§ Act I Scene I §
I remember the first time seeing a German Christmas market.(Before this I had only experienced department store holiday shopping, sitting on some badly disguised old guys lap for a quick Polaroid snapshot in a kitsch ply wood grotto, ultimately toddling home clutching some cheap piece of crap made in China.) I was truly bedazzled and awestruck. Hundreds of snow covered wooden huts with windows, each filled with the most peculiar and original wares, everything from natural lavender scented homemade soaps wrapped in delicate rice paper to exotic insects from all over the world varnished and pinned in their own individual glass display cases according to their different sizes. Where should I start? What should I buy? Which of the delicious smelling foods and seasonal drinks should be feasted on first? My initial contact with internet marketing created similar feelings and emotions, which in turn inevitably led to some silly impulsive decisions and a rather negative affect on my pocket book. This had to stop immediately!
§ Act I Scene II §
He awoke one Sunday morning feeling touched by divinity and with a flashing light bulb over his head. BING! It was like his brain had been rebooted and upgraded all at once. “What was I thinking?” he wondered. Staring at the ceiling with a crooked smirk of realization, he sprang from the comfort of his bed and turned on his beloved laptop. “I should have seen it sooner” he thought. “Why didn’t I see it sooner?” The problem with our born again businessman was that he had been dispersing his efforts between too many different objectives and each had made a slight damp firecracker like “pfizz”. “If I combined the energy of all my firecrackers, I could go nuclear”, he realized giddily.
He took one, only one of his affiliate products, focused on it and studied it until he knew every atom. He took apart each webpage for this product with a toothpick, nurturing each keyword, description, heading and sentence structure. Relentlessly driving traffic to his new love child with all the weapons in his arsenal while nurturing it with every SEO tactic he’d learned along the way. BINGO! First a trickle, then a flow and finally a stream of traffic which he knew over time would yield a harvest of affiliate commissions.
§ Act I Scene III §
A light fog slowly drifted around the ancient coastal village as the church bell chimed for the sixth time. The usual Saturday morning activity was well under way as the trucks rolled in and the dealers began to set up their stalls. This was one of the biggest markets in the region and attracted sellers from all over the land. But today would not be like any other Saturday, today would be totally different. Something strangely peculiar was happening. All of the citizens here had made their livelihood from fishing since they began to walk upright. It took about an hour for the trucks to unload their goods and place them on display. Then in unison they started to bellow aloud their offers in regular open-market fashion. “Fresh fish come and get it!” Not one dealer, not 2 dealers, but every dealer was yelling the same chant. All of them were selling fish. Not only was it ridiculous that they were all peddling the same product but the fact that they were trying to sell fish in a fishing village made it all the more bizarre. The villagers laughed heartily and in embarrassment each peddler quickly packed their goods and drove from the town as quickly as possible with their tails between their legs. This would be a story that the children would tell their children to make them laugh at bedtime.
§ Epilogue §
Beware the magician using smoke and mirrors. With a little slight of hand they can amaze and mystify but at the end of the day a trick is still just a trick. Ask yourself “what am I really getting for my money? Is it too good to be true? What does my gut think? Am I driving or being taken for a ride? Don’t follow the lemmings and stay focused on your goals. The risk can be greater and not every venture will be fruitful but when you find something that works for you the pride of succeeding on your own steam is extremely satisfying.