This article is taken from the Sales from the EDGE, Issue #004 newsletter, which is only available to customers of Ken's excellent "Make Your Site Sell!" book.

Please Note: This article is pretty long. But I do recommend that you read it in its entirety to fully appreciate the advice and tips offered by Ken Evoy on this great traffic generation concept.

RealNames is an interesting beast. On the surface, it all seems straightforward. However, all is not as it would seem. Let's see...

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?

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.

Since this is an exact match for my "Penny Gold Penny Stocks" RealName, you'll go directly to my PennyGold site.

Note: PG is sold out -- there is a long waiting list. PG is used here only as an example, *NOT* to sell PG.

"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.

Serious penny stocks software
shows you how to succeed in this
profitable investment arena... AND
gives you all the tools to DO IT.

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".

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!

Note: 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.

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.

Note: 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.

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.***

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.

Note: 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.

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 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.

Note: 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.).

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:

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? Visit Realnames "Stocks"

Note: 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.

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.

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!

Note: 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!

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...