Has anyone more information on G's new click to call service? I need ten posts to post a live link, but here is Googles link on this: http://www.google.com/help/faq_clicktocall.html
interesting...looks like they're trying to directly connect us with the advertisers. not a huge bonus, *but* it's one step up from what adbrite can offer.
Hmm interesting. http://www.google.com/help/faq_clicktocall.html I am not clear on how it is calling though. Just with your speaker and microphone? I would be suprised if there is much demand for this service, but we shall see how it works out. Someone doing a serps search is unlikely just looking to speak to someone on the phone at that point. But who knows.
It looks like they actually ring your number and then connect the line to the advertiser through their service. I wonder how much they are charging the advertiser and if we are gonna be able to get some of that action through adsense
I found a screenshot of Google's click to call service in a live scenario. Am I allowed to post the blogs url here?
I don't know the blog owner (or how he was able to view a working example), but he has some screenshots here: yardley.ca/blog/index.php/archives/2005/11/23/google-tests-out-click-to-call-adwords/ (I can't add the www. because I get a message telling me about the live link and my ten posts...)
As Greg points out in his blog, the danger seems to be that there is no check on whose phone number you are entering. You can pester people with "crank" calls by entering their phone number. Surely they need some safety mechanism here?
A pretty good promo idea from Google. Here's the link: http://yardley.ca/blog/index.php/archives/2005/11/23/google-tests-out-click-to-call-adwords/
You click the phone item and enter your number. They then call that number and connect it with the advertiser. The point is, you could always put someone else's phone number in there, and there is no comeback. Even if they got your IP, what could they do about it? After all, you did not make the call yourself - Google did. If they believe false information that people give them, that is their fault. Although when making the connection, from the recipient's point of view, it would seem to come directly from the advertiser, not Google. So the advertser would be the one getting in trouble. It would be better if the first time you used it a Google employee called you and "registered" you for the system, to make sure you really initiated the contact. Then the next time you entered your phone number there would be a password that you had to enter with it before having Google connect you with the advertiser. Kinda like when you confirm your registration to a site or service by clicking on a unique link in an email. It establishes that the email address really is yours and that you really want to use that site or service. That's my two cents anyway...
that's a very good idea, and i wouldn't be suprised to see if they implement it. i think google's spread a bit thin now...analytics, and all this expansion. remember their other project? the myspace clone?
Something i picked up on and would be the next thing for search engine advertisement as Yahoo is also experimenting with this new approach. This i picked up from the G website... What would this mean for us publishers since the click system is then no longer valid, or would this mean when the visitor clicks the phone icon we get paid? Could this mean that in the future there are two ways of getting paid? Paid by click and paid by Phone icon click? Could be interesting for us publishers since this is going to be the next thing in this business. Or would it not?
Oh shitz, there is already a thread going on about this, sorry mods. I really don't know what the benefit would be if you have an ad with a phone icon to get in contact with the advertiser immediately because let's face it when you see an ad you would at first want to know more about the service or product so therefor you would be visiting the website to inform yourself. And when browsing the advertisers website and being interested you would decide to call or email them from that point on. I don't see the logic to call the advertiser immediately just by looking at that short description in the ad itself. Maybe as an follow-up style purpose it could be a helpfull thing, meaning return visitors that see the same ad and on the spot deciding by remembering the advertisers product or service to know more about it and then calling them to get more specific information regarding their needs. Or buy a product or service. But as a first option to gain buyers i don't think it would be working that great since you would at first check them out before calling them. It's like applying for a job and when sitting down at the table with the interviewer and from that point only raise interest in the job and company background, etc. You would be doing that before hand. In my oppinion it goes the same for buying a product, the website is there so you would gain information from there and when still having questions or willing to buy and make an order then it's only a small thing to find the contact details that is only a link away As a follow up it would be helpfull i guess.
I know this thread is slightly dated but it is still a new concept and I spoke to someone involved with this. It does seem an excellent concept, both from google's point of view and from a publisher/advertisers point of view. Say you have a yell type listing of business details offering company details, website, address,phone number. A number of us can track all clicks leaving the site allowing us to offer stats from such paid directories and monetise this through yearly fees or CPC. If someone looks for a company and finds your business listing, they may just use the telephone number bang! They have gone and left the site without any CPC or tracking, losing visitors this way does not help you promote your business listings/directory. With click to call I guess it would generate revenue, phone calls always do after all, and offer an extra trackable measure of the sites success and usefulness. It would also enable google to monetise people putting phone numbers in adwords ads that appear in google and dont result in clicks! Which must pee them off.