How to get my business to show up in 'Find'

How does a small merchant, someone who only has a small vending kiosk on group-owned property, get listed so their business will show up when someone searches in-world for the business name or the types of merchandise that they sell?

I have started a small business in SL. Just a little vending kiosk in one of the many SL malls, selling t-shirts, dresses and other things that I have designed. And no one yet knows my business exists, unless they walked right past my vendor in person.

Searches for 'clothing', 't-shirt', 'dress', and other terms that relate to items sold by my business show many other businesses which sell such things, but not mine. If you enter 'Ceera's Foxy Fashions' in a search, which is the exact name of my business, nothing comes back. I would imagine that if I owned the land that I have my kiosk on, or if I had my own building, then maybe I would show up. But I don't. So... what do I do?

Is there some sort of registration process to get listed in the Find function? I haven't found one.

In your land setting there is a 30L fee for listing it...just add the things you want to be searched from in the description, or land name..

You can't unless 1 you own the land or 2 you get the land group officer to list your items in the description. Its one of the shamefully bad shortcommings of SL that there isn't a more comprehensive find system in SL. SL Exchange and SL Boutique and other web based merchants were developed to try to overcome these deficiencies. The "classifieds" is SL's fairly recent answer to that problem but that will cost you $250L for 2 weeks (I think). A landless small vendor is pretty much screwed, of course that is how SL gets you to tier up.

Here is the trick. Mention your land in the Find for 30L. In the title of the land put the keywords to your store. In the description put "Check my profile for my store". Then link to your stores under "My Places" in your profile.

Another thing you can do is mention your store locations at your home, which admittedly some people find tacky, but is an option.

Assuming they have any land that will work. Basic accounts trying to set up vendors is gonna be tough.

Hmmmm. Well, I'm on a basic free membership, and I own no land. I am in a few groups that have group land, including being part of the group that owns the land which my store is on right now. I don't think that I could get the group to list my store like was suggested. There's 50+ vendors in the Forest Store, and if they listed all of us in the land it would be a mess.

The "Classifieds" are right out. Way too expensive for a small vendor like me. If I could afford something like that, I'd have a Premium membership and would own land. My sales won't even come close to covering the cost of a Classified ad at this point.

If I mention my store in my personal profile, with a link in my 'picks' area, does that show up in a search?

Profile does not show up in a search, but always a good idea to put your store in your picks..

As I check profile once in a while, and check picks...and if I see something you made, again check picks to find your store...else I would have to IM you and ask, so it does make it easier having your store in your picks, but does not do anything for searching.

Thanks everyone. I've put in a feature request for a method to allow small-scale, landless merchants to register their stores so we can be found. No official response yet, but it's already received a few positive comments.