Anyone Heard Of Yodle?

dougchips

IMHO they offer a horrible service. Experimenting with keywords (for services that I don't offer) at my expense so they can say that I got XX calls in month I spent somewhere around $1200 and was able to set one appointment that ending up being a no show which means I spent $1200 and did not get a job.

When I interviewed them we went over keywords and what services I offer and they assured me that they handle other window companies across the US. After my month ran out they told me it would get better the next month........ I not saying it's a scam but it sure didn't work for me.

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To get the best replacement windows, or sun rooms contact the replacement windows experts at FHI Vinyl Window Company.

rbsremodeling

Same experience here. 3 month contract 3600 bucks down the toilet. Ahh those where the days

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dougchips

I made them give me a one month out on the contract. There is no reason for a contract for longer than a month for a semi-automated PPC campaign in my opinion.

Speaking of which Angie's list required a 12 month contract for their paid listings and they will not budge.

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To get the best replacement windows, or sun rooms contact the replacement windows experts at FHI Vinyl Window Company.

Ursalesguru

Any PPC company who relies strictly on the PPC technology is playing craps with your money. You can do that all by yourself....

There are 3 things that you should know about any PPC before you spend your first dollar.

1. Are they eager to use your site or build one?

If they want to use your website to market your services they most likely don't care to know you or your business strengths. They are relying on your web designers marketing aptitude to get you leads. People decide to fill out your form based on what they read. Many websites are built with very basic infromation only. They do not have a shred of salesmanship in them. No Hot buttons, Emotional triggers, call to actions that matter, or offers that are worth anything.

Many times this is why PPC campaigns fail. A 5th Grader can get you on Google with PPC but very few people know how to write ad copy that is convincing and moves people to fill out a form and generate a lead.

2. If they do not look to create a unique web presence for you then how are you any different than any one else and why should a customer use you over your competition. Just creating a cookie cutter site with your company name at the top a phone number and a free estimate is unacceptable.

Not to beat a dead horse so to speak but getting clicks is the easy part. If your marketer is not willing to commit to developing a site for you that maximizes your strengths in comparison to your competition then RUN.. You have 3 seconds to separate your self from your competition once a potential client lands on your page that’s it.... Then they move on to the next guy money and all.

3. If they do not ask questions about your sales process then RUN... How do they create and effective marketing program without understand your sales process from start to finish. Also what happens after you give the estimate and how do you increase your possibilities of being the first choice outside of dropping your pants and quoteing the lowest price.

Your marketing company should want know your business and be eager to understand your sales process so they can assist you not only in generating leads but increasing your chances for closing those leads. To know your customers is the best way to get them to fill out your form. If your marketer does not know you or your customers likes and dislikes then you might as well go to las Vegas and gamble your PPC campign away.

In a market that is challenging getting High Quality Leads are an invaluable resource. Prequlify your company and how they generate your leads and you will get a higher qualty lead generator and high quality leads.

Kenny K

good advice. I am thinking of leaping into this real. but carefully

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Replacement Windows and Vinyl Siding by Illinois Remodeling Company

zookies

We just a call from Yodle, and they sold me for twenty minutes on a wide approach, and then the guy pawned me off on 'his manager' like I was buying a used car. So I got irritated and pressed him for raw numbers, and he admitted that clicks would run 5-10$ and that only 1 in 10 clicks would lead to a phone call, and the lead quality was not his problem. For my business, I needed 313 calls a month, or 3000 clicks, or at least $15,000. I think I'll pass.

We have used Performance Local in the past, and they were less negotiable to volume, they just wanted a flat $ 895 a month for a multi-city exclusive. We eliminated reach local a while back.

So we are left managing our own campaigns in adwords. A lot of work, but we are fortunately big enough to budget the manpower. I think if you get your keywords, you can do a simple approach without much work though, maybe a day to do setup and an hour or two a month to look at reports. For example, "Lisle Roofer" has little competition.

So I am going to go without the PPC marketters for this year.

Pro Builder

Yodle did not work for me one bit. Spent $1,000 and didn't notice any difference. Might as well have burned 10 $100 bills.

Pro Builder

Can you actually get that many calls from PPC alone? I'm struggling to get ONE call a MONTH!

I feel like I am missing out on something, here. I'm new to this forum and I honestly expected to see contractors talking about how hard times are. yet look around! Threads about not knowing how to get rid of great jobs because you already have too many. Threads about raising prices in order to smooth things out. Threads about going through failing PPC programs and yet still pulling in enormous business....?

Either you guys are the crim de la crim, or I am missing something obvious.

I have a great local reputation, and derive almost all of my leads from that. I am really trying to generate online interest, but fail to do so with companies like Yodle and others. I think it might have somethign to do with my cookiee-cutter website. Can someone take a look at it?

Any good advice is more valuable than fine gold right now...

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New York Marketing
San Luis Obispo Advertising
I love to barter. If you offer a product or service and would like to increase your sales, contact me and let's make a deal.

fenceman

All lead generation companies charge you for what you could do yourself. But you are not doing those things for whatever reason most likely lack of knowledge.

Most contractor charge customer to do stuff they could do themselves too.

PS Not ALL lead generation companies are as bad as it seems. Do your own homework and take online opinions with a grain of salt.

PSS I own a competing lead generation company and I have always heard very good thing about yodle. service magic is another story

zookies

Internet marketting is pretty much the same whether you do landscaping or install elevators. First build a good web-site that conforms to html standards. If you can't do this yourself, or use dreamweaver, hire a niece or a nephew for college funds and write content yourself to help them. When you do this, you DO NOT NEED some idiot to come in and re-invent the wheel. If you can explain your approach to a prospective customer, then you can write it down and turn it into a searchable web-site. All you need is the help of some youngster to hook up the loose technological ends, like ftp and hosting. After a year of working on that, you will be ready to look at managing your own pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns in google, yahoo, or bing.

You will pay dearly and learn the expensive way if you try to jump around the fundamentals.

waboehler

Ive been considering Reach Local since my son works there. We have Yodle in my area too. I dont know the details but there is some form of tracking that Reach Local has patents on that Yodle tries to copy. If anyone is interested in the differences I can give you my sons email address.

festerized

Anyone else get calls from yodel today? Pretty funny we did the GOTO meeting sharing the same screen.
He tells me my web site is not up to par and his company can improve my leads. I listen to the typical BS. Then I ask how he could improve my leads as I do pretty well. Heres the funny part, he asks what i do & were?
Mind you we are sharing the same screen, he keywords Framing contractor Forked River, bam! I’m all over that screen! He says WOW your doing pretty good, I best not waste anymore of your time, I say, Just wasting yours buddy!

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Addition Contractor Bayville Home Addition Monmouth Beach NJ Contractor Jackson NJ

“Photography is not art, It’s just a Xerox of what just happened”

JumboJack

Concrete and asphalt or whoring for the lead services?Which one is it?

You have 7 posts and all of them are about lead company's.

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in texas with framing and cornish people will do it for 3.00 a foot. What do yall think about that? Just laber

JumboJack

:edit...8 posts all about lead company's.

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in texas with framing and cornish people will do it for 3.00 a foot. What do yall think about that? Just laber

angus242

If you want to open an account, go for it. Using someone else's is not gonna fly.

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Angus
L+M+O+P=C
"Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise"

waboehler

I apologize for posting the above information. I made it clear who I was and why I was posting. I didnt think it would be a problem. I actually thought the forum would appreciate the information.




Mods, please remove the previous posts.

Quality Remodel

Ill let you know how Yodle works out for me. I recently signed up for their Yodle Organic product.

DMGD

What I dislike about companies like these is mainly the lack of research before they call you. "Do you Have a website?" This is the number 1 question that turns me off from any services trying to sell me. Both Reach Local and Yodle have lost my business.

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Garage Door Repair and Installation - Northern California - Facebook - Garage Pictures

CrossRiverSolar

Yodle is a complete waste of money.

They butchered our website , posted misleading content, and misleading middle school quality videos on YouTube about our busines.

We gave them numerous opportunities to correct their garbage. Their only recommendation was to spend more money. 14,000 dollars and one Job later we yanked them.

Don't fall for their smooth sales pitch which will reference others in your industry using them.The reason we did business With yodle was because a very large and very successful competitor uses them. That company also spends tens of thousands a month. So if you have a 30,000 a month budget maybe they will take care of you. If you go with their organic packages you will probably get burned.

I hate this company and would never recommend them to ANY contractor.