Advice on Sales!!

They aren't much, but they sell remarkably well!

I'm going to start working on a new version though, once I kick myself in the butt to do it

They are a finishing touch- that little extra thought you give your garden space.

OK... since this is the Advice on Sales clearing house... I need advice -

I posted my new gazebo (which you can see here in our forum-
/196/c0/313863/1.html#post2370606) to Xstreet. When I put the wrd gazebo in search - I can't even find mine listed at all! I got bored after about 3 pages- if I was shopping for a gazebo- I would never find mine it is so buried. So... can some one help me out to determine - short of bolded or featured - how did these other gazebos end up so much more ahead of mine in search? Is it random beyond the name of the thing? I know key words matter but heck- i just put in gazebo. Should I have had the word gazebo mentioned in a sentence forty times? I have read the other adverts that come up earlier into it, but I cannot see the distingushing feature.

Help me out with a little creative marketing, please peeps.

Hi Amaranthim,

I am no expert, but I will throw in my two cents ( and hopefully others will too and I will learn something ).

I think the problem is that "gazebo" is just too general a search term. I don't understand how the xstreet search breaks the tie when several results have equal relevance, so I don't know how to rank higher for that one term, but a term like "gazebo" is as broad as "house" or "furniture" and I think customers would be frustrated with the results of a broad search like that anyway. When I see results that mixed I always think, "Arrg, what I wanted was a low prim, white wooden gazebo...not all this stuff," and I refine my search.

If it was me, I would think about what a consumer might be looking for if they wanted to buy my specific gazebo. Your gazebo is "romantic" it is a "stone and wrought iron gazebo", a "fantasy gazebo" and a "cuddle gazebo", etc. I would experiment with including those terms, probably naming it one of the above, and then redoing the search to see how my product ranks for those specific terms. Ranking well for specific terms means much more anyway, because it is already more likely that what you are offering is what the customer had in mind.

The other thing to remember is all the ways to search at xstreet. You can sort by price, by newest or oldest results, by relevance in a sub category. All of that makes it harder to anticipate how someone will find you. That said, my experience tells me that doing well from the search box that searches the whole site and sorts by relevance (the default search) remains the most important.

I think it's really smart that you are following up and trying to figure out how people can find you.

Thankyou for the input Nimue, I will try that. I want to add a higlight etc t the advert- but not much point if i cant get it to the first couple pages or so. And yes, I agree, important to taget the main search there. I just wish within what i have now- what determined my placing? If I understood that, I wd be far ahead in making my stuff more searchable.
/me waits for even more wise words

I would like to understand that too. I've played around some, and found the item name to be most important, with the word(s) at the front being the most relevant, but your results for gazebo don't really match a lot of what I thought I'd started to figure out.

That's what I mean! See-it's a gazebo! If I am looking for a gazebo, the first thing I am going to type is - ahem - gazebo - Then when hit witha barage of gazebos I might go with stone gazebo white gazebo etc. But- what made those particular gazebos land on first, second and third page? I read them- They are not particularly outstanding adverts.

maybe the places that those gazebos are at have a lot of picks (in bound links) higher traffic counts over all, could even be older places in SL with a more established traffic run

just throwing out could be's, I have no clue otherwise

Well, "outstanding" doesn't have anything to do with it, not in the sense of appealing ad copy. The search doesn't read the product name and description text. It looks through it for the clumps of symbols that match what you typed.

The question is, what else does it do, and what collection of things make something "relevant"? You can sort by the individual specifications of ranking by age, name, popularity, price, ratings, and prims. Which of these are combined, and with what weights are they combined to make relevant? I don't know. I don't know what "popularity" is either. Is it item most often purchased? Is it item most often viewed? I really don't know.

There are also the product sub categories to consider. Are products listed in a "relevant" category given bonus relevance regardless of item name and description? Take as an absurd example, a bikini. If I list that in apparel>women's>swimwear and I create an identical listing in weapons>non-scripted weapons will the first show up in a search for bikini before the second? I'm not sure, but I am guessing it would.

I don't believe there is currently any connection between xstreet search and inworld search ranking factors.

After 18 pages I decided I did not really need a gazebo... People, I want you all to know, there is no shortage of gazebos in SecondLife - you may now all go on and make something else... (84 pages though at the end I can't imagine wth gazebos had to do with anything!- and no, I never found mine) But if some odball decides that their Spring is not complete with out a gazebo, then they can find mine- as there are now TWO gazebos with the word Spring in their names.

Hmm- had not thought about the product category... /me goes to look at that...

And good points Rha- might have bearing... who knows?

I was not talking about xstreet.

Were they? If they were then sorry, I misunderstood the comments. I thought they were talking about in world search.

Yes, my rant is about my gazebo floundering amidst a an ocean of gazebos.... now that xstreet and SL are partners- maybe your suggestions do bear looking into- however, I tend to believe it stands alone.

still unclear

were you talking about a search on xstreet, or search in world?

If xstreet, ignore my suggestions as I do not think they would apply, if in world, then yeah, that was what I was thinking you meant.

That was my original post about Xstreet search.

ah I missed that post

just ignore my comments then

Hey every bit helps! It's like we all need the Rosetta stone of understanding search where ever SL is concenred

I agree about the key words...I would name it Gazebo - spring romantic white stone....or whatever the accurate terms are that describe it. I would also look for other words for gazebo. For instance...when I name my blankets, I call them blanket comforters. I think that normally the first group that comes up in XL search has to do with ratings...I could be wrong but I think that is the case. When I search there tho, I usually change the sort to be by date so i can see the newest things first.

I would agree that checking your category is also important. I will go look for your gazebo and see if i can spot it.

Thanks Jojo- I did look at categories. At first mine was outdoor furniture i think- or out door, other, landscaping... anyway- for whatever reason most are in building components, which i dont even understand. Not sure if one wants to be listed in the largest group or the smallest...

I do the same thing, always sort by new to old to show newest first

Sorted new to old, it shows up third for "gazebo" for me. That is a great place to be.

Thank you muchly. I guess I had not really counted much on folks using different sorts. When I shop I usually go with default first, then refine terms and sort- have never used new. OK- so assuming more peeps do use new, a higlight is worth it in that case. Let me go toss a poll out here for the giggles and we might all learn a thing or two .. brb

OK- I went and added a border to my Gazebo and when sorting on New, it is now on page 1

On the XStreet forum it was mentioned rank has some influence on placement. One wonders how it gets ranked if it doesn't get seen...

Honest, but cynical, answer, either introduce the product at a nearly free price, drive up the number of "sales" and then raise the price but keep the ranking, OR buy a bunch as your alt. I wouldn't do these, but I believe it is done every day.

Other answer, announce your new listings to your group, particularly in combination with a 24-48 hour xstreet only sale. I belong to a group for a sculpt map vendor that does this, and she seems to have a large and loyal group that frequently buy during the 24 hour sale. It seems to work though, because her new listings always zoom to the top of the front page. In any case, if you push a large group of people who are waiting to purchase from you away from inworld buying and toward xstreet you can increase your ranking and visibility.

Note: I thought at one time it was against xstreet policy to change prices of a listing like this, but I see it done a lot now, so I'm not sure. If I was going to take this approach I would be sure to check their policy in order to prevent being banned from the site. Again, just my two cents.