YABT - Yet Another Bot Thread

i never stated it was the only way..i know you need to use the search as one of the tools but only as one..not the main one..
Groups work well that let you advertise in them so does holding sales..word of mouth is useless unless you have been seen in some way..

there are a lot of ways to get your name out there other than the search..
i don't think it needs to be how well someone is doing on the search..i just think it needs to be how well you use all the options sl has to offer..

search to me would be a small part of any business i had..it would be one i would use but it wouldn't be where i put all my eggs..

I can't agree with using bots or camping to increase your business sales. Now that LL is restricting logins at high load times I feel that campers and bots and the business owners that use them need to get out.

exposure is what i am referring to..i just don't see why all the worry about how well i would do on the search engine when i have many other ways to get noticed..throw some dj's a few bucks here and there to push an add in the clubs they work at ..get in groups that relate to your products put a sign over my head saying ..check out my new line for this season ..ask me for a free demo or item that i may have just so people can get a taste..or even drop off some furniture in some stores as you had mentioned that may catch the eye..
it's all about them going to the store for a reason that the percentage goes up in sales over just window shoppers..

search engine helps and some only use that and say a group in their store..getting your name out there in many ways..that is what i am refering to

The thing I hate, as a consumer, is how every thread of this nature addresses how unfair the system is to the merchant.

The Search All function needs to be developed better so that the one conducting the search can filter out unwanted results.

I don't think anyone has yet considered the possibility of letting the searcher choose what factors might rank a search (traffic, picks, whatever else is used). Instead, merchants want to tell the searchers the factors they are supposed to care about in a search.

Give searchers more options for filtering results, and the searcher will learn how to filter out the weeds and find the flowers.

That's why, when searching for products, I don't use the SL searches at all anymore. It is much easier to find things using SLExchange. SL searches waste my time; SLExchange searches save time.

I suspect that one reason that SL residents are still using things like Search Places, rather than Search All, is because residents at least know what is causing the rankings in Search Places.

Hi Marcel!
Just jumping in to wish you luck with your new store. I know what it is like to move and how one worries about how to keep their customer base. I hope you found a busy area with some busy shops around for some walk in traffic too.

Anyway, keep the stress low while you get this all worked out and go with your gut instincts. They often advise us well.

Take care.

Forum people, you amaze me

Many good tips after the last posting I did myself! And still not convinced about the bot issue, I might try some other things first.

@Phil: you keep amazing me, being on of my competitors you give good advice nevertheless. Really do appreciate. Maybe some people that did read the other bot threads think Phil and me are best friends, but in fact we are competing. Well, probably he hurts my business more then I hurt his . Giving advice to someone who tries to compete with you, shows style.

@Ceka: You are right that word of mouth is an important one, but that does depend how well known you are already. The bigger you are, the bigger word of mouth works. Taking Phil again as my competitor, his stuf is way more spread around SL then my stuff. So the chance that people are led to his place instead of mine, is also bigger. Putting attention to more then 1 area is smart though.

@Tabliopa: You are right in the fact that parcel description is the key issue. Picks are a very good second though. I saw my place in search rising day by day when more people got my pick. Traffic means nothing, but it does in Places search.

@Jojogirl: Thanks and I will contact you in-game (if I dont forget, my mind is running over these days!!). I am pretty sure there are things I can optimize. Most of my stuff is not asian themed anymore though, as I put my money on low prim

@Skell: To be honest I dont know wether there are blogs that are right for my stuff, and I did start an own blog. Just do not have the time to fill it, so I don't think blogging is for me Free items I have for my group members, but treasure hunts might be a great plan.

@3Ring: You could always go pick camping or doesn't that pay enough to make your payments? (no idea I must admit) You will need PIOF though at most places.

Hope I did not forget anyone, as said I am very happy with the responses. Almost all were really contributing to my OP, which is a wonder on its own, especially with a controversial topic.

For the moment I am going to add stuff to my shop (must have way lot more stuff in order to compete well in this market) and listen to your other tips (and jojogirl ). After I am pleased with the amount of items to choose from, and traffic still is as important as it is now, I might change my policy and fire up a handfull of bots.

Anyway, I need a few more days to finish my new parcel now. Going to make it as nice as possible!
Furthermore: today 2 entire open sims were placed in front of the sim I am on, for recreational purposes only! 2 sims of sailing pleasure, I might need a boat after all

Pffft! I said it wasn't consumer friendly!

Darn, even while typing my answer, more replies

@Mac: Thanks! My position is Search all is already secured (even my old parcel is still listed, so now I ma twice to be found in the top 10, but indeed all people with landmarks are my biggest worry. But, I will manage. The new parcel is at an estate, covering 5 sims plus 2 open sims (sailable water), so I expect some foot traffic from there.

@Bree: You do have a point there. I would not want to block access to other residents of course, especially since I was a victim a while ago myself On the other hand, as long as bots are allowed, why would it be allright for others to run, and not for me (you don't say that btw). So, again a matter of choice. As for me, I would say YAY if they banned either traffic, or all traffic bots. So would Phil, as he stated in another thread. At the moment, it is simply so that if you want to make money, you need to use bots, at least in our line of business. The competition does so, meaning that not doing it equals loosing the battle.

@Amity: I really read your piece three times and still can't understand what you mean. What merchants are telling searchers about what to care about? The only thing I want, is to be found. Searchers do not have to care about anything as far as I care.

Cheers all, Marcel

By the time I read through some of the thread, I think I lost track of your original post, and mentally substituted a different topic to which I'd rather respond. I apologize for that.

Same here. Product shopping in SL using the search is both tedious and time consuming. Sometimes finding the needle in the haystack would be easier. As far as fairness to merchants is concerned, that is what the new search is for. Only for their benefit. New search does nothing for social places.

Hopefully LL will get the places functions built into the new search such as the ability to quickly map a place.

Marcel, have you thought about running events from time to time and perhaps giving away some free product at these events? That is one way to build word of mouth if they are truely impressed with what you are selling.

I wonder if I'm the only one who tends to avoid shops with high traffic numbers? When I do a search that returns a lot of entries (for example "low prim furniture" I regularly skip the top few listed, thinking that they are either artificially high because of bots/campers or that the products might be too generic to be interesting--both of which, I realize, might be incorrect assumptions but they are the ones I operate under. The attempt to get to the top of traffic-lists is based on the belief that most people start shopping at the stores listed first, but is that true? Is there any research showing how consumers actually use the lists generated by the "Search Places" tab?

You're not the only one - there are a number of people here who do that.

Yes it is true, but there is no research that I'm aware of - just personal experience of finding that when the ranking drops out of the first few - *very* few - visitors and sales drop significantly until the ranking goes back up.

But you know that number is a huge minority.

Yes I know, but Petronilla thought she might be the only one.

I do avoid the large traffic numbered places, and not for "morality" reasons. I simply can't stand the lag that happens in MOST of those parcels. Not all, mind you, but many super high traffic parcels also have super high lag. It's why I won't step foot in ETD or Gurl6 for hair even though they have cute stuff, and I'm not aware that they camp a whole lot, if at all.

Marcel, my final 2 cents: specialize. Specialize in Indonesian furniture, ethnic furniture, etc. Find your own niche.

near as i know, picks camping pays L$10 per day, AND you have to go to a place, click a sign to get your $$$, and you have to get there before everyone else, because the sign runs out of money. even if all my picks were camping picks, i would only make L$100 per day if i made each pick place in time.

i have a few campers (group only) that make $L288 per day each, and all i do is resit them occasionally and make sure they are relogged if the sim goes down. camping does not pay well, obviously, but it pays my membership and tier, plus a few extras.

i have bought more land than a girl should be allowed (switching around) and while i make a profit on each one, it's not significant (well, one was ).

but if i can't play SL for no cost from my personal pocketbook, i won't be a landowner and premium member. i refuse to pay real money for a video game! that's just me. i'm cheap. my husband hates how frugal i am... until he has no bills to pay and gets to go out for beer!

define "high traffic count"

I tend to stick to the same list of Favorite merchants. If I am looking for something new I will either ask for recommendations, or Search Places. I ignore traffice numbers, and alphabetize the list and go from there. I don't look at classifieds, or use slx or onrez. I do look at the New Products forum here.

I too am one of those that ignores places in search with unusual high traffic

what gets me to visit a place is mostly based on what I see in the snapshot

I tend to scroll through several pages and I'm more interested in seeing a picture of the goods in the place description, and good keywords that match what I'm looking for. I will automatically disregard stores that use camping devices to get traffic - I think this is a worthless practise and gives the impression that your goods are of such poor quality that you need to bribe people to visit. In any case, campers are mostly bots anyway, so all you're doing is paying other people to sit their bots on your land 24/7 milking money off you for nothing.

I never look at classifieds and I very rarely bother with the top places listed in Search Places, purely because I don't trust businesses that try to game the system - I'm far more likely to trust stores that appear on later pages.

A footnote:

Back when I was selling low-prim furniture, I got between 75% and 90% of my sales directly off SLX. Don't overlook the value of setting up storefronts there and in On-Rez.

I'm sure there are other people like me out there, but I avoid high traffic areas for shopping or whatever. I have a slower DSL connection and I find bots and campers cause too much lag for me, bots that move especially. When I'm looking for something, I scroll away from the high traffic areas and take my business or fun elsewhere.