Understanding the Internet - Asking the RIGHT Questions
I was working on one of my newest eBooks early this morning, in preparation for the class I’ll be teaching about it in January at TNNA.
The subject is Preparing Products for Presentation on the Web. Whoa! Try saying that 3 times – fast! I’m teaching only one session in Long Beach and the class is already half full.
My classes are in lecture format, so I put a high limit on the number of seats available– in this case, there are 50. Going by the enrollment figures, there is strong interest in the topic.
Most of the folks attending this class are not technologically sophisticated. I also know that in many cases, the attendee may not be the person who will be doing the actual work down the road. 8)
Most of my intended audience consists of folks who own successful OFFLINE businesses that they are taking ONLINE. Every day they make business breaking decisions about the internet. Both literally and figuratively, *The buck stops there!*. Knowing all this, I am working very hard to explain the WHYs of doing something – not just the HOWs.
Today I had a blinding realization about the best way to approach the HOWs of doing business online and why the WHYs are soooo important..
There is a lot of information available about how to do business Online. Much of it is focused on solving specific problems and as a result it deals with the HOWs, which is appropriate.
However, for many Offline business owners, knowing WHY to do something gives them the knowledge they need to make the BEST decisions for their businesses about HOW to do it. Unfortunately, this is where everything starts to fall apart.
As we all know, the Internet is a technological marvel. It is technology personified. In addition, much of it also deals with technological subjects. For obvious reasons, most of the pundits are technology geeks (and I say this in a kind and loving way! LOL). As a natural progression, technology pervades almost all explanations regarding HOWs and WHYs, no matter the topic under discussion.
This is completely understandable… but not always a good thing for the unsuspecting, technologically challenged Offline business owner trying to make sound Online decisions!
What I realized this morning is that most business owners need WHYs that are Technologically Independent.
Technologically Independent? What in the world do I mean by that?
Technologically Independent means that the WHY question for any issue has been analyzed down to its most basic components.
Technologically Independent means it is a question that can be answered no matter what the current technology is and the answer will be reliable no matter what future technology entails.
Huh? Let me give a couple of examples to illustrate my point…
In my Product Preparation class, I will be discussing specific issues such as the commonly recognized need to optimize photographs for the internet. There is no point in putting up a print optimized picture of 300 dots per inch, if good resolution on a computer monitor is only in the 72-96 pixels per inch range.
The file for the 300 dpi picture is much larger than it needs to be, it will take longer to load, and there will be no appreciable improvement in picture quality.
This is an issue that most web site How To Manuals discuss and many of them explain ways to accomplish this in varying degrees of detail.
OK… that all makes sense, but let’s take a moment to look at two different ways to explain the WHY of it.
The Technologically Dependent version of WHY says:
Product images displayed on a web site should be optimized for a compute monitor, not for print reproduction on paper.
The Technologically Independent version of WHY says:
Product representations should be optimized for the medium/device on which they will be displayed/interpreted.
Let’s take a moment to analyze these two approaches in a bit more detail…
The Technologically Dependent version of WHY, stating that *product images displayed on a web site should be optimized for a compute monitor, not for print reproduction on paper* assumes the following:
1) The product is being represented by an image (at this time in technology, there is also an underlying assumption that the image will probably be 2 dimensional)
2) The image will be displayed on a computer monitor
3) The alternative version of the image is one that can be printed on paper
The Technologically Independent version of WHY, stating that *product representations should be optimized for the medium/device on which they will be displayed/interpreted* is taking the position that:
1) There is not a specific form of product representation being discussed.
We could be discussing a photo, a drawing, a video, a holographic representation, a psychically projected image or even some other type that doesn’t exist yet. Note that we are not assuming that the image is a 2 dimensional representation, either
2) The medium/device is unspecified
It could be a piece of paper, a computer monitor, a hand-held computing device, a device capable of receiving a projection of some kind, or anything else that future technology may involve!
3) There is no alternative version of the image under discussion
… the WHY has been distilled to its simplest form.
Another example from my Product Preparation discussion concerns one of the two elements needed to successfully sell products.
The Technologically Dependent version of that element states:
To successfully sell products Online, you need an effective, functional web site / blog
This assumes:
1) The product’s sales vehicle is the internet
2) The delivery method to be used on the internet is a web site / blog
The Technologically Independent version of that element states:
To successfully sell products, you need an effective, functional presentation
This can be applied to printing on paper, billboards, audio, video, holographic or psychic projection, or any method or technology that hasn’t even been dreamed – yet.
If the WHY has been reduced to a Technologically Independent analysis, it can be applied to whatever technology is out there, now or in the future.
This means that the astute business person (either Offline or Online) has a fighting chance of being able to decide what is best for his or her business. It is not necessary to understand the ins and outs of the technology in question. Once the decision has been made, knowledgeable tech people can be hired to implement that decision!
So… what does a savvy, but overwhelmed business owner need to do?
When you are looking for HOWs to solve problems, take the time to find the WHYs, if possible. When you are studying the WHY, try to distill it down to a Technologically Independent explanation.
Technology is changing fast and furiously. Your time is valuable. Seeking out a HOW answer and ignoring the WHY will mean that a year or two down the road you will be looking for another HOW about the newest technology. In many cases, the WHY behind the two HOWs may actually be the same!
Life is short, don’t keep doing the same work over and over!
Sharing the Road to Success,
Tink
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Tink Boord-Dill uses her many years online, her carefully honed problem-solving skills, and her ability to explain complicated issues in an easy to understand fashion to help Offline Business Owners put their businesses Online, successfully.
Visit her online at HowToSurviveAndConquer.com and SurviveAndConquerOnline.com and read her column, TechSupport, in American Quilt Retailer Magazine.
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