Sydney and the Australian Market

I have spent this week in the beautiful city of Sydney Australia, which earlier this week I gave a seminar with Search Engine Room on using search to drive your e-commerce strategy. An impressive turnout from some of Australia’s leading companies. Hats off to Martin Kelly owner of Search Engine Room for such leadership. He has built quite a strong brand here in Australia and many top companies know his work.

At the end of the day I gave a quick site review session in which I looked at half a dozen sites targeting the Australian market. This market is not far behind the US in terms of development and innovation. However many of the same mistakes that we have seen over the years are plaguing new business.

Based upon my browsing sites that are locally targeted and hosted in the US, it is more important than ever for site owners to consider hosting locally. The overall experience is far to slow and not a great use of high-speed connections.