As Internet continues to grow and more and more people jump on board, online advertising medium continues to grow ever more important for businesses of all types and sizes. Expensive ads in yellow pages no longer cut it – businesses need a presence on Internet. More specifically, they need a partner who can help them maximize that presence and convert website visits into genuine sales leads.

Tell Vision Networks of Shelby Township fills that role perfectly. Tell Vision’s wildly successful Pay-per-Lead Program, SEO Vision, has shown numerous businesses both large and small wellspring of potential business that awaits on Internet.

SEO Vision is a four-step program that increases a business’s website traffic. But that traffic isn’t just anybody – it is targeted surfers who are looking for exactly what that business offers. This means that traffic is “quality traffic” and that hardest part of online marketing is already achieved.

SEO Vision begins at this point where website visitors are converted to customers. Step 2 involves optimizing website so that it is highly ranked in Internet’s top engines. The process continues with step of defining perfect customer so that future marketing can focus on perfect demographic. Finally, Step 4 kicks in with Tell Vision’s in-depth monthly reporting, which shows exactly how leads are being found so that process can be tweaked to become even more efficient.

Advertising developers are pushing a new type of paid search ad dubbed "pay-per-call."

The technology for pay-per-call was actually introduced in April by Ingenio, a San Francisco-based company that develops technology for delivering online ads.

Five-year-old, privately held Ingenio has 90 employees and expects 2004 revenue of $65 million to $70 million, says Marc Barach, chief marketing officer. He says it's been profitable last seven quarters.

Barach says Ingenio has received a patent for main technology that enables pay-per-call. It deals with call- switching software and hardware that track and route 1-800 calls made by consumers to advertisers.

In paid search, advertisers pay companies like Google to place their ads prominently on their results pages for specific search terms.

The main type of paid search involves pay-per-click ads. That's where advertisers pay a certain amount each time someone clicks on their ad.

Pay-per-call takes that idea one step further. Here's how it works: Advertisers pay a certain amount only after a user dials 1-800 number that appears with ad. In theory, advertisers will be getting an even more interactive response than if someone merely clicks on their ad.

Pay-per-call ads are currently in process of being tested. The target market appears to be mostly small businesses. The ads will be programmed to appear in local searches, which target a specific ZIP code. Local search is a quickly developing market.

Advertisers will have to pay more per call than per click, but if pay-per-call ads provide a better lead than pay-per-click ads, developers and analysts alike expect market to really take off.

Jupiter Research says U.S. advertisers will spend $3.2 billion on paid searches in 2005, up 23% from an expected $2.6 billion this year, so a lot of advertising dollars could be at stake.

Developers think bigger companies will also use pay-per- call, if they see small businesses having success.