Click-to-Call Could Change the Face of Web Advertising

After the huge success of pay-per-click online advertising, a new concept has emerged. A twist on pay-per-click that could potentially be even more powerful and profitable.

Click-to-call is a model in which a user clicks on a link, and is directly connected to the respective advertiser by phone. This gives consumers direct access to the information they need, and businesses direct access to the prospects they want.

Google is already trying to patent such a system for mobile phones, but will also likely be eager to extend it to the internet in general.

Numerous surveys have shown that companies would rather pay for direct communication with customers rather than just web clicks, and in some industries, advertisers have indicated their willingness to pay upwards of $50/click.

As I mentioned on TeleClick this morning, a free Voice over IP calling service would make it possible for users to place calls over the internet, directly from their computers, to any business in the world.

Perhaps Google will get to thinking about such a service, and the possible implications it could have to Google’s advertising business. Extending Adwords to cover click-to-call would be a profitable move for them indeed… Maybe profitable enough to pay for a free global VoIP service.

This is all just speculation of course, but definitely food for thought…

Freedom of Speech is Non-Negotiable

For the past several days, I’ve been following the worldwide uproar surrounding the publication of “blasphemous” cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet, Mohammad.

Many Muslims are insisting that the right to free speech doesn’t include the right to violate their religious beliefs and principles. They have argued, in some cases violently, that European newspapers shouldn’t be allowed to publish images that are offensive to those of the Islamic faith.

Anybody who thinks this way, however, simply doesn’t understand the whole idea of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

As an independent journalist, I strongly believe that, short of blatantly inciting violence, it is a human being’s non-negotiable right to say and write what they please. Anything less leads to a downward spiral of control and repression.

I’m not saying that I believe in insulting the beliefs of others, and as a member of the Anglican Church of Canada, I probably wouldn’t continue reading a publication that gratuitously mocked or ridiculed Christianity.

It is, however, a person’s right to express their opinion, according to their own level of common sense and intelligence. Anyone that doesn’t want to listen doesn’t have to, and that’s all there is to it.