Pay Per Call Reminds me of SEO back in the 90s
I remember back in the 1990s when companies all over where throwing around money like it was going out of style. Back then, SEO/SEM was still in its infancy and only a handful of attendees where at Search Engine Strategies conferences. It was in those days that companies where touting themselves as the next IPO winner, offering mad amounts of stock options, and millions upon millions of dollars were being thrown at "eyeballs."
Countless cold calls were made and I found it absolutely amazing how some of those marketers could justify millions of dollars being spent on "eyeballs" and for whatever reason couldn't justify spending a few thousands dollars over the course of a year on targeted search engine traffic. Those of you in sales from back in the day know exactly what I'm talking about here.
Today, SEO/SEM is the hottest thing around and continues to grow in popularity, almost daily it seems. The same marketers who couldn't justify the spend on search marketing back then are now trying to find ways to tap into other department budgets to find more dough to throw at the engines.
Pay Per Phone Call (PPP) reminds me of those days. Right now, a lot of people just don't get it or have a hard time understanding the technology and/or overall value of pay per call. It may be that, like SEO, it will take time for this vertical to mature and for advertisers to grasp and embrace this "new" (to some) marketing avenue before it can really take off. Time will tell.
If you keep asking yourself the question "what's next with search," perhaps you should take a look at pay per call.