The Huffington Post just seems have discovered people really do type in domain names into the navigation bar and it seems there is even money to be made in owning domain names.
Wow
Who would have thought?
In an article entitled “Why Your URL Bar Matters, and Why Silicon Valley Should Take Note” goes on to say:
“If you use the Internet, you’ve likely used something in the last month, but it’s not something at the top of your lips: the URL bar. It’s also called the “address bar” or the “direct navigation bar” among techies. Here’s why it matters — a lot.”"
“Traffic on domains varies enormously from #1, Facebook.com, to tens of thousands of ‘parked domains‘ that receive just 1-2 visitors or even none. Some ‘parked domains’ don’t get ‘clicks’ because the domain owner ceased business, or because he or she may be deceased.”
The article goes on to cite a Fairwinds report, that “manual direct navigation in the URL bar accounted for 38% of Web site traffic”.
“WebSideStory’s StatMarket division (now a part of Omniture) estimated, prior to 2008, that more than 67 per cent of global Internet users arrive at Web sites through direct navigation. ”
“That means that direct navigation is almost as important as Google in reaching your destination of choice.”
You can read the rest of the story here…
