Do you REALLY make money here?

I don`t think ive ever stepped foot in "Simone" nor have I really heard that brand mentioned. On the other hand, i *always* hear about Bare Rose, and I`m definitely familiar with Last Call. But I wanted to add that traffic count does not indicate how many shoppers a store has, or how much money is flowing through. Aside the fact that some use campers/alt drones to boost their traffic, traffic is based on how many people go and STAY for a length of time, not on individual landing hits. So if people go to a shop and hang out more, that shop will get a higher traffic count. Though in this case stores like Bare Rose/Last Call probably really *do* get more visitors then "Simone" its not safe to assume that`s the case because someones traffic is less than another, because again- traffic isn`t counted by individual lands to the island.

Traffic numbers are meaningless to a store with brand recognition.

All those examples are well known by the people who actually shop much.

Women know Simone's


She must be doing something right her clothes paid for her island.

I remember when she had one wall in the Nomine shop.

Id consider any store which made enough proffits to buy and island and make enough to cover tier and then some are not "Small" stores.

Bear in mind that _many_ island stores are shared - even ones named after the big brands are often actually shared with other businesses who benefit from the proximity. Usually, migrating to an island isn't a matter of a single business making enough to pay for one, but of a group of businesses getting together and agreeing to share one. I have been _told_ that there has been one case where a group of smaller businesses actually _bought_ an island for a bigger business, so that they could have stores on the island next to it, but I personally think that's a myth.

I`m not suggesting this is the case with "Simone", but were you aware that there are MANY designers in debt at the expense of owning an island?

I`m not sure if you`re under this belief, I cant tell, but I wanted to throw this out there as I know many people are: Just because someone has an island does not mean their profits paid for it, nor does it mean their inworld sales are paying the tier fee. I personally know of several people who bought their island out of pocket money, and don`t even make enough to cover for the tier fee each month. They bought it to try and look successfull and important. ...and people think they are.

I was browsing a blog the other day and one of the shops were infact mentioned and someone commented, "Well she must be making money, she has an island!" Not true.

I personally would NEVER purchase an island if I did not make the money for it by profits in world and then the ability to pay its tier by profits, but there are some who do not mind paying for these things out of pocket money I guess.

Thank you Jesse! This is the best way to explain what traffic means in regards to actual income.

I track my daily sales and traffic...and I rarely find any correlation between the two. I could have 10,000 traffic and an ok day in terms of sales, and vice versa where traffic is abysmal yet sales went through the roof.

As far as the OP, yes I do make real money and make a decent income...nothing like I would make were I back in my RL career.

That said, I do this full time and I love it...being able to work from home and spend quality time with my family is so worth it.

Best,
~Ari

Same here!

The funny thing as well is, sometimes it seems I make *more* on low-traffic days. My guess is that when the sim is not crowded, people are able to come in pretty lag-free and shop with ease, get what they want, and tp out.

When my sim is crowded people probably stay longer as the lag is worse and it makes it harder for them to see and purchase what they want which results in less sales but a higher traffic reading the next day.

Of course theres a difference between buying an island with store proceeds and buying it from RL funds in the hopes of more business.

Speaking of camping chairs and traffic gaming my guesstimate is those people in the second catagory are more likely to have campers.

Those in the first group already have name recognition.

When the textures of the vendors rez slowly and demos rez slowly, etc, people will spend less money it seems to me.

If im in a store that doesnt rez fast (my standards are early 2005 standards so that means PDQ by todays measure) I will usually leave unless its a particular item I want.

Yep, that`s what I was trying to say.

Uncrowded sim= better performance = people seeing what they want to get= more sales.... results in lower traffic count but possibly higher sales


Crowded sim= major lag = more ppl hanging around trying to wait for things to load = many ppl not purchasing and instead leaving ......results in higher traffic count but not neccesarily more profit.

... at THIS time. It might just be a delayed sale. I like to go to Last Call at off hours. High lag doesn't mean I won't shop there. It just means I won't shop there right NOW. A quality product will command a sale, lag be damned, if a person wants it badly enough. Crap plus lag = never see me again.

No, if I know what I'm looking for, I'll wait out the lag to buy.

Oh yeah i definitely believe people return at a later time...usually the next day I bet. But the traffic resets every 24 hours.

So a laggy shopping day may mean more traffic for the shop, but not neccesarily more sales (that day).




LOL

Sure, http://www.aworldmaker.co.uk/virtualreality.html there are instructions how to use the icons, movement is done with cursor keys (simply back/forward/turn) although you can turn gravity off and fly.
The art gallery has several worlds connected to it, you get to them by simply walking into the red, green, blue hovering squares, same to return to the 'hub'. You can, use the inbuilt java scripting to asign inertactivity, or 'robotic' elements to the 'world' by adding them to prims or even to the world itself, much like SL, I never got round to doing that. The lighting is local in all worlds and adjustable in both colour and luminance.

Sadly, the platform has been dropped by Adobe, although there is still a relatively small community that utilise it for standalone projects. When you first enter the chosen world, you will not have an avatar, those are chosen from the icon menu, dependending on which ones have been allocated to your account (default is nil). You may find yourself in one of my own avatars.... Ladies, no fondling the avatar please, and return him where you found him afterwards . Avatars have animations, much like SL, which can me made in poser, or the default programme and saved in a folder on the website.

Given that the limitations then were over dialup connections, and although you were limited by rendering time, which produced lighting/texture maps, a 5,500 prim world on a PC 10 years ago, would take 5 hours to render. This wasn't the load times, the worlds load very quickly, due to the light/texture maps already being created when the world was constructed. These days it would take less than 30 minutes to fully render the whole world, making it ready for use, after you have built it. On the website, you will see 2 worlds, a cruise liner and an art gallery. The cruise liner has a link to the art gallery which you can find down the corridor behind the bar. The art gallery, you arrive at the main HUB, with links to 6 other sub-worlds, all with links back to the main HUB.
I did create a WW2 airfeild, a re-creation of the Globe Theatre and several other worlds, although I haven't hosted those and they lie dormant on a CD-ROM somewhere. You can add music, gesture, animations etc to each world and avatar, despite its age, using Java scripting and the likes of poser, means it is still a relavant platform.

I may revisit this platform at some point, should I ever get time

So, if I make good money selling say "Nikon Cameras" I should tell you that so you can go make your own "Nikon Cameras" and go into business competition with me?

OK yeah, thats it, "Nikon Cameras" sell really good, I highly recommend selling them in SL!!!

If you have something that is good, and is marketed correctly, it will sell... if people are willing to buy in these unstable times, and many are... just not as many?

The question is, how to market it (assuming it's good)?

That question has been answered in other posts on this thread.

1) classifieds
2) forum posts
3) get onto blogs on the planet and fashion feed
4) keywords for search
5) up traffic to get higher on the search
6) many locations in that attract your target market
7) word of mouth
leeching/mentoring with already well known designers.

1) classifieds - Gamed out of existance unless you PAY 100,000 pw
2) forum posts - Pie anyone
3) get onto blogs on the planet and fashion feed - RUBBISH personal taste NOT ability
4) keywords for search - hav eyou EVER tried search for clothes
5) up traffic to get higher on the search - GAMED by camping etc
6) many locations in that attract your target market - MALLS ... errrrrrr BIAB
7) word of mouth - The most reliable and HONEST
leeching/mentoring with already well known designers. - Excellent Idea and works well

I make money without having to have a sales pitch. For fashion and accessory people, to get butts in the store:

New Product Forum announcements work.

Group announcements work.
Fashion Consolidated group announcements work.

Getting blogged depending on the blog traffic works. Personal taste or not, it works. You get exposure.

Getting stores into areas with your market works. There are themed sims with excellent builds where you can have a legit store and not a booth. Go to those.

I beg to differ about #1--the catch? A unique product. Use your creativity to make something other people aren't making--find your niche`. And make it better than those making it. For instance...if you search for 'digital camera' or anything similar you will get Glowbox Designs visible every time. And my logo is so bright and easily recognizable. It stands out--which is key if you really want to get picky about sales. Once they're IN my store/studio...it's the product and atmosphere that will keep them there.

It's not so much the price you spent on the ad, it's the product, keywords, image/logo, and description of the company. If for example I'm looking for 'rugs' and about 50 entries show up...I will systematically go through the list (skimming past annoying title listings or tricks). If I click on a business and their main image sucks, and their company slogan and description stinks...I immediately move on--hell no I'm not teleporting.

But if I find a listing that has a clever and/or professional title, and the image is high quality...I'll read the description. If the description is professional, holds my interest, and doesn't bore me...I'll open the company in map view. From here I take notice of whether they are a legitimate business, or a traffic-camping clutter-fest in action...if there are too many people there...I don't teleport.

Finally, if all fits my needs, I move in for the kill--judgment day. I check out the product. If the setup of the store stinks, is two dimensional and drab...I leave. If it looks like care and design were placed in the build--I stay.

I don't have time for junk mail...I want what I want. And so do ALL consumers. The trick is to find balance.

My point being...classifieds and forum posts DO work.

Darn, I have more to say...but this is WAY too long.

Thanks if you read this.

I disagree on the top 3 -

1) Not true while the top few spots are dominated by huge money ads, it doesnt take long until you are under the 1000L range.

2) The New Products section of the forums does not allow responses. Thus you wont find Pie there.

3) If you send stuff to the fashion bloggers and they like it you might drum up a good review. Its risky though if your product is of mediocre quality or value.

Advertising in the Metaverse Messenger (M2) is a really smart thing to do. It is one of the best 'newspapers' in SL--and has a very broad readership.

I agree. I can't (or wont) pay the large amounts for a classified. I pay my stipend out in a classified, and I get traffic and sales from it. I just don't think I'd do any better with a higher priced ad. I know that I for one tend to shy away from the places with the large traffic numbers. Gives me visions of naked noobies camping and lag. Besides, depending on the quality of your product, no matter how much you pay in advertising, if it draws them in, and they see crap? You're not going to sell anything. They'll just work they're way down the list to the lower traffic, lower priced ads until they find the non crap.

Word of mouth. I get more business from that than anything.
Second would be when people click on my products that someone bought to see who made it.
Third would be customer service which turns into word of mouth.
I do make enough to pay tier and the monthly charges for myself and my wife but we tend to spend it on other things like dinners out or SL clothes.

I wanted to chime in that I agree: classifieds do work. I don't spend a lot of money on mine considering what it returns. For me, 2 tenants attracted by the ad pays for the ad itself after a few lease renewals.

I do have to disagree with you on how I choose a store, though, Michael. I think you are giving lots of good advice to the proprietor taking out the ad, but If we all followed your criteria for which products we purchase, we'd all be eating a lot of Big Macs and guzzling a lot of Coca Cola.

-Avion

Just adding in my 2cents (which I can barely afford). I dont make a living on SL...SL pays for itself though, which was always my goal. However, I did cash out when I sold off a massive amount of land and spent all of it on my kids....I dunno why, anytime I try and shop all I do is buy them things. I would love it if one day I made enough to pull out a bit each month just for family stuff. Really though, after spending money ON SL I decided never again and only shop etc if I have made the L in game, and it pays for my small tier now too. So, I break even