On Feb. 6th, 2003, websidestory Inc., [websidestory.com], aweb analyzation company released a report showing that themajority of websites are now visited by direct navigation,instead of using search e... On Feb. 6th, 2003, websidestory Inc., [websidestory.com], aweb analyzation company released a report showing that themajority of websites are now visited by direct navigation,instead of using search engines and web links.Direct Web Navigation is when a visitor locates a site bytyping the domain directly into the browser or from a usinga bookmark.According to websidestory.com, in 2/2001 48.14% of siteswere found through direct navigation and the other 51.85%through search engines and weblinks.As of 2/2003 that percentage has risen to 64.43% and only35.55% were found through search engines and links.This study however does not diminish the importance ofsearch engines and links for initially finding a website.But it does give evidence that a domain and site that avisitor is able to remember will be returned to directlyin the future.Note I said able to remember and not worth remembering. Sure your site should be of such value that itis worth remembering, but if you dont have that solidbrandable domain that sticks in the brain like glue than itwont matter.How many times have you wanted to return to a cool site, butcouldnt remember the domain to get their? Of course youcould search for it at a search engine, but this takes moretime and effort. The more steps you put in front of yourprospects, the less likely your site is to be found.This is why domain branding is so important. For a very lowinvestment any online business has the power to intenselyleverage their marketing.Think about it. Your Domain name is the most importantmarketing tool you have. Your domain is the first thingyour audience sees and your first chance to generate a response from a consumer. Do they visit or move on? Thisdecision is hugely impacted by the effectiveness of yourdomain.The entire basis of marketing is getting someone's attentionand your domain must do just that. It becomes extremelypowerful to use a brandable domain name to leverage yourmarketing to the maximum.Put simply a quality, short, memorable domain will alwayslead to an increase in sales.Nobody knows this better that large corporations who havespend millions on solid brandable domain names. In onefamous example venture capitalists in California paid $7.5million to acquire Business.com. Even forsalebyowner.comfetched $835,000.A little off topic but still interesting, is Ex-marineDarryl Pollock who registered the domain IraqiFreedom.comand has received offers into the thousands (Note:He has been qouted saying that if he were contacted by thepentagon he would 'completely cooperate with them.')Crazy isn't? But big business knows that these domains areworth because that domain will bring in sales for years andyears to come. They can build it, promote it, brand it andit will work for them forever. Even two word, hyphenateddomains are grabbing some pretty prices, checkout theserecent Afternic and Ebay sales:Internetbank.com $92,800E-Privacy.com $35,080eloans.net $6,060Ez-HomeLoans.com $4,725venture-capital.net $14,510officetravel.com $2,625qalaxycafe.com $1,890When you are marketing your site, business, product,service, you must be seen, heard and remembered by youraudience. Consumers are bombarded with messages all dayevery where they travel. You must stand out and the mostcost effective way to do this is logical domain branding.So what domains are memorable and what makes a domainbrandable?Find out and see examples in Part 2 of our special domainbranding articles series. Get Part 2 now, by sending a blank email to mailto:[email protected]?subject=63 Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com