Website v Yellow Pages

[Mayhem 1]

Website v Yellow Pages

I know this thread has been done before but..................

My subscription is due in a few months and I am starting to think that YP is seriously dying a death!!!!!! and the calls I do get are the typical "how much do you charge type tyre kickers"

Do you those who do have a website find that you get a more serious enquirey?

And more importantly, do you find that you get more enquires anyway?

I look forward to your imput Chaps.

Best wishes

Mayhem 1

[Corabar Entertainment]

Without a doubt.... yes, and yes! :D :D

[Vectis]

YP et al produce the most tyre-kickers, so I only have the basic (free) listings in those.

Local rag produces a mix of folks - some tyre-kickers, some serious.

Website produces the best new leads - the best paying "nicer" jobs.

Word-of-mouth produces the best customers overall.

[Mayhem 1]

Good Afternoon Angela,

Many thanks for your reply.

So that is
Web - 1 YP - 0

Best wishes
Mayhem 1

[Mayhem 1]

Hiya vectisvibe,

Thanks mate, I aggree about word of mouth, that is the best ever.

regards

Mayhem 1

[Danno13]

My website generates far more work for me than the Yellow Pages. Although i only have a one line ad in YP, so not fair to compare to a full website where you can have gone part, if not most of the way towards selling yourself, before you even get the enquiry.

[rob1963]

I stopped doing mobiles as a hobby / part time job and turned it into a full time business a couple of years ago.

From what I could tell, it seemed that most people wanting a disco for the better quality occasions were looking online rather than in Yellow pages, so I got a website done (with prices on) and placed adverts on about 20 of those wedding directory sites. Some were free, the most expensive was £115 (although it generates about 70% of my bookings), but I would say that the average price works out at about £20 a year for each advert.

I get quite a few bookings, all good quality, and have never had a query starting "Whats the cheapest..."

Having seen several previous postings from DJs saying that Yellow Pages isn't anywhere near as good as it used to be for generating work, I think it's better to have a nice website and a strong presence on the internet rather than a strong presence in the local phone books. It's also cheaper.

I was thinking of starting a separate thread about the best wedding websites to advertise on, although I have held off...as I guess it probably breaks the terms & conditions which state that you can't generally advertise here.

[Mayhem 1]

Hiya Rob,

Thanks for that buddy, deffo food for thought mate

regards

Mayhem 1

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Website generates much more work for me. I just have a small one line ad in YP for customer reference.

[Mayhem 1]

Cheers Darren Mate,

regards

Mayhem 1

[Corabar Entertainment]

I was thinking of starting a separate thread about the best wedding websites to advertise on, although I have held off...as I guess it probably breaks the terms & conditions which state that you can't generally advertise here.I wouldn't have thought that would break the rules - unless, of course, you use it to plug wedding websites that you are personally involved in! :D ;)

[Danno13]

I was thinking of starting a separate thread about the best wedding websites to advertise on, although I have held off...as I guess it probably breaks the terms & conditions which state that you can't generally advertise here.

I'd be interested in this.. I'm on a few at the moment, mostly just cheap or free ones and i've had about 3 referal hits in a whole year from all of them combined! So would be handy to know the good ones...

[rob1963]

Thanks Angela.

I'm not personally involved in ANY wedding websites.

I just thought it might be a useful thread so we can all target our online advertising more effectively, ie with the wedding directory sites that get the best responses. After all, there are plenty of them out there, and it's not easy deciding which ones to choose for the best results.

[Shaun]

I just thought it might be a useful thread so we can all target our online advertising more effectively, ie with the wedding directory sites that get the best responses.

I agree. Looking forward to you posting the topic.

[rob1963]

Ok - new thread posted!

[stez]

if your going to go in yellow pages
do what i have done and make sure you get your website address
within the ad
it gave me a lot more hits on my website last year
my cost for going in yell this year is 288 pound which wont break the bank
but i agree with the others get a website if you havent got one

[pulsemobiledisco]

YP is a waste of money and time IMHO. I spent £250 on a small add last year, and only took a couple of bookings from it. My website generates most of my enquires.

[rob1963]

Well Mayhem...your question was Website v Yellow pages, and there hasn't been a single vote for Yellow pages, so i think you have your answer!

[Mayhem 1]

Hiya Rob Mate,

Yep, mind made up.

New website here we come.

Now, where can I find someone to sort it for me?? ah I know, where is that yellow Pages

regards

Mayhem 1

[Corabar Steve]

Have a word with Richie

[electricnite]

website definatley yp rand to see if i wanted to change anything for my entry this year i said yes REMOVE it over priced non generating ad rag

[Mayhem 1]

Hiya Sean,

What did they say to your 2 remarks??

regards

Mayhem 1

[djswirl]

I would agree, YP is not worth the paper it’s printed on, but (there’s always a but) if you don’t know how to put a website together then pay somebody to do it, you need to know and understand and I really mean KNOW in order to make a good site that will work for you, remember it’s not just the design it’s got to be search engine friendly.
A bad site, (and I’m sorry to say there are a lot of really bad DJ sites out there) will not do you any favours.

The unfortunate truth is a lot of people think they can make a website, when most people should no attempt it. Remember if you pay a professional person to make an average site if should cost you about £500, but if design correctly then you will not need to keep updating it and thus over 5 years that’s less than your YP advert, plus a web site can give a lot more info than YP

Brian

[ross@rds]

YP are not worth it they called me last night asking if i was updating my free ad to a paid one said no was happy with the free one then the guy started making otu that you couldnt use free ones anymore. Just said to him well i aint getting any bookings from it anyway they come from my site and took my free ad out not got time for them these days lol.

[Shaun]

if you don’t know how to put a website together then pay somebody to do it, you need to know and understand and I really mean KNOW in order to make a good site that will work for you, remember it’s not just the design it’s got to be search engine friendly.
A bad site, (and I’m sorry to say there are a lot of really bad DJ sites out there) will not do you any favours.

The unfortunate truth is a lot of people think they can make a website, when most people should no attempt it. Remember if you pay a professional person to make an average site if should cost you about £500, but if design correctly then you will not need to keep updating it and thus over 5 years that’s less than your YP advert, plus a web site can give a lot more info than YP

Brian

I totally agree Brian.

"You only get one chance to make a first impression".

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I got the new copy of YP delivered today and there's only 2 pages of mobile discos and there used to be at least 4-6 in years gone past.

Tells you something.

[rob1963]

I'm with djswirl & eliteDJ...a reasonably decent website and some advertising in online directories is WAY better than a Yellow pages ad.

I agree that it's important to get a website designed by a professional, or at least someone who really knows what they're doing, as a bad site will put off potential clients & make you lose work.

[ross@rds]

Best place to put your ad is in the local paper that is deliverd to every house in your town and you get a discount for placing one in two or three of the local papers i.e Falkirk , Boness , Grangemouth generates loads of biz.

[rob1963]

Sorry ross, but I don't agree.

I once tried the local paper - which is delivered free to every house, but got even MORE of the "How cheap can you go" brigade than Yellow Pages, and hardly ANY enquiries for the quality work I'm after.

[ross@rds]

I think it is where you live that is the problem my area has about 5 pages of mobile discos then 3 pages of entertainment then 1 page of karaoke so there is loads to look through and call. My local paper no discos put ads in so it is better for me there is always a bit about wedding fayers and "your big day" page with wedding cars djs etc so it brings alot of bookings in but i would say your website brings in most of your bookings.

[djswirl]

I have just put up a post you may want to read

http://www.mobilediscodirectory.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=5810

Brian

[Dragonfly]

website all the way...... the only work i actually get from yellow pages is those that get my web address from there and look at the site then call me .... hence website really yp just being a vehicle to convey the address to the masses.

[HightowerMusic]

Lets see. When I first put my ad in the YP here it cost me around $1500.00 a year. My website costs me $48.00 a year + $4.95 domain registration. I only have the one line free listings in 3 out of the 4 books here and I pay $10.00 a month for the one line in the only book here that doesnt give it to you for free. So i would have to say that here the YP's are almost a thing of the past. If you havent read any of my post on websites. I get a ridiculous amount of hits. I remodeled my site in late Aug of 2006 and I have had over 10,000 hits since then. you need to make sure if you have a site that it is properly listed with major search engines. Google's web crawler will find it on its own but some require you to go to thier site and register. If Google has missed your site you can go here and ask them to add it. http://www.google.com/addurl/
The more links you have to your page the better your ranking will be. Ok hope this info has helped.

[Atlantic_Sound_Disco]

Hi, as you know im new, but I have had yellow pages ads for years in various sizes, in recent years I have found i have been getting less and less work from it, and last year was the worst maybe 3 jobs from it all year, usless is the word i would use for Y/P these days, i put a free line add in thomson local and this gets me far more work, and also i have a basic website which i use as a sales tool to show off my disco setups, I feel personaly that Y.P has had its day, in the 80s it was king, in the early 90s it held its own, but as soon as the internet took hold it was dead, its the same as MP3 taking over from cd where we all went from vinyl to cd years back.

It might still be worth advertising on the Y.P website for a link to yours, not sure on that ive not tried it myself.

Tim.