| Pay Per Call is the next wave of advertising | | | | should not be an issue for them. |
| on the Internet. Similar to a Pay - Per | | | | |
| -Click advertising. Pay Per Call has a lot | | | | My next question concerned wrong numbers and |
| more to offer and a wider audience in mind. | | | | short calls. We have all done it. We see one |
| The Pay-Per Call (PP-Call) is geared towards | | | | number and dial another. Or, we see something |
| small businesses that do not have a web | | | | and on impulse we reach for the phone, and |
| presence on the internet. However, this form | | | | then change our mind ten seconds after |
| of advertising can be used by all types of | | | | dialing. So, does the advertiser pay for |
| business or services offered on the net. | | | | these types of calls? Is there a time limit a |
| | | | person needs to be on the phone for? There |
| Advertisers create an ad similar to a | | | | answer is yes. The calls need to last at |
| Pay-Per-Click (PP-Click) ad. Advertisers | | | | least ten seconds. This should be more than |
| choose key terms in which they would like to | | | | enough time to establish that a wrong number |
| appear under. They also choose their | | | | has been dialed. I also wondered about people |
| geographical location (local, regional or | | | | trying to beat the system. The trouble with |
| national) Pricing starts at $2 and can exceed | | | | PP-Click is that people may dial and occupy a |
| $20. The ad itself consists of a headline and | | | | salesperson with no intent other than to try |
| 2 additional lines of text, (including a URL | | | | and boost their revenue off the ads placed on |
| if the company has one). Surfers then call | | | | their site. Ingenious has taken this into |
| the toll free number shown in the ad. After | | | | account. They can track calls that come in |
| the surfer calls the number, the call is | | | | through their system. Any numbers seen |
| forwarded to the actual business phone. Seems | | | | abusing it can be blocked. Hopefully, this |
| pretty basic doesn't it? But, I had a few | | | | will discourage any type of scam to boost |
| questions I needed answered so I contacted | | | | profits on sites that sponsors these ads. |
| Ingenio and spoke to them about their | | | | |
| service. | | | | I was also interested to know about ads that |
| | | | did provide a URL. Was there an additional |
| My first question regarded calls placed after | | | | charge levied when someone clicked on the ad? |
| business hours. If my business phones are | | | | Fortunately, there is not. If a business |
| manned Monday - Friday, 9 to 5, will calls | | | | sells over the net as well, they could |
| still come in after 5pm on Friday? The answer | | | | certainly use this to their advantage. Of |
| is that currently there is no automated | | | | course, one of the main advantages to this |
| scheduling that will turn your ads on or off | | | | type of advertising is that it caters to |
| at a specified time. However, you can go in | | | | potential customers that do not, for whatever |
| manually and pause your account so that your | | | | reason, like to make purchases online. |
| ads are not shown during non-business hours. | | | | Overall PP-Call may be worth its weight in |
| The automated scheduling is in the process of | | | | gold. At least the potential is there. Will |
| being implemented but there is currently no | | | | it surpass PP-Click as far as the preferred |
| set date for this to take effect. Of course, | | | | method of advertising? Probably, not. It does |
| you can place your business hours in the ad | | | | however give advertises who couldn't |
| as well but this may take up valuable space | | | | advertise on the net before a reason to |
| that could be better utilized describing | | | | start. Maybe then they will see the |
| products or services. Businesses that have a | | | | importance of having a web presence on the |
| call center for after hours calls are | | | | Internet. |
| effectively 24 hour businesses, so this | | | | |