Are the "Online Phonebook" services like Yellowpages worth anything?

[Jeff Kershner]

SuperPages.com - YellowPages.com - Yellowbook.com - what is their worth?

I have sitting here in front of me a 1 year contract for YellowPages.com.

I've tried to use Superpages, Yellowpages.com and a few of the other "phonebook to web" services in the past only to find they produce too many irrelevant results. Is this due to a bad algorithm or businesses not advertising in these sites? I usually get frustrated with these sites and find myself returning to Google or Google maps to find the address or phone number I'm looking for.

What’s interesting to me is the angle they use to sell the service. Rather then focusing on your business name, they tout their high percentage of consumers typing in “new car dealer” or “used car dealer” for a specific county or region. I question whom is going to Yellowpages.com and searching for “new car dealers”. I would think the majority of consumers going to Yellowpages.com to search for a dealer will type in the actual name of the dealer rather then “new car dealers” (but maybe I'm wrong).

Another question comes to mind; when using a phone book, I'm are usually looking for one thing, the PHONE NUMBER. Could there be a huge benefit to having top listings and links to your website if the consumer is merely looking for your phone number? Wouldn’t the basic free listing serve this purpose just as well as a paid listing?

More Questions:

1. How much incremental traffic could Yellowpages.com push my way?
   
2. How many people are actually visiting these sites like Yellowpages.com and searching like they were on Yahoo or Google?
   
3. Does it make sense to spend the $350.00 a month for top listings in Yellowpages.com?
   
4. Could I benefit from being listed in the top placement of Yellowpages.com since no one in my region is currently taking advantage
   of the service?

I don’t know..but if I decide to sign the contract, I will be sure to report back with my results.

Has anyone else advertised with any of these phonebook to web services and been successful?

 

[Lao Shi]

Many businesses are opting out on phonebook ads, yellow page.com ads and just taking the minimum listing. Budgeting ad dollars in these publications are producing diminishing returns. $300.00-500.00 a month your looking at saving 5-6 K per year, 60 k over 10 years for something that provides diminishing returns??

Most younger people do not use this tool and older people are more conservative with their spending habits and also rely on established relationships with companies in the community they have been doing business with.

When was the last time you looked for a number and called 1411 and you were asked what ad made the biggest impression on your decision?

 

[umer.autojini]

Jeff, are you talking about the print version or PPC on yellow pages... As online most yellow pages have PPC above the fold... for PPC, yellow pages should defiantly be part of your local marketing. As local search from Google and yahoo is only 2 years old and the age group you target my not know about Google local or Google maps... you will find the older generation going to online yellow pages then doing a Google search.

Now as far as PPC conversion rate goes... for the dealer I work with... it averages to 4% for Superpages and 2% for DexOnline.com for online lead forms... I do not have access to phone tracking so can't comment on the phone up part.

As far as print version goes... I'm not 100% if that $500-1200 a month is worth it... It be better to spend on online advertising... I live in a apartment complex and last time when they delivered the pages it just sat at the front door... pissing me off every time I went by with all the trees killed to make them... recycled paper but still... the energy it takes... the gas burned to deliver and haul the stuff...

here is an old article from 2004 on yellow pages beating se's...

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www.kelseygroup.com

 

[EJ]

I have mixed experience here. When I worked at a dealership, the owner wanted an ad in the phone book, and an online placement, but ended up canceling them because we received no trackable traffic. Now, at a different business, we used superpages PPC ads and those converted at a profitable level, but a bit above search engines. It took a few rounds of tweaking to get the CPA at an appropriate level.

 

[Gerald]

Jeff- I think you are on target. This is another illustration of a medium that is bygone now trying desperately to hang on to the market place in some capacity. Rather than showing what they actually send you from a leds standpoint, they try to show you this vast exposure you will receive to everyone looking for a new car. I could never tell just HOW many leads I received from them (perhaps because they know their ROI isn't there compared to other online advertising).

I for one, cancelled our superpages listing and am using the money to be "The Last Man Standing."

I don't think the traffic is there, and consequently, there is low value. If it were $500/year for the superpages, I would do it. It is not worth that much to me as most of our shoppers are looking for info from KBB, Edmunds, the manufacturer, etc. Perhaps the service/parts guys ould benefit, but not sales.

 

[Brandon Hoffman]

Jeff,

Check out how the YellowPage reps responded to our comments on xbmanx.com post: Internet Yellow Pages SUCK!

xBMANx

 

[Joe Pistell]

In the 4 years since I've been here I've cut Yellow Pages PRINT ad spending by 90%. Currently, We're an advertiser in Superpages/yellowpages.com. I just looked at May 07, their click thrus were right up there with DogPile.com (10 hits p/ month). And... DogPile.com is free.

- Engine =May Traffic
- Google =1344
- Yahoo! =311
- MSN Search =211
- Google (Images) =168
- Unknown search engines =87
- AOL =82
- Netscape =10
- Dogpile =7
- Ask =7
- Earth Link =4
- Mamma =2
- AltaVista =2
- Lycos =1
- Search.com =1
- MetaBot =1
- Excite =1

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Joe, thanks for your statistics. When you say "We're an advertiser in Superpages/yellowpages.com", are you saying that you advertise on both since they are 2 different companies/sites?

If so, is one outperforming the other?

-Jeff

 

[Joe Pistell]

We advertise in Superpages.com and get a nearly unmeasuable amount of click thrus.

The traffic that I see comes from several phone book sites comes from name searches for our name.

I use to work in sales at Verizon Yellow Pages. The pitch you're hearing is the old Yellow Pages pitch with an internet spin on it.

I will not be renewing our SuperPages.com contract for next year. I'll be moving our efforts & spending out to micro sites.

g'luck,
joe

 

[Alex Snyder (blog)]

They're hitting us pretty hard right now too. They've come down on their prices so much that it almost is a no-brainer, but I still feel like there are more worthwhile places to spend that money.