Pay Per Call Ads

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Pay Per Call Advertising - Better than PPC? While most internet advertising campaigns are based on bringing customers to your website so that they can fill out a form or order a product online, this is not always the best result for your business. Pay per call ads, where you pay the network not for clicks or order forms, but actual phone calls, may change that. In fact, pay per call leads may be especially beneficial to small and medium-sized businesses.

Consider. Much of the time when consumers are surfing the internet, they may not be looking for an entire website, but a specific piece of information - the operating hours for a restaurant, appointment scheduling for a doctor - any number of things which may be better served by a phone call. This is where pay per call advertising comes in. What is Pay Per Call Advertising? Pay per call is a newer form of search engine marketing that matches consumers and companies via telephone. Just as in traditional pay per click campaigns, you (the advertiser) create online advertisements that show up as the results of keyword searches. Pay per call ads, however, either offers a "click to call" option, or a special toll-free number, either in place of, or in addition to, the company's web address. Many pay per call services also offer a "splash page" or landing page that gives further information about the company in question, like their location, hours, and products offered. Some such pages even include shipping and ordering information. Almost all include the company logo. Pay per Call vs. PPC (Pay Per Click) While pay per call advertising is really a variation on pay per click, there are some key differences between the two:

No Website Required. While traditional ppc advertising simply directs internet users to a website, with pay per call ads, no website is necessary. A phone number is provided within the ad text, as well as the afore-mentioned splash page. This takes the burden of maintaining a website away from the small business owner, especially.

Higher Response Rates. According to the Kelsey Group, the response rate for pay per call leads is eight percent, as opposed to a mere three percent for ppc. This is because call centers and live sales representatives are able to answer real-time questions and offer immediate information about pricing and availability. This live interaction also paves the way for up-selling, and lends credibility to lesser-known companies.

Greater Security.Because of the transparent nature of pay per call leads, pay per call advertising is less likely to generate fraudulent activity. Hang-ups and calls that are extremely short, or are wrong numbers are not considered to be genuine, and the advertiser is not charged for them. Additionally, customers who prefer not to use credit cards or exchange other personal information over the internet gain greater privacy with telephone transactions. Pay-Per-Call Networks Services While many advertising networks are beginning to offer pay per call models, there are three or four that are leading the way in this advertising medium. They are:

Google. Pay per call ads were being tested as early as 2005, under the catchy "click to call" name. A feature layered over their AdWords solutions, this was the first real offering of pay per call advertising by a major ad network. As of August, 2006, this service was included in a co-branded advertising campaign with Ebay.

Ingenio. This company provides toll-free numbers in their pay per call ads, which then forward to the advertiser's own phone number. The advertiser is charged for the first call from a single phone number within a 30-day period, but subsequent calls from the same number within that time are free. They also don't charge for short calls, unanswered calls or hang-ups. Their ads are visible on AOL's search and yellow pages sites, as well as many other directory sites, and rumor has it that they also provide the pay per call advertising engine for Yahoo Local.

Miva. Miva-owned FindWhat uses a model that is fairly similar to Ingenio's, with toll-free numbers for users to call. Their network includes InfoSpace, SuperPages, Lycos, and Search.com.

Other players on the pay per call advertising field include Jambo, which is building its own ad network, and VoiceStar. Is it Profitable? While pay per call ads are not cheap, the higher success rate offered by pay per call leads may well offset the greater cost. As with traditional pay per click, there are no setup fees in most cases, but a higher account balance with is likely to be needed with the companies that offer toll-free numbers. In addition, average keyword bids run from two to twenty dollars, with a cost as high as fifty dollars for a top position. While that could add up, a high value, high profit margin product represented by an aggressive sales force will more than make up for the advertising fees. Great for Small and Medium Businesses In spite of the possible costs, pay per call ads are an excellent advertising solution for small and medium-sized businesses. This is because they are more likely to benefit from a personal encounter with their clients. In fact, the Kelsey Group suggests that more than fifty percent of the owners of these types of businesses would rather have a single pay per call sale than a number of click throughs.

As pay per call ads become more widely offered, it is likely that more and more advertisers will opt for the technology, as pay per call leads represent actual customers, and not just internet users clicking through an ad to see what is there, without actually making a sale.