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Check any Yellow Pages directory heading from one year to the next and see how many ads disappear, or reduced in size.

Here are some little secrets that your Yellow Pages rep will never tell you but may save you a small fortune.

1. A colored ad will double the amount of calls that you will receive over a black and yellow ad. The truth: There is no study by any independent research firm that verifies any increase in calls. Many large advertisers will use color in their ads when it is free and drop the color when they have to pay for it. These advertisers track their calls and see no difference in colored or black and yellow ads.

2. The largest ad in a heading will receive the most calls. The truth: In fact the smallest ad will sometimes receive the most calls.

3. The Yellow Pages publisher will design a wonderfully effective ad for you for free. The truth: Letting the publisher design your ad could make it the most expensive ad design you will ever pay for. Paying for a professionally designed Yellow Pages ad is better than spending money on color or size.

4. A display ad is always better than an incolumn ad. The truth: I have many clients who have increased their calls from their Yellow Pages advertising by going incolumn instead of the display ad that they had before. They were able to reduce what they were spending by 75%.

5. You’re better off spending money on your Yellow Pages advertising than on the Internet. The truth: This year more people have used the Internet for local business search then used the published Yellow Pages.

6. If you buy a Yellow Pages ad your phone will ring off the hook. The truth: More businesses than I can count have been put out of business by paying for ads in the Yellow Pages that they couldn’t afford. A new advertiser should be very conservative in the size of the ad they purchase. No matter what your sales rep says there is no guarantee that you will receive one call, yet you still have to pay the bill every month for the next year.

7. Put your name in big print at the top of the ad. The truth: Yellow page publishers suggest this all the time, not to make your phone ring but to appeal to your ego. What you do that separates you from your competition should be your ads headline. Example:” One Hour Service, Guaranteed” Your name and your phone number should be at the bottom of the ad.

8. The big phone companies Yellow Pages directories are used the most and is where you should advertise. The truth: All directories that are distributed to businesses and residents are used. Almost always the phone companies directories are used the most, but you may get a much better deal from some of the secondary publishers. There also will be far less competition in your headings.

To West Coast Yellow Pages advertisers I have been known as the good Doctor Yellow Page. I have consulted with over a thousand businesses and professionals the last 20 years, helping them cut their Yellow Pages advertising cost and increase their customer calls. I have trained over a hundred Yellow Pages consultants across the United States. I can be seen and contacted a http://www.doctoryellowpage.com.

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When you read your Yellow Pages contract you will see initials for various items success as BLN, WBLN, WFL, and ABLN. Most of these items cost between $ 7 and $34. Do you ever ask your sales Rep “what the heck is this?” The reason you don’t ask is because the item only cost $ 30 dollars, and you had it last year, and you don’t want to appear stupid asking questions about $ 30.. The problem is that these unidentified items can add thousands of dollars to your advertising bill.

When you read your Yellow Pages contract ask the publisher’s sales Rep what all the initials are and why do you need them. In almost all cases you don’t need them because there is a cheaper or free version available.

White page listing (WBLN) - If you have a business phone you are entitled to a free listing of your business name, address and phone number in the White Pages and the Yellow Pages. You will be told that it’s much easier for your customer to read a bold listing (BLN) and it only cost $31 than the semi bold free listing. Unfortunately it is not $31 but $372. The $31 is for one month but the contract is for a year. It is very clever the way the publishers show all costs on your contract by the month instead of by the year, even though the contract is for a year. Ninety percent of all business name listings in the white pages are the free listings version and their customers seem to be able to find them. People read the white pages alphabetically and the bold print can actually be confusing.

White Feature Listing (WFL) - This is the super big print that you see in the white pages. A bold white page listing (WBLN) cost $31 a month while the super bold (WFL) listings cost $90 a month or $1080 for the year. Can you imagine paying $1080 for something that is free, yet thousands of businesses have WFL’s.

Anchor Bold Listing and Number (ABLN) - If you purchase a display ad you receive a free Incolumn listing in the same heading the display ad appears. You will be told that it’s much easier for the customer to read your name if it is bold. An anchor listing is the business name, address and phone number and where your ad is located (see our ad on page 456). The price of a bold anchor listing can ranges from $30 to $114 a month or you can get it for free (ARL). As my son would say Duuuh.

Buy the largest display ad -All advertisers are told that the largest display and will receive the most calls. However research shows that the ad that contains the most pertinent information that the consumer is looking for, in an easy-to-read format, will receive the most calls regardless of size. Spend your money on ad design and copywriting instead of Yellow Pages ad space and you can reduce your advertising costs by 50% or more.

Process color ads - The Yellow Pages sales Rep will bring in a sample ad for your business that looks like it’s straight out of Time magazine. Unfortunately a process color ad adds 40% to the cost over a black and yellow or spot color ad. There is no evidence in any study of Yellow Pages advertising that a process color ad increases customer calls.

Businesses that have followed my advice have been able to reduce their Yellow Pages costs by as much as 50%. Take charge of your yellow page program, and examine every item on your contract.

Never let the Yellow Pages publisher design your ad because they design all of your competitor’s ads. The best money you can spend in Yellow Pages advertising is for a professionally designed ad. Remember the best designed ad will get the most calls.

Michael Warner, known as Doctor Yellow Page to many yellow pages advertisers, has operated a successful Yellow Pages consulting and design company for over 20 years, and can be seen and contacted at http://www.doctoryellowpage.com The good Doctor offers a free evaluation of your Yellow Pages ads and contracts.

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