My believe is this…..the guys selling the shovels at the moment (Google, Yahoo, etc.) with respect to online search marketing are making a killing selling this notion of click thru advertising.

The interactive space both locally and globally seems to be mesmerised with the high growth rates of online advertising currently.  In my view, it’s flawed!

What do I mean?

Well, so much money is being spent by corporates, big brands, etc on online marketing hoping it is going to generate all these new revenues online for them.  Reality is that without a focus on the complete user experience then a lot of this money can be kissed goodbye!  e.g I’ve had the privilege of discussing new and exciting online strategies, initiatives and specific opportunities with many of the large corporate brands lately and let me tell you, the consistent story of high abandonment rates post click thru is interesting. 

 What does this all mean?

In my view, organisations need to start to look at the revitilisation of their complete web experiences online (with a clear focus on moving beyond “i have a web address come and visit me!” to providing online environments for their customers to actively converse online.  Furthermore, their customers’ outcomes need to be put at the top of the priority list of “to dos” here vs. a products/services approach to web site design and development. 

This approach should drive online marketing (based on user usage and behaviours) not keywords!