You want a meaningful discussion, I remember seeing your site in my facebook feed and loved it! I wanted to save it because of the good use of orange and greys, but I couldnt find it!!
How small is the world lol.
Anyhow, why did you choose yodle who has hundreds of complaints and not use Footbridge to handle your ppc?
JBM, I'd be glad to answer your questions:
1. I opted against Footbridge's PPC because of several reasons: first, I kept pressing Aaron and Ryan to provide me some sort of dashboard that would measure their PPc progress, but to no avail. I simply wanted to understand what keywords they were using to create their landing pages. They kept saying , "just pick a monthly budget and let us worry about generating leads". I'm sorry, but I have to see where the leads are coming from... I want to see which landing page is getting clicks and which ones are underperforming. I NEED TRANSPARANCY!!!!!!!
Aside from their SEO/PPC efforts, I must say that they still produce the best looking custom websites. I have to credit them with that! All my colleagues said they have never seen anything like it. Even my PPC manager at Yodle was veery impressed. But, what good is a website if it's not exposed and seen?
2. I chose Yodle because I was convinced of the feedback from their active members. I went to Sitejabber.com which ranks websites and carries public reviews. 370 reviews were posted for Yodle. They have a score of 3.6 out of 5.0 which is far better than other large companies. I contacted 15 of those reviewers by searhing their websites... I spoke with contractors, dentists, therapists, HVAC guys, plumbers, inspectors, and weight loss management clinics. They all reported a profitable ROI. Moreover, They all shared the same expectations when they joined. They were all told that it will take Yodle 45 to 60 days to fine tune the key words that most convert into sales for their particular industry.
The above all made sense to me to try. So, i signed with them on the 14th of January with a low monthly budget of 200/month. On January 16, I received my first lead that converted into a sale. It was residential home inspection for 375.00. On January 19, I recieved two calls/lead... I converted another into a sale for a Mold inspection (220.00). Those two leads have already paid for my expense for January. My profit thus far is 395.00 and I still have 25 days of possible profitability before my next monthly dues.
This has far exceeded my expectations... I was only expecting to generate leads after 45 days. Looking at my dashboard, the two leads that converted into a sale came from one of the 8 ad campaigns. It tells specifically which ad campaign it is. Therefore, the others that underperform will probably be revised or completely eliminated. This data is measurable and i can relate to it and understand it.
Now, as to the negative reviews/complaints on Yodle, I called 7 of them. Of the 7, 3 agreed to speak and tell me why. Those three did not provide me anything specific. I asked them was it a lack of profitable ROI? Was it lack of leads? They said it was just a misleading business model... Lack of specificity makes me wonder about their own poor business model. Before blaming someone else, they need to accept constructive criticism and start to identify the reasons why Yodle failed them.
www.superiorhomesolutions.net
www.superhomeinspections.net