Sales from the EDGE
Back Issue #004
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Sales from the EDGE Issue #004
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Sales from the EDGE
Issue #004 December 16, 1999
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SALES FROM THE EDGE is sent only to MYSS! owners. We
publish it only when there's something truly new and
important that will help *YOU* sell on the Web.
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>> SITESELL NEWS
1) ***** Printed MYSS! is Now Available! *****
Yes, it's available, just in time for Christmas! And, I
must say, it's absolutely beautiful...
Suitable for reading at your leisure in the sun room... or
while sitting in the bath! Take it with you on the plane...
or to the cottage on the weekend. Or, as one recent reader
said...
"I really want to yellow-highlight MYSS! and make notes, but
that really messes up the monitor! "
The *REGULAR* printed price is as "ridiculously" low as the
Electronic Version's price...
... only CAD$45 (US$30). But, for existing owners, as
promised, there's an additional $10 discount.
Here's the special URL that I have set up for you...
https://secure.sitesell.com/order_special.html
I sincerely hope you enjoy the Printed Version every bit as
much as you have the Electronic Version. :-)
-----
2) New Products to Kick off the Millennium
Several new products are nearing completion...
o e-commerce books, each written by authorities in their
respective fields
o our first client-side productivity software
o a truly major server-side project that will dwarf
everything else.
Been thinking about joining the 5 Pillar Affiliate Program?
Now is the time.
Somewhere between the third and fourth product launch, we'll
be closing the program to new applications, just like Net
Detective has done. At that time, affiliates' equity and
income will appreciate substantially.
More info at...
http://www.sitesell.com/affiliateprogram.html
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>> THIS ISSUE'S TOPIC
From time to time, the EDGE will publish important updates
that you need to make your site SELL!. Most "latest and
greatest" Net marketing and sales developments simply waste
our time. Today's "hot new technology" is tomorrow's
"whatever happened to... ?"
Occasionally, though, something comes along that sticks.
When that happens, I'll explain it here and outline how you
can best take advantage of it.
Today, there is enough evidence and experience to suggest
that you add the following to your "A-List" of
traffic-building tools!
1. Open Directory
2. RealNames
3. GoTo.com
Last issue, we covered Open Directory...
http://www.sitesell.com/edge/backissues-003.html
This issue is devoted to RealNames.
The next will cover GoTo.com.
Then we'll finish the series with an original, powerful and
cost-effective step-by-step improved "Phase III Gateway"
approach that will build traffic cost-effectively for you
throughout 2000 and 2001.
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DECEMBER 20, 1999
SPECIAL NOTE AFTER INITIAL MAILING OF THIS ISSUE ON DECEMBER 16
The day after this issue was released, RealNames suspended
their selling of generic words. Several Subscribers to the
EDGE forwarded this issue to RealNames. Think the EDGE
could be the cause of this? Nah... :-)
Watch this carefully. If RealNames ever re-institutes their
selling of generic words, its value to entrepreneurs will
once again plummet.
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RealNames
http://www.realnames.com/
RealNames is an interesting beast. On the surface, it all
seems straightforward. However, all is not as it would
seem. Let's see...
1) What RealNames *Says* It Is
2) What RealNames ***Really*** Is
3) What RealNames *May* Become
4) How to Get the Most for Your Money
5) The Bottom Line -- the Long Term
-------
---1---
-------
What RealNames *Says* It Is
Let's say you're thinking about buying a shiny new Ford
Mustang this spring (we think about spring early, way up
here in Montreal!). What do you do? Well, one way or
another, sooner or later, you'll eventually stumble your way
onto the correct URL within one of Ford's sites...
http://www.fordvehicles.com/vehiclehome12.html
You think about this for a second and you say...
"That really took way too long to find the Mustang page.
There must be a better way."
Then you think... "I should be able to type 'Ford Mustang'
into my browser and just get to the right page."
That's what RealNames does. And they charge Ford $100 for
the privilege of registering "Ford Mustang.."
... and another $100 for "Ford Explorer"...
... and another $100 for every other make that Ford wants to
register...
and even another $100 for "Ford" and "Ford cars."
Hmmm... this could be a very profitable idea for RealNames.
But what about for us?
-------
---2---
-------
What RealNames ***Really*** Is
Basically, RealNames replaces the URL with straight English
(or any other language, for that matter!). If that's all it
was, RealNames would be of absolutely *ZERO* use to you and
me. Why?
Because no one knows that *WE* exist!
For most of us, RealNames would be useless if it *only*
allowed us to buy our own company name or product name. Why?
Because the world generally does *NOT* know our names. As
explained in MYSS!, potential customers find us in search
engines or directories by looking up benefits, or features,
or kinds of products, etc.
For example... when I review the log files of my first site
(PennyGold), here's what I see --> almost *NO ONE* finds us
by looking up "PennyGold" in a search engine. They find us
by looking up "penny stocks" and other keywords that...
> ***relate to the subject matter of that site.***
After all, if someone knew that PennyGold existed, they'd
already know the URL or have it bookmarked (yes, I can think
of exceptions, but they are extremely rare).
An example... I registered "Penny Gold Penny Stocks" as a
RealNames some time back.
Go to this RealNames query page...
http://navigation.us.realnames.com/resolver.dll?realname=
Enter "penny gold penny stocks" and hit "Go". Since this is
an exact match for my "Penny Gold Penny Stocks" RealName
(hit "Lookup" button to verify this), you'll go directly to
my PennyGold site.
-----SIDEBAR-----
PG is sold out -- there is a long waiting list. PG is used
here only as an example, *NOT* to sell PG.
-----SIDEBAR-----
"Big deal," right? Right. So far, so boring. Like I said,
not many people look for PennyGold by entering our name, let
alone by entering "Penny Gold Penny Stocks."
So let's get to what RealNames *really* is, and what it does
for us...
Try another search at the RealNames URL, this time for
"penny stocks" (without quotes). You'll find PennyGold and
some other listings. Here's the PG listing...
--------------------------------
Penny Gold Penny Stocks RN -
Serious penny stocks software
shows you how to succeed in this
profitable investment arena... AND
gives you all the tools to DO IT.
--------------------------------
-----SIDEBAR-----
RealNames lists its results in two columns, reducing the
order bias of a single column, top-to-bottom, return (i.e.,
the way most engines return search results). Still, your
best shot at "getting the click" is to appear in the top
left part of the first page.
-----SIDEBAR-----
If "that's all there is," this would *still* be a waste of
$100. Why?...
Because not many people actually go to the RealNames site
and use it as a search engine. RealNames, by itself, could
not generate enough traffic to make it worthwhile. But
here's where it gets interesting...
RealNames has several *Search Engine partners*. Let's try
one of them. Go to AltaVista and search for "penny stocks"...
http://www.altavista.com/
Look just *above* the Page 1, #1 listing, where it says...
"Penny stocks - Click here for a list of Internet Keywords
related to penny stocks."
Click on that link. You'll see the same RealNames listing
of results that you just did via the RealNames query page.
Why is this so good? Hey, it gives us a presence right at
the top of the search results for AltaVista. No fuss, no
muss -- PG is there!
-----SIDEBARS-----
If searchers type *EXACTLY* your RealName into AltaVista,
they will be taken directly to your site if they click on
the RealNames link. If they type in a term that is similar
to your Internet Keyword they will be directed to a
short list that includes your RealName.
If you do a search for "penny mining stocks," the RealNames
link will appear near the bottom of the page, as will any
other 3-word search that you do on AltaVista.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Up until just recently, PennyGold was *also* listed directly
on Page 1, #1 of AltaVista's search results page. With the
recent AV shakeup, it's fallen out of bed -- sooner or
later, it will find its way back in.
-----SIDEBAR-----
If you work the Phase II or III gateway program outlined in
MYSS! properly, you should not worry about any single search
result for a particular word at an individual engine. There
is a constant shifting of search results. As long as your
"overall net of keywords" scores well, be happy! :-)
The "AltaVista shakeup" actually illustrates part of the
value of RealNames...
-----SIDEBAR-----
Even when PG was listed on Page 1, #1 at AV for "penny
stocks," RealNames sent me 50 visitors per week. This means
that it sent us 2600 visitors in a year. Since we pay $100
per year, that works out to 3.8 cents per visitor. And what
kind of Return On Investment did PG get?...
At a price of CAD$1,000 (US$670) and with PennyGold's
Conversion Rate of about 0.5% at this price, that $100
investment in RealNames generated 13 orders = US$8710 (I
suspect that we actually convert a higher % of RealName
visitors -- that's because MYSS! has sent a lot of
"non-targeted" traffic to PennyGold, which reduces our CR
somewhat.)
And don't forget... if PG were still for sale, my "Penny
Gold Penny Stocks" RealName would now be even more valuable
to me, since PG has been shuffled off the Page 1, #1 result
at AltaVista.
Here's the bottom line...
You may not feel like doing the work required to get listed
on page 1 of a Search Engine results. And even if you do --
you won't ALWAYS get that Page 1 listing -- you may get it
for a few months, then get bumped, and then get back on
later.
Buying the "Penny Gold Penny Stocks" RealName was a way for
me to get a GUARANTEED presence on AltaVista for "penny
stocks." This generated targeted traffic at a reasonable
price. And that, dear reader, is what RealNames really is...
***A way for you and I to get a high listing for important
keywords that we'd like Web surfers to search upon... all
at a reasonable price.***
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---3---
-------
What RealNames *May* Become
It's in RealName's best interest to keep finding more and
more ways to drive traffic to you and me, so that you and I
keep renewing that $100 annual fee!
So...
They now partner not only with AltaVista, but also with
Go(InfoSeek), Inktomi, MSN, DogPile and LookSmart. And
RealNames does not just work with the Search Engines...
They also offer a free Browser Tool (downloadable from their
site and compatible with IE3+, NN3+, Opera 2+ and Sherlock
for Mac). And IE5, Microsoft's latest browser is RealNames
enabled -- no need to download the Browser tool.
What's the point of an enabled browser? Simple... just
enter "Penny Gold Penny Stocks" where you used to enter
"http://wwwhatever..." and you'll come straight to my
PennyGold Web site. While not too many people do this yet,
that could change.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Surfers are notoriously resistant to downloading plug-ins or
other tools for their browsers. So don't count on the older
browsers to be of much value. But...
If/when surfers learn to enter generic words directly into
Explorer 5 (and later?) in order to find sites, this should
increase in importance. On the other hand, Microsoft may
end the partnership or surfers may stick with ways that they
already know. Who knows?
For now, we'll consider the SE partnerships to be the
primary benefit to us.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Back to the Search Engine partners. Just above, I showed
you how AltaVista sends PennyGold 50 visitors per week. But
guess how many MSN Search sends? Or Go(Infoseek)?
Zero! Know why? Because the search has to match the
RealName *EXACTLY* in order to show in the search results!
In other words, the searcher has to search for "Penny Gold
Penny Stocks" -- if s/he only enters "penny stocks," my
RealName does not show up.
Try it now -- go to http://search.msn.com/ and try searching
for "penny stocks" and then "penny gold penny stocks."
You'll see that PG turns up PG's RealName for the latter
search *ONLY* (at the top of the page, right under the
words... "Results: containing 'penny gold penny stocks'."
But you know what? That's virtually worthless to me.
How many people do you think enter "penny gold penny stocks"
into any Search Engine? Yup, zero. So these partnerships are
virtually worthless to the little guy (i.e., you and I).
The real value of RealNames *to us* is in adding keywords
onto our own company or product names.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Unfortunately, an "exact" match is also required when
surfers enter a word/phrase into Explorer 5, unless they
change the browser's default (which most people will never
do).
And don't expect LookSmart to deliver a heck of a lot. They
don't require an exact match. But the link to RealNames
appears at the bottom of the page with the "matches for
"whatever" from the entire Web"... after several sets of
links at top (shopping, the directory's findings, etc.).
-----SIDEBAR-----
So overall, all these new partnerships do not add much, from
our point of view. Actually, the situation gets worse
because of this recent development...
Up until December, 1999, RealNames did not allow buying
"generic keywords" -- words like "stocks" or "penny stocks."
These were their previous rules for an acceptable RealName
purchase...
----------------------------------------
"... to deliver maximum value in terms of
user expectation, and to maintain the quality
of the database, Keywords must be:
*Unique, to identify a specific
organization, brand, product, or individual
*Not common or generic terms
*Linked to a live web page that is under
the control of the subscriber
*Appropriate to the content of the
subscriber's site, in terms of user
expectations"
Company names, trademarks, brand names,
product names and celebrity personal names
can only be approved for those with a
legitimate claim to use them."
----------------------------------------
So you could not buy a "generic word" -- words and phrases
in common use that denote non-specific things, qualities or
activities - for example personal computer, sex, cars,
books, or flower).
For PennyGold, I would have loved to be the only one to own
the word "stocks." But you can't buy "stocks," right? Right?
The answer to that question is now "yes and no." If you're
a little guy, forget it... but there's been a change in
policy for the "big guy". Let's talk about the average
entrepreneur/small biz first...
You *can* add your company or product name to the front or
back of "stocks." Want to see how many companies have paid
for this privilege so far? Go to this RealNames query
page...
http://navigation.us.realnames.com/resolver.dll?realname=
Enter "stocks" (without the quotes) and then hit the
"Lookup" button...
-----SIDEBAR-----
Info about this query page...
Hit the "Lookup" button if you want to see how many
RealNames (that contain the word you entered) have been
bought. This lookup may, for a while longer, even return
some sites that have not bought a RealName. How to tell
which is which?...
Look for those with the "RN" superscript right after each
RealName. These companies have bought a RealName. Some do
not have the "RN" -- these are left over from the early
days, when RealNames needed "filler." They are slowly being
weeded out of their database.
Hit the "Go" button if you want to go directly to a site.
This only works if a company has bought a RealName that
matches exactly what you have entered. Otherwise, the "Go"
button works the same as the "Lookup" button.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Back to our "stocks" lookup... As of this writing
(December, 1999), you'll find 50 listings with the "RN" (and
10 without). Most of these listings have added the word
"stocks" to their company or product name to derive their
RealNames. Searchers will find them by looking for
"stocks," and not by entering their *EXACT* RealName.
So RealNames does *not* make its money by letting Ford
register "Ford" as its RealName (which is its supposed
business model). Instead, customers use it to add "generic
keywords" after the name of the company or product or
service. It's kind of a clever way to be able to buy a
piece of a generic word, while still having a "unique
RealName."
Now, here's an important change, tailor-made for "the big
guy"...
As of December, 1999, you no longer have to be clever to buy
a *piece* of a generic word. If you're big enough, you can
buy an *entire* generic word all for yourself! For example,
until December, 1999, Ford could not purchase the RealName
"cars" and Microsoft could not buy "e-commerce."
While RealNames had allowed a few specific exceptions (ex.,
Apple Computer was allowed to buy "apple"), these were
perfectly reasonable -- in other words, it makes sense for
"apple" to go to Apple because that's what most users would
expect. But now mp3.com owns "mp3" and "jobs.com" owns
"jobs."
Here's how they justify their sale of generic RealNames...
"If your brand name is associated with a
generic term or if a generic term is
generally used to describe your company or
brand, you may qualify for that Internet
Keyword."
Sure -- wait til you see the price tag. ;-)
Try this. Go back to AltaVista and enter "mp3 music" Take
a look just above the Page 1, #1 listing, where it says...
"Click on this Internet Keyword to go directly to the mp3
music Web site." Yup, you're going straight to mp3.com! Out
of the countless sites about mp3 music, your only choice (if
you use RealNames) is mp3.com."
Want to see how strong this is for mp3.com?...
Look up "mp3 anything" or "mp3 baloney" -- guess where you
end up? Uh huh!
OK, ready? Here's why this hurts *us* so badly. Imagine that
you're a nice little software company from Sweden called
"Abe's Software." You buy a couple of RealNames...
"Abe's MP3 Finder" and "Abe's MP3 Finder v4.0"
A lot of people find you via RealNames by searching for "MP3
Finder," just like you planned when you bought these words.
But suddenly... no one's finding you any more. Then you
find out that mp3.com just bought the rights to "mp3." You
complain to RealNames. Here's what they say...
"Hey, if someone does an *EXACT* search for
"Abe's MP3 Finder," they'll still find you --
so your RealName is still perfectly good --
we never sold you 'mp3 finder.'"
Just as you hang up the phone, you swear that you hear the
sound of a muffled laugh...
Yes, you have been royally "you-know-whatted." Guess how
happy Abe is about all this. (By the way, Abe exists! Go to
AltaVista and try this for yourself.)
Don't get me wrong -- nothing wrong with RealNames making
money. It would be a nice change for a dot.com! But,
without warning, they are devaluing a product that millions
of others have already paid for.
They'll try and cover this up by saying that you really only
bought a RealName for an exact match. But remember (and
this is important)....
EXACT MATCHES ARE USELESS FOR THE LITTLE GUY.
Watch for more and more of these generic words getting sold.
If it does, keep in mind that RealNames *may* eventually
become of zero value to entrepreneurs!
Since RealNames obviously has no compunction about devaluing
your purchase by selling a generic word now, it will be up
to us to factor this is in, *IF* and when you choose a
RealName.
Which brings us to...
-------
---4---
-------
How to Get the Most for Your Money
It costs US$100 to buy a RealName (or what RealName calls an
"Internet Keyword"). Actually, you don't really "buy" your
"Internet Keyword" (we'll call it a RealName from here on
in). You subscribe to it. Because you have to pay this
$100 each year.
That's a different payment model from GoTo.com. GoTo.com
charges you "per-click" to your site and you decide how much
to pay for each click by bidding.
So with GoTo.com, you could (and should) literally bid for
hundreds of keywords ("how to" next issue). And you should
write your Title and Description so that *ONLY* your target
market clicks (since each click costs). So if no one uses
them and clicks to your site, you don't get charged. No
problem.
But RealNames does *NOT* guarantee even a single click for
your money -- if no one uses your RealName, you're out $100.
So you have to focus on words that will generate you a good
return for your $100 (at least triple to make it worth your
time and effort.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get your
money's worth!
-----SIDEBAR-----
Actually, RealNames includes *UP TO* 30,000 RealName-driven
visits per year for your $100. After that, they negotiate a
price-per-click rate with you. But don't worry -- no matter
how well you do this, you're unlikely to generate 30,000
visits from a single RealName, unless you're Yahoo!
So your mission is actually to get as close to 30,000 visits
as possible!
-----SIDEBAR-----
As we've seen, RealNames is a great way to jump to the top
of the search results page for AltaVista (other SE partners
are of much less value, if any), without having to spend any
time "working the SEs" Of course, you will have to spend
some time brainstorming, picking and then "creatively
building" the right RealNames that will pay in spades.
Let's start...
> STEP 1
Brainstorm a list of POTENTIAL keywords.
> STEP 2
Check popularity at GoTo.com
> STEP 3
Check desirability versus dilution
... GoTo.com, AltaVista, RealNames
> STEP 4
Pick "Best Value" Words and Group Them
> STEP 5
Write Your Description and Choose the Destination URL
> STEP 6 -- Buy or Fly
Negotiate Your RealName with a RealNames Inspector
> STEP 7
Happy? Do it all over again!
-----
> STEP 1
Brainstorm a list of POTENTIAL keywords.
Let's use PennyGold as an example to show you how to develop
a RealName. We already know that we're *not* going to buy
"PennyGold" as our RealName, right? Remember, no one looks
for PG by entering "PennyGold"!
So we'll add some additional keywords to "PennyGold." Time
for a little brainstorming...
The rationale for developing keywords for RealNames is the
same as always -- pick words that your target market would
use to find you. First, read Chapters 3.3 and 3.4 in MYSS!,
which discuss generating and working with keywords. Please
do this if you are at all shaky on the concept of "keywords."
-----SIDEBAR-----
Some good tips straight off the RealNames site...
"Consider what the average user is most likely
to type when looking for your site. The more
intuitive a Internet Keyword the easier it
will be to remember. The more memorable the
Internet Keyword the more often it will be
used.
Products and services are also appropriate
choices for Internet Keywords. For example,
Amazon CDs, Honda Motorcycles. Your site map
would be a great place to start brainstorming
RealNames. Your company's name PLUS 'jobs',
'annual report', 'contacts' and other key
areas would also be good choices. All
trademarks, products, services and slogans
may be appropriate."
-----SIDEBAR-----
Now visit JimTools KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL...
http://jimtools.com/keywords/
This is a slick little keyword-generator. It searches the
major search engines for your keywords, then examines the
meta tags and page contents of the top rated pages to
develop a list of words that those sites consider important.
For example, let's suppose that I want to sell software
about penny mining stocks. I'll enter "penny stocks" and
ask for "A Handful" of keyword suggestions (leave the
"1-word suggestions" option at the "no" default)...
When the list comes back, I copy-and-paste it into a text
editor.
I can repeat this with different keywords (related to penny
mining stocks software) that I have thought of, and also for
words that the JimTool returns! After I'm done, I weed out
the stuff that makes no sense or seems too obscure. This is
what's left...
gold investing
gold stocks
junior mining
mining companies
mining stocks
oil and gas
penny stocks
microcap
nasdaq
otc bb
And we'll use a second URL to do a little more brainstorming...
http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jhtml
This is the GoTo.com Suggestion Tool. We discussed it in MYSS!.
We'll use it here to brainstorm up a list of words/phrases that
have "stock" in it.
Enter the word stocks and hit "Find it." This will give you
a list of all searches that were done in the preceding month
that contained the word "stocks" (or "stock") in them, and
also how many times each phrase was requested.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Remember that GoTo.com accounts for 3-5% of the total number
of searches done every day on the Net. So don't be worried
by the small numbers -- the actual number of searches for
each word is 20-30 times greater!
-----SIDEBAR-----
Here's what "stock" turns up... (GoTo does not differentiate
"stock" from "stocks" so the following list includes both in
its totals.)
67547stock
50056stock quote
20646stock market
4550stock broker
4125new york stock exchange
3824toronto stock exchange
3160stock split
2721penny stock
2667stock price
2321stock exchange
2144stock photography
2074stock market quote
1955alberta stock exchange
1752stock photo
1643stock option
1482stock market news
1136stock ticker
1128free stock quote
1120london stock exchange
1073vancouver stock exchange
1023stock trading
1006stock market tip
953stock chart
910online stock trading
870stock market game
855real time stock quote
807stock image
786stock pick
784australian stock exchange
738ups stock
734stock car racing
728stock research
704stock tip
666cyprus stock exchange
600yahoo stock quote
583yahoo finance stock quote
551internet stock
536stock report
519hot stock
517american stock exchange
506stock symbol
493free stock
493stock market crash
437stock analysis
421canadian stock
You can repeat this for other general keywords related to
your product. In this example, we'd do a "GoTo Suggestions"
for "gold" and "mining."
For "gold" (after removing all the pokemon stuff!)...
6286gold
1352gold price
1194gold coin
1001gold rush
841gold jewelry
691gold mining
683private gold
671california gold rush
For "mining"...
1556mining
691gold mining
561coal mining
558mining company
258mining co
For "investment"...
13655investment
4087fidelity investment
1356investment club
1142putnam investment
746investment banking
674investment bank
637investment advice
OK, now let's check the popularity of the words that we
brainstormed up above...
-----
> STEP 2
Check popularity at GoTo.com
Let's use the Suggestion Tool again, this time to check the
popularity of the words that we brainstormed in STEP 1...
http://inventory.go2.com/inventory/Search_Suggestion.jhtml
Here's what we find...
8gold investing
73gold stocks
0junior mining
558mining companies
21mining stocks
266oil and gas
2721penny stocks
92microcap
10182nasdaq
202otcbb
We already have the popularity numbers for the other lists
of words. So let's move to...
-----
> STEP 3
Check desirability versus dilution
... GoTo.com, AltaVista, RealNames
At first glance, you might just say...
"Hey, there were 67,547 searches for 'stock.' Just buy
the 'PennyGold Stocks' RealName, Ken."
That was my first thought at the time -- simply add the name
of *MY* product to the generic term, "stocks."
And here's two more ways to determine desirability of
a word...
1) Go to www.goto.com and look up the word. You'll see that
bidders have pushed the price of this word up to $1.45 (as
of December 13, 1999) -- see where it says, "(Cost to
advertiser: $1.45)." The higher the price, the more "in
demand" the word. (Try a search for "e-commerce" -- wait
until you see what that costs!)
2) Another way? Go to AltaVista and search for "stocks."
Look just above the start of the listings. You'll see that
2,256,780 Web pages contain the word "stocks."
So everything indicates that "stocks" is super-popular...
all systems seem GO to buy the "PennyGold Stocks" RealName.
But wait!
Time to think about your customer! Yes, remember her? Maybe
someone who looks up "stocks" is not targeted enough to be
interested in junior mining stocks. And, if "stocks"
is so desirable, maybe many other companies already own
RealNames with "stocks" in it?
Let's see. Go to...
http://navigation.us.realnames.com/resolver.dll?realname=
Enter "stocks" and hit "Lookup" -- as mentioned above,
you'll find 60 stocks. This means that the results are
spread over 6 pages. If you're not on the first page,
forget it!
-----SIDEBAR-----
RealNames says that each RealName is unique. But this is a
bit misleading. While each RealName is unique, it's
possible that hundreds could "own" a RealName with a generic
word like "e-commerce" contained within it, reducing its
value considerably.
-----SIDEBAR-----
So remember... while popularity is good, you have to balance
it against dilution. Ideally, you'd like to use "generic
word add-ons" that are popular but that have not yet been
"diluted" by too many competitors at RealNames who are doing
the same.
-----
> STEP 4
Pick "Best Value" Words and Group Them
Finished the keyword STEPs (1-3)? Time to build a
RealName!...
RealNames can include spaces, upper and lower case and
special characters like ampersands... even non-english
characters! Think about plurals, spacing variations and
special characters.
With all this, and my customer, in mind, here's a great
RealName...
"Penny Gold Penny Stocks Book and Mining Investment Advice"
It has a lot more potential than my original choice,
"Penny Gold Penny Stocks." Here's the rationale for the new
RealName...
--
First, I split the actual trademarked term, "PennyGold,"
into "Penny Gold." This is probably not kosher, since the
real name for my product is "PennyGold." But I do it so that
searches for "gold" and "gold stocks" (and even "stocks
gold" -- order is not important) will find PennyGold.
The RealNames keyword analysts are very busy -- I figure
that they'll miss this subtle move. After all, they did the
first time! ;-)
--
Second, I kept "penny stocks" together since this is a
common search phrase. And it targets pretty well for my
product.
--
Third, I added "book" -- now, anyone searching for any word
combo of "book" together with "stocks" or "penny stocks" or
"gold" has a shot at finding me.
--
Fourth, "Mining Investment Advice" -- while PennyGold does
not actually offer "advice," (it teaches investors to "do it
themselves) the term "Investment Advice" is far more
requested than "Investment Software." And adding the word
"mining" boosts the yield of this RealName even more (see
above).
--
Just look at all the possible ways that a search could find
PennyGold if I buy this RealName...
Stocks
Penny Stocks
Gold Stocks
Investment Advice
Mining Stocks
Penny Stocks Book
Gold Investment
Stocks Investment
One important consideration before I submit my request... I
review all the above phrases and decide if any company is
likely to buy the straight-up, generic version.
And, yes indeed, I could easily see e*trade buying "stocks."
When this happens, I will be as "you-know-whatted" as poor
old Abe's Software whenever someone does a search for any of
the above words/phrases with "stocks" in it. This will
definitely kill its value.
If RealNames really *does* widen this "generic sale," my
recommendation to entrepreneurs and small businesses would
be to forget RealNames as a cost-effective way to build
traffic. And to ask for a refund.
All in all, though, if I can get this RealName, I'd feel
like I got my money's worth (our mission, right?). If the
"investment advice" part is refused, then my RealName is
totally dependent on "stocks" not being sold! Ugh.
Still, I'd probably take the chance....
-----
> STEP 5
Write Your Description and Choose the Destination URL
So far, we've put all of our effort into creating the
RealName. That's because the whole "RealName" concept keys
on this. I expect, however, that as more and more companies
use RealNames, the description will also be important.
Why? Well, when I first bought "the Penny Gold Penny
Stocks" RealName, PennyGold was one of only two listings
when you searched for "penny stocks." Now there are almost
20 -- and soon there'll be more.
So your description must "get the click." It must entice
the reader to click to your site. And it should contain
your most important keywords, just in case this ever becomes
important in the ranking algorithm. So the strategy should
be the same as outlined in MYSS! for the Yahoo! description.
-----SIDEBAR-----
Maximum length of description is 140 characters.
-----SIDEBAR-----
And here's a second strong reason to "get the click." The
more clicks you do get, the higher you'll rank. RealNames
gives you 1 point for every click you get, and 5 points for
every *EXACT* matched entry. The more points you get, the
higher you'll rank (they do these calculations every 20
days, not in real-time).
Bottom line? Plan your description as carefully as your
META tags, using the same principles (see MYSS! for details).
-----
When you buy your RealName, you'll also specify a URL to
which it will point. Remember, the destination URL does not
have to be your Home Page. For example, if you want to
promote your e-zine, send visitors directly to the relevant
page.
-----
> STEP 6 -- Buy or Fly
Negotiate Your RealName with a RealNames Inspector
OK, got your perfect RealName? Time to see if it's OK. You
have two choices...
1) Just buy it (guess I should say "subscribe it") and see
what happens. If the name is refused, you cannot get your
$100 back -- it's their special "*NO* Money Back Guarantee!.
But their keyword analysts will work with you to arrange a
satisfactory name. Have backups ready.
Here's where to subscribe to your name...
http://realnames.com/
Just hit "SUBSCRIBE" and follow the instructions (review all
their policy links for the most up-to-date info). Keyword
analysts will review your application and notify you of the
final approval of your RealName via email within 72 hours.
If they reject it, they'll contact you and work with you to
find a satisfactory alternative.
-----SIDEBAR-----
After you're set up, you'll be able to login to a customer
section where you can...
o edit your description and the destination URL (sorry, you
can't change the RealName itself). For example, during a
special promotion or competition, or after a new product
release, you may wish to point Internet Keywords to a
different page.
o buy new RealNames quickly
o have daily access to usage statistics and activity reports
-----SIDEBAR-----
--
OR
--
2) Phone 1-888-869-9946 (6am through 6pm PST) or e-mail them
at names@realnames.com -- see what they say. They're easy
to reach by phone (I've talked to them several times while
preparing this article), and they're very helpful.
-----SIDEBAR-----
My recommendation is to buy one word and see what you can
negotiate. Any serious business will treat a paying
customer with more respect. They must be bombed with
"lowballers" trying to get all kinds of RealNames accepted
without paying a penny first. I'd be interested to hear
your experiences here.
-----SIDEBAR-----
RealNames asks their keyword analysts to evaluate
submissions according to one prime directive...
----------------------------------------
"An Internet Keyword request will not be
approved if the use of that Internet Keyword
would be inconsistent with user expectation.
This prime directive ensures that three
general criteria are applied:
ono intellectual property infringement
ono cybersquatting (the purchase of
Internet Keywords with the intention of
reselling them for a profit)
ono intentional misdirection of users by
providing Website content which is
inconsistent with the generally accepted
meaning of the requested Internet Keyword."
----------------------------------------
One more thing... your RealName cannot have more than 80
characters, composed of your company or product name and no
more than two keyword concepts.
Given the above restrictions...
There's a fair chance that they'll turn down my first choice...
"Penny Gold Penny Stocks Book and Mining Investment Advice"
Why? Because it contains more than two keyword concepts.
Also, the "advice" part is slightly off-target.
-----SIDEBAR-----
In the "good old days," many people stuffed their RealName
like a turkey. So you may come across the occasional
super-long RealName (less and less, as they come up for
renewal). Those days are gone. Still, two keywords will,
if well chosen, give you good value.
-----SIDEBAR-----
So I have a couple of fall-back positions...
"Penny Gold Penny Stocks Book and Mining Investment Software"
Rationale: PG is both a book and software. So I could
reasonably say that the name is appropriate and that there
are really only two keyword concepts. Of course, it's
arguable.
--
OR
--
"PennyGold Book about Penny Stocks and Penny Stock Software"
Rationale: The "Stocks" and "Stock" covers me for both
singular and plural search. Do a search in RealName for
"stock" or "gold stock" and you won't find PennyGold,
although you will find PG for "penny stock."
Still can't come up with a RealName that makes them happy?
Bottom line is this. If RealNames nickels and dimes you
down to the point where it's not worth $100, you have two
choices...
1) Forget all about it, if you have not yet bought. After
all, it has to be worth the $100 and the time that you've
put into this.
2) Buy just a single word, the best that they will allow,
and see if it drives any sales to you.
-----
> STEP 7
Happy? Do it all over again!
Things going well? Repeat the process. Get a little
adventurous! For example...
I can't *really* use words like "quote" and "market" and
"exchange" for PennyGold, because that would be a bit
misleading. Still, I could make it "un-misleading." :-)
It could be interesting to experiment with RealNames like...
"PennyGold -- Kiss Your Stock Broker Goodbye"
or
"PennyGold -- No More Stock Quotes"
Rationale for these two words...
GoTo.com shows that the "quote" and "broker" frequently
combine with "stocks" or "stock". And, as of this writing,
few companies turns up when you search for "stock broker" on
RealNames! And not *too* many for "stock quotes," either.
I would set up a "landing page" with specific content that
is appropriate for these RealNames, so that they would not
object. The content would be relevant to the RealName,
would be original and valuable to the visitor, and would
lead into a click to the main PennyGold Web site.
Keep experimenting. As long as RealNames gives you a chance
to earn a good return on each RealName, keep using them. If
they want your money but don't want to provide the benefit,
read the next issue of the EDGE...
... GoTo.com!
-----SIDEBAR-----
Want to see a smart company in action? Go to the query
URL...
http://navigation.us.realnames.com/resolver.dll?realname=
Enter "Barnes" and hit "Lookup" -- wait 'til you see all the
RealNames that Barnes & Nobles have bought. Study them and
you'll find some smart strategies.
-----SIDEBAR-----
-------
---5---
-------
The Bottom Line -- the Long Term
"How do I get my money's worth?" Here's the wrap up...
---A---
Pick the right words (related to your product, high
popularity, low RN dilution, and unlikely to be "sold out").
---B---
Stuff at least two of your keywords into a RealName.
---C---
Write a good description that will "get the click" to your
site.
---D---
Experiment and negotiate to get the best RealName possible.
Remember, you're a customer now!
---E---
Start with just one RealNames... your very best effort. If
it goes well, grow the program.
---F---
Try to guesstimate the likely "Return on Investment."
First, estimate the traffic that your RealName will bring
you. Then multiply by your Conversion Rate and
Profit-Per-Sale. Does this produce at least $500 of
profit? (What's the point of losing money?)
Example...
"Penny Gold Penny Stocks Book and Mining Investment Advice"
Here are the GoTo stats for the SPECIFIC words in the above
RealName (the non-specific will have too many RealName
competitors and the visitors will tend to be less targeted
-- so I ignore these, even though they will bring some
business)...
Word searched #/month
------------------------
Penny Stocks 2721
Mining 1556
Gold mining 691
Gold stocks 73
Investment Advice 637
TOTAL 5678
According to WebSnapShot.com, AltaVista does roughly
two-and-a-half times the number of searches as GoTo.com...
http://websnapshot.mycomputer.com/searchengines.html
So that makes a total of 5,678 x 2.5 = 14,195 requests per
month.
According to DoubleClick, AltaVista generates 35 million
searches per day. And according to RealNames, AltaVista
generates 2 million clicks per day on that link that says
"Click here for a list of Internet Keywords related to ...".
So when someone looks up "penny stocks," there is a 5.7%
chance (2/35) that the searcher clicks on the RealNames link
that will then expose PennyGold to that person.
Let's assume that the average user only clicks on one
RealName after arriving there via AltaVista. That means you
should divide the 5.7% by the number of other companies who
dilute you, allowing also whether you appear prominently or
not in the results.
Allowing for the number of competitors for each of the above
words in my RealName, I'll estimate that my new RealName
will have an average 1-in-5 chance of being clicked AFTER
the searcher gets to the RealNames listing by clicking on
that link at the top of the AltaVista results page.
So, let's calculate what I expect RealNames to deliver...
... 14,195 x 5.7% x 0.2
That results in 162 visitors per month. If you convert 1%
of visitors into sales, and if you average $100 per sale,
your $100 investment at RealNames will return $162 per
month, almost $2,000 for the year. Not bad at all!
This is rough, of course -- but it's a starting point. Yes,
you'll actually get some extra traffic from other sources.
But AltaVista will be, by far, the #1 source. And don't
forget that other companies will compete by adding similar
generic words onto their names AFTER you buy your RealName,
reducing your expected return.
So, allowing everything else to cancel each other out... all
in all, this little calculation is a pretty good estimate.
Here's my recommendation...
Each $100 RealName investment should return $500 PER YEAR.
Or don't bother.
------
Follow this and you should do well, in the short-term.
Long-term, though, RN worries me.
The sale of "generic" words is disturbing. It may be good
business for them, but you have to judge whether it makes
sense to buy words that are likely to get sold, decreasing
(or totally eliminating) the value of your RealName.
Also, if the Search Engine partners *all* decide to return
*exact* matches only, RN becomes worthless -- so watch
AltaVista.
Remember this -- no one looks for *you*, unless you're
Microsoft. When you buy a RealName, you're really buying
the "generic add-ons." If the engines don't deliver on
that, and if not enough people use an RN-equipped browser...
... ya got nuthin'!
One more thing...
Over time, more and more companies will buy RealNames. So
more and more results will turn up for a word like "penny
stocks," diluting the value of your RealName because of the
lower chances of getting the actual click to your site.
With all these trends, the time will come when RN may simply
not be worth it for "the little guy."
-----
And one more thing...
Three different RealNames support staff all said that the
way to use RealNames is for searchers to find the exact
match... that buying RealNames with "generic words added
onto your company name" is the wrong way to go.
Since that's the only way to go for entrepreneurs and small
businesses, I can't help but think about poor Abe's Software
all over again. Be careful... don't depend on a generic
word that is likely to get sold.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Written by Ken Evoy, M.D.,
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