In the past six months, rumors have been flying about RealNames.
They've experienced some negative publicity surrounding a situation where they briefly allowed the purchasing of certain generic keywords. This blatantly went against their long-standing rule of not allowing the purchase of any general keywords.
Their website experienced an alarming breach of security when hackers gained access to customers' credit card numbers and passwords.
(http://news.cnet.com/news/.html)
In May, they withdrew their initial public offering because of market conditions and the view that the company had enough cash on hand that the offering didn't make sense until the market improved. Source: Keith Teare, RealNames CEO.
(http://news.cnet.com/news/.html)
Toward the end of June, RealNames laid off 20 percent of its work force due to a new financial strategy.
(http://news.cnet.com/news/.html?tag=st)
Katie Greene, Senior Public Relations Manager of RealNames explained,
"We have not publicly disclosed the exact number of people that were let go. However, we laid off 38 temps and a handful of permanent employees, so the `several hundred' number is way off. The lay-offs were made in order to focus the company on revenue generating projects and programs."
Just recently, RealNames discontinued their affiliate program by sending out an email that stated that they are now concentrating their efforts on larger corporations versus the small business market.
What's going on? Can it be true that RealNames doesn't want to work with small businesses? Well, according to the people at RealNames it's not true at all. In an interview with Kurt Wedel, Kurty admitted that the email that was sent out terminating the affiliate program was harsh. He then further explained RealNames' position on working with small businesses.
"We are absolutely committed to the small business market and in no way intend to walk away from servicing those customers."
Apparently the first email that was sent out to affiliate members was sent in error by an employee who no longer works for RealNames. The company sent out another email to further explain their goals and commitments, which you can read here. RealNames Explanation
In essence, they explained that RealNames shut down the affiliate program because they couldn't make it as successful as it needed to be at this point in time in order to be of maximum benefit to the affiliates, not because they're aiming toward large corporations.
So, negative publicity aside, how valuable are Internet Keywords, and are they worth $100 or more each? What strategies should we employ to give us the most marketing punch for our hard-earned bucks?
Let's begin by understanding more about the concept behind Internet Keywords, or RealNames.
What Exactly are "RealNames"?
Simply put, RealNames offers an alternate naming system for the Web called Internet Keywords. If you've ever tried to remember a convoluted URL, you know the importance of attaching a simple name to your website versus the sometimes lengthy URLs that are difficult, if not impossible, to remember.
RealNames allows you to purchase keywords that are associated with your business, to where you'll have the potential of being found easier through those keywords. For example, if your URL is http://www.samsfamousenglishracerbicycles.com, you could purchase a related keyword, such as Sam's Bicycles, making it easier for your site to be found.
Kurt Wedel explained that their goal is to improve navigation through an addressing system by providing everyone with a unique address, similar to the concept behind white pages in a phone book. This is their primary focus.
Then, their next goal is to offer the equivalent of yellow page results, where people can search by keywords and receive matches based on keywords that are important to that business. This is handled through indirect, or partial, matches through some of their partners, which is explained later in this article.
How many Internet Keywords are in their system? One million, according to Katie Green. And, through its powerhouse of partners, RealNames claims to reach more than 70 percent of the total Internet.
Who are RealNames' Partners?
No doubt about it, their list of partners is impressive.
RealNames partners with big names such as AltaVista, GO.com, LookSmart, Microsoft Internet Explorer, MSN Search, About.com, Fireball, Dogpile, Inktomi, Google, Voila, iWon, and others.
(http://web.realnames.com/Virtual.asp?page=Eng_Navigate_SearchPartners)
So, does this mean that you'll have a presence in each of those indexes if you purchase an Internet Keyword?
Yes, but like most good news, there's a slight catch to it. Not all of RealNames' partners support "partial matching". With most of RealNames' partners, in order to show up in their results, users must type in the entire Internet Keyword.
However, with AltaVista, About.com, iWon, and the META search engines like DogPile, Metacrawler, and Fireball, if someone tries to type in a keyword that doesn't appear in its entirety as an Internet Keyword, the service resolves the request by pulling sites that contain the keyword in their titles. These requests are called partial matches or indirect resolutions, as opposed to direct resolutions, such as when the entire RealName is entered.
For example, let's say that your website is Joe's Handy Dandy Software Solutions. So, you purchase the Internet Keyword of "Joe's Software Solutions." In AltaVista, iWon, and About.com, if someone searches for "software solutions," your site will be presented in the results. But, for many of the other partners, your site won't appear because those partners don't use partial matching -- which means they won't pull sites that contain the keywords in their title.
Therefore, how you go about choosing your Internet Keyword depends on the focus of your business.
Three Approaches for Choosing RealNames
Let's say that you have an existing brand. You may want to consider purchasing Internet Keywords to match the name of the brand or product. The main purpose of purchasing an Internet Keyword for an existing brand isn't to be found in AltaVista. Rather, it's to continue to market that brand or product name in all of your print and online advertising campaigns.
If you're starting a new online company, you don't have the advantage of an existing brand or even company name. In this case, you may find it advantageous to be found under your domain name, such as SoftSkinLotion.com. That way, when anyone types in that address to search in any of RealNames partners' sites, your site will appear on top.
If you're a small online company without an impressive advertising budget, your whole goal is to be found by online users. In this case, you may want to purchase Internet Keywords that coincide with your company name as well as additional keywords that represent your goods and services.
Remember, though, that not all of RealNames' partners allow partial matching. So, consider that factor carefully when choosing keywords. For example, let's say that you have a website called Sara's Green Thumb. You may want to purchase two Internet Keywords: "Sara's Green Thumb," for those engines that don't use partial matching, and "Award Winning Rose Bushes at Sara's Green Thumb" for those that do.
In this manner, if anyone searches for "Sara's Green Thumb" in any of RealNames partners' sites, your site will appear in the results. But in those that use partial matching, if anyone searches for "rose bushes" or "award winning rose," your site will appear as an indirect resolution.
Are $100 Internet Keywords still available to small businesses?
Katie Greene of RealNames answered, "Yes, we still offer $100 keywords."
...however, the terms of purchasing the keywords have changed somewhat. Now, $100 a year purchases 1000 resolutions. What happens when you reach 1000 resolutions? RealNames explains at their site,
"If you reach the maximum amount of Internet Keyword resolutions your keyword will be deactivated. Before any action is taken RealNames will contact you regarding an Internet Keyword solution that better fits your needs."
(http://customer.realnames.com/Virtual.asp?page=Eng_Subscribe_GetYourKeywords)
You can also purchase 20,000 resolutions for $3,000, with additional packages tailored to your company's needs and budget. For details, you need to contact a corporate sales representative. )
Internet Keywords in Action
To see how Internet Keywords are used, visit AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com) and type in "English bulldogs." At the top of the search results, you'll see this sentence:
english bulldogs - Click here for a list of Internet Keywords related to english bulldogs
If you click on that link, you're presented with a listing of RealNames Internet Keywords. Since the link to the Internet Keywords is found before the regular search results, you can see the potential for traffic here.
Now, type in "search engine rankings" in the search box at AltaVista. At the bottom of the first page of 10 results, you'll see this sentence:
search engine rankings - Click here for a list of Internet Keywords related to search engine rankings
Again, clicking on that link will bring you to a listing of Internet Keywords. But, since the link to those keywords is found below the regular search results, you can see how purchasing an Internet Keyword using this phrase might not be as effective as the bulldog example above.
Therefore, before purchasing an Internet Keyword, search for that keyword. Where does the link to Internet Keywords appear? If it's at the bottom of the page you might consider choosing another keyword phrase that will appear at the top of the rankings?
What determines the placement of the "Click here for a list of Internet Keywords" phrase at AltaVista?
Interestingly, both Kurt Wedel and Katie Greene stated that each partner approaches the data differently and, though there are differences between the partners in the implementation of keywords, results within each partner are consistent. From the example listed above, that's obviously not the case.
In fact, Kurt said, "To my knowledge, in our agreement with AltaVista, the link appears above the research results."
Upon checking further into the matter, Katie Green explained,
"This is a legacy issue surrounding an old implementation, where in some cases, Internet Keywords appeared at the bottom of the page in AltaVista. We are in the process of implementing our new contract where all Keywords will appear at the top so this will not happen anymore. Thanks for bringing this case to our attention."
This is good news for webmasters since it appears that soon, under their new contract with AltaVista, the statement will always appear at the top of the page.
When asked what determines which sites get on top of the RealNames' results, Kurt explained, "Our algorithm is based on three things: locale, relevance, and usage."
The following examples explain the system. For instance, if someone in Germany searches for BMW cars, the first sites will be German sites that will be more relevant to that particular user.
In an Internet Keyword like "Books on William Shakespeare," "books" is a very common keyword. So, "William Shakespeare" would weigh more.
Regarding usage, click through popularity is the issue, based on the number of times a keyword gets resolved.
Therefore, site popularity, as determined by click-through popularity, has a major influence over the order in which sites are listed. Keith Teare explained that it's a user-driven popularity measure of testing, similar to the way DirectHit works.
Let's get down to business...
Strategies for Purchasing an Internet Keyword
First, you need to consider your company's unique needs. If you have a brand or product name, consider purchasing an Internet Keyword for it. Are you trying to get a strong presence in AltaVista? Are you attempting to build name recognition for your company by means of both online and offline marketing strategies?
If you're trying to get a strong online presence in AltaVista, go to the engine and search for the keywords you're considering as part of your RealName. Check to see where the link to Internet Keywords appears in the search results.
As a general rule, you can't choose generic words as Internet Keywords, such as "dog." However, if you own the brand for a particular keyword, you might be able to purchase that Internet Keyword, even though it might be generic.
Since you can't choose generic keywords, consider adding keywords to the beginning or ending of the title of your website, such as "Jim's Dog Kennels sells champion English bulldogs."
Keep your title at around 80 characters. However, titles and description limits are placed by the individual distribution partners, so it can vary between them.
Create a short description, around 120 characters, using other important search terms. Make it captivating and designed to pull traffic to your site.
You can send traffic to another page besides your main page, if you choose.
To purchase a keyword, go to this signup form:
http://customer.realnames.com/Virtual.asp?page=Eng_Subscribe_GetYourKeywords
Enter the Internet Keyword (title), description, and URL, and complete the credit card information.
You'll be notified when your submission is approved or rejected. If it's rejected, you'll learn why so you can correct any problems.
Once you've purchased an Internet Keyword, can you make changes to the title or description of your listing, if you're not getting as much traffic as you'd like?
Katie Greene answered,
"Customers can go into their accounts (or call customer service) to make changes to their title or description. However, the new changes will need to go through the review and approval process again, and then get uploaded into the distribution network."
Does the average person really know what Internet Keywords are?
RealNames CEO Keith Teare admits that they don't. RealNames is striving to increase public awareness through various advertising campaigns.
According to Kurt Wedel, companies like Panasonic and Hewlett Packard have begun implementing Internet Keywords in their branding and advertising campaigns, customer service manuals, and individual product lines. As more and more large companies follow suit, public awareness will likely increase.
Another way of increasing public awareness is through their new logo mark, as seen in MSN Search results (http://search.msn.com). To view the logo, search for "coca cola," and look for this link at the top of the results:
(http://navigation.realnames.com/resolver.dll?action=resolution&
realname=Coca+Cola&charset=utf-8&locale=en-US&providerid=113)
Coca Cola - This Internet Keyword goes directly to the Coca Cola site.
The logo is a red circle with a blue arrow through it. RealNames is encouraging their partners to use the logo in their print and online advertising so that people will learn to easily identify Internet Keywords in both online and offline distribution networks.
Yet another way to increase public awareness is through a draft specification to institute an industry standard for Internet Keywords. The International Engineering Task Force (IETF) may consider the draft at their August meeting, and it is likely that the measure will be voted on by the end of this year.
What are the ramifications of this proposal, and what will it mean to those who purchase Internet Keywords?
RealNames Chief Technology Office, Nicholas Popp, explained:
"Users will have:
A better navigation UI in new environments. The existence of a standard is an incentive for the creation and proliferation of keyword services. For example, within the scope of a community, or within a Web site (intranet keywords), the new standard will encourage the development of keyword-based navigation services as an alternative to URLs. New keyword- based applications will emerge (mail, chat, etc.).
Ansystem fornavigation -- as opposed to AOL's closed approach -- will work from all Internet connected devices. Once the protocol is approved, we are planning to bring CNRP [Common Name Resolution Protocol] to the WAP [Wireless Application Protocol] forum for instance."
"RealNames will have:
The emergence of new applications and services increases user awareness and hence adoption of keywords as the preferred way to navigate on the Internet.
CNRP validates RealNames positioning as a major Internet infrastructure company. By approving the standard, the IETF is sending a clear message that keyword services are an important part of the Internet infrastructure (so important that they should have a dedicated protocol). Since RealNames is the undisputed leader in that field, by implementing the standard, we are strongly positioning ourselves as the de facto naming service for the next generation Internet OS.
A standard means less resistance from service and application developers to start embedding keywords into their applications.
A standard helps our international strategy. In countries like Europe and Japan, being part of a standard is a must for the large companies that we are targeting as customers."
How do subscribers of Internet Keywords feel about the service?
At this point in time, do purchasers of Internet Keywords feel they're a good deal?
Apparently, the vote is split.
David Zinda of Mannatech (http://www.mhbb.com) explained,
"My RealNames subscription just expired, and I don't intend to renew it. In browsing my log files, I don't remember seeing a single referral from them in the recent past. Shortly after I subscribed, I remember seeing a couple but it was disappointing at best."
Dr. Ahmed Abdullah (http://www.PlasticSurgeryDoctors.com) agreed.
"I have used RealNames for about a year or so and now have basically abandoned it as the results are very poor. This trend of less and less referrals has been going on for about 4-5 months."
Lisa Young, President of Altitude Website Marketing -- (http://www.altitude-marketing.com), is another disappointed subscriber.
"I'm dreadfully disappointed in my RealNames listing. I have `Website Marketing' in the name of my site so I show up on the first page of results for this keyword. I used to be in the #3 spot, now I've been bumped to #8."
"Traffic wise, I just checked my logs ... Real Names has sent me a whopping 5 visitors since January 2000."
Michele Bilodeau of Boston Internet Marketing Company -- (http://www.boston-marketing.com/) has a different story to tell.
"I have purchased many RealNames for one of my clients, and the cost has been less than $1.00 for each click-through, so we consider this to be a good investment. We are actually receiving more click-throughs than we used to - Q1 2000 counts were 45% higher than Q3 1999 and 68% higher than Q4 1999."
Michele chooses keywords based on the following:
company name
product names
trademark slogans
company name combined with more general search terms
Randy Hutchinson's of Interpipe Inc. (http://www.interpipe.com) reports mixed results.
"In March, we had 116 clickthroughs from RealNames; in April, we had 95; and in May, 66. Since January, we've had 407. I feel if we can get 100+ a month, it is worth paying for. The problem is, they are getting bigger and you get pushed down deeper. But I think it all depends on your business. I know when we first signed up when they started, we ranked on the first page for most of our keywords. Now we are down 3 or more pages for some of them."
Lisa Gaffney of WebTank offered a couple of excellent reasons for using RealNames.
"Our company name is WebTank. However, WebTank was already taken as a domain name. So our current URL is http://www.webtankinc.com. Because of RealNames, if people query just WebTank in the search box, our site will come up. The plan is to make domain names more user friendly, so people do not have to type in such an extended address. So, if they know the name of the company, they can just enter it without the www. or the http:// etc. One other advantage is if you have an address that is .net, or .org, the consumer or person searching for your company does not need to know that either."
In Conclusion
If you haven't purchased Internet Keywords for your site or your clients' sites, do some research beforehand. Determine the focus of your Internet Keyword campaign and how you want to be found. If AltaVista is your focus, you'll probably want to choose a different Internet Keyword than if you're going after product name recognition.
Once you've purchased the RealName, watch your log files carefully. Monitor your traffic to see if it's worth the cost. $100 a year certainly isn't much for an advertising campaign as long as it produces traffic. If not, then you'll want to rethink your strategy.
This article first published by Planet Ocean in their Search Engine News Update Newsletter (http://www.searchenginehelp.com/acws).
