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Direct Navigation Marketing 101

Direct navigation describes the method individuals use to navigate the World Wide Web in order to arrive at specific websites. Direct navigation is a 10 year old term which is generally understood to include type-in-traffic.
Direct navigation traffic was first discovered circa 1996. The few lucky domainers who had premium names and analyzed their traffic found people were typing in their domain names and bypassing search engines. Many of them immediately realized the potential of these domain names. At that time the direct navigation segment of the World Wide Web was born.
Domainers (owners of the url’s that are reached through this method of searching) describe direct navigation as an Internet user navigating to a website directly through the browser address bar. They bypass online search engines by typing a name like “hotels” and adding “.com”. For that reason direct navigation traffic is more valuable than search engine traffic since it is better targeted. Short words that describe large segments of a market are the most valuable direct navigation names. Domainers call these names premium names and they have sold in the millions of dollars year after year since 1997.

How can direct navigation be used as a marketing tool:

Direct navigation marketing uses the traffic from the generic domains and re-directs them to content pages or products (your website) so that you can benefit from highly targeted searches.
Example:
If an Internet user is using direct navigation search and type in www.laptops.com they find themselves on a parked page that has no content, only advertisements. What we do is take these potential clients and direct them to you, the advertiser’s website, given that your content and brand are relevant. In this example Apple, Dell or a small computer reseller would be an ideal advertiser that would benefit greatly from users looking for laptops. Therefore, when the user types in www.laptops.com they are now directed to the advertiser’s website (in this case either Apple, Dell or the reseller’s site).

Why should you as a marketer/advertiser use DN and how can you benefit from its use:

A 2005 study of Internet traffic by WebSideStory’s StatMarket division revealed that direct navigation traffic converts into sales for advertisers at 4.23% of total visits, compared to 2.3% for product and service related searches performed via the search box on search engines such as Google or Yahoo.
Benefits that coincide with direct navigation marketing include transparency and beforehand knowledge of your reach. Unlike traditional PPC marketing where the time frame of the campaign is based on how quickly web surfers click on your ads leaving you in the dark about frequency, defined costs, effectiveness of ad design, and the locations your ads are showing…
Direct Navigation allows you to:
1.Invest in as many or as few visitors as you want upfront
2.See where they originate (Geographically and from which websites)
3.Know your exact budget beforehand
4.Bypass any need to design ads – leaving out the worry of click thru rates
5.Spend less for more targeted visitors (compared to typical click thru advertising)
6.Spend less for higher sales conversation rates

Direct Navigation search accounts for 12% of all on-line searches. In 2007 these 12% of on-line searchers effectively became a billion dollar industry. You do not want to miss out on this untapped customer base.

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