Miva Plans Pay-Per-Call for U.K.

Miva and Ingenio will begin building a pay-per-call lead-generation solution in the U.K. It’s expected to launch in the third quarter.

The service has been available in the United States since September. It allows companies without an online presence — often, small businesses — to take advantage of its performance-based search offering by bidding for leads delivered via phone calls, instead of clicks to a Web site.

Miva Media — formerly FindWhat in the U.S., and eSpotting in the UK — offers the service in conjunction with Ingenio, a telephony provider which powers the technology behind the application. As with Miva’s pay-per-click services, advertisers bid for placement in search results, which are displayed on sites in the Miva Media Network. Instead of bidding on keywords, as in the pay-per-click service, advertisers bid on relevant categories and choose the geographic area where they want their ads to show.

Miva recently rebranded its various performance marketing services under the Miva name, choosing to consolidate several acquired companies under the name of the e-commerce toolmaker it picked up last year.