Moving Right Along

Last week, I invited you to comment on my blog, or register your presence by clicking the ads above this post. (You won’t see them if your browser runs Adblock or restricts javascript). I got one comment, a few ad clicks, and a few emails. We're not exactly burning up the Internet, but it's a start. I thank you for your time and interest.

I will henceforth post at least once every week, probably on Monday or Tuesday. If you’re interested in the inside story of Curio City Online, bookmark this site and come back periodically. I’ll do my best to keep my posts interesting and informative – and short.

For your part…please continue to signal your existence by leaving a comment or clicking on an ad. I don’t need much encouragement, but I do need some.

Oh, btw: My wife thinks my profile photo should be more mayoral looking. I kind of like the slightly warped self-portrait. What do you think?

NEXT: It’s Almost Christmas!

So What Do You Think?

My previous 10 posts gave you a short autobiography, the genesis of Kraken Enterprises and Curio City Online, a brief history of my first year in business, and a look at my current status and immediate challenges.

Now I’ll lay back until I see some indication that people are reading this. If you find it interesting or useful, please leave a comment. I seek readers who can learn from my mistakes and advise me on solving or avoiding problems – especially regarding marketing and technology. I’d like to establish an honest, free-wheeling dialog with interested small business owners, customers, vendors, and suppliers. I hope it will be useful to me and my readers. But first I need to know that you’re reading.

Sound off. This is my last post until I have some reason to continue. Is there anything you’d like to know more about? Did you enjoy what I've written so far?

(Oh, and if you don't comment, please make your presence known by clicking the ads at the top of my page.)

NEXT: ????

The State of the City

Fast forward nine months.

I continue to refine my PPC ad campaign to reduce costs and maximize traffic. At its peak, PPC advertising cost nearly 25% of gross sales. I calculate that advertising can consume a maximum of 8.25%. Year to date, advertising is running me 17.11% of gross sales. I am slowly bleeding startup cash to subsidize the difference.

My top priority, obviously, is increasing sales without increasing advertising costs. To achieve that 8.25% goal, I need to go beyond PPC ads. I know of two ways to do this: Get (free) links from vendors, bloggers, and other sources; and optimize my site further for organic search results. Affiliate marketing is a third possibility, although I’m leery of what seems like a high sleaze factor and the substantial complication of installing an affiliate module. My PHP technology (inability to build HTML pages) and my part-time developer support limit how far I can take these strategies.

My second priority is inventory improvement. I currently invest 50.2% of my gross sales in merchandise. Being a wee bit more than my average cost, that should produce a slowly-expanding inventory base. Unfortunately, I brought in a lot of merchandise before I knew what I really wanted to carry, or what people would really buy, and now I have thousands of dollars tied up in inventory that isn’t selling. I need to recycle that money into new products. I’ve had limited luck selling it off at cost.

My third priority is continued website development. I've still got numerous ideas for site improvements, and a little bit of startup cast left for achieving some of them. There is a major new revision of the underlying Sunshop cart coming out next month.

I’m heading into the Christmas season with an open-to-buy today of (-$42), and at least $2,000 worth of new merchandise and reorders wishlisted, with the Boston Gift Show coming up in a couple of weeks. I cannot sell what I do not have, so I’ll need to infuse more startup cash into new products in the next few months. I’ll pinch some from my development budget (since that’s going so slowly) and some from my marketing budget (since that’s just subsidizing PPC ads). But those are not big budgets.

So that’s where Curio City is today. January through April was discouraging. I nearly broke even in both May and June, thanks to Mothers Day and Fathers Day. July was poor, and August is even worse so far – today is my fifth consecutive day without a single sale; dry spells like that are murder. I expect a minor recovery in September, and then a robust fourth quarter. If it plays out like that, I'll finish the year close to break-even.

If anyone is actually reading this, you could help by freakin’ buying something. :) You could also link to my site, or refer your friends and relatives, or even just click on those Google ads at the top of this page.

Next: So...What Do You Think?