Once upon a time there was a man who was encouraged to go into business selling the best pickles the people of his village had ever tasted.
The man used the best brine and pickled the cucumbers in such a way as to delight the senses and exact repeat purchases.
The village folk raved about the quality, texture and taste of his pickles and they often purchased an extra jar to share with friends traveling through the valley.
"Pray, we have heard tell that the latest innovation in business is a component known as 'Internet'. Thou shouldst consider the use of this newfangled invention to share the joy of your pickles," one woman suggested to the pickle man.
Indeed it was clear from the response of the local villagers that the pickles were worthy of a worldwide audience, so the pickle man put a humble site together and waited for the orders to come from all points of the valley and beyond.
He worked diligently to make even more pickles to accommodate the assumed growth in pickle sales and was quite beside himself when the orders did not come.
The pickle man checked statistics and it seemed that he was the only one who had even visited the site.
This predicament was quite distressing and the pickle man began to think that perhaps the village people were wrong, perhaps what he had to offer was not something others considered quality. Despite the local sales the pickle man was about to give up and try his hand at either story telling or shoe cobbler.
Thence came a man who was not from the valley. At the urging of many he crunched into one of the pickles and a surprised look overcame his face.
"Why this is beyond my ability to describe," he said in earnest. "The world should know about these pickles."
"Yes," said the pickle man, "I have tried the Internet and no one has yet purchased a single jar."
"Pray tell, what hast thou done in the way of site promotion?" the man asked.
"What?"
Ah, yes it's an age-old story isn't it? So many people have great ideas, but they fail to do an effective job when it comes to letting others know of their 'great idea'.
So many websites languish in a world where the site is neither optimized for search engines nor has the owner done anything meaningful in the realm of site promotion.
It doesn't matter if you sell the best pickles on the planet or decorative windmills, if you can't find a meaningful way to get your message out to the public the end result is a site that is rarely viewed and a product that simply gathers dust.
If you created a consumer product you must also understand that you must also become a consumer advocate by not only letting the consumer know where to buy your product, but also why they should buy your product.
Your business is never at greater risk than when you refuse to share your commitment and integrity in the product you sell.
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