If you're relatively new to the Web as a webmaster or website manager, you're probably wondering, "What the heck is a Direct Search Domain?"  Good question.  A Direct Search Domain is a domain name (web address) that a user types directly into the Web Address Bar (shown at right) in hopes of finding some relevant information relating to the word(s) that make up the domain name. 

For example, if a user was seeking information about e-commerce statistics, they might type in the Web Address www.ecommercestats.com in hopes of finding relevant information.  For most, this is an older Web technique that was used heavily in late '90s, but has gained much more popularity in the past 3-4 years.  You may have stumbled upon Direct Search Domain landing pages created by domain name squatters in hopes of driving users to paid-advertising links and/or Web pages.

For most, Direct Search Domains represent an opportunity to drive targeted users to your website or promotional Web pages.  This is a VERY effective and strategic way to target qualified customers AND will help in your attempts to increase your Site Rank with various search engines.  As long as your content is relevant to your Direct Search Domain, you will see an increase in traffic and search listings.

The good news is as a subscriber to the CompanyWebsite content management service, Direct Search Domains are perfect for your business, and here's why:

1. Easy to Set-Up - creating new Web pages is simple and all CompanyWebsite templates come pre-optimized for search engines.
2. Low Cost of Ownership (Most of the time) - domain names are relatively inexpensive ($9.95/yr); however, the perfect domain name that could really help your business may require third-party acquisition and it's an investment for the long-term because yearly renewals are only $9.95.
3. Easy to Manage with Load - our DNS service comes standard with domain name purchases and you'll want the ability to individually control your domain names.  LoadDNS is one of the premier hosted dns services on the Web.

Direct Search Domains as an Alternative to Paid Search Advertising
If you're currently using Paid Search (Google Adwords) as your primary means of Web advertising, you might want to consider Direct Search Domains.  There's a good chance you will generate high-quality leads simply by purchasing relevant keyword-rich domain names and creating landing pages for them. According columnist Anthony Mitchell in an article for TechNewsWorld, "Direct search is responsible for less than 20 percent of the online connections between potential customers and businesses (yet) is correlated with stronger customer purchasing behavior than traditional search engine referrals by at least a factor of two."

Some of the more useful suggestions for Direct Search Domains according to Mitchell are...

• Emphasize relevance - Pick domain names that represent the types of services your firm provides now or is considering in the future. Try commonly- understood words that potential clients are likely to enter into their browsers. Experiment with misspellings of your own service's offerings and brands.  For Example:  Load.com has captured domain names like LargeFileDelivery.com for the YouLoad service.
• Prioritize .COMs - While it might be tougher to find available .com's for your business products and services, it's less likely the average person will use other TLD's in trying to find a relevant site through direct search.
• Combine locations and service offerings - Like country-based affinity, those looking for local companies might type in their state or city and the service they seek like SignsReno.com or Edmonton-signs.com.

Since forwarded domain names are typically not indexed by Search Engines (Google actually prefers 301 Redirects at the DNS level), you're going to be best served by creating dedicated landing pages that contain content specifically targeting the search phrase/keywords contained in the Direct Search Domain.

In the example used above, one aspect of your business might be selling e-commerce statistics. By creating a dedicated landing page with content specifically about e-commerce stats at ecommercestats.com, you have a better chance of generating organic search traffic for the search term and driving more qualified leads to your business.