More Yellow Page talk (last time?)

[sofadoc]

Due to an error by the YP ad dept. last year, 2013 was the first year since my grandparents started the upholstery business in 1960 that there was no ad in the local YP phone book.

I was very apprehensive about how it would affect my business. We know that the average furniture upholstery customer is usually a lot closer to age 60 than they are to age 20. And much of the older crowd still relies on the old fashioned Yellow Pages........or do they?

2013 ended up being a good year. Not the best year I've ever had, but close. And the fact that I don't work as hard as I used to would probably account for the slight drop-off.

After several years on life support, I'm about ready to declare the Yellow Pages officially dead. 
I'm back in the phone book this year, but only the free courtesy listing.

[SteveA]

Maybe for a reasonable cost you could enhance your in line add so folks will still notice you haven't moved to Florida ?  Make the add bold or red so it stands out in line
SA

[kodydog]

Where do you get the best bang for your buck? The problem with the phone book is which one. We have about 5 to choose from. Can't afford to be in all of them. The internet is good for the younger crowd but what about the elder computer illiterate. Still plenty of them around. Were looking at local glossy magazines. Comes out 4 times a year. Not cheep but hits our demographics pretty hard. Just thinkin.

[RiCat]

Hello.. this is an interesting subject on where one's phone number is being noticed the most. I say phone number, because it is like my late brother used to say, "All I want is to get someone on the phone, then it is up to me to sell them." I started at the beginning of the year to do internal marketing research and keep this data compiled on a spread sheet. I have found people willing to be helpful when I ask them the question; "How did you find my phone number?" I have seen so far, most of my hits have come from Google. There is only 3-4 of us in my area, so I am right there for people to see when they do key word searches. That is another key, ask what key words were used then one can make sure them key words are in the meta tag part of a website. That is also a key for me is to have a website for people to be able to view completed projects. So far, I have seen the data coming in that the phone book is not nearly as effective as it once was. So, when I have the Yellow page sales person call me to ask to spend hundreds of dollars a year with them, my question back to the is "Why?" When I relocated to this area in 08, I also used Craig's List to promote the name. I was not after Craig's List to get work, just to get the name out there. It worked and after 6-9 months, I dropped Craig's List and the other ways of having the phone number seen started kicking in. I also use the free one-liner in the phone book. What is interesting about that, I targeted the Boat Upholstery section in my AT&T book. I was the only one listed in that section for years and still had hardly no responses from it. From what I have seen, there usually is not one "golden egg" type of advertising to be had. I have seen that a little here and a little there is what is happening.

Rick

[bobbin]

I have the world's crappiest website that meshes nicely with the world's cheapest cell phone.  It all pretty much sucks, but it's cheap and it works!  Bottom line?  I've busted my ass for the past year/year+1/2 and delivering first rate work is beginning to pay dividends!

Word of mouth is the best advertising in a world awash with advertising "options".  I thought I was going under for the final time in February, but my cheapie phone began ringing and there were e-mail inquiries. 

I was surprised to find that marine interiors lead the list of inquiries.  Slipcovers were not too far behind.  I've come to realize that ability to do quality, detail-oriented marine interiors is a specialized market; people either know how to do the work or they don't .

I do!

[sofadoc]

I have the world's crappiest website that meshes nicely with the world's cheapest cell phone.  It all pretty much sucks, but it's cheap and it works!

The average customer really isn't all that discerning when it comes to websites.

My website pales in comparison to some of the other upholsterer's sites. It was thrown together amateurishly. I always intended to go back later and make improvements, but never got around to it.

Even still, people are always telling me how much they like it. My conclusion is that most people wouldn't know a good website if it bit them.

If it has all the pertinent information and a few pics, it will probably generate more business than a one-person shop can handle anyway. 

Nowadays, I think that even a poor website can be more effective than a full-page YP ad.

[kodydog]

I got a call from YP yesterday. Its time to renew our add. As you all know we're in the process of cranking our business back up and in a way recreating it. So now's the time to decide how much money do we want to spend.

I've talked it over with my wife and we both agree money and time would be better spent  focusing on internet marketing. We desperately need to upgrade our web site and are working on a business facebook page. Web marketing takes a lot of thought and research. My wife is pouring through books borrowed from the library and has come up with some fantastic ideas for our web site. She also found this link and is showing me how to setup and maintain a facebook page.

http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/5492/How-to-Create-a-Facebook-Business-Page-in-5-Simple-Steps-with-Video.aspx

Recat made an excellent point. Its all about getting the potential customer to call. This also means always being available to receive those calls.

Any ideas on what has worked for you would be greatly appreciated.

As for the YP, I think we'll take SteveA's advice and just do bold. Big year ahead.

[jojo]

We found our Yellow Pages on the porch last month and took it directly to the recycle bin. I don't know anybody who uses them, and think that older people will ask their children to find what they need on the internet.
I think you are smart to focus on your website. IMO, it doesn't have to be perfect; but if you keep updating it with photos or news it will stay at the top of search engine results.
My website sucks. I did it myself, using the drag and drop site builder from my hosting plan. But guess what...I come up first in search results for boat covers, marine canvas, marine upholstery, etc. in my area!

[kodydog]

I found this site online. It has lots of free downloads with good information. Mostly how to create a website or facebook page that will get peoples attention. You have to grab it in the first 3 seconds or they're off browsing other sites.

http://offers.hubspot.com/free-trial-ad?source=hspd-ppc-brandname-free-trial-021014&gclid=Cj0KEQjwlv6dBRDC7rGfrvidmJgBEiQAjd3hMB4ImaGQQ2s5oO-tJFHCNgJZbE0vV8_5_XB5VQFfAm8aAoaf8P8HAQ

Of course they are hoping you'll get frustrated and hire them to design the page for you. But there is a lot of good information.

I heard about this site on the radio. There advertisement stated, easy to use web page design. I've been messing with it but so far it's been frustrating.

http://editor.wix.com/html/editor/web/renderer/new?metaSiteId=fa41749a-70cb-4ecb-bfd0-3b2a80e86019&siteId=0fea6656-047a-4f79-8139-2bbeb7498092&editorSessionId=6CBC5937-656B-4187-8E32-EADDED3AF208