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This has been a mad mad week in my office as we try to cram five days worth of work into just four ... and even if we had a full five days to work with we would still have been pushed to get everything done that was on our 'to-do' list.

Unfortunately though we've only got four days because, in the very early hours of tomorrow morning, we're off on a 2000km road trip to attend the funeral of a very dear friend of mine. I've known her since high school and there was no way I was just going to send flowers.

So this morning I should have been really working my fingers to the bone but instead I sat back and listened as my partner gave someone we're training a brief introduction to search engine optimisation and marketing. It was like taking a refresher course because it's so easy to lose focus when you're building so many different websites for clients from just about every possible industry.

I know that the fundamentals should always be the same ... and Steve does manage to keep a focus on those fundamentals ... but I tend to get distracted so listening to Steve talk about everything from keywords to colours and fonts was good.

It also tied in with some retail shopping studies that I've been reading lately and I was reminded of those studies when Steve suggested to the trainee that she head downtown and spend some time looking instead of shopping in the local supermarkets and department stores.

You might think that comparing online shopping and marketing to what goes on in bricks and mortar businesses is a total waste of time but I would disagree strongly with that suggestion. Despite what you and many others might like to think the fact is that bricks and mortar retailing have a huge amount to teach us.

And I would suggest that every one of us needs a refresher in marketing from time to time and there's no better place to get that refresher than down at the mall. Wander into some of the bigger retail stores and look at everything from the signage and colors they use to the way the store is actually laid out.

Stand at the front of the shop and watch as people walk in ... watch which way they turn and you will almost certainly see that most of them will turn to the right. They do that because most people are right-handed. Those big retailers know that so look to see what is displayed on the right-hand side of the store?

In one of my favourite furniture and electrical stores in the town where I live when you enter the shop you're straight into the lounge and dining room furniture section. To the left is the cheap stuff while to the right is the expensive lounge suites, office desks, and true executive style leather chairs.

The retail prices of these items are in the several thousand dollar range and you have to walk through that expensive part of the shop to get to the electrical department where there's not much that carries a price tag that is in excess of one thousand dollars.

It's also interesting to hit some of the big clothing stores and look at how they have set out their displays. Look at the clearance racks and you may just notice that everything is jumbled together.

Sure the big retailers want to clear their unsold stock but they would much rather have you buy something more expensive so they make it harder to buy the cheaper items. They know that people will become frustrated and head for those parts of the shop where there's less clutter and it's easier to find things. Once the customers have migrated to those less cluttered areas it's easier to get them to buy something more expensive than what they had planned on buying.

And while you're in those stores take a look at the lighting ... you will almost certainly notice that there are parts of the store where the lighting is quite subdued and then there are parts of the store where the lighting is brighter. You may even see that some products have spotlights trained on them to make them stand out even more.

Normal shoppers don't notice any of those things I've just mentioned ... they've come into the store to buy something and that's where they're focused ... but if you take some time to do some field research you'll see all those little tricks being used to encourage people to buy. You might even notice a few more little tricks ... than the ones I've mentioned ... being used to encourage people to part with their money and you should take note of them.

Everyone of those tricks is in use because they help to keep the cash registers ringing and you need to think about how you can adapt those marketing tricks keep your sponsor checks growing.