Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I thought I'd add a couple of pennies. I have a bit of a vested interest, LOL.

First - and worst - it's all about the rep. That's the cold, hard truth. Many (most?) of the reps are former print salespeople with a hard sell background and little or no internet expertise. They don't need it - it's a 3rd party vendor handling the PPC placement. Problem is - that thrid party vendor - all of us use one of 2 - SUCKS. There, I said it, LOL. I have many clients on our SE product - and I ride the vendors rear until the keywords are right and placement right. I also used to ork for the unmentionable vendor, and was actually LET GO for SPENDING TOO MUCH TIME OPTIMIZING CLIENTS CAMPIGNS. True story. Fact is, if the vendors that supply the IYP's PPC products were worth a big piece up concrete backing up Lake Mead, the IYP SE products would be acceptable. over priced vs DIY, but worthwhile. They're not. :shrug:

IYP's themselves - well... What's that line from Bambi about if you can't say something nice...? So i won't talk about Superpages.com, LOL. Yellowbook.com is repsectable. They generate real ROI. They're a competitor, but I actually RECOMEND them to many of my clients for additional business. Dex is... Okay. Depends on the city. Yellowpages.com - well, I'm biased. i'm also honest. If the campaign - on our network, not talking about the SE stuff - is set up and run correctly, the ROI is off the charts. Conversion rate like you've never dreamed about. Those crazy stats are true - IF IT'S DONE RIGHT. The biggest problem with IYP lies in a couple of places.

First - As i said before, the rep. most will oversell or sell whatever the client will buy. Overselling reduces ROI for obvious reasons. Underselling is JUST AS BAD. If your $15 listing isn't going to generate results, but you're unsure about commiting $200/mo - well, the $15/mo will be fluched down the toilet, the $200/mo (if I'm the one recommending it, LOL) will generate 10:1 and better ROI. I've got clients who've generated millions off a couple thousand dollars, literally.

Second - you guys. Don't take offense; I don't mean all of you. But the directory and especially IYP concept and execution is so misundertood by SE pros that horrible advice and even worse rumors.

That's why I'm here. Good discussion, anyone?