New Year’s Res0lutions for web marketers

One of them would have to be to stop watching Google Data Centers. I can no longer read any of the painfully boring threads about “test” data centers, or any related drivel.

At some point an over-reliance on search engine traffic will sink every ship. For people in 2006 to devote greater than 50% of their time to Google optimization is very short sighted. MSN and Yahoo are both emerging rapidly as serious contenders to Google’s market leadership. And more importantly, they’re following their own paths and not just blindly following Google.

There’s a lesson in there for me. In 2006, I don’t plan on spending any time following the herd off the next cliff, but would rather devote all my time to usability. The long tail of Web 2.0 is swinging loudly, and static ad-based sites are doomed, IMHO. User interactivity is the key we all need to be looking for.