http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2005/08/10/verizon_superpages_enters_paypercall_arena/index.php Verizon SuperPages.com has unveiled a new pay-per-call offering as a component of its local and national sales strategy for online marketing products, ClickZ reports (via MediaBuyerPlanner). As with other pay-per-call services, each ad gets a dedicated toll-free or local telephone number that rings through to the advertiser's regular phone line. Each qualified call will cost advertisers $2 to $6, depending on the business category. The move targets local advertisers that SuperPages has been trying to attract and retain. Last month, SuperPages announced that its local PPC advertisers had increased their budgets so much that they couldn't be spent on the SuperPages network; and, instead of turning that local business away, the company placed the campaigns on rival PPC networks - Yahoo and Google. A comprehensive article on Pandia dishes up further details and background info. Verizon SuperPages.com Pay For Calls: If Advertisers Don't Get a Ring, They Don't Pay a Thing Advanced Pay For Calls system has patent pending August 8, 2005 SAN JOSE, CA - Verizon SuperPages.com is giving small businesses a powerful new tool in their advertising portfolios by adding a Pay For Calls service on its popular local search and shopping site. SuperPages.com made the announcement today at the Search Engine Strategies 2005 Conference & Expo in San Jose, Calif. "SuperPages.com is proven to provide our online advertisers with phone calls from customers who are ready to buy - the kind of lead preferred by merchants since the first yellow pages," SuperPages.com President Scott Laver said. "With Pay For Calls, these aren't cold calls, these are red hot prospects" SuperPages.com Pay For Calls also leverages the power of more than 1,000 printed telephone directories published by Verizon. "Our pay-for-performance technology and unique ad placement algorithm are so advanced that we've applied for a patent," Laver said. With SuperPages.com Pay For Calls, a dedicated toll-free or local telephone number appears in the ad and rings through to the advertiser's regular phone line. Pay For Calls ads are integrated with and appear on the same search results page as SuperPages.com Pay Per Click ads. Pay Per Click generates click-throughs; pay-for-call generates phone calls. Bids for clicks and calls are calculated based on the comparative value of the leads generated. Calls are tracked and billed on a proven platform already in operation. An additional value of Pay For Calls on SuperPages.com is the ability to leverage ads in local Verizon yellow pages directories. "Verizon yellow pages will include generic category ads with a local contact number," Laver explained. "The ad - and number - will be different for each listing category in which it appears: plumbers, lawyers, dentists, etc. Calls to that number will be forwarded to a local online advertiser in that category. This makes the static directory a dynamic advertising medium." SuperPages.com Pay For Calls advertising will have minimums ranging from $2 to $6 per call, depending on the business category. Advertisers can increase their prominence and drive more calls by raising their bids. Starting in September, SuperPages.com will begin selling the service through its local and national sales channels and will provide advertisers with full-service customer care. "Our years of experience creating ads that drive phone calls will translate into strong campaigns for Pay For Calls customers," Laver said. Like Pay Per Click on SuperPages.com, advertisers do not need a Web site to take advantage of Pay For Calls lead tracking technology. However, over 9.5 million advertisers have a web presence through SuperPages.com Business Profiles, which are available at no cost to any business listing in the U.S. Free business profiles are available at https://my.superpages.com/spweb/portals/customer.portal About Verizon SuperPages.com Verizon Information Services, a division of Verizon Communications Corp. (NYSE: VZ), is the nation's most advanced provider of yellow pages and related shopping information. It has $3.6 billion in revenues from products including: Verizon SuperPages yellow pages; Verizon SuperPages.com, the nation's best Internet directory and a leading online shopping resource; and the SuperPages On the Go information directory offered through Verizon Wireless Get It Now services and on other wireless carriers. The company is the largest publisher of Hispanic directories in the U.S. and the first to provide a Hispanic online shopping resource (http://www.superpages.com/espanol).
I know that advertisers really like Pay Per Call and wish to do alot more -- for the advertisers it is a much better deal as they speak to a live person -- some initial studies have suggested callers want to BUY or signup and are not merely surfing the net for info. And with click fraud or traffic quality effecting as much as 25% of what an advertiser pays for, it is just a matter of time before more and more advertising shifts to Pay Per Call. However, what Version Superpages is doing is very low tech. The better way is through a system where the prospect types in their phone number, maybe their name and then submits -- their phone rings and when they pick it up it is in the process of connecting to a call center. From a publisher or affiliate prospective, for those earning $.05 -.25 a click can earn $5 - $25 a call for just putting a banner on their web site. One realtively new affiliate group pays either weekly or bi-weekly depending on volume. Many believe Pay Per Call is the future.