Interchange Integrates eStara Push to Talk Service Into Local DirectTM Search Platform
The Partnership Combines the Power of Inbound Telephone Leads from the Web with the Flexibility of a Pay per Call Model.
Laguna Hills, California, and Reston, Virginia - April 21, 2004 - Interchange Corporation, the leader in local paid search technology, and eStara, Inc., announced today they have formed a strategic partnership to provide click to call services powered by eStara to local advertisers via Interchange's suite of groundbreaking Local DirectTM paid search products and services, available at localdirect.epilot.com.
eStara's click to call service - Push to Talk - will be integrated into Interchange's Local Direct paid search suite of products and services, a powerful local search platform made available to Internet and printed Yellow Pages publishers (IYP/YP). The combination will give advertisers a proven lead generation tool and drive incremental revenue for IYP/YP publishers.
"We are very pleased to provide additional value to our IYP/YP partners by offering the most comprehensive performance-based local paid search platform available," stated Heath Clarke, Interchange CEO. "Partnering with eStara to provide a world class click to call product is a natural extension of our core mission of connecting businesses with consumers."
eStara Push to Talk is the most widely deployed click to call service in the world. Push to Talk gives internet search customers the ability to click a button and speak with an advertiser immediately from the Web. In a recent online survey of over 5,000 eStara Push to Talk users, 25% said the service "saved" them from abandoning a Web transaction and looking for a competitor. eStara customers report an average increase in online sales of 45% after adding the click to call service to their website and online marketing and advertising tools.
"eStara is looking forward to this strategic partnership with Interchange," said Tom Natelli, eStara Chairman and CEO. "The integration of Push to Talk and Local Direct will create new revenue opportunities for online publishers, improve the search experience for consumers and drive additional high value leads to local advertisers."
eStara Push to Talk is a proprietary fully-hosted service that requires no additional hardware or software investment by advertisers or directory users. Website visitors can connect to advertising businesses by using the "click to call" service either through a Phone-to-Phone or PC-to-Phone connection.
About Interchange
Interchange Corporation offers a suite of Local Direct paid search solutions for Internet Yellow Page sites and Yellow Page publishers (IYP/YP). Assured ResponseTM enables IYPs to greatly reduce failed searches on their sites and better monetize their existing search traffic. Network AdvantageTM enables IYP/YP partners to achieve greater online lead generation for their advertisers through distribution on the company's ePilot Search Distribution Network, comprised of more than 170 high quality partners that process over 3 billion searches each quarter. In addition, Network Advantage gives IYP/YPs the ability to better monetize their search traffic by accessing the listings of more than 100,000 paid search advertisers. For IYP/YP partners seeking a complete pay-per-click (PPC) solution, Paid Search PlusTM provides a custom-branded local paid-search platform based on the world-class ePilot back office systems. The Local Direct product suite is powered by the company's patent-pending Keyword DNATM technology. Keyword DNA maps billions of keywords and unique attributes to millions of businesses. For more information, visit localdirect.epilot.com. The Interchange and ePilot websites can be found at http://www.interchangeusa.com/, and http://www.epilot.com/.
About eStara
Headquartered in Reston, Va. with offices in France and Oregon, eStara builds online communication tools that drive bottom line results. eStara's core offering, Push to Talk, gives advertisers the ability to click a button and speak to an advertiser from any online medium. In recent online surveys, 78% of Push to Talk users said they were more likely to contact an advertiser that offers a "click to call" option.
With 350 customers including Verizon SuperPages, Sprint and Martindale Hubbell's lawyers.com and 60,000 small and medium enterprise (SME) customers, eStara Push to Talk is the most widely deployed "click to call" service in the world. Discover how eStara Push to Talk can deliver more revenue for your business and more leads to your advertisers at http://www.estara.com/.
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Forward-Looking Statements: All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this document regarding our anticipated financial position, business strategy and plans and objectives of our management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this report, words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "plans," "expect," "intend" and similar expressions, as they relate to Interchange or our management, identify forward-looking statements. Any forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including, but not limited to, our plans to develop our ePilot products and develop sales, marketing, finance and administrative functions, dependence on major advertisers, competitive factors and pricing pressures, changes in legal and regulatory requirements, and general economic conditions. Any forward-looking statements reflect our current views with respect to future events and are subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to our operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by this paragraph.
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