article, would refer to my knowns.

By: Matthew Peschong

Matthew Peschong — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 18:31:20 +0000

Wonderful post. It could have been broken up into several posts though. A very long post that took me around 15 minutes to go through.

I tend to have the same way of doing things though on my own blog. I’ve been trying to keep to the point lately though.

http://www.CaffeineMarketing.com/

By: Alexander Kintis

Alexander Kintis — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 16:56:06 +0000

Using the Yellow Pages really depends on the purpose of your business. If you are a local business, servicing local customers, etc. then it would be feasible, however if you are a web-based business it would not be a good idea to advertise in the yellow pages; it may be good if you want to target an area of which the yellow pages is distributed to even though there are better means — I would think — than that.

Like I said, I havn’t tested my explanation or used any kind of metrics but it would be nice to see the results of someone who has.

By: Pam Tremble

Pam Tremble — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 04:02:29 +0000

I used to own a small wedding planning business and used Yellow Pages advertising. During my first couple years in business I could not afford to buy ad space and simply had the free ‘single-line’ listing within the directory. When I was finally able to afford to purchase a small ad, I was disappointed to find that my ad didn’t generate any additional calls than my single-line listing did. Needless to say I went back to the free listing the next year.

For me personally when I’m looking for businesses in the Yellow Pages I tend to go first to the listing rather than the big splashy ads. I know how much those ads cost and I know that those businesses have to pay for it somehow — and it’s usually coming directly from my pocketbook. So I tend to do business with the “little guys” who just have a directory listing and not a big ad.

Just another perspective,
Pam

By: Peter Penny

Peter Penny — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 16:38:32 +0000

Hugh;
Excellent article. I think a lot of people are now re-thinking their use of Yellow Pages ads. They are probably still necessary to a point, but I use these ads the same way I use Google ads…not to sell my services, but simply to get people to visit my Web Site. That is where I go for the sale.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 02:10:02 +0000

Hi Paul,
Thanks very much for your feedback, I’m glad you enjoyed reading it. I’m new to blogging, so still trying to find my feet.

It bothers me how institutionalised the Yellow Pages is, and how very few people ever think to question its effectiveness.

Keep me posted on how you go with your plans for word of mouth generation, viral marketing is a fascinating topic and I would love to hear how you go! I’ve got an article on exceptional service going up this week, which you might find interesting.

If you’re keen for ideas to help word of mouth generation, I would recommend reading “All Marketers are Liars” and “Purple Cow” by Seth Godin. I read these recently and I was very impressed with them. Check out my blog for the reviews.

Yaro, thanks again for publishing my article.

All the best,

Hugh

By: Yaro

Yaro — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 09:30:35 +0000

Glad you liked it Paul. Hopefully Hugh the author of the post will see your comment too.

By: A Perth Computer Repair guy - Paul

A Perth Computer Repair guy - Paul — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 07:42:58 +0000

Hey.. I like the post here – I’m currently considering yellow pages advertising for my business and you brought up some good points to consider. Thanks for that!

From my understanding it comes down to the fact that putting an ad in the yellow pages is relatively easy. Creating a community of customers that actively spread word of mouth about your company is a challenge – I’m actively trying to take this challenge onboard and apply word of mouth marketing for my business, so any more tips on this issue will be very interesting!

I appreciate your post.

Cheers,
Paul