Real Success
with
RealNames

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.

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.

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...

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"... 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."
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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...

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 usso 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...

Next: How to Get the Most For Your Money >

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