golden pages

Get Cracking

hi,
thinking of advertising my new biz in the golden pages .ie,
online only,
prices vary ,but to get something decent would cost about 1200 for the year,no trials no half measures,
does anyone here use this?
or do you know anyone who does?
basically end result would be ;when sommeone googles my line of work the golden pages will turn up on the first page,
then they MIGHT click on the g.p.,
then my biz will be there:D in the middle of 15 others:mad:.
but the SALESMAN reckons it will still work.
theres one option for 2400 + VAT that he reckons would be to powerful for me.or so he says!!!!!!!!!!!!

DoMyBooks

I personally wouldn't go near it. Id invest the €1200 in a website or SEO if you already have a website.

Get Cracking

The website has beem maxed out with seo activity,but seen as we just published it last wendsday it is well back on the listings,
I would love to pump it somewhere else ,but when the phone is not ringing its hard not to.

Kinetic^

Get Cracking wrote: »

The website has beem maxed out with seo activity,but seen as we just published it last wendsday it is well back on the listings,
I would love to pump it somewhere else ,but when the phone is not ringing its hard not to.

Don't do anything with goldenpages, it's a dead medium. Get in touch with an adwords specialist and get them to draw up a campaign for you. You'll get a hell of a lot of clicks for the same money you're going to spend with goldenpages.

Get Cracking

That's good thinking,I will sus it out.thanks.:)

Chet Zar

WOW 1200 euro for a Golden Pages listing....beggars belief I'm almost lost for words!! Just shows how we still have so much ground to make up in terms of online marketing and promotion when the Golden Pages still can get people paying that kind of cash for a listing in an outdated book...course it still has its place but really!!

As Kinetic^ says, you could get a massive amount of exposure on the first page of Google.ie for that price.

Get Cracking

Guys ,I met him today in myos,1200e was for an ok add ,it went up to 2400 plus vat for the whole 9 yards,that's just online,for a page in the book and online was close to 15,000plus vat.

Chet Zar

Get Cracking wrote: »

Guys ,I met him today in myos,1200e was for an ok add ,it went up to 2400 plus vat for the whole 9 yards,that's just online,for a page in the book and online was close to 15,000plus vat.

Hope it stays fine for them!!

Get Cracking

So yesterday my website was ranked on page 12,13,14,.
I got up this morning it was 2nd organic on the first page!!!!
Then the golden pages guys calls me,so i tell him im not sure what to do as my site seems to be coming up on several diferent searchs on the 1st page,
He explains to me that this is beacause I click on my site a lot and google knows what i am looking for.
He said its not coming up on his at all?
i tried my iphone and it comes up in the same place as my lap top?
whos right /whos wrong?
Can someone google home removals dublin,is www.getcracking.ie coming up on 1st page?
thanks for any help or advive!:)

Kinetic^

Google remembers what you've clicked, he's right.

Kinetic^

There are a couple of things you need to fix on your website.

You've no address.
You're using a mobile number and no landline.

I won't deal with anyone who doesn't have an address or landline number. It looks very unprofessional and anyone could spring up a site without either.

Jagle

he is right, your on page 13 to me.
but still work on seo and other options, that kinda money for the golden pages is madness

blue4ever

Naturally the salesman feels that it will still work, because he’s on a Commission based structure.
I’d take the money and develop your own site at least it’s a direct investment in your business and not in theirs.
You are in #183 for Removals Dublin and #219 for Home Removals Dublin.

Get Cracking

thanks guys:)

HellFireClub

Kinetic^ wrote: »

Don't do anything with goldenpages, it's a dead medium. Get in touch with an adwords specialist and get them to draw up a campaign for you. You'll get a hell of a lot of clicks for the same money you're going to spend with goldenpages.

Very good advice here, Golden Pages have a well trained, highly pressurised team of sales folks who will give you all kind of assurances about how you will "clean up" if you use them, they'll even bring you out to lunch to get you to seal a deal with them!

The majority of folks that will call you from their website will generally be people trying to sell you something such as more advertising and you can't make a cent off those folks.

Stick it into a decent Google Adwords campaign is my advice OP and forget about the Golden Pages... Ask anyone who has previously advertised with them, I doubt you would find a single person who would give them repeat business, I certainly wouldn't based on my dealings with them...

MyAmber.net

HellFireClub wrote: »

Ask anyone who has previously advertised with them, I doubt you would find a single person who would give them repeat business, I certainly wouldn't based on my dealings with them...

Exactly right! I had a free Golden Pages listing and the only people who ever approached me via GP were some aggressive sellers trying to “improve my business”.
I wouldn’t take it for free again, not mention about paying for that.
(I guess I’ll be removed now from GP when they read this post )

mikemac

As a customer I use GP, used it quite a few times

If I need a tradesmen and I don't know any the golden pages is the first place I look

Some crazy prices being quoted though, I never knew it was so expensive to advertise with them

IRE60

HellFireClub wrote: »

Very good advice here, Golden Pages have a well trained, highly pressurised team of sales folks who will give you all kind of assurances about how you will "clean up" if you use them, they'll even bring you out to lunch to get you to seal a deal with them!

The majority of folks that will call you from their website will generally be people trying to sell you something such as more advertising and you can't make a cent off those folks.

Stick it into a decent Google Adwords campaign is my advice OP and forget about the Golden Pages... Ask anyone who has previously advertised with them, I doubt you would find a single person who would give them repeat business, I certainly wouldn't based on my dealings with them...

If u ever get a directory rep giving u 'assurances' regarding responses, volumes etc - ask them to bang those figures down on an email to you - that normally stops all the bull.

MyPerfectCousin

Kinetic^ wrote: »

There are a couple of things you need to fix on your website.

You've no address.
You're using a mobile number and no landline.

I won't deal with anyone who doesn't have an address or landline number. It looks very unprofessional and anyone could spring up a site without either.

I'd have agreed a few years ago about the landline, and I'd still like to see an address.

But whereas a few years ago I would have been reluctant to call a business on their mobile, nowadays I prefer it. At least for something involving a tradesman who doesn't sit in an office all day.

Kinetic^

MyPerfectCousin wrote: »

But whereas a few years ago I would have been reluctant to call a business on their mobile, nowadays I prefer it. At least for something involving a tradesman who doesn't sit in an office all day.

Maybe so but how about a removals company that has every single precious item belonging to you?

Get Cracking

well ,would it be a good idea to put my full home adress there?:)

Get Cracking

as i have no cause yet to rent out an office.

sirreally

I would definitely get a landline number. The way you have prominently displayed your number is the right thing to do, in terms of design, but some people would be put off by only having a mobile number to call.

If you don't want to get a new phone line or use your home phone number, you can get an 01 number from Skype for something like €50 a year (you will obviously have call charges on top of that if you forward calls to your mobile).

I wouldn't be too concerned about having the full address displayed, but I would definitely choose to publish either the full address or nothing at all; "Dublin, Ireland" looks a bit unprofessional IMO.

I would also change 'Our Clients' to 'Testimonials'. Even better, if you can find a way to fit a Testimonials box on your homepage, that would be great. To save on space, you could have scrolling/rotating quotes from clients.

As for the original post, I wouldn't spend a single cent with Golden Pages - I never use their directory, never will use it, and I don't know anybody who does. Far better to spend your money on SEO and Google Adwords (tip: to keep costs down, advertise on search results only, not on their content network).

marzi

i di an seo course several weeks ago,works a treat cost me e199 plus vat, and now our website comes up in the top three organic listings almost every time .
tell ya what though, we just had a row with GP two minutes ago, thats why i'm reading your posts. the little feicer promised us a micro site along side our gp listings, and charged us nearly 5k. now that he has been paid he's aggressivly reluctant to give us the site as promised.

i will name the little twit if he doesnt buck up.

blue4ever

Couple of things about the microsite:
1) is that in writing anywhere - like on your copy of the order. Really it's no good of its verbal, unless there were three of you present.
2) the money you paid, if its added up, would it include the price of a microsite
3) When did you sign the order - there is a cooling off point
4) Believe me, i worked in the directory business - keep calm (hard I know) they are not always right and you do have a load of avenues to explore - honest.

mazimillion

Hey Everyone,

Whatswhat.ie is Irelands No1 Online Business Directory. It has over 800 Catagories and is bringing quite alot of them to Page 1 in Google. Its is well worth taking a look it depending on what Catagory you fall into.

Mazi

blue4ever

C

DoMyBooks

marzi wrote: »

i di an seo course several weeks ago,works a treat cost me e199 plus vat, and now our website comes up in the top three organic listings almost every time .
tell ya what though, we just had a row with GP two minutes ago, thats why i'm reading your posts. the little feicer promised us a micro site along side our gp listings, and charged us nearly 5k. now that he has been paid he's aggressivly reluctant to give us the site as promised.

i will name the little twit if he doesnt buck up.

You could try the small claims court if you are unhappy. They now cover business disputes up to €2K. (I know your total invoice is €5K but I'm guessing the whole invoice isn't under dispute)

http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/Ahern%20extends%20Small%20Claims%20Procedure%20to%20cover%20business%20claims

Gloomtastic!

NPL28 wrote: »

Hi There,
I have noticed quite of lot online directories are available now. One which I have used a lot is www.needit.ie. I believe they are Irish owned and provide a very good free option for businesses to list themselves. The detail in the business listing ads is very good and they also provide links to business websites. Worth a shot if you want a good quality ad for your business.

If I was a cynical person, I might think that was a blatant plug! :rolleyes:

shegarty

check out the Tallaght directory seems to work for me!

al22

Get Cracking wrote: »

The website has beem maxed out with seo activity,but seen as we just published it last wendsday it is well back on the listings,
I would love to pump it somewhere else ,but when the phone is not ringing its hard not to.

Ads on the GP website are difficult to navigate and when I try to find my competitors in my business only -
spent a lot of time but think it is a wasted time. Difficult to use. Modern time + ancient type ads.

Attention about the phone numbers -
supposed EU decided that from the middle of 2014 all calls to a BUSINESS PHONE NUMBERS must be paid by businesses - not by customers who will call you.

al22

HellFireClub wrote: »

Stick it into a decent Google Adwords campaign is my advice OP and forget about the Golden Pages... Ask anyone who has previously advertised with them, I doubt you would find a single person who would give them repeat business, I certainly wouldn't based on my dealings with them...

Did a try - over 2 months - thousands of clics and no single customer.
But nearly 500 CVs from people who are looking for a job + hunddreds emails advertising their businesses.

cormie

al22 wrote: »

Attention about the phone numbers -
supposed EU decided that from the middle of 2014 all calls to a BUSINESS PHONE NUMBERS must be paid by businesses - not by customers who will call you.

Wow, really? Where did you hear that? I was considering changing my number to an 1800 number from my 1890 number but if it's all going to be free anyway, maybe there's no need...

al22

cormie wrote: »

Wow, really? Where did you hear that? I was considering changing my number to an 1800 number from my 1890 number but if it's all going to be free anyway, maybe there's no need...

Euronews TV @ 2 weeks ago.
Customers should not pay phone calls if a company put them on hold waiting and should not pay if need to contact a business. Suppose the EU wide decision - all countries.

More - Customers will have right to return any goods without explanations within 14 days. Money refundded in full including cost of delivery orders to customers.
If goods to return and need to use post or any other service, cost of return must be paid by business too, not by customer. Any business, including Internet Shops.

It called Customer Rights protection. Good for customers. :-)

jmcc

Wow! The Goldenpages site is still going? Wonder how many microsite customers it has at the moment?

Regards...jmcc

cormie

al22 wrote: »

Euronews TV @ 2 weeks ago.
Customers should not pay phone calls if a company put them on hold waiting and should not pay if need to contact a business. Suppose the EU wide decision - all countries.

More - Customers will have right to return any goods without explanations within 14 days. Money refundded in full including cost of delivery orders to customers.
If goods to return and need to use post or any other service, cost of return must be paid by business too, not by customer. Any business, including Internet Shops.

It called Customer Rights protection. Good for customers. :-)

Wow that's pretty crazy, I'm not a goods supplier myself but as a consumer, I think "right to return any goods without explanations within 14 days" could hit businesses hard, especially with the delivery costs etc in that. Does that override the "change of mind" rule in Irish consumer law then I wonder?

The phone call things sounds more customer service related as opposed to for example, one of my customers ringing me to book a job?

al22

cormie wrote: »

Wow that's pretty crazy, I'm not a goods supplier myself but as a consumer, I think "right to return any goods without explanations within 14 days" could hit businesses hard, especially with the delivery costs etc in that. Does that override the "change of mind" rule in Irish consumer law then I wonder?

The phone call things sounds more customer service related as opposed to for example, one of my customers ringing me to book a job?

Not sure - how about phone calls to you just for fun?

Suppose the Internet Shops would stop sending poor quality goods, different to what they beautifully advertise on the internet?


:-)

Graham

al22 wrote: »

Attention about the phone numbers -
supposed EU decided that from the middle of 2014 all calls to a BUSINESS PHONE NUMBERS must be paid by businesses - not by customers who will call you.

I think the legislation you're talking about is to legislate against post-contract/purchase premium rate helplines.

In the UK draft regulations, the business department specifies that a trader entering a contract with a consumer has to provide them with either a "geographic" or landline number, a mobile number or a free phone line.

BailMeOut

looks good to me. My instinct would be to search for 'office removal dublin'

al22

How reliable is statistics - number of clicks on Google Adwords?

My trial - got hundreds clicks in one month to pay (their information) but nobody contacted for business. I have less than 100 competitors in Ireland and UK together, and a few customers daily -old customers, for years

Compare
My advertising on the EUROPAGES (all EU Countries) - they have automated statistics -
shows I had 6 visitors from France and 3 visitors from China - TOTAL
for a one year - it means 9 clicks from the whole world a year.

Compare to hundreds from UK & Ireland. Difficult to believe. :-)