Yellowpages.com or Google Adwords?
By Hitman | November 7, 2009
Yellow page reps. You gotta love ‘em.
I received a call yesterday afternoon as I was leaving my office. My assistant said it was the AT & T Yellow Pages to finalize my tiny one-inch ad.
Once on the phone, I asked about the details of my little ad to confirm everything was correct. The phone rep didn’t know anything about the ad.
Instead, her motive was to sell me a paid listing on the Yellowpages.com website.
Hmmm…that sounds weird (My salesman radar was up)
Like all yellow page reps, she used the typical tactic, “You’ll never be found if you don’t purchase this ad.” So since I’m interested in online advertising, I started asking questions.
I pulled up the Yellowpages.com directory and first noticed the paid banners had “no follow” links. This means Google doesn’t spider your incoming link. I asked her about the link value and she had no idea what I was talking about.
Next I asked, “How many people a month are searching Yellowpages.com for carpet cleaners in Pensacola (my city).” Surprisingly, she shared the number with me. On average 260 people per month are searching on their site.
So here’s where really knowing about the internet can help you make a wise choice. Around 1000 people per month are searching for carpet cleaners on Google for my city. So that’s four times the traffic of Yellowpages.com.
Now, the big question…
“How much is an ad on Yellowpages.com?” It was $230 for a higher position and $85 for a lower position. And get this, a ONE YEAR commitment was required.
Let’s compare Yellowpages.com directly to Google Adwords. If 1000 people are searching on Google, I may get 20-60 clicks from an Adwords campaign. In my city the click for top position is about $1.80.
Worst case scenario, I’m paying $108 to show up on EVERY single Google search for carpet cleaning in Pensacola. Keep in mind, these numbers are assuming my Google Adwords account is set up well. If it’s not set up right, I could easily spend three times this amount for the same result.
Google Adwords=$108 for 1000 impressions.
Yellowpages.com=$230 for 260 impressions.
An impression is the number of times your ad is seen. Not everyone clicks your ad.
In other words, if you’re advertising on Yellowpages.com with 260 impressions per month, you may get anywhere from 5-50 clicks to your site per month. You’d be paying anywhere from $5 – 45 per click. Ouch! With Adwords, you’d be paying only $1.80 per click.
If you test out Yellowpages.com for a month and find you’re paying $30 per click, you can’t cancel. With Adwords, you can cancel at a moment’s notice.
The other great thing about Adwords is you spend whatever you want. If you only want to spend $50 in a month, you can do it. If you want to advertise for just a week, you can do that too.
So that’s my rant. I just wanted to make sure you were educated on this subject so you’ll know how to respond. More often than not, you can get better advertising on Adwords MUCH cheaper.
To get my complete training package on Adwords go to www.Hitmanadvertising.com/adwords
Topics: Google Adwords | 5 Comments »
5 Responses to “Yellowpages.com or Google Adwords?”
Questions and Comments
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November 7th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
John! Man are you ever on a roll this week. This has got to be one of the best blog entries I’ve ever read about why adwords is so much better than that advertising dinosaur – Yellow Pages.
In a world where there is no connectivity, Yellow Pages makes sense. But today with so many more options available it would be akin to corporate suicide to limit your exposure to just one avenue of advertising – especially when all the other ways are so darn cheap and trackable.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:37 am
John, This blog post was excellent information. approximately two weeks ago a YellowPage.com rep.called me she was trying a similar sales pitch, saying “we can increase your companys search results” I’m glad I did not take the bait, even if I only got 125 clicks per month times let’s say $30 perclick that’s some serious money being spent $3,750.00 – and it’s not even guaranteed that you’ll close jobs on even 1/4 of those clicks. Anyway I told them I had “the Best SEO and Google Adwords “trainer” to help us Carpet Cleaners, get the best search- and ranking results on Google.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Thanks for the comments guys. After I had the phone call with the yellow pages rep I thought I had to write something about it. So many cleaners don’t understand this, and they need to make an intelligent decision.
Mike, the numbers I gave were based on my city of Pensacola. Your numbers could be different. But I can assume they are the same percentage wise.
So, let say a top placement yellow pages banner in a big city may be $1200 per month. The impressions might be around 1200 per month. And of course you won’t actually get all those clicks. $1 for a single impression is VERY expensive.
And there’s a good chance you’d still be better served by using Adwords. It’s so much more flexible and more chance for making it profitable.
November 16th, 2009 at 1:53 am
Oh yellow pages, how you love to screw people. Well, I did not get a chance to read this blog before the yellow page rep called me and they got me pretty good. It’s a good month if i make my money back on the ad. Didn’t take the bait till she guaranteed a sponsored listing on yahoo local as well. This was a flat out lie. I spent close to 5 hours arguing with a superviser because my sales rep would neither answer my phone calls or return my e-mails. Horrible company and horrible results. 8 more months of a twelve month contract and I’ll be out forever.
November 16th, 2009 at 4:27 am
That’s too bad Logan. I hope you weren’t spending too much money on it.
Just remember…if they come calling on you, just say NO! You should be the one calling them.