Google, Google, Google...

...the more I work with this company, the more I respect it. A programmer friend of mine told me he has "a man-crush" on Google because they're so ahead of the game, and as a Google advertiser, I'm starting to agree.

My friend Tomas, who works for a cell phone rental company here in San Diego, put me on to Google advertising and explained how it works. If you have a product that people will search for on the Internet - a product like "anti-bush shirts" for example - you can pay Google to show your site when people search for "anti-bush shirts" or "anti-bush clothing" or "anti-bush gear." Your site will show up on the right hand side of Google's results page, as a sponsored link.

But it's not just search engine users who will see your link. You can also have your website mentioned in Google ads, which many webmasters include on their sites to earn extra revenue. So not only would people searching for "anti-bush shirts" see your link...the link would also be featured in Google ads on anti-bush websites, on t-shirt websites, and on other sites that are somehow related to "anti-bush" or "shirt" or both. And you only pay Google for people who actually click through to your site and check out your goods.

I'll talk more about Google in future posts. For now, I've signed up with them and activated my account, so I expect my website to start seeing some traffic.

The website can now take orders...

...and though I don't have all the product shots incorporated yet, it's pretty much ready to go. I placed a couple of orders myself - one from the PC at the local library - to make sure everything works like it should. The order came into my inbox, I approved it and submitted it to the credit card processing company, and in a day or two the charge showed up on my online credit card bill...so it looks good.

When I get an order from a regular customer, the charge will appear on their card within a day or two after I process their order - but I won't actually be paid for a couple of weeks, as their credit card company pays my credit card processing company, who in turn pays me. And the amount I get won't be the full amount the customer paid...instead, I'll receive that amount less the commissions of the credit card company, the processor, and SBC/Yahoo, which total about 4%. I've shopped around a bit, but for a small operator like me, this slice seems to be a standard cost of doing business online.

Finished designing website...

...or at least designing the shell of it - there are still some product shots I need to fill in. So once the Wackwear shirts come in and I get those product shots, the website will be fully operational.

It was nice to have the site done, and I was feeling good about the accomplishment, so this afternoon I splurged and made my biggest purchase of the last few months - a new beach cruiser, to complement the rusty and wobbly (but still roadworthy) older one I've ridden for 4 or 5 years. This purchase went against the spirit of my spendthrift, bare-necessities-only ideal for the summer...but if you rode on her for a few minutes, you'd probably understand:

With help from my friend Tomas...

...I've obtained photos of actual shirts from each of the 4 designs in the King George collection, which I will use as product shots on the Wavelength Clothing website. Tomas, a professional photographer, did a great job behind the digital camera – and he was kind enough to do it without asking for any compensation. The male model we used (let’s just say he’s a close personal friend of the narrator) was equally inexpensive, but nowhere near as talented. Nonetheless, in a testament to Tomas’s skill, the shots turned out great. (Need a photographer in the San Diego area? His email: tomas at boardsnap.com)

At this point in the summer, whether I’m doing odd jobs like the photo shoot or more routine stuff like setting up the website, I’m typically working no more than 5 or 6 hours a day. Usually, I wind up the day’s work at around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, perhaps running an errand or two before riding my bike to the beach to bodysurf. A few times a week, I’m even going to the gym before going to the beach. There’s no question that the short work days allow me to exercise more thoroughly than I have in years. In addition, the increased amount of free time enables me to move through my entire day at a more leisurely pace, which undoubtedly has health benefits of its own.

My next 3 designs are ready and look good...

...so I've ordered 120 each of the Wackwear line, though I suspect that at least 2 or 3 of these designs might not sell very well. My thinking, however, is that I need to take advantage of the cost savings – and I bolster this argument by also telling myself that if Wavelength is a long-term success, the shirts will eventually sell, even if it takes a long time.

Update on 23 August 2005: Within a couple of months I would regret starting with such large orders, as it turns out that 2 or 3 of the designs would hardly sell at all in my opening months – and I would end up missing the big gob of cash I spent on the designs’ large runs when funds would start running low. I decide that I will not start with such large runs in the future, even if it means facing some higher per-shirt costs initially; with my limited capital, I can’t afford to invest close to $1000 in a 120-shirt order without testing the design’s market potency first.