Welcome to the UK Window Cleaning Forums

Starting or own a window cleaning business? We're a network of window cleaners sharing advice, tips & experience. Rounds for sale & more. Join us today!

yell.com worth it or not?

mark macca

Active member
Messages
121
hi I just had a quote for website and to appear on yell.com to build a website for me, £471.63 upfront then £78 for the next 6 months. Then £112 for listing for 6 months then £18.81 for the next 6 months are they just trying to shaft me or is that about right. ????? please any info would be helpful

 
Sitting in van on a job in rain thought I reply I found yell.com very helpful in getting customers for me but I didn't get website with them and I also didn't need to pay upfront either can't afford upfront fees to much of a big outlay so I just pay monthly payments of £30ish

 
hi thanks is that just for listing in areas of choice? I think they just went in and hard balled me strait off to see if id pay it or not

 
Yell websites are very expensive for what they are you could get a decent enough one built for under £500 you could spend a lot more if you wanted and web hosting should be know more than a £10 a month mine is £10 for two sites.

As for the paid listing unless your top why pay a premium to be 3rd on a list I have a free listing on yell.

Yell can work if your top 1st or 2nd but the cost like I said is very dear and don't forget if your paying £70-£100 a month it needs to be generating a good response of quality work.

 
Yeah I started of last year with the cheapest area that was near my area normally if you pick a main area your appear in a couple of other areas. From what I worked out is yell give you say 10 miles around the area you want as your main advert. Even tho I had cheapest I was still appeared in the highest priced area maybe not first place but near too it. Up to you to get people to looking at your advert with pics and that

 
it do seem a lot of money for something I cant guaranty to get back quite quickly I am just starting up and is a large outlay

 
yes true I do have a few picks I can upload I have a few affluent areas around me I do need a website tho maybe just a basic 1 for now until it brings me in a bit of work I guess I looked at some stuff online and have been inundated with calls from allsorts of people ie yell.com rated people.com to name a few and they all just seem to want tons of money for something I no nothing about I can clean windows while looking at the woman across the road half undressed but as for advertising and websites and stuff I'm useless I have to rely on what these people tell me

 
You can always wait few months till you get more customers get some leaflets printed vista print are cheap enough then go pop them through local houses then your know if it's worth it

 
i don't know about anyone else and what they done when I started of with no money I took the fivers at first then got rid of them cheap jobs after I got better paid jobs later on. it's money better then nothing the misses didn't agree only because I didn't give her any at the time lol she thought I be earning hundreds in first week

 
yes the missis dnt seem to like me going on my own I worked for somebody else and was bringing home a good wage a week now I'm penniless almost but I'm determined enough to build a bigger and better round than the 1 I worked and make myself a round worth shouting about rather than making a said fireman who don't even clean window richer for me working

 
Yell websites are AWFUL! I've rebuilt sites for ppl who have been with Yell & I've yet to hear a single positive experience about their website offerings.

Seriously - if you're going to spend money get someone in the industry with a good reputation to do it - it'll cost less, look better & most importantly it'll give better results.

Gav who runs this forum builds really good websites, Dodger does great ones too - and I build amazing websites,.. though I'm probably the most expensive of the three (I do cheaper "pay monthly" rental deals tough) so talk to the other guys first - but don't waste your hard earned money on a Yell website.

 
I paid yell for my first year, think I was around 4th on the list, never generated phonecalls, perhaps got 2 or 3 jobs off it, luckily one was a decent sized regular commercial & another is a well paid 6 monthly commercial, but thats it.

Would I use the payed sections again.. No I would just use the free listing section and get a few customers to add reviews as I think thats better and hear from others it brings a better number of enquiries.

 
  1. You are just a ‘number’ – The Yell Group have recently renamed themselves ‘Hibu’ Group, and are using the Yell as a brand name only. Your account manager will be a salesperson who gets in touch once a year to renew your contract rather than a marketer who works with you regularly to improve results. Your website will be designed with a template as will your copy, produced by a team of ‘battery’ website designers trying to produce as many websites in as short a time as possible.
  2. You just rent your website from Yell, you don’t own it – When you get a Yell website, you don’t own the website and you don’t own the domain name. This means if you want a better website or you want to change providers, you have to start all over again – you need a new domain name for your emails, your letterheads, signage and advertising. You are also starting all over again with Google, building their trust as a new website which will take time.
  3. You can’t make changes – Google loves fresh content, and websites that regularly add good quality content will rank much higher than static sites. With a Yell website you can’t make any changes yourself – you can request the changes by email or by phone but in our experience with Yell sites these changes are either late or not made at all.
  4. You can’t monitor the results – I asked why Yell couldn’t install Google analytics on one of their websites. The answer suggested that it wasn’t a case of ‘couldn’t’, but ‘wouldn’t’. Yell instead want you to use their own statistics program, which our client wasn’t made aware of, and had to access with login details they had not been given. When we logged in, it was clear that it was extremely basic and had no information about individual page performance or website referrals (I wonder if they are concerned about clients seeing just how many click-throughs they get from Yell.com?).
  5. Wasted budget – the nature of both the Yell.com website and the Paid search ads they place for you mean you are likely to pay to advertise for products and services you don’t provide, in areas that you don’t cover. For example, their paid search ads are done by placing keywords into broad ‘buckets’, which are just not specific or targeted enough. As a result I have seen Stoke-based dry cleaners appearing in Google ads for ‘dry cleaners Nottingham’ (who’s going to travel that far to clean their suit?), and high-end kitchen designers coming up for ‘painters and decorators’. During the meeting we asked for our client to be taken out of several ‘categories’ that weren’t relevant to them, which they would have otherwise continued to pay for.


You may have a relationship with Yell which goes back for years and years - they may be a name you’ve always trusted, but that doesn’t mean you owe them anything, and it certainly doesn’t mean you are getting the best result for your business.

So if you want to get found in your local area online, use an independent digital marketing agency that will give you the support and attention you need to drive your business forward, not the dying beast that is Yell.

 
thanks made my mind up on that 1 glad to hear all your comments very appreciated looks like yell can go to hell lol

 
The free ad on Yell gets me about one call per fortnight...I'm not really looking to expand anymore but I do quote the enquiries at better rates than I'm currently earning...not sure how many additional calls a bigger ad would generate...my brother (treesurgeon) spends a lot on yell.com and checkatrade and his phone never stops.

 
I've also gone with rated people.com there rates are much better and monthly I just can't justify spending all that money as a new start up to not no how well il do from it as a example in my area thay told me on average 35 people a month in Romford near to me search for a window cleaner I looked last night on there there people been with them 15 years I'm not going to be above them I'm probly going to be 5 maby 6 on the list so how many calls from that 35 am I going to get thay going to be going to the first few on the page I'm new to all the advertising and stuff takes some getting my head round but you are all so helpfull I must say I'm very grateful

 
If your 5th or 6th on the list make sure you stand out like offer a special offer 3rd clean free or first clean half price for new customers. When they scroll the first and second pages of window cleaners they see what you got to offer and call you for a quote. People like to a bargain

 
Hi yes I'm 5th on the list I must say I've had 2 calls in the last 2days from the free add so I'm just going to stick with it for now I've got 5 new customers in 4 days I no it's not great but I'm proud of the start I'm makeing

 

Latest Posts

Back
Top