“Internet users are apparently so intimidated by conventional search engines that they find things on the Web by typing random, imaginary domain names into their browsers’ adddress bars and hoping against hope that the made-up URLs will lead to something useful.”

I’ve also learned (by observing users directly) that many users type keywords into their browser’s address bar for these additional reasons:

1) Since browser toolbars like Google Toolbar and Yahoo Toolbar are so prevalent today and since the Toolbar Search field and the browser Address field are usually right next to each other, often users think they are using their Toolbar Search when they are typing the keywords into their browser’s Address bar.

2) Many internet users are not computer savvy, and they simply type the keywords in the first field they find at the top of their browser — maybe it’s their MSN Search Toolbar and maybe it’s their browser’s Address field — they don’t know the difference. In fact, many don’t even know what a Toolbar is or how it got there (since it was probably installed during the installation of another application, which is a common distribution method).

3) Yet others (especially AOL users) have never been trained on using a search engine, believe it or not. They just click the internet icon on their desktop and enter a search in the first field that comes up (ie, the Address bar).

Premium domain names are “premium” because indended or not, they are where the traffic is going.

Naive marketers will create a marketing campaign and put a URL as “the” landing page for their campaign. But what they don’t realize is that people often don’t enter the URL that’s in the marketing literature (especially if it’s an obscure one).

Instead, they often enter what they “remember” or subconsciously what they “think” it should be (especially if it’s offline marketing and they are not able to enter a URL immediately).

So marketing campaigns usually push traffic to *dozens* of “landing pages,” in addition to the “official” landing page in the marketing literature.

Another disconnect is that landing pages created by companies are often “mycompany.com/mypromotion,” instead of “keywordphrase.com,” which is what many people think/remember and where they go.

So marketing departments wonder why their marketing campaign is not generating a lot of traffic, and it *is* — just to other landing pages:

Intended:
mycompany.com/mypromotion

Unintended:
keywordphrase.com
keywordphrases.com
keyword.com
keywords.com
keywordkeywordphrase.com
keywerdphrase.com

The good news is it’s usually fairly simple to find out what those “other” landing pages are — or will be — by checking the popularity of related keywords using the AdWords Keywords tool, Overture’s Inventory tool, Wordtracker, etc.

The bad news is that those domain names may already be taken. Which is why it’s important to plan the keyword landing pages *before* the campaign is launched, so the campaign can use keywords whose domains can be acquired or used.

You have the exact opposite viewpoint on what Direct Navigation (or a better name “domain direction” or “browser surfing”) is all about.

It’s not about users being “lost”. It’s about users thinking one of two ideas when they type in the generic phrase or word of the item they’re interested in:

1) They will arrive at a site that is in fact, a landing page like that of Name Media or 10,000 other domain investors which they know will provide them with a lot of relevant links for sites that provide what the domain describes, or…

2) They will arrive at a smart company that knows how to blow their competition out of the water by buying the domain name that perfectly describes their product/service. Ask Johnson & Johnson why they bought “Baby.com” which started an uproar in the advertising world in 2005.

The reality of the internet is that if you own the exact keywords and phrases of the product/service you provide your customers, you are in the best position to shut out your competitors online. There is nothing more frustrating to your competitor than you owning a domain name that describes their product/service.

There are huge lists of domains owned by Fortune 1000 companies who have realized this and pay tens of thousands to millions of dollars to obtain ONE domain.

It’s not easy to understand this business if you haven’t looked at it from the multitude of marketing angles a domain name provides for a company and analyzed the return on your investment. Simply put, a domain name is an “appreciable marketing asset”. It makes you money continually 24/7/365, and increases in value each year you own it.

I wouldn’t be worrying about companies like Name Media or Demand Media and other domain conglomerates headed up by big name CEO’s who were involved in major successes in the brick and mortar world. A little more investigation would provide you with that “inside info”. Domain names, in my estimation, are the most valuable commodity any investor could sink their money in right now.

You can contact me if you want to find out more, or just visit my blog at http://www.successclick.com.

Stephen Douglas