I came across this in Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox for September 1997, more than two years before the dot com crash. 

I particularly liked the “help customers buy” comment, and the prescient comment about online classifieds, which have done very well.

Even though it does little good to run ads on other sites, there are many ways in which the Web can be used fruitfully in marketing. Most important are corporate websites where an entire site can be devoted to promote a company’s products. Such sites should not be sales-driven but should focus on customer support and service, including detailed product specs and supporting information to facilitate the buying process. In other words: help customers buy; don’t try a hard sell.

….

Finally, classified advertising works better on the Web than in printed newspapers, so I predict a successful future for Web-based classifieds: the one kind of ads that is a perfect match for the Web.

Source: Advertising Doesn’t Work on the Web (Alertbox)