I am on a training course this week called The Human Element. During yesterdays session we were discussing the actions we do (or do not) take and the reasons why.

One of my colleagues on the course said something that resonated with me about consequences. The point being that whether we do take action, or whether we don’t, there is ALWAYS a consequence and it tends to snowball down a path.

There is a saying - If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. I do agree but there are the external factors to take into consideration so change is inevitable.

The thing is this. Most times, we think we should change things about ourselves or the commercial things we do on a day-to-day basis but we don’t because of what may happen, or what may change.

His comment was quite profound for me, but also got me thinking about my conversations with people in a work environment about business, specifically marketing and web marketing.

People are sometimes scared to make changes, even if something’s not working. The thought of getting it wrong outways the safety of not changing. I am guessing the reason for this is their own past experiences but, meanwhile the external things continue to change. Industries and technology, even people’s habits, needs and wants change.

Ten years ago, we didn’t have the web mainstream. Even five years ago, most of us were on dial-up. Now people are expecting superfast broadband and video with their web experience.

Can you afford not to keep evolving?

I ran a survey on the Escape Blog last week, which not only gave me a bit of an insight into how people prefer their newsletters by e-mail.

The results so far have surprised me with more people preferring HTML but also some good comments.

In terms of the value of the blog post, it proved to me a great way of getting people to take part, to comment and to revisit to see the results.

I like nothing more that sitting down, late afternoon on a lazy day, drinking a beer and eating my way through some pistachio nuts. And I was doing just that on Saturday when my wife made an interesting point… Most of the enjoyment was in shelling them as she ate, rather than the actual eating. Would we still eat them if they didn;t need shelling?

There are lots of things like that in life, where the lead-up, rather than the end goal, is the bit that’s enjoyable, or at least adds to the experience. It reminds of the title of a great book called “The Journey Is The Destination“.

If you think the same, and I know I do, you can start to understand how people are looking for that experience in any marketing or sales process. Think top-class boutiques that offer clients glasses of wine as they try on clothes and think about how those people not only come back, but tell their friends. That kind of experience runs through all echelons of business and industries.

When I speak to people looking for e-commerce solutions, they are always looking to build the “Amazon” experience, albeit on a much smaller budget.

Creating experience on a website is not hard,  but could add so much more reason for someone to stay, and take that next step in the buying process. White papers, articles and added value are always a great place to start, and then… what’s the next step on the journey. I’ll leave you to answer that one.

Honest, I do know this stuff but I’ve had a massive wake-up call this week. Don’t get me wrong - I get it - I just haven’t been doing it very well.

When it comes to social networking and, with so many social tools at hand, I get the whole idea of talking about stuff and linking, but I was missing one important key… I wasn’t been very sociable with my social networking.

The point is, with social networking, that it’s all about people connecting - not websites, blogs and Myspace pages.

Since I restarted my Blog a couple of weeks ago, I have discovered that I can actually speak to people when I put my mind to it and, people tend to speak back - a real two-way conversation and a growing network to boot.

MyBlogLog has helped me do this quite quickly but a bit of interacting through e-mail, pro-actively seeking out like-minded people through sites and a little bit of commenting on blogs, has actually helped me in a number of ways (and I am sure the same could happen to you):

1. I’ve found people who understand my commercial frustrations - the empathy is very soothing. Some agree and some open my eyes to different (intelligent) viewpoints that make me have a better understanding of my trade.
2. Through these people, I am finding more people as my net spreads wider - take point (1) and multiply.
3. People are finding me (see point (2) and flip the process).

You don’t have to be a geek to do this, you just need to work at it and get stuck in. You’ll make mistakes, like I did (and continue to do) and you’ll work out the way social media sites and networking can benefit you, and, not just from a business sense either.

I seem to be stumbling over lots of cool tools at the moment and here’s the latest.

I don’t actually need it as I work with web guys, but if you need a quick form with no programming experience, why not try FormLogix.

Gee’d On By John Chow, I’ve bought a couple of pages on Million Dollar Wiki.

The logic’s there in terms of short term exposure for a couple of high-end words (I’ve bought “beauty” for TS Beauty and “candles” for a new project) and also longer term link building potential.

I’ll link in the pages and give you an update in due course…

Another interesting article on Copyblogger (one of my favourite blogs) about breaking down the objection barriers people have when visiting an e-commerce website. Brian cites examples such as:

This can be done with landing pages, but also with whitepapers, reports, ebooks, email tutorials, blogging, audio and video seminars and webinars. Simple and clear language, benefits and the features that support them, testimonials, specific supporting data, a sweet offer and risk-removal via solid guarantees all help you overcome objections and build trust. The more a prospect trusts you, the easier time you’ll have bypassing barriers to the sale.

It goes to prove that the online shopping experience goes beyond design, products, etc. and the elements of pyschology (already well used in traditional retail) are very much needed for online success.

Yes, it’s additional cost and yes, it makes a difference that is ongoing. Analysing your web pages, what they say and the way they say it, can make all the difference.

A guy I have dealt with this year is giving up on his E-Commerce website after trying to sell some of the stock from his single high street retail outlet online. Less than six months later and an investment of £2,300 the website is making sales, but obviously not enough to keep it up and build the sales. The problem is this (and he is not unique).

He has a small shop in a town and a flow of footfall giving him a captured buyer. That model is centuries old and he can accept the way that works. The online shop has low overheads and six months  is not realistic in building up an online retail business.

He can open the door of his high street shop, let a shopper come in, browse the store; pick up his products, feel the quality and pay the premium he charges to buy it there and then. The experience is personal and the shopper has emotionally invested in the purchase. After all, they are having to make the effort.

Online, the interaction is different. The tables are turned in terms of effort and people won’t pay price premiums because:

1. They can buy the same products without such a high markup from a number of competitors just a few clicks away.
2. There is nothing emotional to create the engagement between the shop and the buyer.

Consumers want more online, or less if you take prices into consideration. It’s different from bricks and mortar retailing and a different set of emotional engagement is required. It’s not expensive to generate and it can create excellent value in terms of building up a regular client base.

It’s called added value.

I know a young guy (all of eighteen) who runs a ‘Showbiz Gossip‘ website. I won’t go into figures but he will probably make more money from his website within six months than he could in a full-time job. Based on advertising page impressions, he got 35,000 visitors yesterday alone.

But he’s eighteen. Bring on Ashley Qualls who is seventeen:

…her monthly audience is around 7 million, and revenue has grown from a couple of thousand bucks a month to as much as $70,000 - more than $1 million in less than two years.

Try explaining this to most people - your mum for instance - they just can’t comprehend.

And, because the rules are changing there is massive opportunity to those who just get on and do stuff, with very little up-front costs to hold them back. In fact, many of these “geeky” new businesses will start as hobbies.

As much as the corporate world use phrases like “think outside the box”, I am sure these teenagers aren’t even aware that any boxes exist. Watch and learn old timers!

My wife runs a beauty salon in Farnborough. It’s a business I really love and I do the website and online marketing.

When it comes to Facebook, I have never really seen the value until she recently created a group for her salon and invited her friends to join. She also managed to find a few of her clients on Facebook and invited them to join too.

It’s worth mentioning that her client-base are potential Facebook users, which helps, and she has managed to get 69 members so far. She has also created an event already and invited her members to attend.

Now Facebook may well be a fad. It may also be causing a stir in terms of privacy at the moment and face a back-lash, but from a small business point of view, creating a growing audience of members in less than two weeks (at a cost of £0.00) has value for any small retail business.

In a world where leveraging a quality client-base has more value than attracting an ongoing stream of new clients for short-term gain, Facebook does offer a real opportunity at the moment.

Group members will soon be having updates about:

• Events happening at the salon
• Monthly offers
• Discussions and links to treatments
• Links to blog posts and “How to” videos

Of course, these people are in control of the messaging, they can always leave the group. The key is two-fold:

1. Don’t abuse their trust by “overselling”
2. Give them a reason to have joined with personalised offers

The very way Facebook works, should also see new (relevant) people joining by association - watch this space.