When I got home from work tonight I though back to a post from a couple of days called “Understanding the Funnel” on Seth’s blog. After revisiting the post I realized that traffic coming from Google AdWords or Yahoo! Search Marketing are actually leads that, when used correctly, are already well on their way through the sales funnel.

For example, let’s say you own a Web site that sells wine. A person who types “zinfandel” into Google is most likely looking for something about zinfandel wine. However, if you were bidding on that keyword on Google AdWords, for example, you would not be sure if they are looking to buy zinfandel wine, learn more about zinfandel wine, or if they want to find specific types of zinfandel wine. So in this case, you would want to send that click to a page that gives them access to zinfandel information, purchasing options, and a list of zinfandel wines.

Further down the purchasing channel we have a person that type in something more specific, like “buy zinfandel wine.” At this point you know that this person want to buy, so you send them to a Web page that makes selecting and buying any of your zinfandel wines as easy as possible. However, you still provide enough information and possibly suggestions to the visitor to make them feel comfortable in buying a bottle or case of wine from you. You know they want to buy, but they might not know exactly what they want to buy, so deliberately move them through your site in a way that suits their needs.

Finally, let’s say someone does a search for “buy Earth Zin and Fire zinfandel.” (Earth Zin and Fire is a brand of zinfandel). From the search terms used we know what the visitor is looking for and what they want to do when they find it. Even better, we know that our advertisement on the search engine has made it clear to the consumer that a) our online store has Earth, Zin and Fire wine, and b) we will sell you some of it.

In this final case, the most logical thing to do, if you were thinking in the mindset of the “funnel,” would be sending your visitor to a Web page that gives them a little info on the wine, an easy purchasing form, and some text to make them understand why you are the person to buy this wine from. Makes sense, right?

So, the big question is, are you being customer unfriendly (read:Web 1.0) if you are sending a consumer in the second or third example to a Web page that limits their ability to explore your site and “forces” them into the buying process?

I can see it both ways, but I say no. I think it is OK to keep your customers focused on the buying process if they have already stated that they want to buy. I don’t think there is anything that is horribly anti-Web 2.0 when you give your customers what they have already asked for. Actually, isn’t that what Web 2.0 is really all about?

As Seth points out, advertising mediums like Google and Yahoo give you the ability to have pre-funneled traffic even before the traffic hits your Web site. So in actuality, you know which of your customers have already asked to be pushed directly into your sales funnel. Pretty cool, eh?

So at this point ladies and gentlemen, I guess the best advice 2.0 I have for you when you are talking about pre-funneled PPC traffic going to your Web site is push those bastards through – they want it.

You would be so not Web 2.0 if you didn’t give them what they want. :)