It's your call: with internet
pay-per-call advertising, you can ring up additional
sales by inviting potential customers to pick up the
phone!
DRIVING ONLINE shoppers to your website isn't always
best; your company might connect better with prospects
over the phone. Instead of paying for ads or clicks,
you can now buy one-on-one conversations.
Through pay-per-call advertising you can promote a
phone number instead of, or in addition to, your URL.
Many people would skip surfing your website to buy
right now. A flat tire, a toothache or a lost cell
phone needs immediate resolution. People pressured
for time could be searching the web impatiently for
a restaurant or a florist. An ad displaying a phone
number is a shining beacon.
FindWhat.com and Citysearch (www.citysearch.com) are
leading the way with internet pay-per-call advertising.
FindWhat.com advertisers can choose up to five keyword
categories and one geo-targeting option: national,
regional, state, city or ZIP code. It costs $10 per
year for the listing, a minimum per-call bid price
of $2, plus 10 cents per minute for calls over 10 minutes.
There's a bid price because, just as with its pay-per-click
program, FindWhat.com advertisers outbid each other
to secure better listing positions.
Citysearch charges a flat fee of $2 to $12 per call
received, depending on the category. Advertisers can
choose an unlimited number of categories and either
a national or local campaign. The listing positions
are ranked based on several factors, such as the advertisers'
distance to city or ZIP code searches done by users.
When pay-per-call prices
are the same as pay-per-click prices for competitive
keywords, calls are actually cheaper because a call
is a lead while a click is just traffic. But don't
open your phone lines until you can make each call
count. Train your phone personnel to complete specific
actions, such as collecting contact information,
processing orders, upselling orders or cross-selling
related items, and offering freebies to nonbuyers.
Pay-per-call isn't just about getting the immediate
sale. Use it to increase your per-order revenue and
grow your lead database.
Speaker and freelance writer CATHERINE SEDA owns an
internet marketing agency (www.sedacommunication.com)
and is author of Search Engine Advertising.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Entrepreneur
Media, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group |
