Tuesday, 4th July 2006

Direct from Results Pages: Windows Live Local Begins Offering Free Calls to Businesses

You can now contact, via a free call to your phone (landline or cell) any business listed in the Windows Live Local Business Directory. The service is very easy to use and is named (at least on a pop-up window) "Call for Free (Beta)." The program is U.S. only at this time.

From a blog post:

Using it is easy - do a business search by name or category and in the result panel will be a 'Call for Free' link next to each business listing. Each pushpin popup on the map will also have the Call for Free link. When you click it you specify your phone number - the system will dial both you and the business and connect you. Once you've made your first call, you can rapid dial businesses without having to re-enter your phone number.

We searched for businesses in four categories or by name:
+ Hotdogs in Chicago
+ Pizza in Orange County, CA
+ Newspaper in Seattle
+ IT Firm in NYC Metro
After selecting a result, we entered a phone number and clicked the call link. The calls went through quickly, without any problems.

However, no info (at least, we couldn't quickly find it) provided details about how a "business" listing is determined (we're assuming it's from the data MS receives from a third-party directory provider) and if a business can opt out of the listings if, for example, some group of people decides to make their phone constantly ring (annoyances from a disposable phone). Might this become a new version of click-fraud? No money involved but wasted time and busy phone lines.

See Also: E-Commerce/Web Search Guru Greg Sterling Offers a Review of Similar Programs Including the A9 Yellow Page Direct Call Program on Search Engine Watch Blog.

See Also: Windows Live Local is the same service that also offers the cool "birds eye" imagery for several cities.

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