Keyword navigation is the latest must-know-about term in Internet advertising. Keyword searches can now bypass portal searches and take users directly to advertisers' Websites. How does it work for local Realtors? An international keyword navigation and pay-for-click service provider, CommonName, has volunteered to help Realty Times' readers understand the process.

CommonName provides keywords for AOL and Dell, among others. A site is displayed if a CommonName keyword is entered on Google, MSN or Yahoo. The company makes money by selling "keywords" to advertisers as well as pay-for-click advertising placements.

Keywords are sold to small companies such as individual brokers and agents in the USA through resellers such as Searchclimbers and KPR Associates.

What is a keyword? A keyword is what an end user (consumer) wants to search for information about, like "real estate." Keywords can be general, such as "Florida real estate," or "Sarasota real estate" or "Sarasota condos." Keywords can also be a company's name -- like "Realty Times."

Keyword navigation means that you type a word into your browser address bar to navigate to a Web site. Whether that word is generic or specific to an individual or company determines how the advertiser is able to benefit.

Advertisers take advantage of end users' targeted interest by buying their own company's name to be the only "result" returned by the search. Users type their generic term to navigate directly to their site. Because it's a generic term, 75 percent of the screen contains the keyword owners site, 25 percent of the screen contains search results. Other ways that advertisers can capitalize on generic searches is by bidding for pay-for-click placement. The highest bid is first in the search results -- after the paid keyword advertiser.

For example, the keyword phrase "Florida real estate" may deliver results from Realtor referral companies (paid advertisers) and then those of individual brokers, agents, real estate associations, mortgage lenders, etc. based on who pays the most.

"Pay-for-click is a performance-based form of advertising," explains Michael Stroud, marketing manager for CommonName, "where you bid against other advertisers to improve your ranking on a cost-per-click payment model. You only pay for a click on your search listing when that occurs."

Keyword navigation is revolutionary in that it is already replacing portal searches. End users are already able to download free versions of CommonName's keyword software that enables them to key phrases and names directly into their browsers instead of complicated domain names and to be taken directly to advertisers. CommonName already claims to have 60 percent of end users using the company's keyword navigation software, or about 18 million people in the U.S.

"If you go to our search site," suggests Stroud, "Xpsn.com, we have a search engine. Enter 'Florida real estate,' and you'll see two sets of results. At the top of the search results, we have sponsored sites, where advertisers pay to be listed at the top of search results, but you only pay when end users click on it, and you get brand value when they don't click on it. It is a popular form of advertising because you are only paying for traffic that goes to your site, but the display of your site is free."

So what does this mean to Realtors? For a Realtor who has purchased a certain keyword, say "Sarasota condos," the end user is delivered directly to the Realtor's Web site.

"If you purchase the name of your own business, the user would type your name in their browser and they would be taken directly to your Website," explains Stroud. "It means you can bypass search engines. If someone types your name in they expect to go to your Website. Search engines are different. If a search term is generic, someone might not expect to go to your site, they expect search results."

A Realtor can expect to pay anywhere between $150 to $1200 annually per search word. Bidding on pay-for-click on a search page is whatever the market will bear from a penny a click to dollars per click.