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Direct Navigation / URL type-in

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Prospecting

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Direct Navigation / URL type-in search method is KEY.

I assume most everyone reading this post already realized this perspective, so this is just a reminder.

What is the industry doing as a whole to introduce direct Navigation to our global internet society ?

Not only is this our primary objective for faster success in the domain name value industry, it actually is key to a happier more efficient global nternet audience.

Two specific reasons why the introduction if Direct Navigations paramount:

reason #1:
Help the world use the internet more efficiently, reducing the time each individual person uses in searching the internet. Everyone’s time is extremely valuable.

reason #2
Mature the domain name industry to its full potential, growing our domain name values. This is the key to growth in everything we do regarding our domain names.

Let's devise a plan with other industry leaders to force the Direct Navigation / URL type-in search method into the global view.

Word of mouth is a strong avenue to introduce just about everything, but major media with a clear message of introduction to the masses will be a much faster method of introducing Direct Navigation to the worlds internet users..

Best regards,
Bill Robinson
 
Domain summit 2024

rodash

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To take this discussion a little further, are we restricting any proposals for promoting "Direct Navigation / URL type-in" to dot com extensions or are other TLDs to be included.

The one question mark I always have in my mind is that key-in traffic at this point in time is largely a dot com phenomena. Will it remain so or will things change so that a greater spread of TLDs start to enjoy key-in traffic?

How do we take this area of discussion forward in the context of promoting Direct Navigation? Are the other TLDs in or out?
 

RTM.net

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Rodash raises interesting counterpoints in this pretty valuable discussion started off...

We manage several NON .com properties including some .com ones so.. direct navigation... hmmm , but direct to what TLD and based on what? Will we see Google / MS / Yahoo / AOL and others do SERP CTR analysis with correlation to whois records and then dynamically adjust their direct navigation functionalities in their browsers / software or partnerships ?

Sure...

Is it a good thing? I think not. I hear grumblings from the NON-domainer community about the saturation of prime domain names pointing to parking pages which point to other monetisation sites which point to...

content. real content - that's what the end-user really wants to get to.

Just my $0.02, of course.

Rob
 

Prospecting

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Direct Naviation/ URL type-in will continue to be the most effective method of internet search usage. The internet is to vast no matter what subject/product/service people are searching.

Regardless of the hundreds of existing TLD's and the many more TLD's that will surely become available.

The internet is the search engine (not google, yahoo, etc..), URL type-in is the key to most efficient searching for products, services, and any subject matter.

The internet will only continue to expand and become more and more vast, Again, Direct Navigation is key, regardless of TLD's.

best,
Bill
 

Keyboard Cowboy

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URL type-in is the key to most efficient searching for products, services, and any subject matter.

I disagree.

Typing in something in the address bar, won't bring you the most relevant result. That is where the search engines come in - like Google. Keep in mind, that CoolUsedCars.com may be of better quality than UsedCars.com even tho the latter is more specific
 

Prospecting

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coolusedcars is not what I would consider a key industry generic domain, but I do consider usedcars to be a industry domain.

boat.com - travel.com - sportinggoods.com - computer.com - camping.com, usedcars.com etc are keyword industry domains. Not sure that comparing coolusedcars/hotusedcars/bestusedcars/cheapusedcars is viable from a value standpoing. Muddled phrases such as coolusedcars will require the typical high cost of branding and marketing.

Regardless of website content and quality, keyword industry domains are the bases for direct navigation / URL type-in, website content and quality is up to the end use of the domain name driving conversion rate.

best, Bill
 

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You are missing my point. Coolusedcars is exactly what you're insinuating - it's crappy. My point is that typing in a premium generic dot com will not always yield the best result (in terms of quality for an enduser). However, typing in the same generic word, but without the extension, in google - will most likely bring you the highest quality. It is what they are all about
 

Prospecting

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I now see I did miss your point, as my post regarding direct navigation / URL type-in was intended with the use of key industry domains only (valuable industry generics). I should have clarified that for you from the start. generic key industry domains are all that I work with.

Its just a matter of a few more years and the majority of all generics that are keyword industry domains will be marketing and selling that industry.

Your throwing the analogy of coolusedcars.com/usedcars.com into this thread did surprise me, as it seemed irrelevant to my perception of direct navigation (narrow that my perception may be). Please excuse my lack of clarity.

Best,
Bill
 

Keyboard Cowboy

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It's all good.

Not only is this our primary objective for faster success in the domain name value industry, it actually is key to a happier more efficient global nternet audience.
Let me just say that I agree with you on this. Problem is, the way I see it at least, parked pages is not the kind that has user retention. Top generics that are developed into useful portals are, on the other hand. I think we will see a rise in direct navigation traffic as the nets premium generics gets developed. It will take time though
 

gorilla_bob

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Although it would be great for the domain industry if acceptance of type-in traffic was widely accepted as the norm, I have to disagree that this would be best for the internet.

By having premium domain names getting so much type-in traffic, it would place a monopoly for owners with that domain. The owner, can in turn put whatever they want on that name to monetize it and place a strangle hold on that particular niche/industry.

If I owned premium domain names then yes I would be shouting for more type-ins as well, but since I don't I really have to look at it from an internet user perspective. Type-In mass acceptance would be bad for the internet but good for domaining.

- Bob
 

meetmydomains

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I think the one thing alot of us have not considered is that for most of the "Average" internet users, meaning people who not make a living on the web, people like my parents, and many people that I personally know...

Quite a few think of "Google" as, well, the internet!

Not too many years ago... it was AOL that was the thought by most non-advanced web surfers and only since broadband came along did users flock to search engines more than AOL.

Going on the premise that Google is the internet, could it be safe to assume that the "I Feel Lucky" button may just become more of a search button that just an option as it is now. I can easily see google having the ability to automatically take you to the first page THEY feel is best for you versus going through search results. Follow that up with a recent interview (here) where Google co-founder stated that the "Im feeling Lucky" button costs them more than $110 Million annually... and you have to think that the powerful Almighty Google will NOT let type-in happen too quickly.

Interesting discussion...

Mark
 

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Interesting discussion. Seems to me that there is already erosion, or a big effort being made to wrestle type-in traffic away from generic domains in the name of improving user experience.

Look at the new Yahoo assisted search bar for example, which automatically brings up search words for you to click on, as you type in.

My Firefox browser does the same thing now. And even when I ignore it and simply type in a word or phrase, I don't automatically get sent to the .com version of that word or phrase, but to Google search results instead.
 

Prospecting

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I appreciate everyones perspective.

Time will tell..

I do know that all of our key industry generic domain names are receiving approx. 25%-35% of all their traffic from direct navigation / URL type-in. Just a couple years ago, that rate was in the 10%-15% rate.

We have and will continue to anticipate constant growth in direct navigation / URL type-in search methods.

Of course google, yahoo, firefox, altavista, etc will continue to promote their business plans. This list of multiple fortune 500 CO's are banking on URL- type-in through generic domains and I would bet they are hoping the search engines become less effective in driving traffic as their investment for URL type-in (higher ROI from URL type-in traffic in lieu of continuous high costs of paying the search engines click thru rates)

The following links depicts a list of fortune 500 international companies that have accepted and invested in the direct navigation / URL type-in search philosophy by purchasing generic domains.
http://www.genericdomainnames.com/info/Generic-Domain-Name-Ownership/i=9
 

000

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Many internet users don't know the difference between a search bar and an address bar, so they type keywords or keywords.com in the first bar they see and usually find what they need. They don't know what "direct navigation" is and they don't care. Trying to convince the masses to direct navigate would be as easy as convincing drivers not to tailgate on the freeway.

The beauty of direct navigation is that it happens naturally, without external persuasion. The masses are doing their part. Domainers benefit as advertisers and investors, not the masses, increasingly "get it."
 

MacyT.

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My Firefox browser does the same thing now. And even when I ignore it and simply type in a word or phrase, I don't automatically get sent to the .com version of that word or phrase, but to Google search results instead.

Prospecting, you're preaching to the choir - but I think you are ignoring certain realities, like the major one that Zenon brought up. Since you have generic type-ins, this is understandable. I certainly don't like the reality that a handful of my beautiful type-ins don't come up as #1 on Google (so when someone w/Firefox types it into the browser, they are taken somewhere else.)

This practice by the major search engines is only going to get worse - whether you like it or not, you cannot dictate what individual internet users have set as their browser...therefore many search engines DO have the control. I think the main issue to tackle and immediately, is turning parked pages into quality, unique, content-filled pages. This way, domainers have a better chance of actually seeing their type-in traffic. If this doesn't happen soon, those without the time or resources to develop on their own are going to be losing more and more revenue.
 

Prospecting

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address bar type-in's are the bases of the thread, not so much to do with search engines, ie., yahoo, google, msn. IE, Netscape, firefox are definately issues, but we have not experienced address type in's being directed anywhere else than that specific url's website.


2 years ago direct navigation rates (URL type-ins through address bar only) were in the 12-15% range of all traffic for our generic domain websites. Over the past two years, we have experienced direct navigation (again, address bar only URL type-ins only) rates have climbed to 30-35%. No erosion there.

Agreed, search engines will continue to get worse as they continue to become deeper and deeper with data. And of course they will drive traffic where their revenue points them, again, URL type-in is where our team envisioned the generic domain's principle value and continue to focus on those principles today. ADDRESS BAR URL type in is the only direct navigation in our vision.
 

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This thread deserves more attention.

I think the perfect thing would be if the URL bar in the major browsers was bigger and if the search toolbars weren't that popular.

Also, if typeing in a browser hotgirls would lead to hotgirls.com, it would be much better for the domian owners.

Someone said the search engines like google are spammed to death, so more and more surfers will type-in domains, but I completely disagree (unfortunately :()

Let's not forget that most (?) type-in domains are parked, and they don't necessarly encourage the visitor to type-in in similar domains again. I think many surfers are actually annoyed with the parked pages, even more than with not relevant Google search results.

Can we - as a community - do anything to popularize the direct navigation method to the public? I don't think so, but some brainstorming does't harm.
 
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