Ads Who designs them for you - Page 2 - Plumbing Zone

SewerRatz · 08-15-2010, 06:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Mark

most guys want to only spend a few hundred dollars a month and they never get dog crap back for the cheap effort..

people dont realize the large, massive , number of calls you get when you are doing that much advertiseing...

I do remember when you spend 5-- 6 k or more a month you better have the trucks and men ready to roll. cause the calls will come in...

if you were on good terms with yellow pages, would you ever do 5k a month again ??..

.
we are comfortable where we are with our advertisement
program , because we got very good placement on the internet I dont feel the need to spluge again in the yellow pages..

If we where on good terms, I say maybe... but then again. Plumber_Bill has a point, the yellow pages has gone crazy with double page ads and such. Also I noticed they are making subcategories in the book now. So you have the main category "Plumbing" , then you have "Plumbing Contractors" "Plumbing Sewer and Drains Cleaning Service" I find them doing these subcategories insulting and another way to get deeper in to our pockets.

So maybe not. Back in the day they used to place the ads with seniority, meaning who ever was in the book the longest was the first ad. The free listings and column ads where still alphabetical but anything larger than a card ad if you in the book the longest you would be placed first, then the next longest guy and so on. Now its how much money are you willing to spend will get you up in the front. So spending 5k a month might not be enough I probably would end up in the back of all the double page ads and the color and photo ads that cost twice as much.

We have been doing OK with out the books things could be better hence me wanting to get our old ad back out there. We do have good Internet presence so I think instead of making the yellow pages richer with their deceitful ways , fliers is the way to go.

Master Mark · 08-15-2010, 10:01 PM

[QUOTE=SewerRatz;

We have been doing OK with out the books things could be better hence me wanting to get our old ad back out there. We do have good Internet presence so I think instead of making the yellow pages richer with their deceitful ways , fliers is the way to go.[/QUOTE]

the difference is like night and day.. and if you are not in the book, life can sometimes feel as slow as moooollassas....

god , how I know that feeling, you sit around all day with your thumb in your ass and just when you are ready to lock the place up and go home the dam phone finally rings at 3.30 .

I would rather be spending 3k a month and having 30 calls a day , over spending nothing and having 3 or 4 calls limp into the office at around 3.30 ..that you absolutely MUST DO no matter how bad and nasty they are......that is rough

.
I agree that their are too many different areas of the book
that you have to be in and they charge you for them all....

I am under plumbing and water heaters
and its working out ok..by me..

SewerRatz · 08-16-2010, 01:21 AM

Well the reason I ask who designs your ads is I wanted to share with you all a neat program called Gimp, Gimp is a freeware open source GNU Image manipulation program. I feel it puts Adobe photoshop to shame. http://www.gimp.org/

As I said the ad posted has been updated by me from a print ad we used to have. Back in the day my father would lay out what he wanted, and pay a premium to the yellow pages to have a graphic artist clean it up and make it ready for print. These days the graphic artists use programs like photoshop, Indesign, Gimp, to come up with your ads. You all can save a few bucks doing the graphics and lay out yourselves.

What i did was take a picture of the ad with my cell phone then cleaned it up with Gimp and modified some of the text. So here is the before shot.

SewerRatz · 08-16-2010, 01:24 AM

Also to do line art is not that hard either. I just did an RPZ using GIMP I took a picture of an RPZ valve and turned it into a black and white photo, then I used the filters in Gimp to give me a sketch type drawing then I just cleaned up some of the grey areas to make it a line art drawing. Now I just need to add it to the ad along with a text under it.

Herk · 08-16-2010, 01:23 PM

I don't know that Gimp puts Photoshop to shame, but it's free. Did I mention it was free? And you can get it for WIndoze, too! (I've been using The Gimp since long before it was available in WIndoze.)

SewerRatz · 08-16-2010, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herk

I don't know that Gimp puts Photoshop to shame, but it's free. Did I mention it was free? And you can get it for WIndoze, too! (I've been using The Gimp since long before it was available in WIndoze.)

Same here. Been using it on my old linux box for years. It does everything Photoshop can do plus some, and the fact it is open source and you can easly write your own plugins for it puts it above Photoshop in my eyes. And the fact its free.

SewerRatz · 08-16-2010, 05:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Master Mark

Sewer Ratz....I thought that you and the yellow page people were at each others throats...

what happenned, did you and the yellow page lady kiss and make up???

Your add looks real good.....might I suggest one thing??

I have the same thing in my add, in the top right hand corner that is basically dead air space, I suggest you put a huge checkmark....... It makes your add stand out like a sore tumb and sometimes they think that it was already marked.... Draws their attention to that space every time.

I dont think you ought to give anyone a two year warranty on a tree rooot call
thats gonna hurt you ...... one year should be enough

actually your idea of putting the 800 # at the end of the arrow is not too bad either.

I also think its a good idea to make your web address larger....bu tit really looks good....

now tell me what happenned with the on-going yellow page saga.

Well I took your suggestion and added the Huge Check Mark, I did move things around a lot more. The two year Guarantee is something we been doing for over 40+ years. So here is the latest and greatest.

PS when you are doing changes to graphics, or typing a large document or anything on a computer that if you lost what you are working on will be a pain in the arse to redo.... SAVE OFTEN. I had it all done was just resizing the check mark, and blammo computer froze up on me. I had to start from square one.

3KP · 08-16-2010, 07:03 PM

That is Beautiful~ I like the last one

Master Mark · 08-16-2010, 08:15 PM

that one looks real good....

who ever told you about putting that checkmark in your
add must really be on the ball...

Tommy plumber · 08-17-2010, 10:48 PM

Sewer Ratz, I like the old school look, especially of the guy cabling the c.o. with picture of cable down in the drain line. Personally I like vintage looking stuff, (i.e. machines, ads, pictures from 1800's, old cars, etc.) The bathrooms in my house are vintage 1950's, wall-hung sink, chrome stops, chrome p-traps, chrome supply lines, 3.5 gallon w/c, 3-handle tub valve, etc.

08-15-2010, 10:01 PM	#12
Master Mark philosopher and statesmen Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Indianapolis indiana ... Posts: 2,371 My Photos	things can always be better [QUOTE=SewerRatz; We have been doing OK with out the books things could be better hence me wanting to get our old ad back out there. We do have good Internet presence so I think instead of making the yellow pages richer with their deceitful ways , fliers is the way to go.[/QUOTE] the difference is like night and day.. and if you are not in the book, life can sometimes feel as slow as moooollassas.... god , how I know that feeling, you sit around all day with your thumb in your ass and just when you are ready to lock the place up and go home the dam phone finally rings at 3.30 . I would rather be spending 3k a month and having 30 calls a day , over spending nothing and having 3 or 4 calls limp into the office at around 3.30 ..that you absolutely MUST DO no matter how bad and nasty they are......that is rough . I agree that their are too many different areas of the book that you have to be in and they charge you for them all.... I am under plumbing and water heaters and its working out ok..by me.. __________________ God created man, Sam Colt made them equal." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E8mswI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQMO1eyMRuM

08-16-2010, 07:03 PM	#18
3KP Plumbing Contractor Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Your Momma's Posts: 744 My Photos	That is Beautiful~ I like the last one __________________ Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it. 'Have a Blessed Day!"

08-16-2010, 08:15 PM	#19
Master Mark philosopher and statesmen Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Indianapolis indiana ... Posts: 2,371 My Photos	that looks good that one looks real good.... who ever told you about putting that checkmark in your add must really be on the ball... __________________ God created man, Sam Colt made them equal." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swkq2E8mswI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQMO1eyMRuM

08-17-2010, 10:48 PM	#20
Tommy plumber Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: South Florida Posts: 4,145 My Photos	Good looking 'old school' ad Sewer Ratz, I like the old school look, especially of the guy cabling the c.o. with picture of cable down in the drain line. Personally I like vintage looking stuff, (i.e. machines, ads, pictures from 1800's, old cars, etc.) The bathrooms in my house are vintage 1950's, wall-hung sink, chrome stops, chrome p-traps, chrome supply lines, 3.5 gallon w/c, 3-handle tub valve, etc. __________________ Hire a licensed master plumber.

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08-16-2010, 01:23 PM	#15
Herk Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: S.E. Idaho Posts: 800 My Photos	I don't know that Gimp puts Photoshop to shame, but it's free. Did I mention it was free? And you can get it for WIndoze, too! (I've been using The Gimp since long before it was available in WIndoze.)