"How to Add Marketing Oomph to Your RealName
. . . I'm No.1 on a Search for Marketing Advice"
By Allan Gardyne
 

ReaLNames are a way of paying for cheap traffic to your website. A $100 investment can generate traffic worth thousands of dollars. How successful the investment is depends on the popularity of the names you choose.

I "subscribed" to RealNames, chose three keywords - and was a bit disappointed with the traffic I received.

Now I've found out that there's a trick which you need to know if you want to dramatically boost the traffic you receive via RealNames.

It costs $100 (US) a year for a "RealName". If you know the trick, the traffic you receive should be worth many times that.

The are TWO main techniques to choosing a name. The first approach is to select an appropriate name, probably the same as, or very similar to, your URL and hope for a direct match.

For example: "Net Detective". For $100 a year, that RealName attracts THOUSANDS of visitors a month.

The second technique (which RealNames doesn't promote) is to aim for near-matches.)

For example: "AssociatePrograms.com - affiliate programs directory". I've only just bought that one.

RealNames' technology lets users find websites simply by entering keywords into a browser's address field.


----QUOTE----------

By Hal Plotkin, SF Gate
http://www.sfgate.com/technology/beat/

RealNames is building a new, easier-to-use addressing system for the Internet that is catching on quickly. Now, websurfers don't have to remember if the site they are looking for is dot com, dot org or dot something else. They also
don't have to remember if the address has a slash in it, or two slashes, or an .html extension.

Instead, web surfers using the RealNames' technology simply type the actual name of the person or company they're looking for in a search engine or in their web browser's address line. Although a lot of users aren't aware of it yet, the
current versions of the most popular web browsers already feature slightly different, early versions of this powerful new technology.

FULL STORY: http://www.sfgate.com/technology/beat/

----UNQUOTE----------



Owning a RealName can also give you prominence at AltaVista, InfoSeek
and LookSmart.

For example, when someone goes to AltaVista and does a simple search,
your RealName could be listed FIRST - above the regular search results.

"Your customers will find you in seconds when they type your Internet Keyword in AltaVista, LookSmart, Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 and Fireball. Coming soon to MSN . . ." the RealNames site says.

Buying the RealName "Penny Gold" has been hugely successful  for Ken Evoy.

"For our first site, (PennyGold, the site that taught me all about selling on the Web) Realnames.com sends us 50 visitors per week," Ken says. That means that it send us 2600 visitors in a year. Since we pay $100 per year, that works out to 3.8 cents per visitor. Remember, every visitor is highly targeted.

"Another way to look at it? At the current price of CAD$1,000 (US$670) and with a current CR of about 0.5% at this price, that $100 investment in RealNames generates 13 orders = US$8710 (I suspect that we convert a higher percentage of RealName visitors since the "spillover" traffic from MYSS!
reduces our CR somewhat.)

"RealNames is a great undiscovered gem... at least it was until you wrote about it!" Ken says.

Here's another example, using a RealName I've just bought...


=============================
I'm first out of 4.9 million web pages
 

Wouldn't it be nice to be first out of 4.9 million web pages?

Well, I am! . . . and I'll prove it. (I hope it's still true by the time you read this.)

Over a year ago, I bought the RealName "AssociatePrograms" (which almost no one searches for - a bad mistake) and"Associate Programs" (which is a good one).

However, now I've learnt from Robert Woodhead of SelfPromotion.com that you can do a bit of keyword stuffing - the sort of keyword embedding you do with your web page title when you're seeking a listing at Yahoo!

You can buy a second RealName, to which you ADD A PHRASE to increase your chance of being found.

So I bought this new RealName:
"AssociatePrograms.com - marketing advice".

To see how it works, go to http://www.AltaVista.com and do a simple search for "marketing advice" (without the quotation marks).

The search results page reports: "AltaVista found 4,960,230 Web pages." Under that it says: "marketing advice - List of near matches related to marketing advice provided by RealNames."

Click on "marketing advice" and you'll be taken to a page on which - today anyway - AssociatePrograms.com is the ONLY site listed!

That link takes you to my marketing links page:
http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/search/marketing-advice.shtml .
(While you're there, be sure to sign up for Mark Joyner's FREE e-mail newsletter. Like me, Mark believes in thinking outside the box.)

Yes, I know that page needs improvement. One day . . .

Let's try another search, for "Internet marketing advice".

Hey! Not bad. AltaVista found about 1,200,724 web pages. This time, the RealNames near-match is placed at the BOTTOM of the page, in effect in 11th spot out of 1.2 million.

(AltaVista places direct matches and two or fewer keyword search results at the TOP of the page. For three or more word searches that don't match a keyword, the result is placed at the BOTTOM.)

Click on it, and once again AssociatePrograms.com is at the top of the heap on the RealNames page.

Let's try "business marketing advice". Not bad - another near-match in 11th spot.

How about "good marketing advice?" Yes. I've got covered, too - a near-match at 11th spot out of 4 million web pages, and when you click through to the RealNames page I'm "only" No.2 there.

Want to try a search for "marketing tips"?

Just kidding. Corey Rudl owns that one.

Are you starting to get excited about the potential of this yet? If you are, SLOW DOWN!

There are hidden traps...

 

RealNames lays traps for the unwary
 

Most people speed past those RealNames results, so the traffic you receive for your $100 for a RealName probably may not be wildly exciting. The best of my RealNames sent me 90 visitors in the past month. At that rate, I'll get 1,080 click-throughs for $100 - or under 10 cents per visitor - excellent value for
highly targeted traffic.

As search engines become more and more clogged with millions of pages, I believe the usefulness of RealNames will grow.

However, read on before you rush off to buy yours.

First, make sure you select a keyword which "accurately reflects your company, brand, product, trademark, individual name, alias or e-mail address".

Sorry, you can't have the RealName "Coke". Trademarks and brands can be used only by those authorized. Generic terms like "books" or "sport" are also not available. If your name is Declan Dunn you can buy "Declan Dunn". Yes. He's done it. No one has bought "Allan Gardyne" yet.

Deciding exactly what is a "generic" name can be very tricky. More than a year ago, I was permitted to buy the RealName "Associate Programs". In September, 1999, I wasn't allowed Affiliate Programs".

Another caution: RealNames has a no-refund policy "designed to discourage illegitimate subscriptions". If the keyword you choose is rejected, they'll help you find an acceptable one to replace it.

When I learnt about this keyword stuffing technique, I rushed off to RealNames intending to simply edit my existing RealName.

Whoops! Once a RealName has been accepted, you can't alter the RealName title. You CAN alter the URL and the description that go with the RealName.

Also, keyword stuffing works only in the RealName title. Embedding keywords in the RealName description won't help people searching at AltaVista find your RealName. (However, a powerful description will be more effective once people HAVE clicked through to a RealNames page.)

To get a better RealName, I tried to buy another one: "Associate Programs - affiliate programs directory".

Whoops again! RealNames rejected that - in spite of the fact that a competitor has been granted a similar RealName.

You're "only allowed two search terms per keyword", a RealNames staffer told me.

Boo, hiss! Where's the umpire? I sought him out - RealNames supervisor Bill Tuck - and he reversed the ruling. I'm allowed that RealName, after all. So if the name you want is rejected and you don't understand why, be sure to query the ruling.

Here's an astounding 16-word RealName, jam-packed with keywords, which would NOT be allowed today:

Love Quotes Encyclopedia: Romance
Desire Flirting kissing Dating Women
Marriage Beauty Movies Songs Operas
Postcards Lebanese

(How I found it: I was doing research on Barnes & Noble, which has a RealName "Barnes & Noble Romance". Honest!)

RealNames will dump that long RealName when it comes up for renewal.

However, you still have lots of options. It's possible to reserve names,
to add BRIEF phrases to your domain name, and to link a new RealName to pages other than your home page. You can even turn your telephone number into a RealName.

You may even get one FREE RealName.

RealNames has a "My RealNames" program in which you can get a free RealName for a year if your website is hosted on one of these online communities: Infoseek/Go, Angelfire, Tripod, FortuneCity.com, ICQ, GeoCities, Xoom, TheGlobe, Homestead, Zy.com, Nettaxi, Student Advantage Network, iVillage, HotBot, TalkCity, EBay and MultiMania.

Are you thinking of waiting a while to see how popular RealNames become? That could be a bad mistake...

 

Five reasons why a delay could be costly
 

Why you must get your RealName today:

#1. The FIRST person to grab a RealName owns it.

#2. RealNames has an affiliate program, paying $20 commission, so word is going to spread even faster. The longer you wait, the greater the chance your competitor will grab the name and the position you want.

#3. More than two million people use RealNames addresses each day to navigate directly to the web pages they want. This is BIG.

#4. RealNames has just arranged $70 million in funding, to be used to increase global awareness and adoption of the RealNames Internet Keyword system by companies, partners, and end-users. Even more growth in popularity seems inevitable.

#5. Buying a RealName appears to improve how you are ranked at AltaVista. Yesterday, for a common search term, the AssociatePrograms.com home page was ranked not once but TWICE in the top 40 at AltaVista. (The day before, it appeared twice in the top 20.) I don't know if it's a coincidence, but
for a different search term it has also improved its ranking dramatically at InfoSeek.


See if the RealName you want is still available:

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/real/


 

How Barnes & Noble uses RealNames
 

The marketing team at Barnes & Noble has snapped up a bunch of RealNames which include quite a bit of keyword stuffing.

Try going to http://www.AltaVista.com and doing a simple search for "music lyrics" (without the quotation marks). Right at the top of the heap is a link to a RealNames page on which B&N figures prominently. That's a fantastic search engine ranking for only $100.

B&N has bought all these RealNames:

Barnes and Noble
Barnes & Noble
Barnes and Noble Song Lyrics
Barnes & Noble Song Lyrics
Barnes and Noble Bookstore
Barnes & Noble Bookstore
Barnes and Noble Online
Barnes and Noble Music Lyrics
www.barnes&noble.com
barnes&noble
Barnes & Noble Beanie Babies
Barnes & Noble Adobe Books
Barnes and Noble Adobe
Barnes & Noble Adobe
Barnes & Noble Baby Names
Barnes and Noble Poems
Barnes & Noble Poems
Barnes & Noble Consumer Reports
Barnes & Noble Magazines
Barnes and Noble English Dictionary
Barnes and Noble Kelly Blue Book
Barnes & Noble Kelly Blue Book
Barnes & Noble Romance
Barnes & Noble Books
Barnes and Noble Used books
Barnes & Noble Used books
Barnes and Noble Book
Barnes & Noble Maps
Barnes and Noble Affiliate
Barnes & Noble Affiliate
Barnes and Noble Biography
Barnes & Noble Management
Barnes and Noble Magazines
Barnes and Noble Books in the News
Barnes and Noble Textbooks
Barnes & Noble Winnie the Pooh
Barnes & Noble Winnie the Pooh Books
Barnes & Noble Dummies
Barnes and Noble Personal Finance
Barnes & Noble Entertainment
Barnes and Noble Software Store
Barnes & Noble Magazine Store

Is your brain whirring as you imagine the potential of having surfers finding your pages by using simple words, phrases, product names or even advertising slogans?

What special pages could you create and point RealNames to?

Most companies which have subscribed to RealNames seem to be unaware of the keyword stuffing trick.

For example, think of something popular, such as "software store". When I looked this week, that phrase appeared in only seven RealNames. The eighth person who includes the term "software store" in his RealName will appear on the first page at RealNames.

"Flirting" appears in only three RealNames, so if someone clicks on a "flirting" near-match, those sites have one chance in three of being visited.

If your mind is really in top gear, you may even be able to figure out how to knock me off my top spot for "marking advice" at AltaVista.

Good luck.

Order your RealName now - before your competitor does.

http://www.AssociatePrograms.com/real/

 

Allan Gardyne owns AssociatePrograms.com, a comprehensive
directory of affiliate/ revenue sharing programs. His free
Associate Programs Newsletter has been named top marketing
newsletter on the Net by BestEzines.com.
To subscribe, put SUBSCRIBE in the BODY of an email to:
mailto:AssociatePrograms@oaknetpub.com