The past 2 to 3 years I have cut my YellowPages advertising considerably.  From full display ads to half inch ads and in some categories just bold line listings.  I still think you need a presence in the Big Yellow Book for now, but over the next few years I see this as an obsolete away of advertising.

That said, my YellowPages account executive swears the book will be around forever. At renewal time, I told her I had been focusing my advertising efforts on Direct Mail, Internet advertising in Michigan Business Directory sites and national business directory web sites and of coarse local networking.  She proceeded to tell me about YellowPages.com and how powerful it has been for its advertisers.  So I reviewed the site and found several competitors listed with basic listings that did NOT link to their web sites.  I thought this would be a great opportunity to slide in with a listing that linked to my website.

So in March of 2007 I went with a $40 a month advanced listing on YellowPages.com that linked to my site.  A few months had past and I did not see much activity in my Google Analytics stats in regards to traffic from the listing on YellowPages.com.  I didn’t give it much more thought over the remainder of the year, until last week when my rep called telling me it was time to renew the YellowPages.com listing.

I asked for my stats – first off I was told my impressions, I snapped back with the comment that impressions don’t mean much to me – I want to know how many clicks (visits to my web site) my listing received. She told me 85, I asked “Per Month”? – Nope that was from March 2007 through January 2008 (11 Months) – so I did the math, 11 months at $40 is $440.  Now it gets worse, $440 divided by the 85 clicks is $5.18 per click, wow I almost fell off my chair at how much per click I paid.

I run a Google Adwords campaign and average $0.42 (cents) per click of highly targeted traffic that is keyword specific.  That $440 would have brought me 1,048 clicks or visits to my website verse the terribly low 85 that the YellowPages.com listing brought in.

So I would not recommend a paid listing on YellowPages.com use the money on Google Adwords and/or other lower cost business directories that are creditable and are getting traffic.

Tim Somers
MichiganBusinessHub.com

I found myself grabbing a Red Bull every now and then, only to feel worst after crashing from the buzz a few hours later.  A few months ago I met Shannon Ciaramellano, one of the few Seriesse Michigan Representatives.  I asked her what the Seriesse product line had as far as Energy Boosters.  Shannon said her husband has been using the Amla Rush Energizing Power Mix and having great energy.

So on Shannon’s recommendation, I decided to give Amla Rush a try knowing that the product is all natural and had very little sugars (6g) was a big seller for me.  Shannon took care of ordering the product for me and it showed up in just a couple of days.  That day I followed the directions and poured the entire packet into an bottle of water (the package directions say to use an 8oz bottle of water, mine was over 9oz.)

The water turned pink from the concentrate, after shaking for some time I took my first drink.  I can’t say it was great, but it was not that bad – considering how I never got used to the bad tasting Red Bull, Amla Rush was easy to get used to.

I finished the bottle about 4 pm and to my surprise I was feeling great at 1 am, knowing the alarm would be going off at 5:30 I thought I’d better head to bed.  Being skeptical and wondering if the first bottle was maybe just mind over matter, i.e. I wanted it to work and was so excited that my adrenaline took over giving me the energy, I thought I’d would skip the next day and pre-mix a bottle for the third day and sure enough I dragged the day without drinking the Amla Rush and felt great the next day drinking a bottle around 3 pm.

Going on my second week now, I am trying to only drink a bottle every other day – I have to say I can really tell the difference in my energy level on the days I drink the Amla Rush Energizing Power Mix.

To give you some background, Sylvester Stallone’s wife Jennifer has had a successful business with her line of Seriesse International products (line of skin care products).  S-Force is Sly’s line of products that has recently been added to the Seriesse line.  At 61 Sylverster Statllone used many of his products while making his latest movie, Rambo.

Amla Rush seems pricey at $49.95, but with 30 packets that’s only $1.67 each – compared to most energy drinks that is considerably lower in cost.  Again the biggest factor for me is the healthy contents aspect.  Here is a list of ingredients:

3:1 Amla fruit concentrate, Guarana seed extract (supplies 150 mg caffeine), Green tea leaf extract, Raspberry fruit puree, Cranberry fruit concentrate Grape skin extract, Grape seed extract, Wild blueberry extract, Raspberry seed extract, Tart cherry, Wild bilberry , Strawberry, Prune, Stevia leaf extract 60 mg.

Other ingredients: Turbinado cane juice crystals, natural flavors, beet color, citric acid, malic acid, silica, potassium citrate.

For more details about Amla Rush, other S-Force Products and the entire Seriesse International skin care line visit Shannon’s website –  Seriesse International

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Tim Somers
MichiganBusinessHub.com