As I listen to home improvement dealers across the country talk about the Internet, one of the most consistent questions I get is about online marketing programs from yellow page directories. So here is the list of the 5 biggest lies I’ve heard the online yellow page directories tell about home improvement lead generation:
1) We Get More Traffic than Google!
This one always makes me laugh. Through either extreme contortion, the twisting of the facts or just plain ignorance, sales reps will claim that “We get more traffic than Google!”
If you ever hear this, chuckle and run. Google gets over 140 million unique visitors per month to their Web site. The most optimistic estimates for the most popular YP sites are 10-15 million, less than one tenth of Google’s traffic.
The screen snap below shows that according to Alexa traffic rankings for the trailing month (as of this posting), Google is the #1 ranked site on the internet. Yellowpages.com comes in at #568. Superpages.com comes in at #675.
What does this mean to you, Mr. Home Improvement Marketer? Divide 15 million by the thousands of cities and towns in America. Then divide that number further by the number of product categories kept by the directories. The numbers of people searching for your product in your area get very small, very fast.
2) Our Online Sites Drive as Many Calls as Our Telephone Books!
Another big whopper. We have tested online directories with our campaigns, and if there were any fewer calls from our online listings, there would be almost none. While we don’t buy yellow pages print listings, we know from the dealers that we work with that they still receive a steady stream of phone calls from their directory buys.
The telephone book may be expensive, but those ads drive a significantly higher volume of calls than their online counterparts.
3) Every Time Your Phone Rings, It’s a Sales Opportunity!
If you’re a home improvement company, you know this isn’t the case. In our experience, only 40% of inbound phone calls to home improvement dealers are qualified prospects actively looking for your service. And even fewer are willing to set an in-home sales appointment.
Only 40%? That’s outrageous! I agree. But it doesn’t change the fact that many calls are customer service calls, salespeople trying to sell you advertising, or just plain spam telemarketers. None of those calls pay your bills. So take the “every phone call” mantra with a grain of salt.
4) The Free Listings Don’t Get as Many Calls as the Platinum Listings!
This is probably true. The higher on the page, the more calls you’re going to get. But there’s a big BUT. If you’re in a less populated area, say Western Massachusetts or Northern Michigan, online directories are going to get so little traffic that the cost of your platinum listings will almost never pay for itself.
If you’re only getting 2-4 phone calls per month from these ads – an all too real possibility – and one or none turn into a job, you’re just handing money to the directory companies with no return at all.
So while the free listings aren’t as glamorous, and you may get fewer calls, the return on investment is almost always going to be higher than with their paid counterparts.
5) We Can Handle All of Your Internet Marketing Campaigns!
I once heard from a client of ours that he left our program to try an internet marketing campaign with one of his yellow page providers. They promised to do SEO, PPC, online banners…the works. His results?
“Spent $6800 and got 2 leads. I shoulda gone on vacation instead.”
Then he came back to our program.
If I had to get at the burr in my saddle about online directories from the phone companies, it’s that they are print salespeople…trying to sell online products. And the two worlds couldn’t be more different.
Ask a YP sales person about keyword selection, ad groups, impression share, landing page testing, organic listings, local search optimization…and you’re going to get one of two things:
1) A blank stare, because the person has no idea what you’re talking about
2) A quick answer designed to move you away from asking such hard questions
Hey, I’m an online guy. Online marketing is inherently measurable and trackable. It’s also complex and doesn’t lend itself to the easy answers that slick yellow page online directories are selling. Just because you’ve purchased print ads from the yellow pages before, doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing online.
They haven’t shown it so far.
Homeowner Connections Through Performance Online Advertising
