Yellow Pages advertising - useful?

[Willben]

I'm interested in how many brokers buy display ads in their local yellow pages-- and what you think of the ROI.

[webmaster]

I would be interested in seeing the conversion statistics for a yellow page ad, although I would imagine its a tough thing to track properly

[Willben]

What, nobody uses yellow pages anymore? Maybe it's that the techy folks like us who hang around in this forum don't use yellow pages? For me, the choice of web presence/traditional presence isn't necessarily an either/or decision. I'm still interested to hear any stories about the effectiveness of YP....

[atxrealtor]

It's been 5 years since I even had a yellow pages book in my house. Online yellow pages are a different matter, or Yahoo local yellow pages. That could be a good supplement to PPC advertising.

[Willben]

Interesting. I still use hard copy yellow pages all the time, but maybe I'm the only one. I rarely use online YP because I find they don't include many local business in my area.

[sdhomes]

I use YP to find things i dont expect to find online, like a plumber. Today I used it to find a store that sold bean bag chairs because the only online site that yielded in results was superpages. Ironically I ended up going to the one place that was in superpages as well as in the YP.

I would never look in the YP for a lender or agent, stock broker, etc, but I would look for something like a pest control company there.

[deu12000]

Most of the time I use google (keyword (ex. septic mytown state), nowadays they produce great results right at the top that you click on and shows tons of more results in your area (with address and phone number). Every once in a while I pick up the Yellow Pages and I'm sure a lot of people do also.

[MaxReferrals]

I suspect most people do it as a means to do-it because OTHERS are indeed doing it. a.k.a The Sheep Slaughterhouse Mentality.

[axemedia]

I would be interested in seeing the conversion statistics for a yellow page ad, although I would imagine its a tough thing to track properly

The only real way to track the performance of a Yellow Pages listings would be to include a unique phone number that is not published anywhere else. But this is often un-feasible for most businesses

[NealRM]

The only real way to track the performance of a Yellow Pages listings would be to include a unique phone number that is not published anywhere else. But this is often un-feasible for most businesses

This is what some big business do. Is it worth it for a small business - ??????

I would check into the competitors of the Yellow Pages. With the Yellow Pages you pay alot for the brand name.