Advice on Sales!!

A sample isn't an essential, Prawns. I'm pretty sure you can use a picture instead, but, since couches and homes are in the same channel, it would be best to put a seat in plus a notecard containing information about your store, plus some pictures of your prefabs. I think you could do all that, but someone who uses it will be able to confirm it or not.

Reading all of the website is very useful for learning about the whole thing.

http://cleverthings.info/dsn/lang/en/

finally sold enough on slex so I can get that DSN thing! (well that was after taking out a front page enhancement thing, which I ended up losing money on, bah won't do that again)

anywho... wish me luck (now to decide what the heck to put in it)

lol

Prawny, the recommended thing to put into the box is a normal, full-priced item, something that is representative of your work. I put in one of my favourite recent builds: the Futurehome. I just boxed it up, added an LM and a notecard about the build and the store, and put it in my dropbox.

http://cleverthings.info/dsn/lang/en/2009/05/what-to-submit-to-the-network/

Addendum: I really do recommend putting an actual item in the box. I'm signed up for all the channels (even the female clothing one; got some great pants from that so far!) and whenever I get just a box containing an LM and nothing else I'm far less likely to check out the store than I would be if I had a sample that I could rez to see the quality and style etc.

Phil's suggestion of pictures in notecards is one that a lot of the DSN designers are using, so that's another way to show other items you have, while only putting one in the box.

You have to replace the item, Czari. The instructions are included in the notecards you get when you buy the designers' kit.

One thing though: each avatar that's signed up to the channel your box is in will only ever get *one* sample from you. If you change that sample, they won't get the new one as well; only people that haven't already received a sample from you will get the new item.

Thanks so much, Skell

Since we are doing updates i will chime in...I have been busy with RL stuff lately so havent made much or put much out that is new. My sales have been good and again seem to be better when SL is working correctly and worse when it isnt. LOL But overall sales have been a bit lower than they had been for months, prob due to my lack of promotion.

Over the last week or so, I have added the DSN thingy, the Cone system and also put some money back into my money tree. I have not monitored it closely, but so far I have seen that a few folks who got money from the tree have also purchased items, as well as couple from the cone thing. Not sure about DSN since I have not really compared that to my transactions list much. But, the overall effect is that my sales at the end of this week are back up to where they used to be. So, if these things that are more on auto pilot and work even when i am not are making my sales increase, then im happy.

I do have some items i need to make and set out, but finding time right now is a bit tricky...good to see all the success you all are having as well.... YAYYYYY! :0)

what is the cone system? did I miss somethin?

Its called a traffic cone and is explained in detail in one of the recent threads here...but basically you rez it on your land....someone clicks one somewhere in SL and it offers them a lm to another location, they go there and have to stay for 11 min to get a payout from the cone and another lm. they can keep doing the tour of spots as long as they like to get payouts. cone owner rezzes the cone and pays into it similar to how money trees work. It is listed on xlstreet if you want to take a look or check it out in my store by the couches.

ps...its being discussed in the "how to help newbies financially" thread.

Thanks for the ideas about samples guys. I'll check out the website fully asap

The "how to help newbies financially" thread is quite long, but it does go into the cones in some detail, with some shortcomings found in use, and so on. It's a very good concept except for its shortcomings.

One of the biggest of its shortcomings is the fact that people can start their journeys at any cone in SL, e.g. in your store. Unfortunately, it immediately sends them to somewhere else. In other words, you put something in your store (the cone) that immediately sends your shoppers to another place. That's the biggest shortcoming for me.

Another big one for me is that you buy the system for 500L, and then the creator gets a third of everything you put into it - the user gets 2L for the 11 minute visit and the creator gets 1L. That's a huge commission! There's a free version, but with that one the creator gets a whopping 60% of everything you put into it.

I'd love to use such a system, but one without the shortcomings.

I actually clicked one of those (not for the money, but for the tour) and it took me to a new place, then that place when time ran out, took me back to the original place...

seemed like a waste of time for me

wow that is nuts

you have to pay AND give them a commission?

thanks but no thanks

(that reminds me of a hunt notecard I got, to apply to join, it had a 50L fee to join as a merchant.... no thanks)

i am still wearing them... YAY... the new pants are great

The system needs a backend webserver, which costs money to run. I don't find fault with commission - just with the amount of it.

commission is one thing, but to pay and then also pay commission?

why not just a one time fee (and yes the higher commission is a bit much)

A one-time fee isn't possible with such an ongoing system. My preference would be for it to be free and then a much smaller percentage ongoing commission.

for me its cheaper than doing a higher priced classified or any of the highlighted options on xlstreet so the cost is ok in my mind for now...i will see how it goes and if i dont like it, ill take it out. i have spent money on other devices that ended up being not popular at all, so i dont mind taking chance on something that might bring me buying shoppers...

I dont mind paying a small fee as a merchant to enter a hunt if it looks like it will be a good one. It is a lot of work to get a hunt up and running and i dont mine paying a little bit to the organisers.

I need to go over my transactions records but my sales are up today, so iim hoping that the DSN is the reason why, but either way it is nice to ee these kiinds of sales

how do you know if a hunt is going to be a good one, before entering, or before underway?

For me it is the organisation factor.

If i am sent detailed iinformation about what will be happening when and how it will work, who to contact, a time line maybe a theme . Also if i am given details about when i will be given the net lms the hunt item, am told about a group to join and a group for the hunters or when the group will be open to hunters i cn generally be assured the hunt will be relatively sucessful.

I am rather picky with which hunts i enter as it is as i am getting notecards around once a week at the moment for new hunts to enter. I pick ones which i think will be well organised and have a good chance of sucess and minimal headaches for me.

If i had to pay a 50L fee (the cost of one item in my store) for a well organised hunt i would go for it as the work involved in a hunt deserves some reward.

Just a quickie as am at rl work right now.....does anyone else here want one of the free vendor spaces at our main store before I offer it more widely to the grid ? Drop me an IM inworld asap if you do want one

huggsss with love
Rhia xxx

maybe send out a notice in the Biz Owner Group in case they aren't checking the thread?

Hi,

Can any one briefly explain why traffic numbers go up and down in a kind of random way, or maybe give me a link to an explanation.

I had 1800 or so at the end of last month, the beginning of this one it was 900 something then today it had gone down aprox 100. I don't use bots or anything like that, I just can't make out the logic of how it's counted.

The traffic number is the number of minutes that avatars have spent on the land in the previous 24 hours measuring period. I.e. avatar minutes on the land. They are updated daily so, with small numbers like that, they will fluctuate wildly.