New Search lost your biz??

Hi was wondering if any one else in SL has lost a lot of business since the new search has come out? I have lost 80-90% of my business since it was implemented, a few days ago. I pay for a 16-20K L classified ad each week that has been working for me for ages….. Now it is like I do not exist.

The new search did help me find a scum that copied my classified ad word for word including the spelling errors. I filed a report with no reply. It helped me find some one else that had named there “rental” land the exact name as my “paid” parcel that I own.

I viewed the hastily thrown together video from Torley Linden, I did what is said and I got no results. I IMed Troley for help, Torley did not respond to my IMs for help.

So for the past year I have been making good profit … I pay LL over 900$ US a month and I can not even get a help reply because I don’t own a sim. My land is all on the main land.

This month I will be lucky if I even make my tier fee and don’t wipe out, and I am most sure it is due to LL BETA testing on me in the friggen main grid I AM ANGRY

So is there any one else having these troubles?

I am not responding to the poll so as to not skew the results.

It is too soon to tell. One week is really too soon to say that it damaged your business. Are teleport numbers down?

While there are too many variables to definately link any upward or downward change in sales to any single thing in SL, I have noticed a definate drop in sales which seemed to coincide with the releases of the windlight firstlook and the 1.18.5.X.RC viewers; both of these viewers were optional, both were promoted by LL (windlight perhaps more than the release candidate) and both incorporated the new search earlier in November.

So the evidence is circumstantial and other factors may be at work. But I definately noticed a drop in sales that coincidentally began roughly around the time that the new search was rolled out in the test viewers and has so far continued through today.

-Atashi

You need to re-tool your marketing and keywords. Stuff that used to work doesn't work any longer to get you on the first page of the search results.

I have noticed a drop in sales again so could be. Could someone please explain in easy terms how the new search works and how to set up your items for sale that is diferent then how we used to do it. Or put a url to a good informative thread. I would appreciate it and Im sure others would also, thanks

Well here is something to figure out. In the new All tab, set the filter to places, turn mature content off, and search on "slut". At the moment the top result is Orientation Island Public. It's still in the top few results with mature on, even without the places filter

Figure out how that got there, and you can own the world =)

There is a slutwear slut wear freebie on the island and it's included in search. Traffic on OI drives the relevance up, so OI would be the biggest slut island there is.

I watched this a few times and did it
http://blog.secondlife.com/2007/11/13/tip-of-the-week-10-how-to-use-the-new-search-2/

I think it's affecting my island a bit different than I thought it would. I'm coming up high in areas I never thought I would, so I'm selling more of certain things than I used to. Overall, sales seem to be up, but I do think it's a bit too soon to tell. Once people start figuring out how to list on the new search better, I think it may change.

When you set your items for sale to show in search, check back periodically to make sure that the search box is still checked. My checkboxes keep mysteriously unchecking themselves. It's a pain to keep checking stuff every time I go online to make sure the search box is still checked. It happens mostly to my freebies. I tried deleting the items and putting new ones out, but it still happens.

You don't have to own an island to qualify for concierge support. Basically, anybody who pays at least $125 a month in tier (in other words, owns at least half a sim worth of land) is eligible. If you don't own that much land in one place, they may not have flagged your account as concierge-level; in that case, you'll have to ask LL to upgrade you.

I do pay 195 a month to own 65000 Sq M on the main land how do I got this service none of my e-mails have ben answered for 3 days?

Log in to the support page and click on the link to concierge support (it's a bit hidden in the paragraph before you get "most popular topics) and head for Live Chat...

If it was the new search affecting sales then the number who saw an increase should be equal to the number who saw a decrease. It's not like the new search shows no results. It would just show them elsewhere.

I just opened my shop so I don't feel qualified to vote, but I would have to think it's too early to call. If you think it's affecting your business then you'd better start playing with it to determine how to get better ranks. Times change. Those who change with it are successful.

I said that my business as improved, but thats a bit misleading as I really didn't sell hardly anything until the new search came out, also my stuff is pretty cheap, but on average my profit is approx L$60 a day, but up to 4 weeks ago my balance was always a minus.

probably it will take a time for taking effects for new search,
many ppl still dont how to use new search. many of them use it on wrong way
so we can talk about this next year for about 3 weeks

Interestingly, I've seen more sales from SLX in the past couple of weeks, is that because of the new search?

In world I haven't seen much change but most of my friends still use the old Nicholaz viewer which is pre-voice never mind pre-search, LOL (No, they aren't luddites, they Skype, just like they did before if they wanted to...)

The thread title, though, is more likely to attract people who have seen decreased sales. And the RA forum in general seems to attract people who are feeling negative about SL (just an observation - I don't see very many threads singing the praises of how LL is running things). Besides, people whose businesses are booming are probably in world dealing with customers instead of reading the forum.

I'm one of those with a startling increase - but I don't know that I can attribute it entirely to the new search since I just finished rebuilding most of my older houses, repackaging everything and redoing all my marketing. Plus I just introduced a new house.

I suspect it's a combination of all of the above.

I only sell one thing Hot tubs and I have totally re done my key words but I only dropped a few... After all I had to correct my typo on the key words some one copied out of my classified ad... And why would I want to re do my key words any way I sell hot tubs I don't want to be an ass and draw traffic for any key words other than hot tub I un knowingly tried this in the beginning a couple of years ago. I this it is bad business to spam any set of key words just trying to get traffic. I want in this case what the Lindens want.... for people that are wanting to look at hot tubs to search for them and come to my place....

I did not consider the fact that this is true.. people doing great will not be reading the forums as much.... As for the negative I think it is fair to be negative about being BETA tested in the main grid they are in essence BETA testing with my business..

I had 20 of my friends do a search for my target key word " Hot Tub"yesterday after posting this thread... Shockingly we first found out that no one gets the same results, using the exact same phrase "hot tub"... I had every one send me a screen shot of there results... On a few WOW I was #1 in the places search, which does not take into consideration my classified ad..

But every one got different results... we tested further and found that by just hitting search and leaving the words in the search box that the results would change, usually cycling after abut 6-7 refresh clicks.
This tells me things are really not working with the new search feature correctly.. if I go to Google and search " Second Life" the same results are returned in the same order time after time.

I think it is poor business to BETA test on paying customers BETA by definition means NOT READY for the market. I would think many more residents would voice there opinion about paying to be part of a big test.

Think about the different words used to describe hot tub: Spa, Jacuzzi, etc... those are your additional key words. Make sure your sale products are all set to "show in search" and make sure their descriptions include the word "spa" and "hot tub."

I am glad you are doing well!! After all I am hoping this search will work better for all residents. I do not mind losing business to competitors. And I hope this will allow every one to have a level playing field that wants to sell something.

The way the search was in the past only people wishing to invest alot of cash in SL could easily turn a profit.

I think that when some one searches for something or some one or some place they should be able to find things more efficiently. Let's face it I make great hot tubs but not every one likes my flavor/ style, I send people to Tiki island all the time if they do not like my models.

I am opposed to being BETA tested on.

The advice people are offering here is all good, refining key words, etc. But the main issue here is that Vendar is getting scammed for his or her classified expenditure, if the ad no longer shows up. LL needs to decide whether they are truly going to deliver a service for this expenditure, or just eliminate it altogether.

Everyone who has an opinion on this needs to go to Cristalle's thread (Would you pay more than 50L?), and respond to James Linden's posting on page 5. We often complain that the Lindens don't listen, but here is an actual Linden who helped build the search, asking for our input and suggesting a change, and I'm afraid his solicitation for input got buried on page 5 for very few to see. I think Cristalle and Chip and I are the only people who even answered him.

/142/fc/226678/3.html

I think everyone who is seeing a decline should do some proper testing first - document what keywords you are using to find yourself, and on what page you end up in search. Count how many times over you use that keyword in your ad. Test with alts to find the keyword, ensuring that spelling and spacing are identical. Track the number of teleports/maps/profile hits. It is just too soon to know if it's just a bad week, or if you are just buried too deeply in search, or if you're not showing up at all.

And yes, I would respond to James Linden's request for thoughts in the other thread. It's not that often you get the ear of an actual Linden in here.