Hi,
> 1. You have a well known brand and you would like it as a direct > navigation name to your web page - dot and slash free. An example would > be "New York Yankees". This has the added benefit of the user not > needing to know whether it is .com; .biz or .whatever. > I could also see this being advantageous to a party with a legitmate claim to a phrase but who doesn't have the .com for whatever reason, but... > 2. You have a global brand and you would like it to point to the > appropriate page in each country. An example would be "IBM ThinkPad" > pointing to > http://commerce.www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/CategoryDisplay?cgrfnbr=20 > 35724&cntrfnbr=1&cgmenbr=1&cntry=840&lang=en_US in the US and > http://commerce-13.www.ibm.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce/CategoryDisplay?cgrfnbr > =2637690&cntrfnbr=1&cgmenbr=1&cntry=250&lang=fr_FR&scrfnbr=32 in France. > The name remains the same worldwide. The content changes according to > the locale that is the default in your browser. > Aren't there sites doing this already without using realnames to do it? I.e. google automagically sends us canuck types to google.ca. (The easiest way I can think of to do this is to key off the Accept-Language header sent by the client while I think Google may analyze the IP delegation) > 3. You want a simple to remember ID for your home page that you can put > on your stationery, business card etc. An example would be "pepe le pue" > instead of http://wapper.realnames.com:8080/digicard.htm. > We just use "easyDNS.com" and it works for us. In fact ".com" has achieved such overwhelming saturation that we know that people will find us from just seeing "easyDNS", in print or other media. > I wouldn't compare Keywords with pay-per-click search. The latter is > really a traffic buy whereas a Keyword is an identity buy. > Here's the comment that got me to finally post on this thread. I am really tired of "identity buys" and I think I'm not alone. Having worked for many years building the identity of my business through actually operating it, the last 12 months have been one big "promote/protect/enhance your identity" circle jerk and for those of us who fondly remember the debacle that the last few TLD rollouts have been (and are continuing to be), the identity argument doesn't wash anymore. When I went to your site I saw that I could "apply" for the "easyDNS" keyword for a non-refundable fee of $299 USD, after which point if it was accepted pay a further $199. This is after I've already been down the sunrise route with both Neulevel and Afilias (and having the latter launch a WIPO proceeding against us for our own name even though we are the sole applicant...), so I grow weary of this. We don't hold an AOL keyword, yet we have many AOL subscribers, why do I need this? Taking all this under consderation, I wouldn't sell anything to my customers that I wouldn't buy for myself. Knock a digit off your pricing and I'd do it just to have something new to hack on, but otherwise I'll take a pass. My 0.02 -mark -- mark jeftovic http://www.easydns.com http://mark.jeftovic.net
