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Ingenio Launches Pay Per Call (R) API Program for Strategic Partners

Posted on: Monday, 15 August 2005, 06:00 CDT

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ingenio, Inc., the company that pioneered the Pay Per Call(R) advertising category, today introduced its Application Programming Interface (API) Program for its industry-leading Pay Per Call Advertising service. With the new API offering, interactive marketing agencies, search engine marketing firms and third-party technology providers can quickly and easily enable and manage Pay Per Call advertising campaigns for their clients, as well as create and customize new applications to best meet their unique client needs.

"Pay Per Call is a fine example of the marketing paradigm shift in which the prospect is now seeking the business," said Sara Holoubek, chief strategy officer, Icrossing, an independent search engine marketing firm. "Products like Ingenio Pay Per Call are critical to expanding the market for paid search and attracting new segments of advertisers online."

Pay Per Call is a new paid search advertising model pioneered by Ingenio last year that enables any organization to harness the popularity of Internet search to drive targeted phone calls -- rather than website clicks -- to their business, and pay only for calls received. Ingenio launched its Pay Per Call product with distribution on the MIVA, Inc. network last year. In April 2005, AOL(R) Search was the first major search engine to serve Ingenio Pay Per Call advertisers in response to consumer queries, delivering advertisers mainstream exposure to millions of potential customers searching online for their products and services.

The Ingenio Pay Per Call Advertising API Program uses web services specifications such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to allow for the exchange of XML between Ingenio Pay Per Call and external systems. Program participants can then interface with the Ingenio Pay Per Call application in their own online environment to develop client ad listings and manage campaigns across Ingenio's network of top-tier distribution sites. For clients interested in both Pay Per Call and pay-per-click advertising, the Ingenio API offering makes it easy for agencies to create applications to manage both products from one centralized dashboard.

The Ingenio Pay Per Call API Program delivers participants the following features:

-- Seamless access to Pay Per Call functionality, including ad creation, geo-targeting and real-time visibility into an advertiser's competitive bid environment. -- Auto-scheduling capabilities, which allow campaign managers to pre-set hours of availability and receive calls only when they're ready to do business. -- Customizable reports in a variety of formats, such as Excel, Comma Separated (CSV), XML and Adobe PDF, which showcase total calls, impressions, conversion rates, average call charges and call duration over any period of time (such as day, week, month or quarter). Participants can also easily integrate this reporting data into their existing analytics programs to measure campaign effectiveness.

"Today marks an important step for both Ingenio and Pay Per Call advertising," said Mark Britto, chief executive officer, Ingenio. "By opening our Pay Per Call product to third parties, we are making it easier than ever for any business to participate and benefit from paid search advertising."

Pay Per Call(R) is a registered trademark of Ingenio Inc. About Ingenio, Inc.

Founded in 1999, Ingenio, Inc. is an Internet company enabling buyers and sellers of services and information to connect and transact by seamlessly integrating today's two most powerful communications vehicles -- the Internet and the telephone. The company's patented technology powers the Pay Per Call(R) Advertising Platform and Network, the only complete paid search advertising system that generates targeted incoming phone leads instead of website clicks, and its Live!Advice(TM) Directories offering, which facilitates real-time transactions between buyers and sellers of advice and information. Ingenio's solutions are utilized by top-tier organizations in both America and Europe, including AOL, Microsoft, SBC SMARTpages.com, MIVA, Inc. and the IRS. Headquartered in San Francisco, Ingenio has connected more than 2 million buyers and sellers through its web and telephony platform, and today produces 20 million e-commerce minutes each quarter.

Media Contact: Valerie Garing Combs Ingenio, Inc. Direct: 415-248-4029 Email: valerie@ingenio.com

Ingenio, Inc.

CONTACT: Valerie Garing Combs of Ingenio, Inc., +1-415-248-4029, orvalerie@ingenio.com

Web site: http://www.ingenio.com/

Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall

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