Real Success
with
RealNames

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!

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.

Next: Pick "Best Value" Words and Group Them >

The Make Your Site SELL! book puts you on the cutting edge of selling on the Web. Our "MYSS!-owners-only" Sales from the EDGE e-zine keeps you there. Right now, we include a lifetime subscription to the EDGE free when you purchase MYSS!. Most "latest and greatest" Net 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, we publish The EDGE, which explains how you can best take advantage of it. Click here to make your site really sell your product or service.