Internet Marketing Agency Specializes in Pay Per Call

Santa Barbara, CA, February 22, 2007 --(PR.com)-- ValueLeads, a pioneer in Pay-Per-Call marketing, today announced the inclusion of co-registration sites and affiliate networks as call providers. The Santa Barbara, California-based company generates phone calls from online consumers and forwards them to advertisers willing to pay for leads from new prospects. It works like this: Consumers searching the Internet for products and services see ads in search engines, web sites, directories and ad networks that link to a 'landing page', a colorful microsite featuring an advertiser's products along with his toll-free phone number. If the consumer is interested in the product s/he picks up the phone and talks directly to the advertiser. Advertisers pay for phone calls from new customers rather than clicks to their web site. According to Earl Brown, ValueLead's CEO, "Pay-Per-Call leverages the power and reach of the Internet to match buyers with sellers, then allows them to conduct business in a way both parties are comfortable with - the telephone." The benefits of pay per call are being discovered every day by advertisers looking for more business and anxious to tell prospective customers about their products.

The Kelsey Group, a popular Internet research, analysis and advisory organization forecasts that pay per call advertising will become a $4 billion advertising service within 2 years. Much of this growth is attributable to pay per call's direct response model in which advertisers pay for phone calls from a potential customers rather than clicks to their web site. A recent report points out that one out of three people who call a business are ready to transact, compared to only about 2% who click on web sites.

"Pay Per Call is where Pay Per Click was 7 years ago," says Brown. "It’s an improved method of putting buyers and sellers together. The accountability and return on investment for both advertisers and call providers is enabling Pay-Per-Call to evolve into one of the Internet's most popular and cost effective performance-based vehicles," Brown says.

The ValueLeads and Pay Per Call business model is based on two significant shifts in interactive advertising that is starting now and will become the standard over the next couple of years:

First, direct response, performance-based marketing is the next wave of interactive advertising, especially for the Internet. More and more, advertisers are demanding accountability. This means that as merchants grow weary of click-based or impression-based ads impossible to quantify and with sparse conversion rates they will increasingly require ad buys that put prospective customers in direct contact with them. Pay Per Call is the most effective way to accomplish this goal.

Second, the ‘rate card’ for Pay Per Click, CPM and similar advertising will lose influence and eventually be replaced by market-driven pricing and rates, as offered by exchanges where advertisers buy ad inventory based on consumer information.

As this trend grows, the effectiveness of every ad, listing, impression, and response will be scrutinized thoroughly. A ‘click through’ to a web site pales in comparison to the value of a telephone purchase inquiry by a motivated prospect. The new standard of measuring the success of ad campaigns will not be the CTR, (Click Through Rate), but rather, how often the merchant got to tell a prospect about his product.

Marketers now recognize that voice contact has grown from a customer service function into a sales conversion tool. Merchants get the opportunity to respond to questions in real time and provide the details needed to close the sale.

Advantages of Pay-Per-Call:

1. Quick access to information: Consumers don't have to search through multiple web sites to find what they're looking for. They see an ad and click to a simple landing page that tells them what the merchant sells. If it’s of interest they call the merchant directly and get the information they’re looking for.

2. Merchants can talk to prospective customers: Consumers have many questions for even the simplest purchase. Is this site legitimate? Are the products as described? Will this coat shrink if I clean it? How long does it take to get it? Can you include a birthday card? Can I return it if it doesn't fit? How do I know my credit card is safe? For quick answers to these and all other questions, call the merchant and ask him.

3. Merchants don't need a website: Nearly 70% of the businesses in the U.S. still don't have a web site, and the sites of those that do are seldom seen. Many of these businesses are local merchants who wouldn’t benefit even if their site was seen, but millions of advertisers, merchants and businesses are desperate to tap into the huge Internet marketplace.

4. Merchants don't need to know Internet marketing: We've seen how difficult, complicated and time consuming Internet market is, as much art as science. Advertisers don't have the knowledge, experience or interest to manage their own Internet marketing, and most of them aren't sophisticated enough to determine which of the thousands of Internet marketing companies can do it for them. Pay-Per-Call makes it easy - just answer the phone and talk to prospective customers.

5. Merchants pay only for results: Advertisers aren’t interested in ‘impressions’ or ‘clicks’ – they want customers and clients. In the early years, banner advertising was the primary method used to gain exposure and merchants paid for 'impressions'. The hope was that if a banner ad was seen often enough, click-thrus would convert into buyers. These so-called ‘performance based’ models don’t provide advertisers realistic accounting of the ROI of their expenditures. The ValueLeads Pay Per Call model offers advertisers a proposition they can understand: pay only for the calls you receive.

6. Easy account management: Unlike Pay-Per-CLICK, Pay-Per-Call includes simple, easy-to-use account management. Merchants can pause their ads, schedule the times of the day they wish to accept calls, geo-target call origination if they want calls from only certain sections of the country, forward calls on the fly etc. Call reporting is also easy to understand – the advertiser goes to a password-protected web page they provide him and gets complete real-time call details.

7. Merchants pay no signup fee: A deposit is required with calls charged against a prepaid account, but there is no signup fee for an advertiser to get started.

Additonal Benefits of Pay-Per-Call:

• No click fraud.

• Calls are monitored and recorded so merchants can obtain caller’s contact info.

• Credit card payments are safe. Many people are hesitant to send their credit card information over the Internet.

• No hidden, extra or additional charges to merchants.

• Calls are free for consumers.

Many consumers are hesitant to buy over the Internet because they don’t trust that their personal information is secure. Recently, several major online companies have been caught giving away or selling their customer’s information.

With the proven demand for accountable customer acquisition, Pay-Per-Call marketing is becoming a popular, lucrative and successful business model and ValueLeads is positioning itself to become a leader in the industry.

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Contact:

Earl Brown, CEO
ValueLeads
3463 State St., Suite 444
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Phone: (805) 569-2678