In this edition of Web Enlightenment we'll be talking about how experience trumps information.

This newsletter focuses on giving you practical, interesting insights into how to successfully use technology as a tool to improve the way you do business. Bridging the gap between knowledge and understanding that all entrepreneurs have will help you make money online.

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All the best,

Experience Trumps Information

I was riding along in my truck the other day, wandering on down to our state capital Augusta, to attend the board meeting of one of my clients, the Maine Lanscape and Nursery Association (MELNA). I decided to pop Blue Penguin Development's "E-Newsletter on E-Newsletter's" podcast summary CD into my stereo and give it a listen.

Michael Katz is always such good fun. He has been a friend for a long, long, long time (in web time that's about 10 years) and I absolutely love that no penguins are harmed in the production of his excellent E-Newsletter. Anyway, Michael is providing his usual insights and as usual I'm smiling away and then he talked about his son Evan learning to drive.

I won't be funny like The Penguin, but let me briefly summarize: he said that just because his 16 year old son knew all the rules of the road that didn't necessarily make him a good driver. Also, a collision with a truck was avoided.

This got me thinking about web professionals and how nervous they can be about knowing everything on the web. I work with lots of folks who run and manage web projects - or are trying to sell web projects - and their knees just knock together with fear about this issue.

Web professionals often ask me: "What if they - gasp - ask me a question I don't know the answer to?"

I love this moment as I get to tell one of my favorite little stories that I will now share with you:

I am a bit of a freak in the information retention department. I have what many describe as an encyclopedic knowledge of the web and I surely know an insane amount of useless history about sites that have come and gone over the last 15 years or so. Many of my friends poke fun at me about this. I have even had a good time with this at speaking engagements by playing a game called "Try to stump the geek. If you can you win an iPod".

So back in 2005 I gave a speech to a pretty heady group - the University of Massachusetts E-Commerce Network (I would not play the iPod game with these people). At the time I was a Governors appointee (Mitt Romney) to the Regional Competitiveness Council and sort of a known geeky guy in the web world round those parts.

Then came the questions - the advanced level questions. And some happy little geek stands up and says: "Mr Lasley, what do you think of Zappos.com and the impact that will have on e-commerce sites as they use the loyalty business model to gain market share?"

And so I looked this guy right smack in the eye and I said: "Who is Zappos.com and what do they do?"

(For those of you that don't know Zappos sells nice shoes. For fashion impaired geeks like me those are the things that go on your feet to keep them dry).

And then the nice young man explained to me that they sell shoes and he had quite a little smirk on his face as he did so.

And so I said: "Oh, good for them. That is great that they use a loyalty business model as that has been shown to increase profit so dramatically. I think the number is something like that if you increase retention by 5% you can bump profits 25% to 85% depending on your industry - that'll work great. A tried and true model, I think other e-commerce sites will follow suit."

Trying to know everything on the Internet is like trying to know every fish in the sea - it just ain't gonna happen.

What you can do, and what smart entrepreneurs do, is focus on core principles and basic tactics.

Think about something like search engine marketing. There is certainly plenty to know about that and in fact these days a specialist is generally required to get the work done. The programs change all the time and keeping up is an incredible challenge. What if you decided to not worry about any of that and instead focus on the three core concepts of search engine listings?

1. You list your site with the "free" (it takes someone time to do this) submit your site type forms.
2. You pay (about $500 per year in total for all for them) the engines that only list you if you pay.
3. Finally you may do some Cost Per Click ads and buy as many site visitors as you like.

Should you know the list of engines to submit to?
Nope.

Should you be aware of the latest name and price changes to what was once known as Yahoo Business Express?
Nope Again.

Does it really matter what the latest bidding strategy is for cost per click purchases?
Not at all.

You know there are three basic things to do.

You hire someone to do these things, the same way you hire someone to pump out your septic tank.

You know that the whole point of all this is to increase traffic to your site so you look and see if you have more traffic as a result of these efforts and if you do you smile. Nice and simple and easy.

With regard to the Internet people often get befuddled and feel unhappy about all of the new information that they feel like they need to master. If you simply change your goal and use your business experience to categorize and process information as it comes to you you'll be much happier. Experience trumps information every time.

The Way To Think
A road map for Internet Entrepreneurs

I am pleased as punch to announce that my book will be published at the end of this year.

"The Way To Think" teaches and guides Internet Entrepreneurs and those responsible for marketing web-oriented business on how to think about the web in a new and different way. The reader will learn principle-based thinking and a method to continuously evaluate new technologies using very simple and proven methods.

Fear of technology, especially web technology, is vast and tends to really cloud entrepreneurial thinking. The fact is that anyone who is capable of running their own business is capable of understanding everything they need to know to operate a consistently profitable website.

The core concept of Principles vs. Directions is an important one and will be reflected in all chapters of the book. This “manifesto” is the introduction, you can find a version of it here on my home page.