Newspaper Advert Failed

[Andyuk2007]

Hi, as some of you know I placed an advert in my local paper for 3 days in the hope it might draw up some business but its safe to say this failed :(

Some of the competition though had very questionable rates. one of them had a per hour rate of only £9.99.

SERVICES » COMPUTER SERVICE, REPAIR & UPGRADE
COMPUTER REPAIRS from £9.99, Free collection and return. Call or see website for details. 01664 562507. www.f1services.co.uk
Published: 07/03/2009


However after looking at the website this rate was only for replacing memory on the motherboard the companies hourly rate to a home was £39.99 then on top of that they charge additional fees for virus removal of £14.99 e.t.c

http://www.f1services.co.uk

The second also had a website but very little information on it.

COMPUTER / LAPTOP REPAIRS From £4.99 FREE HOME CALL OUT, same day service, No fix No fee, 0116 2356422 /07746886495. www.leicesterpcrepair.com

again i checked out the website and i find the information very misleading, also there are no prices for there services that i could find on the site http://www.leicesterpcrepair.com

I've built up a good solid reputation in my local areas but I had hoped on stretching my wings but sadly I dont think its going to work out :( especially with people misleading the truth in there adverts regarding the pricing or maybe its the recession that has hit alot of people.

Here is the wording on my Advert

PC Wizard PC/Laptop Upgrades & Repairs, Free Call out Service No fix No fee,Tel: (0116) 2388205 Or 07812 818 579

I could try again with different wording but to waste £80 is a big blow to be honest. :confused:

Perhaps I should try advertising on the yell.com website to see if i have better luck but at the moment I have one booked call out for next week. they saw my advert in the Advert to offer booklet

[Simmy]

£80 for 3 days is a bit steep. Why not try one of your weekly rags rather than a daily one?

I pay £140 for 13 weeks in "The Observer" which reaches all around Bristol. Your advert is then in peoples houses for 91 days rather than just 3.

The hourly rates charged by F1 Services seem reasonable enough to me. It does clearly state "From £9.99" in the advert. Maybe you could do the same - "From £9.99 + parts for memory upgrades" if they bring the computer to you.

What paper are you in again and does it have a website?

[Andyuk2007]

£80 for 3 days is a bit steep. Why not try one of your weekly rags rather than a daily one?

I pay £140 for 13 weeks in "The Observer" which reaches all around Bristol. Your advert is then in peoples houses for 91 days rather than just 3.

The hourly rates charged by F1 Services seem reasonable enough to me. It does clearly state "From £9.99" in the advert. Maybe you could do the same - "From £9.99 + parts for memory upgrades" if they bring the computer to you.

What paper are you in again and does it have a website?

i'm in the leicester mercury its one of the biggest ones in leicester its read by over 200,000 a day according the pdf info that they sent me. http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk

If i could upload the pdf info that they sent me about it but its a 5mb file and technibble only allows me 19.5kb for a pdf, there are not many local rags around here :(

[Simmy]

Oh and another thing - get a bleedin website up!

Get yourself to the top of google for Leicester Computer Repair (which would be eeeasy) and then you won't have to advertise anymore :p

[Andyuk2007]

Oh and another thing - get a bleedin website up!

Get yourself to the top of google for Leicester Computer Repair (which would be eeeasy) and then you won't have to advertise anymore :p

lol Yeah I need to do that sometime but in the meantime I guess i'll just keep with my local advertising and try find a more cheaper newspaper to advertise in, I might also try this yell.com thing but i'm not sure about that yet.

A website is something i would like to do but knowing what info you put on it is another thing :p

[Simmy]

I'll never use yell.com or yellowpages again.

You've talked about doing a website "sometime" for sometime now :p It really is my best form of advertising and I know other people who would say the same thing.

[Azz]

Never go near Yell.com or Yellow Pages, after about £700 I haven't had 1 lead from either.

Aaron

[Methical]

I dont find what to put on the website the hard thing; the hardest thing to me is the design and the marketing of the website.

As soon as you've got it; got back to the print shop, and re-print all your business cards to put your email address on it.

As long as your website is clean and cut; you'd make your money back on it quicker than a stupid newspaper advert thats just digging into your pockets.

[Fixedathome.com]

I'll never use yell.com or yellowpages again.

You've talked about doing a website "sometime" for sometime now :p It really is my best form of advertising and I know other people who would say the same thing.



Can I ask why you wouldn't touch Yellow Pages? The Nottingham book has been my most successful form of advertising and I usually get 10-20 calls a week from it although the last couple of months has been less than that. The Derby book has been very poor for me though. Yell.com on the other hand, I think the standard £110 deal or how ever much it is, is worth having but the sponsored links are a big waste of money.

[Simmy]

I got a £400-500 yellow pages ad when I first started up 3 years ago. I still haven't made even half my money back from it after all this time. So for me, it really didn't work. The computer services section in the Bristol yellow pages was about 30 pages thick back then and I felt it was just too saturated.

They kept trying to convince me that I needed a bigger ad which stood out from all the others, which obviously meant more £££.

That's fantastic that you're getting so much work from it though. Do you have a fairly large ad I take it?

If I could get onto the first results page of yell.com, I might give it ago next year.

[Azz]

I got a £400-500 yellow pages ad when I first started up 3 years ago. I still haven't made even half my money back from it after all this time. So for me, it really didn't work. The computer services section in the Bristol yellow pages was about 30 pages thick back then and I felt it was just too saturated.

They kept trying to convince me that I needed a bigger ad which stood out from all the others, which obviously meant more £££.

That's fantastic that you're getting so much work from it though. Do you have a fairly large ad I take it?

If I could get onto the first results page of yell.com, I might give it ago next year.

I think to get on the first page of yell.com is mega ££££. They sold me a priorty listing, which is obviously more, they promised I would appear above all other normal listings. They forgot to tell me there are 50 other priorty listings, and I would appear on the first page about 2 times out of 10.

Aaron