Yell advertising , is it worth it ?

[SteamedTomatoes]

Been there, done that some years back - though I was paying 1/5th that amount for a lesser service with them.  Chap I used to work for was paying them 6k a year including the exorbitant amount he paid for them to "manage" his website - which literally involved them doing nothing!!!  Granted, he was booked out 6 weeks ahead all the time, but that's most likely a reflection on his top quality work and consistent underbidding across 6 years.

I got a few leads here and there through Yell, but I gave up on it after a bit over a year.  Tendency towards lowish value customers in my experience.

Best form of advertising if you're just starting out and are time rich but money poor may be targeted flyer drops.  I've read online about a 1/1000 response rate, but my flyers typically get 1/100 response rate.  I'm a perfectionist so I spent days designing the flyer, including a full day shifting elements around by fractions of a mm until they felt "right".  When you do a job, post flyers to the houses 2 or 3 doors to the left and right, and the 3 houses directly across the road.  Hand some to your customer and ask them to tell their friends about you.

A folding swing sign is good - if I put mine out 5 days a week I reckon I get 1 lead per week on average.  Swing signs are unusual, they move and people notice moving things.  (I feel like I'm giving away my secrets with that one!)

A well designed website with effective SEO is a VERY good move.  I spent 5 weeks updating my knowledge, learning SEO, and coding my own new website from scratch last year.  Bit of a passion project.  Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm now on the first page of Google for some of my desired search queries. Worth hiring someone familiar or local who can show they've built websites which rank highly on relevant Google searches if you can't/won't do it yourself.

Sign writing on your vehicle is something worth having as well.  Mine never brought in that many leads, but it's about hitting people with your brand enough times that it feels familiar when they inevitably search for a tradesperson like you, and looking professional.  (Plus, I paid £125 for mine and it saved me £250 on my first year of insurance as a new driver.)

A Google listing is a must.  It's free.  Make one now if you haven't already.

Get business cards to hand over the fence when neighbours hear you working or to the little old lady in the small blue car who inevitably asks for your details.

If you've got a bit of an artistic streak, a lot of time, and the willingness, ability, and persistence to learn new skills then you can do all of these yourself for a total cost of well under two months worth of Yell subscription at the price you mentioned, not factoring in the value of your time of course.

 

This concludes my masterclass in amateur professional marketing!  Best of luck to you.  Put in the leg work.  Invest your money wisely and with great care.  Please don't bother with Yell!!

Been there, done that some years back - though I was paying 1/5th that amount for a lesser service with them.  Chap I used to work for was paying them 6k a year including the exorbitant amount he paid for them to "manage" his website - which literally involved them doing nothing!!!  Granted, he was booked out 6 weeks ahead all the time, but that's most likely a reflection on his top quality work and consistent underbidding across 6 years.

I got a few leads here and there through Yell, but I gave up on it after a bit over a year.  Tendency towards lowish value customers in my experience.

Best form of advertising if you're just starting out and are time rich but money poor may be targeted flyer drops.  I've read online about a 1/1000 response rate, but my flyers typically get 1/100 response rate.  I'm a perfectionist so I spent days designing the flyer, including a full day shifting elements around by fractions of a mm until they felt "right".  Also when you do a job, post flyers to the houses 2 or 3 doors to the left and right, and the 3 houses directly across the road.  Hand some to your customer and ask them to tell their friends about you.

A folding swing sign is good - if I put mine out 5 days a week I reckon I get 1 lead per week on average.  Swing signs are unusual, they move and people notice moving things.  (I feel like I'm giving away my secrets with that one!)

A well designed website with effective SEO is a VERY good move.  I spent 5 weeks updating my knowledge, learning SEO, and coding my own new website from scratch last year.  Bit of a passion project.  Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm now on the first page of Google for some of my desired search queries. Worth hiring someone familiar or local who can show they've built websites which rank highly on relevant Google searches if you can't/won't do it yourself.

Sign writing on your vehicle is something worth having as well.  Mine never brought in that many leads, but it's about hitting people with your brand enough times that it feels familiar when they inevitably search for a tradesperson like you, and looking professional.  (Plus, I paid £125 for mine and it saved me £250 on my first year of insurance as a new driver.)

A Google listing is a must.  It's free.  Make one now if you haven't already.

Get business cards to hand over the fence when neighbours hear you working or to the little old lady in the small blue car who inevitably asks for your details.

If you've got a bit of an artistic streak, a lot of time, and the willingness, ability, and persistence to learn new skills then you can do all of these yourself for a total cost of well under two months worth of Yell subscription at the price you mentioned, not factoring in the value of your time of course.

 

This concludes my masterclass in amateur professional marketing!  Best of luck to you.  Put in the leg work.  Invest your money wisely and with great care.  Please don't bother with Yell!!

[doobin]

6 hours ago, SteamedTomatoes said:

Been there, done that some years back - though I was paying 1/5th that amount for a lesser service with them.  Chap I used to work for was paying them 6k a year including the exorbitant amount he paid for them to "manage" his website - which literally involved them doing nothing!!!  Granted, he was booked out 6 weeks ahead all the time, but that's most likely a reflection on his top quality work and consistent underbidding across 6 years.

I got a few leads here and there through Yell, but I gave up on it after a bit over a year.  Tendency towards lowish value customers in my experience.

Best form of advertising if you're just starting out and are time rich but money poor may be targeted flyer drops.  I've read online about a 1/1000 response rate, but my flyers typically get 1/100 response rate.  I'm a perfectionist so I spent days designing the flyer, including a full day shifting elements around by fractions of a mm until they felt "right".  When you do a job, post flyers to the houses 2 or 3 doors to the left and right, and the 3 houses directly across the road.  Hand some to your customer and ask them to tell their friends about you.

A folding swing sign is good - if I put mine out 5 days a week I reckon I get 1 lead per week on average.  Swing signs are unusual, they move and people notice moving things.  (I feel like I'm giving away my secrets with that one!)

A well designed website with effective SEO is a VERY good move.  I spent 5 weeks updating my knowledge, learning SEO, and coding my own new website from scratch last year.  Bit of a passion project.  Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm now on the first page of Google for some of my desired search queries. Worth hiring someone familiar or local who can show they've built websites which rank highly on relevant Google searches if you can't/won't do it yourself.

Sign writing on your vehicle is something worth having as well.  Mine never brought in that many leads, but it's about hitting people with your brand enough times that it feels familiar when they inevitably search for a tradesperson like you, and looking professional.  (Plus, I paid £125 for mine and it saved me £250 on my first year of insurance as a new driver.)

A Google listing is a must.  It's free.  Make one now if you haven't already.

Get business cards to hand over the fence when neighbours hear you working or to the little old lady in the small blue car who inevitably asks for your details.

If you've got a bit of an artistic streak, a lot of time, and the willingness, ability, and persistence to learn new skills then you can do all of these yourself for a total cost of well under two months worth of Yell subscription at the price you mentioned, not factoring in the value of your time of course.

 

This concludes my masterclass in amateur professional marketing!  Best of luck to you.  Put in the leg work.  Invest your money wisely and with great care.  Please don't bother with Yell!!

Been there, done that some years back - though I was paying 1/5th that amount for a lesser service with them.  Chap I used to work for was paying them 6k a year including the exorbitant amount he paid for them to "manage" his website - which literally involved them doing nothing!!!  Granted, he was booked out 6 weeks ahead all the time, but that's most likely a reflection on his top quality work and consistent underbidding across 6 years.

I got a few leads here and there through Yell, but I gave up on it after a bit over a year.  Tendency towards lowish value customers in my experience.

Best form of advertising if you're just starting out and are time rich but money poor may be targeted flyer drops.  I've read online about a 1/1000 response rate, but my flyers typically get 1/100 response rate.  I'm a perfectionist so I spent days designing the flyer, including a full day shifting elements around by fractions of a mm until they felt "right".  Also when you do a job, post flyers to the houses 2 or 3 doors to the left and right, and the 3 houses directly across the road.  Hand some to your customer and ask them to tell their friends about you.

A folding swing sign is good - if I put mine out 5 days a week I reckon I get 1 lead per week on average.  Swing signs are unusual, they move and people notice moving things.  (I feel like I'm giving away my secrets with that one!)

A well designed website with effective SEO is a VERY good move.  I spent 5 weeks updating my knowledge, learning SEO, and coding my own new website from scratch last year.  Bit of a passion project.  Not everyone's cup of tea, but I'm now on the first page of Google for some of my desired search queries. Worth hiring someone familiar or local who can show they've built websites which rank highly on relevant Google searches if you can't/won't do it yourself.

Sign writing on your vehicle is something worth having as well.  Mine never brought in that many leads, but it's about hitting people with your brand enough times that it feels familiar when they inevitably search for a tradesperson like you, and looking professional.  (Plus, I paid £125 for mine and it saved me £250 on my first year of insurance as a new driver.)

A Google listing is a must.  It's free.  Make one now if you haven't already.

Get business cards to hand over the fence when neighbours hear you working or to the little old lady in the small blue car who inevitably asks for your details.

If you've got a bit of an artistic streak, a lot of time, and the willingness, ability, and persistence to learn new skills then you can do all of these yourself for a total cost of well under two months worth of Yell subscription at the price you mentioned, not factoring in the value of your time of course.

 

This concludes my masterclass in amateur professional marketing!  Best of luck to you.  Put in the leg work.  Invest your money wisely and with great care.  Please don't bother with Yell!!

Absoloutely brilliant post, welcome to the forum.

 

Care to elaborate about signwriting bringing your insurance down?

[SteamedTomatoes]

13 hours ago, doobin said:

Absoloutely brilliant post, welcome to the forum.

 

Care to elaborate about signwriting bringing your insurance down?

When searching for insurance on Compare The Market there is a field about whether or not your vehicle is signwritten.  I did a couple of searches, one without signwriting, one with signwriting on the front, back, and sides of the vehicle.  With signwriting the cost to insure myself as a driver with a fresh new license for my first year on the road driving my VW T4 tipper was roughly £3,730 (yes, you read that number correctly...), without signwriting it was about £250 dearer.  I haven't noticed much if any difference in price during any of my searches since then unfortunately.

I didn't bother getting my license until after I started my business for the exact reason that driving would cost me loads of money without increasing my earnings at all as an already fully booked subcontractor.  Once I started my business, the maths drastically changed and it became worthwhile incurring the additional cost - though one might say that first year was a bit of a loss leader with a premium as high as it was!

Edited March 10, 2023 by SteamedTomatoes