Alternate forms of Advertising

What are some good ways to reach a lot of people with ads besides the classifieds and the grossly overpriced Feature Listings on SLX ?

Are there any advertising networks or other stealth tactics that you know of that you wish to share?

What works for you?

The inworld groups as what might be appropriate for your product - there are fashion ones and a couple of decor ones also.

What do you sell?

Also- don't forget to post here in the New Products section and SLU and also the Xstreet forum has a New Products secton to advertise in.

We advertise on some of the bigger SL blogs/SLU and that seems to work and is not that expensive either for the amount of interest it is generating.

This blog list is a good start for finding other blogs that allow advertising for your SL service or product, and come and visit us also at slapt.me

http://www.secondeffects.com/2009/03/whos-biggest-redux.html

You've already gotten good ideas above!

Experiment with Xstreet's Feature Listing options. Some have not generated many sales for me, but others have. A feature that costs L$100 and doesn't generate sales is expensive, but a L$1000 charge that leads to L$2000+ in sales is a smart investment.

Remember that simply listing an item in Xstreet without a Feature Listing is free, and can be some of the best advertising you can get. Many of my customers find my items in Xstreet and then come to my store inworld to purchase. Put your SLurl in every Xstreet product listing.

Consider SL-oriented magazine ads. They are often expensive, but allow you to reach a targeted audience.

I sell a few doors, building supplies and textures..

SLU? what is that..

and I cannot post on Xstreet Forums.. they coded my ass out of the BB section for some super trivial comment I made about one of their favorite Brown Nose Vendors. The dipwad owner even sent me an email telling me that their customer service agent made an error when entering the reason for banning, but still they will not restore my access.

As for Groups, I have issues with spamming my Store Group, its mainly there to give people that are loyal enough to be in the group much better pricing.

actually I only made one announcement on it since I started it to announce a goof I made with Vendor issues.

Are you talking about specific Advertising Groups?

and thanks

SLU - SL Universe - http://www.sluniverse.com/php/shop/

While I applaud your anti-spam views, it can hardly be called spam when it's YOUR group Those people signed up cause they liked your stuff- you are wasting a great resource as well as short changing them if they cant find out what is new with you. Dont overkill but certainly send notices to your group!

Other groups exist for the sole purpose of advertising your wares- that's what they ere created for and why people sign up - so they hear about what you have to offer. Tae advantage of it.

Make up a blog of your offers too- put the link in your signature here and on your notecards- the point is that people hear about you. NO matter how great what you make- if people don't know they can't buy it.

As for adverts on XStreet - i must agree with Miles - if it brings you sales it is not expensive
Good luck

I have like 700+ Items on there and used to pay them for Feature Listings, but many of my products do not cost that much so spending $ 11 US for a product listing that costs 25 cents and might sell 5 times a week is not realistic. I used to do them just to keep my name up there, but since the staff there treats me like a child I stopped paying for feature ads. My total sales only decreased by a small percentage on there since stopping the listing upgrades. It seems as if my regular customers are fairly loyal. The issue is in world traffic, most items have to be seen in world to be appreciated and SLX is starting to make people lazy. Also.. the overall quality of the items on SLX as a whole seems to be going into the DUMPSTER

Well then, following ur XStreet comments I guess we can just let that be -
You will need to concentrate your efforts on generting foot traffic. Again I don't know what you sell - but you might try Midnight Magic promos or Lucky Chairs or Freebie Groups to draw folks in. Personally, I don't like Freebies, I think it cheapens SL for all of us because there is such a glut.

Do investigate the groups -

good points - I will check out that website.

the other thing with the group is also, once somebody is in the group, they will typically come to my store any time they are looking for a new texture or something they need for building anyway.

Over-advertising with existing customers can do more harm than good.. if I buy from somebody all the time anyway, I do not need the notices... I can assume there is new stuff and probably know how to find it or even better I will IM the owner and ask them for what I need.... I frequently ditch groups because of the endless notices.

I was also thinking of buying a bunch of 16's near info hubs and putting a nice " Bill board" on them just to get the name out more.

Or... Maybe I can figure out how to be advertised on the Log on Screen like that Estate Management Business for free too, somehow, although I think I know exactly how that works. Owe enough to a supplier, they will become your partner...hahaha

in rl, fashion a sign emphasising second life and the name of your shop. make you avi name prominent.
go to the busiest part of rl town and jump out of the car nude, holding the sign above your head. shout and dance and do anything you can to attract mass attention. run a few blocks away and do the same thing. do this as many times as you can before getting caught.
within hours you and your store will be featured on untold twitters, tubes, forums, even the nightly news and rove.
i reckon you would get TONS of exposure!
dont underestimate the value of rl media.

You could post a lot of questions and responses in the Residents Answers section of the forums, making sure you have a massive graphical advertisement in your sig and several slurls to your various outlets.

Pep (Which is why most people have sigs turned off, thus depriving forum participants from the occasional useful and humorous sigs that *aren't* crass advertising in flagrant defiance of the Forum Guidelines.)

hahah .. in RL I have to hide the fact I am on here.. My ass would be kicked... But yes.. I already employ a version of that tactic .. and it keeps things less than boring and myself in mini trouble at all times.

The thought has crossed my mind but I have never actually put my store ad in my sig.. I might have put yours though haha...

another option is to stage some sort of copyright drama! use an alt to send bogus evidence to scd, allow them to create a huge drama, then positively refute it as your main. thats pure gold mate.

Wow Nina, you think evil...

Come and have a look at our alternative www.slapt.me we are new but growing and gaining a good reputation for listening to our customers Have a read of the announcement forum first

I don't think I've spewed my Pepsi on this new monitor. It has now been broken in well. ROFL!

~ ~ ~

On another note - those of you who are using the DNS system, how has that been working with sales? I'm subscribed as a consumer, but plan to purchase a designer kit soon.

I've sent at least 5 people over to Ralektra's and Amar's shops (just because offhand I knew they had the DNS hub out) and at least one of the 5 commented on how much they liked the particular store, stayed to shop...plan to return, etc. So, that could be another idea.