Getting the word out, Best Ways?

I have two fireplaces for sale along with Japanese screens and a victorian-style library unit above my free texture shop. Curiously, I think I only sold one of the fireplaces. The library, however, sells at least once a month. I think ... its because everyone who wants a fireplace already has one, but fewer people setting up home think about a library or bookshelf - and the wall unit is a pretty nice one, complete with ladder.

Thanks for the info, I might utilize it someday hehe

Damn! I forgot to include the sarcastic emoticon and someone took me seriously again!

Pep (My profile tag is obviously not enough)

It is pretty long now. Nothing wrong with starting with the most recent posts (haven't I seen you there ) and scanning backwards a bit to find something of interest. Also, nothing wrong with adding new questions, even if they have been touched on before. Things change fast in SL, so come of the older stuff may be a bit dated already.

hi Pep...I didn't miss your meaning....grin.

hi Nimue....I know, I ought to take the plunge. I did venture in once, (really quickly, thinking nobody would see me) and by the time I slept, ate and came back, there'd been 5,000 brilliant posts and I lost the entire vibey flow of the thing.

There is no 'best' way to get your name out there. and what worked one week may not work the next.

The best piece of advice is to do something to promote your store in SL EVERY DAY. Keep your name fresh in people's minds. if they dont know about you they cannot come.

There are MANY ways to do this, here is a relatively short list of soem o the things i do:
- Post new items on related groups in world (fashconetc)
- Post new items on my bog and a blog which links up to the worldofsl.com fashion syndicate
- Send out info about new items to my own group (i took the plundge and got a system which means i no longer use an in world group... an investment yes, but my group has grown more than 10 fold)
-Offer free itms to friends and random peopel i meet
- Drop a special gift on people who spend a lot in my store, or newbies who just purchased something (cos well they dont have a lot so yeah)
- Put EVERY one of my items on XStreet. I is a number game there, the more you have the more chane of someone seeing your stuff and seeing what else you might have
- Ask friends etc to add me to their picks
- Optimised my store with key words for search
- Look for suitable satelite stores which might be a good way to get my name out
- Sponser events at clubs (ok so generally at my own club, but hey i get a lot of sales from people who come to my club now)
- Create free items in a special colour for a limited time
- Offer those to the in world freebie groups
- Drop my freebie on the freebie bloggers
- Participate in hunts
-Create a bloggerspack one every 6 weeks or so with new items and drop them on fashion bloggers
-Explore the grid in my clothes and offer lms to anyone who likes them


That is a short list of some of the things i do. there are many more things i have tired, that i do on occassion, that can be doen that i am sure i hvent thought of

Like i said the thing is to do SOMETHING

It is terribly long but there is a nice summary @ http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dfz3dk33_0d2dvsbgx -

The thing with reading the whole thing would perhaps be of interest in watching the participant's goals and directions change, shift and generally improve. If that is too 'soap opera' - and it can be! then skip to the front nd ask questions or comment - it wd revive old info and may give new perspective.

Also be advised, not everyone that has chosen to contribute to that thread has had actual relevant information - like many other threads, it has been subjected to trolling and the general ill-spirited bull that forums in general attract. Fortunately though, the majority of the participants can see past the garbage and maintain focus on the goal. Feel welcome to contribute Tiffy - there is a lot of interesting things in it- like everything else, we sift thru it to find what is relevant and of import to the individual and leave the rest. To the OP - good luck in your endeavor and I might suggest adding a link to your XStreet account in your signature as well - I for one have a weakness for fireplaces and have more than I will ever find places to display at one time - not that this stops me from buying others!

Amaranthim, Being that you have a weekness for fireplaces could you take a look at mine in world and give me your honest thoughts. The more truthful and honest criticism I get, the better it will make me and my products.

Because I can use all the advice I have received in this thread and it would be useless if the product it self wasn't worth the time. I believe the fireplaces are very well done, but outside opinions would be great!

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Oshima/150/102/38


Thanks

Ah that's such a useful collection of resources and ideas! I'm off to join that group too. Thankyou so much, Amaranthim

@ Knight- Absolutely! will do -

@ Tiffy - Yay! Happy to have you- and do check out the Advice on Sales thread - right now we are trading picks amongst ourselves in the hopes of improving our search ranks. Just friends helping friends

Knight- took a brief stroll thru your store- very nice fireplaces indeed! Loved that there was a menu to control the levels of fire. I particularly like the round one - may have to find new places in need of a fire. Thank you for sharing

Thank you for taking a look!

We will be taking over the whole sim in just over a week, so we will be doing some remodeling and building new shops for the different items we sell to help separate them out a bit more and not waist so much usable space as we are now. In the mean time I will be joining sluniverse and looking into other options that were offered here. I am also finishing up updating xstreet with all of the fireplaces and updated listings to reflect the new scripts and options.

Thank you everybody who offered a idea and a helping hand so far.

Signature ads are spam in my opinion and an abuse of the signature feature of the forums. They force those who do not want to see ads to have to miss all the signatures, not just the ads.

I used to have them turned off, now I have them on and use them as a source of places not to shop at.

Knight,
I went and looked too, I built my own fireplace so it was the fire I was after. I've had fireplaces most of my real life and it's a big deal to me. I became kinda obsessed and ended up hunting SL and buying masses of different forms of fire logs etc.

I really think the menu is incredible!

I had a problem with the most smoke I found in that it leaked out the walls, so the little puff of smoke you use is great too.

One thing I found I was right into was the different types of fire and different types of logs, this probably was what made me re buy a few times. Also I was looking for a stack of wood that was sculpted for prim saving. So maybe some variations of what type of fire and logs you have there may help some.

I think your price is very very fair if not slightly under.

Thank you Ian for taking a look at the shop. Like I told you in IM last night we will be expanding to the full sim in just a few weeks. Right now we are in the process of building new shops for all the products. As for the the fireplaces, we will be adding new features again in the next few months. We will also be selling just the flame with the menu for those who want to add it to there existing fireplace or build there own.

Over the next month or so we will be working on all the ideas offered here to advertise and also be looking for other in world ways to communicate besides those offered here. The more I am able to get out and be seen the more chance of others seeing the shop. So I will be looking into the groups to help others learn.

Thanks again for taking the time to go look.

Knight

Yeah, I'm kind of embarrassed about mine and I apologise - but then I think, maybe that's where all my customers are coming from...



My main business now is making signs and ads and working with developers on large, private events.

I haven't added any new clothes to my shop inventory in months and I don't even have that many items for sale. And yet the shop is still making a profit every month. I think I am paying to be on the Search, but it's ages since I knew how that works or paid any attention to it.

My niche is "normal clothes," it's aimed at newbies who don't want to pay very much and don't want anything too exotic looking. Quite a few people see signs and things I've made when they first arrive in SL so some of them might find my shop that way, although that seems kind of far fetched. Honestly I think most people just find it when they're flying around and see it up on the hill...



Anyway I agree with Desmond that having good quality things for sale is most important.

I've found the best thing I can do to increase my own sales is to add more merchandise. The more things you have for sale, displayed in a way that makes it easy to see it all, the more people will come in and look around and the more likely they are to choose something to actually buy.

Well- I will tellyou- if it was not for the 'billboard signatues' I might have missed a few stores. I like your very much too Kaimi and I worked hard on getting mine to wher it is- I say keep 'em coming- another I like a lot is the Anti Antonelli one- i know if i go lookng for a pose, I wd probably go to his place first since he has become a familiar sight to me because his advert is so nice.

Now I'm ashamed I haven't complimented you on yours, Amara. I've been noticing that it looks very attractive.

Oh thanks but dont feel bad- i get a glazed over look myself at times - we see them so many times we might not notice after awhile-

Hmm- wonder if we should rotate them so they do get noticed ...

Heh heh, I'm aiming for glazed over for all the people who are sick of seeing it and eye catching for any actual potential customers.


Yours has been catching my eye and I've been thinking you've done a great job with it.

Thanks much! I had lots of help and inspiration i can assure you- my ulitmate goal here is to make an elongated one like yours that wd be suitable fo rthe SLU advert banners as well as a vertical one.

I deliberately didn't single anyone out as so many are doing it and none are worse or better than the others.
That you can still see my viewpoint despite your position is why I think highly of you Kaimi, so few can do that as fairly as you do.

Promoting a business reasonably in SL or RL is one of the things I feel extremely strongly about. When you consider the heated "discussions" I have had here in the forums, most of them have been about aspects of business promotion and whether the activities to do so are reasonable or not in my view.
This is why my statement and action are so strong.
We are saturated by advertising and general business promotion everyday, more and more of our private and public lives succumb to having a product placement or advert woven into it.
It honestly scares me about where we are going with it and I long ago decided to take a stance and personally resist the encroachment where possible, mostly by making people aware of the issue.
I feel in each media there are appropriate channels of promotion and inappropriate ones. In SL, search is one of the appropriate ones for example.

This thread was asking directly about these things and so I felt obliged to give this side of the coin and how it can actually have the opposite effect to the desired one in people who might also feel this way.
It was not mean't to attack anyone and I am glad you didn't take it that way Kaimi

Gabriele, A question about your response. To you what is the difference if a signature is a saying, phrase, pic or if it is an ad? What makes them any less attractive? The reason I ask this for example you have a signature that has a phrase and a pic, what makes that any different than somebody that just has there store logo?

My thoughts on this would be that I don't like huge signatures, but if it is kept to minimum weather it be an ad or just a personal signature I don't mind. It is just like everything in life, internet, tv, movie theater, towns and so on they all have ads, and they all have them placed for the maximum exposure. Do you not drink Coke or Pepsi because they advertised during your favorite show on TV? Do you not drive a car because they advertise on everything there is?

Just trying to get an understanding for your thoughts on this subject before I decide to load my logo or remove my signature.

Thanks!

Hmmm, if you don't know the difference yourself then it is unlikely I am going to be able to show you the difference in a way you that helps you understand my point of view.

However, here goes:

It is like asking, why is an advertising billboard different to a piece of art being displayed.

The answer of course is intent, one has the intent to guide the thoughts of others towards purchasing from the place being advertised, the other only has the intent to bring visual stimulation.

Advertisements that consciously or subconcious do not guide you towards a product or service are failures and become relatively benign.

WRT to the forums signature feature, the hint is in the name of the feature. It is for signatures, not advertising. Your business name is not the login name of your forum avatar and so the signature being provided for is your personal signature and not the signature of your business. That seems pretty straight forward to me.

Of course Gabriele will answer for herself, but my own interpretation based on this
She has personal views to resist advertising- wh she feels lke this, is not directly evident from the post, but obviously it is a thing that concerns her. Note the Again my interpretation - she will clarify her own words should she choose to - but what I get out of this is that her concern is on the societal influences thru marketing, the media mind control we are all subjected to. Her choice is to stand aside from that. Laudable to stand by one's principals. We all make out choices- my self, I am not overly concerned, hence my advert-signature.