Today was the day. I pulled all on-line advertising off. Google Ad-Words was the last place I was advertising on-line and the sales just can not justify the expense. A little background: In 2003 I started advertising on Google at first $5/day then $10/day and I got good sales, not great, but good. This continued through most of 2004 and then I came up with the idea of doubling my advertising expense, I could probably double my sales. It worked. September of 2004, I increased Ad spend with Google to $500/month to about $1500. Sales didn't double, they tripled! In 2005, the cost of advertising kept rising but the sales were not there. It got worse in 2006. Here is a number that will surprise some, Since I began advertising on Google in 2003, I've given Google $119,186 for my ads. Here are some breakdowns although not accurate since I didn't include Shopping.com, Yahoo or Pricegrabber.com ad costs which not as much as Google, are still substantial:

2003: Ad costs 7% of sales
2004: Ad costs 11% of sales
2005: Ad costs 17% of sales
2006: Ad costs 11% of sales

I didn't advertise with Yahoo or anyone else in 2003, but I did in 2004. Yahoo can suck money with no return of sales faster than a Las Vegas Casino can drain your pocket. Definitely not worth the price to advertise. Shopping.com and Pricegrabber have pretty low Returns on Investment. Shopping.com doesn't even give you a representative to talk to even though I was spending about $600/month on them in 2004 and 2005. Figure my Ad Costs as a percent of sales is probably about 4% higher for 2004-2006.

What causes this? I'm sure Click fraud has something to do with it, i.e. my competitors (of which there are a LOT) click on my ads forcing my cost to rise. For instance, every time an ad shows for Motorcycle Jackets in Google, depending on the time of year, the cost is about $0.80. This is charged to me if a sale occurs or not. So the new leather site that is competing with me clicks just 5 or 6 times a day on this ad, that's $2.40 a day or an extra $72 per month I have to spend. No let's say, they are not only clicking on Motorcycle Jacket Ads, but Chap Ads, Vest Ads, Pant Ads, etc. Figure 3 X $72 or an extra $216 per month. Now that's just one competitor!

In 2005, I signed on with a company that can monitor and check for Click fraud, for a substantial fee. How? I put a piece of code on each one of my advertisements in Google or Yahoo or whoever. When someone clicks on that ad, the service throws a cookie on their computer. When the person returns to click the ad again, the service knows recognizes the cookie and records their IP again. So what did I learn from my service? About 30% of my clicks came from the same IP with the cookies again and again. They were all AOL members or clicking from AOL where the IP addresses change constantly. I could see trends in the data that say the same computer with the same IP address was clicking at a certain time per day, perhaps 15 to 20 times in a day.

I gave the data to Google, also owner of this blog service, and asked for a refund of the fraudulent clicks. After a two week review, they determined that it was an anomaly of AOL and that no fraud occurred. The service that I paid money to wouldn't back up their service and mechanisms. So I'm stuck, unless I wanted to take on Google in court. A lot of forums said, "just figure in fraud as a part of doing business and either continue to advertise or not based on your sales and returns." Is it click fraud or not? I was approached by a person in Pakistan that for $50/month, would click on my competitors ads two hours per day, 30 days a month as a service. That is so unethical. Of course I declined.

I think fraud is now even worse than it was and I don't see it getting better anytime soon. Google claims that they screen for fraud, but I know of at least one person getting hit with a $700 tab in one evening after posting an ad that would not normally generate over $300 in clicks a month. That person was told by G that there was no fraud.

Anyway, the Ads just do not pay for themselves anymore. Google and Yahoo both claim great fraud screening ability, but I don't see it and I don't see a good results on sales anymore either. So, that's the way it is. Now that I have a brick and mortar store, I think the money spent on Google would be much better spent on local advertising.

I've hit my first 100 days in the store. Presidents write about their first hundred days in office, the new Congress did it...so let's talk about the stores first hundred days. For those who don't know, our retail Brick and Mortar store, Discount Leather Mart is located at the corner of Woodland and Carpenter Roads in Modesto. These are random things.

So, what's happened in the first hundred days. I met my goal of making rent every month. Profit? Still waiting. I've learned that helmets in stores are big sellers. Also face masks, especially the skull neoprene kind. I've now got lots of helmets, and ordering more German Helmets all the time. Big sellers. Business telephone charges are A LOT MORE than what they quote you when you sign up and it's not just taxes. Figure 30% more every month.

My door window got shot out by a vandal two months into the venture. The insurance paid off and was not nearly as difficult as dealing with other types of insurance suppliers, like auto or health. When it rains hard, water comes in by the roof air conditioning vent. Owner's looked at it. They don't see where it could leak. It doesn't rain hard in Modesto very much, so it's not that big of a deal. My corner shop facing south with west facing windows also, gets really hot even when it's only in the 70's out. Figure 10 degrees hotter inside. I've already run the air conditioning 5 days and it's only Mid March. Can't wait to see what happens when we get the consistent 95 F days like we normally get in mid summer.

Unlike people on the Internet, my store cruising people think my leathers are REALLY Cheap and great quality. It makes a difference when you can try something on, touch and feel and you have an extremely knowledgeable person (me) to talk you through the ins and outs of various items. I like dealing with people and this actually fits me better than the Net. Met some great people and already have regular customers.

I work the store and Internet business between 70-90 hours, 7 days a week. I've been doing this since December 9, 2006, with the exception of Christmas day, I've had no days off. It's not killing me though, yet. My friends are more worried about me taking days off than I am.

The store is still not complete, it's a matter of time to get it finished. The storage area is a mess, my office is still empty, and the second office is filled with junk. Plain saddlebags sell better than fringed. Not too many people care about the quality of sunglasses, but the look and price. People like to look at small things like wallets, hair ties, phone thongs. Lace up leather thongs and micro leather bras really draw attention.

Two of my competitors hired help purchased items from me because their boss refuses to carry them (leather halters, shorts for ladies, etc). I'm the only store that carries leather pants for the motorcycle crowd in this area. I may be the only store that carries brown motorcycle leathers in the area. Most of Wilson's leather in the mall looks good, but is inferior grade pigskin leather, not meant for motorcycle safety.

Lot's of people want boots and belts. I got a few boots, but no belts.

Word of mouth advertising is much cheaper than advertising in a paper, fliers, and much cheaper than Google.

All in All, it's been an adventure.

First, the picture I've got here is of Randy Glaze of Bulldog Racing. He's wearing his custom made suit I had made for him. Randy's been posting lots of stuff on various motorcycle forums about the suit and thankfully it's all been positive. If you want to check out what he's been saying, see http://www.kneeriders.com/forums/showthread.php?p=43726&posted=1#post43726 and http://www.cbr1100xx.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=43475 and http://www.cbr1100xx.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=42000 .

I've also seen a couple posts from other folks on different forums wanting to know if a custom made suit at this price is too good to be true. See http://forum.svrider.com/index.php?topic=84410.0 . Here is what I found out: I've done a terrible job of describing the suit on the web site. First: YES it does have hard armor in the suit. The Armor is CE hard plastic armor with dual density foam on the inners. Yes, my measurements need to be improved to give bicep size, calf size, crotch to knee and underarm to elbow measurements.

I have a customer, Tony who wanted to see the suit before he bought so he dropped by the store to see samples. His comments. "Your pictures on the site are terrible. I wouldn't buy a suit based on those pictures but after seeing the suit and talking to you, it was no problem. You just can't tell the quality or thickness of the leather or all the other little things about the suit without seeing one for yourself."

Okay, so I have work to do on the measurements, pictures, descriptions, etc. for the suit on the site. I'll get cracking on that soon.

I also forgot, a lot of people are giving me crap about the warranty I put on the site for the suits. Hey, it's standard warranty/liability stuff. Nobody that makes motorcycle suits, helmets or whatever is going to ensure a no injury policy if you fall or get in an accident. I spent about an hour on line yesterday trying to find warranties and disclaimers on Joe Rocket, Alpinestars and Icon Racing suits or even jackets. Guess what? None of these guys lists a warranty on either their site and their dealers do not either. My guess is, the warranty and lack of responsibility could scare off customers so they just don't list it. Also, most of their dealers won't even deal with a customer who has a problem....they say the warranty is the manufacturers, take it up with them. So I list a warranty and limits of liability statement and get reamed for being honest. It just goes to show you, perhaps being honest isn't the best policy, however I sleep better knowing I put it out for John Q Public to decide.

Enjoy

Probably wondering about the comment 2 posts in one day on my last post? For some reason, I can't get YouTube to post videos with the new login procedures here at Blogger. I don't know why, but that's the way it is.

Today: My MG has finally got the steering fixed. This pic isn't of my MG but it is the same year, color etc, so you get an idea. Just need the brakes fixed and I'll be cruising in the little loud machine once again.

Wanted to mention my new Site, http://www.mydiscount-helmet.com . Got some neat helmets and the distributor is near my location so shipping is not that bad. Got a dozen helmets in last week and by the end of last weekend, half were sold...nice quality, good prices. The Mat Skull Beanie Helmet is an awesome motorcycle helmet and the feel is something that is a cross between cool and downright eerie. I don't know what they put on the mat helmets, but if feels Cool.

Coming up fast, when I get the pictures developed is my new loyal customer Abe in his Dark brown Vented Racing jacket, and Chaps, plus his dog Jack, goggles and all on the Harley. You won't want to miss these pics.

Plus, just got the Custom Made Motorcycle Racing Suit in for Randy Glaze. Awesome job and a great design. Now Exclusively at Discount Leather Mart, http://www.discount-leather.net/custom/ . My customer Tony, who just purchased an off the rack racing suit from us is going to take some pics and put them on the web...he flat out told me MY pictures are terrible on the web site and do not even come close to showing the quality of the racing suits. Guess what...the racing suits are all going up in price in the near future, primarily due to materials and shipping costs passed onto us from the manufacturer, but you may have a month to get it at the lower cost if interested.