TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

Quote:Marketers assume that Googling for information is an automatic response the instant a Web surfer opens a browser. For many Internet users, the theory is true. However, for a number of reasons, and with increasing regularity, many people bypass search engines altogether in favor of a technique called direct navigation. Simply put, direct navigation is when a user directly types a Web address into a browser.

However, the phenomenon of direct navigation to generically named sites with an "intent to search" is a relatively new concept that shifts how marketers must think about their own Web site traffic and how consumers are finding information about the things that interest them.

Marketers are turning to direct navigation programs to complement their search campaigns for a number of reasons, including the emergence of programs like AdSense and other technologies that can populate unused Web domains with information to create mini-portals...

Quote:Businesses are realizing the growing trend of direct navigation – typing a category plus “.com” directly into their browsers. For example, Creditcheck.com was recently sold for $3 million and Sex.com for $12 million.

A survey by Opinion Research Corporation for LeaseThis.com showed that Internet users are utilizing direct navigation much more than has been previously reported, with 64 percent of Internet users stating they bypass search engines and type keywords into their browsers with the hope of being directed to the right URL...

Quote:While online business owners have become more aware of tactics for driving traffic to their Web sites, it is easy to overlook the more basic methods amidst the rise of new Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques involving the content and HTML coding of Web sites. Search engine traffic can be inconsistent -- search engine algorithms can change, and search engines don't get paid by the organic traffic they create. Online businesses should invest in opening multiple channels of traffic toward their Web site, and one of the most time-tested yet little-known sources of traffic is called "direct navigation traffic."

Direct navigation traffic is Web site traffic driven by users searching by typing a domain name directly into a browser rather than a search engine (i.e. typing www.vodka.com, when looking for vodka). An estimated one in six searches are conducted through direct navigation, and generic domain names such as pizza.com or banners.com that can drive this sort of traffic are highly valued sites that marketing-savvy companies, content providers and advertisers are looking to leverage. Direct navigation traffic is one of main drivers of explosive growth in the secondary domain name market, where companies and content providers are spending five, six and or seven figures for the right domain name. Below are three significant ways that you can tap direct navigation traffic and compliment your new SEO strategies with an established, yet often underutilized traffic channel...