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I believe that the following post has the answer you are looking for:

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/duplicate-content-block-redirect-or-canonical (Also, read the comments area if you are interested in more info)

Or, if you want to see a list of all the related articles:

http://www.seomoz.org/pages/search_results#stq=duplicate content&stp=1

BTW, there is a tiny "next" button at the bottom of the list to navigate to the next page.

Like already mentioned...it won't harm you if you buy it and in some instance might help you as well, as long as you utilize it in a proper and genuine manner. Just keep up with the best practices.

And, I am still waiting for someone to answer this part of my original reply:

"BTW, I am not sure about whether there is some kind of penalty that exists if you buy domain names that closely resemble your website URL and then permanently re-direct it to your Live/ Main URL/ Website. Can someone answer this?? After all your intention is not to spam but to stop others from misusing an URL that closely resembles your brand."

To add to the many informative answers here...I would like to say...start looking at utilizing your website for the relevant long-tail keywords.You can get 100's of long-tail keyword terms that are less competitive and 100 long-tail keywords X 2 visits per keyword term  = 200 visits rather than 4 highly competitive keywords x 2 visits per keyword = 8 visits.

I mean start attacking from a wider angle rather than a narrowed approach. Utilize your website for the long-tail keyword combinations as well as for the highly competitive keywords. One will take time while the other will help you in your journey to get there.

Also ranking for a keyword does not always mean that you are getting a targeted audience. You might get a good traffic but does not mean that it will end in conversions. So instead of only concentrating on Organic traffic, also look at other ways to drive RELEVANT traffic to your website. And, get creative with online and off-line marketing convergence [eg:- Bumber stickers with your URL, T'shirts with your company name & URL etc. or if you want to be more creative...think about the prospects of AR (Augmented Reality) when it comes to convergence].

Also, remember that your company employees with their social network presence (Be it Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest etc. are your immediate Online marketing and off-line partners. They can spread the word around their families and friends and the social media network will keep on multiplying. So, leverage them in that area and also put Bumber-stickers on their cars (or whatever other creative stuffs) and on their friends and family members cars lol.

And, when it comes to creating awareness among your target audience, Organic traffic is not the only way...it's just one of the ways. Use other online tools, websites, promotions etc...basically mix it up with a good SEO technique and Online marketing/branding/promotion activities.

And, ultimately it all depends on what USP and value you are providing through your website and through your off-line point of purchase. So, think about how you can provide value and engagement.

Anyway, coming back to your point...I guess it's high time that you start educating your boss. I understand from what you've written, that his SEO or Online marketing knowledge is not much, and that is where you need to be strong (and soft at the same time) and educate him. Go armed with all the knowledge you've gathered from here lol. And, never give up!

Not necessarily. But, it might help you partly. Having the right keyword in the URL is given some weight by Google but it does not mean that it is true in every case.

Getting the right traffic for the keywords is a combination of:

Right internal linking strategy with the right anchor text + Keywords with the right amount of density in content + Keywords in Title Tag + A well-written Meta Description (Even though it does not effect the ranking factors, it will certainly help improve the CTR, because a well-written description serves as an AD copy for your displayed result) + Search-engine friendly site architecture + unique content spread across many pages with unique title tags etc. + Social-Media Signals + External linking strategy (Links from relevant external websites/ directories, Right anchor text, Co-citation etc.) + competition for the keyword (probably your keyword is not that highly competitive) + Local listings + so many other factors.

Also since the Panda update you need to be doubly sure that you are genuine. Do not use keyword stuffing and other such factors only aimed at influencing search-engine spiders. Just be genuine and think about what value you can provide to the customers and share it and also think about providing engaging content (Videos/ Image/ Texts). Be genuine and the word of mouth will happen naturally.

Basically, (1) be genuine, (2)spread awareness (3) provide tools of engagement (4) find the right balance between pleasing your visitors as well as pleasing the search-engines (By creating a search-engine friendly (NOT search-engine fooling) site architecture).

Also, read these articles about Google's EMD (Exact Match Domains) update:

http://searchengineland.com/low-quality-exact-match-domains-are-googles-next-target-134889

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/the-exact-match-domain-playbook-a-guide-and-best-practices-for-emds

• BTW isn't "webdesigndevon" a better option than adding "in" in it? "in" will not be given any value anyway and it might lead to a lot of typos if someone manually types the URL: "webdesignindevon" compared to "webdesigndevon" into their browser.

And, if you are worried about someone else starting a "webdesign-devon" domain, just purchase such domain names that closely resembles your website URL (it is not that expensive to buy such less sort after names, I guess) and permanently re-direct those URLs to your live website URL. That way even if someone else manually types any URL that closely resembles your website's URL, they will get re-directed to your website, instead of landing in someone else website and you can sleep happily because there will be no other websites that closely resembles your website URL. Thus you will get some brand value too.

BTW, I am not sure about whether there is some kind of penalty that exists if you buy domain names that closely resemble your website URL and then permanently re-direct it to your Live/ Main URL/ Website. Can someone answer this?? After all your intention is not to spam but to stop others from misusing an URL that closely resembles your brand.