Classified Advert- To Post or not To Post... What Impact does a Classiied Advert have

The thread about "Do you use Classifieds" made me wonder if my Lindens are better spent elsewhere (not) sure where - than in advertising...

I have an advert- but honestly- I don't use the Classifieds either... Does anyone really when clothes shopping?

If u do not advertise in the Classified- does it impact ur place in Search?

Since I hardly shop for clothes, I cannot relate to that one. But for search, I have never used classifieds.

The only reason I keep my 2 small classifieds in the system, is because I hardly notice the costs, and it makes sure that my name does pop up when someone searches in classifieds for my company. And what is 55 linden per classified anyway

What it does for search, I really don't know, but I can imagine it helps a bit. After all, it is an inbound link. Whether it has more weight then a pick, I really would not know.

Classifieds do not impact the new search at all, other than the 8 that you see on the side. We already discussed this, Amar. Need coffee?

Cristalle,
Are you sure of that one? Doesn't a classified generate an inbound link towards your parcel? I would think it does, and in that case it helps your Search All ranking. The only question then is how much weight is put into that link.

I run ads, just to be sure my stores are seen. Each parcel is listed in search, and each store has a 50L ad (at least).

Whether it's read or not by MANY, there's a chance that it may be read by ONE, and if that one comes and spends 1000L in my stores...it was worth it.

Not that I'm aware of. IBLs need pages for them to be links from, and there's no reason to create pages for classified ads.

Most people play around with small cost classifieds, as I used to do, but I did read a post quite a while ago, where the poster started paying a large amount (~30,000) for a classified and they said that it was well worth it.

When I still had clothing stores, I had a single L$50 in-world ad for each one, just to make sure they were there, somewhere, in Search. But I never found it worthwhile to pay huge fees or use other tricks to make my ad show higher in the rankings. I just made sure my keywords were well chosen.

I never saw any clear evidence that any of my ads or forum classifieds actually caused increased sales.

I use classifieds to find the creator's store. Very helpful if searching on OnRez and/or Slexchange (what is that now, xstreet?) and then looking in world for their store. Or if you happen to be recommended to go to a certain creator's store (and are only given name of creator). Especially as the picks can be used for anything and everything.

So, yes, I use classifieds all the time.

Actually did a search in classifieds this weekend, though I do not normally search classifieds (use classifieds to find store, rarely use to search). Was looking for a specific type of prefab. Easier to search classifieds that specific one time. Though I spent the majority of the search looking on OnRez and that other place.

I have found that classified ads work well for my rental lots, even a L$200 ad seems to bring in prospective renters. However, for my store, not so much (though I do get a few teleports from it). Optimizing search had more impact on sales at my store than my classified ad did.

Amar, i really laid off promoting my clothing line.... but i found that my best advertising was peppering my name throughout SL by renting spots in malls. i didn't sell too much in any one mall, but by following the visitor counter and comparing, i determined that ppl were TPing in to the main store from the mall spot.... and buying!

i do still have some little spots, but since i got rid of my main store and backed off all the malls, my sales have all but stopped. if i can muck up some time to craete some new things, i might start selling hard again.... the first thing i will do is sink my lindens into mall rentals.

that's just my personal experience.

Because I use a Visitor Source Tracker system, I can tell you that approximately 12 percent of my incoming customers arrive via my Classified Ads. So, if I apply 12 percent of my store sales to the cost of the ad, having a Classified ad is a no-brainer. I pay a total of 225 for 2 ads.

Also, the ads appear in my Profile for people to look at. I have my store listed in my Picks, but the additional listing under Classifieds on my profile is well worth the 50 Lindens per week.

Best way to judge if a classified ad is worth the money spent is to look at it every day in your profile and see how many clicks and maps are performed from it.. .
0 clicks and 0 maps means do not run it another week or change the category or wording of the ad.

I like the fact now with SEARCH ALL that your ad will end up on the side if a top payed ad when someone performs a search for a product or place.

Search has been in progress of major changes. It will be a challenge over this next year seeing how it all works out. And sometimes the classified section can be borked..

How do I see the clicks and maps?

Look on your ad, it will show you the numbers.

I run mostly cheaper classifieds on the theory that you never know where your potential customers are looking. The smart choice is to be wherever people might be looking: search, classifieds, XStreet, OnRez.....

Open your profile and look at the classified you posted. Down on the bottom there is a count of clicks and maps performed from it

Thanks Isablan and Dilbert- I had never noticed that at all!

A tip that was given in a class I took on starting a SL business (actually I think it was mentioned in two different classes at two different schools) is that a 50L ad is the least expensive so many people get those. If one doesn't want to pay a lot but be weeded out a bit from the herd, purchase a 51L ad.

I don't understand fully all the traffic ins and outs, but that made sense. Just go 1L higher than each break point.

whenever i check i am getting about 20-30 TP for my ad .. which means someone is looking at it.
i just use my stipend for classifieds.. money in money out.. same day. dont even notice that i am paying for it

I was thinking more along the lines of if you're looking for people to hire, or want to be hired for something. I wouldn't use classifieds to shop for clothes. I use SLX for that.

Well- I have discontinued my advert- ZERO hits on all counts!
These are my keywords- suggestions? Re the Art Gallery - I have space lent to an RL artist who has placed a gallery there.

Fine clothing for the discerning avatar. APPAREL
art gallery BALLGOWN ballgowns BALLROOM Belle BLOUSE
Blues BRA BUSTIER CASUAL chic CLASSIC Classy clothes CLOTHING clubwear club wear COCKTAIL CORSET Couture Cowgirl Cuddle Dama DANCE DANCING designer detailed DOLLARBIE DRESS DRESSES ELEGANT EVENING
Fairy Fashion FEMALE Femme Flex FLEXI FLEXIE FLEXY FORMAL FREEBIE Freebies FROCK FUR Garden GIFT GLAM GLAMOROUS GOWN haute coture Heels high fashion intimate
JAZZ JEWELED Jewels Jolie JUPE Lace LADIES LADY
Leather lingerie low arc Lucky Chair MINI Mujer
ORIGINAL Outfits Panties PANTS PARTY PROM Realistic Romance Sandal Sequins Sexy Sheer
SHIRT shoes Silk Silks SKIRT SPORTY STOCKINGS strapless
Stroll Stylish Sweater Tattoo TEE Top Tops Trendsetter Trendy TROUSER T-SHIRT Underwear WOMAN Women women's

So for now seems my advrt is a pointless waste-

Thanks Sredni- that's why I didn't post my question in ur thread- cause it was a different outlook and I didn't want to contaminate urs- it just got me thinking of this and see- I got got info-sadly - m advert sux or adverts for clothes in general is wasted...

OK- got money to spend otherwise for adverts- Suggestions?

Try writing a plain English classified like a RL advert.

I dislike how the stats don't reset on classifieds every week.

/me raises her hand timidly...

Amaranthim, just sayin... when I click on a Classified and see something like that, with all those key words, blah blah, with no effort whatsoever to actually describe WHAT you sell - it's an advert, for heaven's sake! - I pretty much click away instantly. As one who searches Classifieds, I like to be entertained with real text, and have the keywords either hidden at the bottom of the page, or included in the text. Is your stuff more casual, or is it more formal? Or do you have a mish-mash? Then TELL us. Your Classified should reflect the tone of your mall/shop/etc, both with the photo and the text.

Re: your RL artist; what is his style? Is it Impressionist, Cubist, Realist, etc? Is it photography, oils, watercolor, CG stuff? Is he well-known in RL? Been reviewed? Does he have multiple styles, multiple media (e.g. paintings AND sculpture?) Stuff like that is way more informative than "art gallery."

Just one girl's opinion.

Remember that if you have your classified ad set to auto-renew, the TP, Profile, and Map numbers reset to zero when it renews each week. If you check your numbers soon after it renews, you'll see low numbers for that reason.

Also, if you make changes to your ad and click the Update button (instead of just hitting the OK button), the numbers reset to zero (I think).

I recommend keeping at least a L$50 ad so it will show up under your profile's Classified tab. People do check profiles, and if you're serious about your business, many will expect to see a classified ad there.