This next series of posts is a paid marketing cheat sheet that reviews the industry’s main channels and explains how to maximize each one.

We’re going to start with a guide for online directories.

Yelp

Yelp is one of the best-known directories for consumers, and many folks will consult it for company reviews before making a buying decision. However, there are a few things to note before you commit to running ads on Yelp.

Ad structure and fees

• Yelp ads work on a pay-per-click basis. You set a daily budget, and they charge you per click on your profile.
• They sponsor your profile and put it at the top of Yelp or on a display page. However, it can be difficult to maintain this placement. If you’re going to advertise on Yelp, you must be able to respond to new leads in under 5 minutes since Yelp prioritizes companies with quick response times. As a side note, this is also a great sales best practice – being responsive to customer inquiries will help engage them while they’re paying attention to you and help you get in front of your competition.
• Generally, the lowest budget required to advertise on Yelp is around $500/month. It also comes with a lot of fees that you might not expect, including:

• Daily charge for displaying your logo

• Charge for business highlight

• Charge for calls to action

• Charge to restrict competitors’ ads

Shared leads

• If you run ads on Yelp and a customer clicks your ad, you pay for that click. However, when they inquire about your service and submit their information, a box on the form says “shop more competitor bids,” which is automatically checked.
• Unless the prospect elects to uncheck this box (which most do not), their information gets sent to 4-5 other companies who are bidding on the same terms. This is probably the biggest issue with Yelp and with many lead vendors in general. When 4-5 different companies bid on a product, companies will drop their prices repeatedly to compete, which ultimately hurts everyone in the space.

Overall, Yelp requires a decent investment and a lot of dedication. Because it ranks organically at the top of Google, any negative reviews will be immediately visible to prospective customers. You cannot delete negative reviews, and if you delete your account, your profile still stays live and will continue to appear in Google searches That’s not to say that you should avoid Yelp overall—the purpose of this guide is simply to help you make an informed decision about where to spend your marketing dollars.

Thumbtack

Thumbtack operates on a strictly pay-per-lead model, without the upsells and add-ons common with Yelp. It works by setting a budget where you choose your max cost per lead. If you go higher on that number, you will likely get more leads, and if you go lower, you will get fewer leads.

Similar to Yelp, Thumbtack’s algorithm also prioritizes response time from lead to initial message, so that’s something to keep in mind if you decide to advertise with them.

Shared leads

• Thumbtack is basically the same as Yelp as far as shared leads go. When a lead submits their information to you, it immediately gets sent to 3-5 other competitors in your area offering that same service.
• The good news with Thumbtack is that they provide the lead’s phone number, whereas Yelp does not, as they want all messaging to be done via the app.
• Our recommendation with Thumbtack is to follow up with any new leads instantly through the app and also call or text them to have the best chance of securing that business.

Reviews

• Reviews on Thumbtack are probably the number one factor in ranking at the top and earning the “Top Pro” badge.
• This badge helps you stand out to prospects who are scrolling through the list of pool companies on Thumbtack.

How to get a Top Pro badge:

• Have a strong profile photo. Avoid selfies or low-quality pictures. It’s best to take a picture of your technicians or yourself near your branded truck, and maybe even consider hiring a photographer to get some action shots of your team on the job.
• Have very good reviews. Thumbtack usually only grants a Top Pro Badge if you have a 4.8 rating or higher with 20-30+ reviews. Thumbtack provides you with a custom link that you can send to your customers to have them leave you a review. You can even send this to past clients to round out your profile.

Angi

Angi’s is one of the most unique models in the lead vendor space. They have two different programs available to local business owners.

Pay-per-shared-lead program (Angi’s Leads)

• The pay-per-lead program with Angi’s is similar to Thumbtack in structure but quite a bit more expensive per lead. It’s more expensive than Thumbtack because each lead goes through more of a vetting process, which in turn gives them a higher quality. Even though they are of higher quality, they are still shared leads.

Pay Monthly Territory (Angi’s Ads)

• This one is extremely interesting in a few different ways. With this option, Angi’s will offer a certain territory (usually a 5-7 mile radius), and you will join the territory and get access to the leads that come in within those zip codes. They charge a monthly fee to do this—anywhere from $800 to $2000 per month, depending on your location. They usually require you to sign a 12-month contract agreeing that you will pay a certain amount for a minimum of 12 months regardless of results.