"New Trend Shows Domain Branding More Important Than Ever Before."

On Feb. 6th, 2003, websidestory Inc., [websidestory.com], a web analyzation company released a report showing that the majority 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 by typing the domain directly into the browser or from a using a bookmark. According to websidestory.com, in 2/2001 48.14% of sites were 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 only 35.55% were found through search engines and links. This study however does not diminish the importance of search engines and links for initially finding a website. But it does give evidence that a domain and site that a visitor is able to remember will be returned to directly in the future. Note I said