Advice on Sales!!

I finally did that as well. I have one on my land and another at my satellite shop at Rhia's. I think I had one failed XStreet transaction since then. But it definitely helped!

Do you use OnRez? Their boxes are no copy so I'm assuming I'd just get another box from their site to have in two locations. OTOH, I've never had a failed transaction from OnRez.

I've always thought that was a brilliant idea! I plan on doing that once I get my main shop up. (It really will be up sometime soon..really! I think I'm going to graduate from my Gimp class in a couple weeks and then my mind can relax and get to texturing the store and lowering it to its location. )

Czari, I sent a message to OnRez support, explained about duplicating Xstreet boxes, and asked if having a duplicate OnRez box would help prevent a failed delivery. According to the response, OnRez's system doesn't support that.

Like you, I've never had a failed delivery from OnRez.

Thanks for checking that out!

Yes, thanks Miles! I've never had a failed delivery there, but it would be nice to be able to back up the box like you can with xstreet.

Oh, and hi everyone. *waves*

/me waves back to Nimue

I have 3 XStreet boxes up in world. I have had only one failed transaction. I had several problems in a row with OnRez, finally I decided that it wasn't worth it to spend all that time putting my stuff up there, when I got only about 1 sale a month there. So I dropped them, and just use XStreet now.

hi guys....i saw another post about having shops on the ground or in the air...and i wanted to ask what folks here have. I have quite a large store and im thinking that the lag might be reduced if i move it on up. I would have to change the landing spots, etc and really work to notify people but im wondering what your opinion is...thanks! jojo

im going to post this to the inworld group in chat also and see what the consensus is..

Mine is on the ground. I like the scenery around FairChang Balboa including streets on two sides of my parcel and water on one side with a drawbridge.

mine is on the ground. I did have it in the sky for awhile, and did not notice much of a difference

I dunno if mine would be considered a large store or not


I kinda like the sense of it being grounded, feels more natural to me

I moved mine into the sky because of the lag on the ground in one particular direction. Since then I've moved sims but I still have it in the sky, though not far up - just above the clouds.

As well as reduced lag, the sky has the advantage of making it unnecessary to create a store that looks nice from the outside. I find that an advantage, anyway.

I'm on the ground now, but had my shop in the sky for quite awhile. I was on some busy mainland then, and I really liked that the view was clearer and things seemed to run a bit better.

If you do move, be sure to leave a lm giver or a TP pad on the ground so that people who end up on your land at ground level can find their way up.

I moved it all this afternoon and so far im getting good reports from customers of much reduced lag and rezzing of textures happening much faster. will see how it goes...

I'm building my shop on a water sim...on top of a pier with a Cape Cod theme so atm, mine will be on ground level due to the desired ambiance.

If I ever get some whacko builds around me that would detract from that or a mall moved in or something, then I'd take it up into the sky.

Yes. Change it to Rhianna Rose if this hasnt already been taken. If not then this name is unique and personalized to you and to your creations and you to them. Uniqueness and personalization is what people including customers desire and respond to warmly when expressed openly and honestly.

It also says in two words a whole lot about you that is true. You're a romantic. This is reflected in the name you have chosen for yourself on signing up to SL. And has been confirmed here in what you have written, including the name you have been toying with already. You cant get more romantic than Rose =) Rose is a well-used word for very obvious and much loved reasons. I would use it and personalize it if I was in your shoes.

Also double R roses folded into a logo would work very well I think.

I love all the names like fishy strawberry, but my poor brain doesnt think that way...if yoou could think of something like that using the word rose it wouold be very cool.

My store's at ground level, with my prefab platform just above cloud level and a TPer to get there from the store. I might consider moving the whole thing higher if things got ugly at ground level, but I'd definitely leave a large TP sign at ground level if I did. You just never know who might pass by!

On a side note... it's early days yet (really don't want to tempt fate), but I have seen a little increase in prefab sales since I set up my rezzing platform. People certainly prefer to try before they buy. Furniture sales are up a little too

Same here, it took me 3 days just to come up with my boring RBZ Design lol

Talking of prefabs...

I'm currently working on a starter home that's fully furnished. It'll be packed in a rezzer to make it easy to place and I intend to keep the price fairly low so it will appeal to newbies setting up.

Now, normally I sell my prefabs copy/mod and my furniture trans. I'm a little undecided what the best perms set-up might be for this new prefab. The rezzer set-up would probably work best if everything was at least copy, but I don't want to be handing out cheap fully furnished prefabs that anyone can copy a million times to set up cheap rentals either.

What are everyones thoughts on this?

Hi Prawny When purchasing prefab homes, I definitely want them to be copy/mod so I can make alterations if needed and then be able to rez a new copy if I mess it up. The home we have lived in now for the past year has those perms. (I think there was also a choice to purchase it trans instead of copy as well.)

Whenever we've moved, we just take our furniture out, delete the house and rez a new one. Our home is large (3 stories with a deck) and it was just easier that way.

My other suggestion is...even as a complete newcomer to SL, I wanted to decorate my own place (which was a one-room studio). Although the idea to provide a place a new person can move into with all furniture included, not sure how many would want that. Possibly another way to go would be to offer the furniture that would compliment that home as a separate purchase...and perhaps charge a bit less if someone bought the house plus furniture than each set alone.

Just my 2 lindens

I agree with Czari.

I sell some furnished beach pavilions like this. I would suggest three products. One, a copy/mod version of the house plus a transfer version of the furniture, the second just the prefab, the third just the furniture.

That way, your customers have the flexibility to choose the package that works best for them.

To all you designers/store owners re-thinking the freebie thing...as a freebie blog owner, I want to give you my thoughts, and I hope you'll take them to heart.

Sunday, I set up a Subcribe-O-Matic group for the blog. I already have 24 people subscribed to it, and they have to make a special trip to my mall to sign up.

The blog is receiving 300-500 hits a day, every day. Of those 300-500, 80-100 of them are steady, consistent readers.

This means if I post your freebie on my blog, a minimum of 80-100 people are guaranteed to see it, and a maximum of 500 (to date, we're growing by leaps and bounds).

And this is *just* Virtual Freebies. FabFree and Freebie Telegraph both have larger readerships than I do...and readers frequently hit all three because we each may have something different from day to day.

From talking to many of these readers, I can tell you that their method of operation is - read the blog, go get the freebies, and as time permits, open the packages and try them on. I use this method too - and if I like the freebie, I'll go back to the store and see what else they have I might like. So, you may put a freebie out on Monday, get a flurry of people in to get the freebie, and then not see those people back for a few days...or weeks, but I guarantee you some of them will be back.

Assume for a moment, just for the sake of math, that FabFree has 100 readers that I don't, and that Freebie Telegraph has 100 readers that FabFree and I don't...300 unique readers.

Now, if you quit offering freebies, what you've managed to lose is the support of at least (because there are more out there) three well-read bloggers who are no longer directing traffic to your store. At that point, all you have left to count on is your advertising and being found in search - and we *all* know how well that works!

So, my suggestion is...offer ONE freebie a week. Doesn't have to be a full outfit every week, but give us bloggers something that we can blog. Knock on my door and tell me you're putting a new freebie out, and I'll get you on the blog as quick as I can...usually the same day. Offer a time limited freebie and you'll be getting direct access to those 24 people in my SOM...and count on that number growing....because the primary function of that group is to notify my readership of time-limited freebies.

I know it's a dilemma - do you offer freebies or not? But don't give up firm and free advertising! Just find a way to work freebies (and the bloggers) to your advantage, to keep your name out there.

My .02!

Thanks, HoneyBear

Just a couple of questions:

1. Do you post other items besides fashion?

2. What is the best way to knock on your door? IM, notecard?

3. Do you post "small" freebies - like when I offered 1L New Year's Eve balloons, or larger ones? (Nothing in my store atm is over 100L.)

I appreciate your blog and include it when I teach my classes on Avatar Personalization. *smiles*

1. Yes, I do. I've posted furniture and houses before.

2. I get capped on a regular basis these days, so a notecard containing a brief description of the freebie, a picture if you have it, and a landmark that takes the reader to directly in front of the freebie, is the best way to get it to me. That way, if I don't have time to directly get to the freebie myself, I can still get it posted, or send it to one of the other writers.

3. Yes, I post small freebies - even gloves. My problem is...time. See #2

And Czari, thanks, I appreciate you including the blog! It's done my heart a lot of good to see the blog grow! I've been writing it for more than a year now, but it's really only heated up since last summer.

Did you know I also have a freebie center at The Mall at Cherry Park? You can send people over there to get free stuff too. Not much at the moment, but stuff does trickle in.

A couple of other things I wanted to mention - if you're a designer, feel free to friend me...HoneyBear Lilliehook is a pain to type when your hands are cramping from design work

Also, while in the past we've used a shotgun approach to the freebies, with the current staff I have, I'm going to be able to personally look at freebies and give them a more "in depth" post, so the blog is going to become a little more comprehensive.

Really, without your products, my blog is nothing!