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Thursday, September 15, 2005

Pay-Per-Call Cranks Up:
"Published: September 14, 2005
(After September 22, 2005, this article will only be available to eStat Database subscribers.)

When most marketers think about search advertising, the pay-per-click model immediately springs to mind. But that could change if pay-per-call advertising takes off.

According to a report from the Kelsey Group, pay-per-call advertising—search advertising that generates phone calls rather than clicks—could generate as much as $4 billion in revenue by 2009.

'Consumers are accustomed to making phone calls to contact local businesses and local businesses are similarly used to closing leads over the phone,' said Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group, commenting on why PPCall will appeal to many smaller businesses. 'A performance-based online medium that delivers calls rather than clicks therefore makes sense for the local market.'

Benefits of the PPCall model for the local marketplace include:

* PPCall potentially addresses the millions of small businesses that rely on the phone for leads and sales.
* PPCall is less susceptible to fraud than clicks and is more transparent to local businesses.
* PPCall helps 'close the loop' in tracking offline consumer buying behavior.

Search advertising has grown explosively in the past several years, quickly becoming the largest category of online advertising. Growth should cool somewhat going forward, although the category is expected to increase by 40% this year.

You don't have to search for eMarketer's new Ad Spending report—it will be released this week."

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