Is Yellow Pages Business Advertising Value For Money?

Yellow Pages Business Advertising used to be a great solution when people did not use to have google search.

However, times have changed and now you are reading this in 2022 then yellow pages are a thing of the past.

You’re probably on a touch screen device and not in a big heavy yellow book. So the answer is a resounding NO to the question – Is Yellow Pages Business Advertising Value For Money?

Too many people are not moving with the times and keeping up with the new age of digital marketing. You need to do this when growing a business, no matter how large or small that business may be. So, yellow pages may now be an outdated method of advertising.

The future of successful advertising in online marketing and teaming up with a quality lead generation company, not yellow pages advertising.

Yellow pages is still a well known UK tradesman website alongside checkatrade, rated people and trust a trader but if it is a consistent flow of converting enquiries you want? Then you need to be looking at the best lead-gen services in the UK, not a Yellow Pages ad.

Contents

1 The Power of Google
2 Where Does Yell Actually Rank?
3 Boosting Enquiries for Your Business
4 Don’t Rule Yell Out Completely
5 What is Yellow Page Advertising?
6 How much does it cost to put an ad in the Yellow Pages?
7 Why Listen To A Stranger
8 Yell Premium Listing Review
9 Tell Us Your Thoughts
10 Related Lead Generation Posts

The Power of Google

Gone are the days of picking up that big yellow book and looking through the yellow pages to find the service you need. Nowadays the majority of us go straight to Google to find what we’re looking for.

In fact, 80% of us have Google set as our internet browser’s homepage. So, obviously, that’s going to be the place that most of us look first, rather than sift our way through the chunky online yellow pages directory.

Ask yourself how often you go to Yell.com to find local businesses such as a Coffee Shop in your area for example.

Small business owners may benefit from utilising the Google search engine and upgrading their digital marketing, such as search engine optimization, rather than running Yellow Pages ads which incur monthly costs.

Most people use Google, yet some businesses are paying a lot of advertising costs to get their local businesses to show up in the top search results on Yell Limited.

A fraction of that could go towards getting their business on the first page of Google, which is more beneficial than forking out for the Yellow Pages advertising costs, as it is more likely to reach the target audience on Google than in the Yellow Page directory.

So, a Yellow Pages ad might be a waste of funds; why buy Yellow Pages Ads when you could invest in social media strategy and digital advertising instead?

Where Does Yell Actually Rank?

I put Yell.com to the test by searching for ‘loft conversions in Manchester’ (because I am actually thinking about having a loft conversion).

Straight away I see 3 Premium Listings, one of them proudly displaying ‘15+ years with Yell’ on their ad.

Hopefully, they haven’t been paying for a premium listing all this time. I don’t even want to think about how much that might add up to.

I put the same search to Google and find Yellow Pages ranks in the bottom half of the SECOND page on Google for the same search.

So, obviously, Yellow Pages online worth has definitely decreased over time, so you should consider taking your local business elsewhere.

page 2 of google serps

What that tells me is, even before clicking on the Yellow Pages result, there have been almost 20 other businesses that I could choose from before seeing the paid premium listings on Yellow Pages.

Those businesses are likely spending much less compared to the top ones on Yellow Pages. In the digital age, strategies like Search Engine Optimization and organic search engines ranking are much more valuable to many companies than these online directories.

Online advertising reaches many more potential customers than directory listings as online media is more readily accessible in this digital era. Digital marketing has taken over so directory listings, like the Yellow Pages, are now seen as outdated.

So, is Yellow Pages advertising worth it? The answer is, unfortunately, probably not.

Boosting Enquiries for Your Business

The important thing to remember from this article though is that what we are trying to achieve.

It is to get more customers through increased enquiries and interest in your business to make them grow. We’re not trying to count the pennies wasted on Yell.

If you’re looking for a no-risk supply of enquiries for your business, this is something we can assist you with through our unique service.

We can set up a strategy which provides your company with enquiries. You only pay us for the leads which turn into orders. Leave a comment below or get in touch with us to find out more about this opportunity, and what we can do to help you.

“I cannot thank James Dooley at FatRank enough, for the enquiries he sends my business. The price I pay is a fraction of what I was giving to yell.com, and yet he delivers quadruple the leads to me every week that they ever sent”

Don’t Rule Yell Out Completely

Yell Premium Listings might work well for some companies and that’s great for them.

It certainly won’t hurt for small businesses to make a free listing on Yell and fill it with as much content as possible (URL, phone number, pictures etc.).

A free listing on any business directory is just another mention for your company and another place that people can find your contact details and services.

There’s definitely no harm in listing your business through a free ad, as some people do still use it to find a specific business/service and it’s published annually.

The point I am making is that with SEO it’s about getting your business name out to a larger audience.

Yell Business Advertising Costs Vs Organic SEO

That is how you will generate more enquiries and in turn generate more sales. You’ll find that using other methods of boosting enquiries for more sales can be much more cost-effective, so definitely don’t waste money on a Premium Yell listing.

Yell online is an old way of doing things and is becoming about as useful as a White Pages or Yellow Pages directory, and the only use for that which springs to mind is the young boy in the old TV advert using one as a step up to get a sneaky kiss under the mistletoe.

Any business looking to grow needs to be out with the old and in with the new.

What is Yellow Page Advertising?

Yellow page advertising is one of many telephone directories of businesses in the UK. It lists alphabetically by business name, and in which advertising is sold which contains first name, last name, business details and other contact details.

The yell.com online business directory was originally printed on yellow paper but has moved onto an online platform. It is the largest telephone directory in the United Kingdom.

Businesses use this paid advertising to promote their brand online.

How much does it cost to put an ad in the Yellow Pages?

The cost to put an ad in the yellow pages is $250 per month.

The monthly costs for a Yellow Pages ad that takes up a quarter of the page might run you about $1,250 per month. Depending on where your business is located a full-page Yellow Pages ad might run between $2,500 to $5,000 per month.

So, Yellow Pages advertising is expensive even when you don’t get a full-page ad.

Business owners should assess whether the monthly cost of running a business listing or Yellow Page advertising is worth the outcome they receive.

Does Yellow Pages advertising generate leads? Does the Yellow Page directory help you connect with new clients? How has the Yellow Page phone book increased your sales?

We feel these costs for the advert is not value for money.

Why Listen To A Stranger

If you want to know who I am and find out a little more about myself to see whether you can trust this article then here are some blogs to educate you on myself the author of this article:

Here is the history of myself – James Z Dooley
This is why I become an SEO and online marketer
Here is how I stay ahead of the game online by networking with the best marketers in the world
If you think this is a sales pitch page then worry not as you will realise here I don’t do client SEO work
Article to show you my life lessons learnt and show you this website is not designed for sales pitches but just for offering value

I would love you to read throughout the site and understand these articles are here to educate and help others do better for themselves.