7. Digital agencies should use the same compensation model as traditional agencies.

So, if digital media agencies are going to work more like traditional agencies, they should be paid the same way, right? Wrong.

Simply marking up the media buy doesn't work because it's a lot more work to handle a digital campaign, thanks in large part to the need to crunch all those data.

"When you're working on a commission-only model, a $300,000 campaign can be more work than a $3 million campaign," Samples says. "You have to work harder to make the dollars work harder."

Platt agrees. "I never, ever get a call from a client saying, 'How many phone calls did I get from my print ad?'" he says. "I always get a call asking how many clicks they got from a banner. We always have to do more backend tracking; there need to be ways to compensate for that."

Hinson prefers models that are more performance-driven. "Anyone can produce solid advertising," he says. "If you can help a client achieve business goals, you're an agency that doesn't get put into review."

Along these lines, Cole & Weber has instituted performance incentives for its clients. "We work with the client to understand the business goals and construct some compensation to show the value beyond our time," Hadley says.

8. There are interactive advertising experts.

Finally, Koerner makes a good observation for all digital marketing practitioners to keep in mind. When compared to print, and even TV, the interactive medium was born yesterday. "The reason you see all these conferences and committees spending so much time getting at the issues is we all know there's so much value in the digital advertising space, but the way things are bought, sold and reconciled is still being worked through," he says. "We would do better as an industry if we all treated each other as though we're all novices, and we all have to learn."

Susan Kuchinskas is a freelance writer who has written for Adweek, Business 2.0, M-Business and internetnews.com.