Buzz About the Book

The Elite: ‘Cashing-in’ on How People Search

December 10, 2007

“Search also happens in the browser navigation bar. Many users seem to have a kind of blind trust that the Internet will magically deliver their informational needs.

They type a generic keyword or brand into browser’s address bar as a URL — cheapflights.com, airlinetickets.com or bookaflight.com, for example — assuming that this will get them closer to the information or activity they seek.”

Cam Balzer
VP, Emerging Media
DoubleClick Performics

Blind trust, indeed. What searcher’s don’t know about digital discovery (searching the Web) is rivaled only by what marketers don’t know about how those same humans search. Blind trust is yielding serious cash but not so much for consumers or marketers. The Internet Elite don’t want any of us to know about their growing wealth or their secret techniques. They’re building walls around closely-guarded information — but what information and why is it so valuable?

It’s In the Way That You Use It
Digital technologies like search engines and Web browsers are complex yet when we look at how people use them things change. People use such tools in simple ways to do routine things — discover, communicate, navigate. Similarly, marketers want to use those same, complex digital thingies to accomplish tasks of their own — like finding new customers, acquiring sales leads, ringing the cash register, etc.

It is this seemingly benign fact that powers today’s exploding digital media and advertising economy — generating so much cash for a relatively few individuals.

You see… the fact that humans use things like the Web in simple ways is powerful but not nearly as powerful as it can be. When combined with marketers’ fear of digital techno-thingies the punch becomes spiked. Understanding exactly how humans are using the Web (search engines, Web browsers) and how marketers fear this vast new world is what enables the unbridled enrichment of the Internet Elite.

Navigation & Discovery
Humans use search engines to discover new places on the Web — duh. They also use it to navigate. Duh again? Hardly the case. This fact represents billions of dollars of opportunity. That’s right, billions.

As it turns out humans are lazy and like shortcuts. So, we use Web browsers and search engines to navigate the vast digital sea of Web sites. We use these tools to find our way around. Where are we going? To both familiar and un-familiar, new places.

In November 2007, Web surfers were monitored for what they they were typing into search engines. 32 out of the top 100 most popular searches were navigation oriented — not discovery oriented. People already knew where they wanted to go and were trying to get there. Where?

MySpace
Google
Walmart
Target
WikiPedia
ESPN
Yahoo Mail
YouTube
Facebook

These are just a few but you get the picture. Still not impressed? Stay with me! How Humans Navigate the Web

It’s this kind of information that is inherently valuable. It’s literally worth billions but only when combined with marketers fear of — yet instinctual urge to conquer — the Web. Marketers need to find customers on the Web. They will do anything to hunt them down. Yet marketers are living in a digital world they’re not equipped to hunt in. So… they call consultants — the digital guides.

Enter the Elite (online marketing and advertising experts).

“There are an amazing number of people who simply guess that if they want a particular product, such as ‘running shoes,’ they need only put those words together and slap a dot-com on the end to find something relevant…

Sometimes that works… sometimes, they end up at a page full of ads.”

Danny Sullivan
Search Engine Marketing Icon

Domaining: 2 + 2 = 10
One of the Elite’s most lucrative opportunity is something called Web “domaining.” You may have heard about “domain tasting” and such in the news. Selling and registering domain names is a big business. Everyone needs a home on the Web and that’s what companies like GoDaddy.com are all about. Yet this business is dwarfed by the opportunity to add 2 + 2 and get 10. How do the Elite do it? It’s easy — if you’ve got the right perspective, information and guts.

CamCorder.com

Domainers (as they’re called) make money by taking their understanding of how humans navigate the Web and how marketers want to access them and put the two together. How? Advertisements. Pages of them. In fact, you’ve likely landed at a page filled with ads like this one — CamCorder.com or the slightly more sophisticated CamCorders.com.How desperate are marketers? Heh. Plenty… and they’re even lazier than the customers they chase. They’re human too! The Elite capitalize on all the lethargy. In fact, without it there is no opportunity. It’s all reliant on a perpetual lack of understanding and demand on both ends — Web surfers and marketers.

The Basics of Domaining
We’ll cover the sexy, sometimes sleazy, domaining industry in depth later but for now all you need to know are the basics. Domainers are people like you and me who one day noticed two simple truths:

1) Marketers want customers and will pay search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and others to show advertisements that attempt to earn customers visits (by clicking the ad’s link).

2) Search engines will syndicate those ads to anyone with a Web site — even if all that somebody owns is a blank Web page (a Web domain name).

Marketers pay search engines every time an ad is clicked. Domainers get a cut. It’s simple and it’s big business.

Domain Name Wars Next, we’ll explore how big and see what companies like Dell and Apple are doing to fight back. Yup… fight back. As marketers wise up to the Elite they’re strapping on armor and riding into battle.