Pay-Per-Call: New Player on the Scene?

Online advertising is heating up and growing quickly in popularity. However, many companies are missing out if they don’t have a website or if their services are not fit to be sold over the web.

Fortunately, a new version of paid advertising has emerged recently — pay-per-call. Pay-per-call advertising is of particular interest to those businesses that do not want to invest in setting up and maintaining a website, but yet want to take advantage of advertising on the Internet.

Some search engines bring up a page specific to your business at no extra charge if the visitor clicks on your ad. That is, you are not charged for anything until the visitor actually makes the call. The toll-free number then redirects the visitor to your actual phone number and you receive the phone call from the interested buyer at your business location.

Some companies find it a useful addition to their pay-per-click campaigns, particularly to avoid charges by those users merely seeking a phone number by which to reach the advertiser.

A little more comfortable?

A clear advantage is that once an advertiser has a prospect on the phone, they are in their “comfort zone” as far as sales are concerned. Particularly with smaller businesses, many companies are used to selling over the phone, and the direct contact means that they can answer a prospect’s questions in real time.

Although pay-per-call is still in its infancy and analysts have yet to decide if it is effective and produces adequate conversions, early reports indicate it can be a very successful means of increasing ROI, especially in the local market.

If you are interested in pursuing this type of advertising, some of the online venues that currently offer pay-per-call ads are Miva, Internet yellow pages sites and many local shopping directories.