Advice on Sales!!

I haven't yet been inworld to see if I've understood this correctly (I do, for example, raise a line of signs up to the same level by typing the Z coordinate in one, then right-clicking and hitting Enter on each in turn).

But anyway, what's been taking my time is working on a 'branding frame' for my products.
Here's what I've got so far:



All comments and suggestions are welcome!

I like that a lot - I assume you will be exchanging the picture and the pertinent facts with each offering.

/me makes note to stay away from your customers that might need a lockable cage for trap door visitors, having also noted it includes a cauldron ...

(I prefer cages with more comfy accoutrements myself )

Well, of course, surprising your guest with a trip to the dungeon cage from the trapdoor, and any or all activities involving the dungeon fireplace and cauldron, are purely optional. ^_^

But---thanks for the feedback on the 'frame'. Yes, I had saved the 'blank' frame with Alpha tranparency for each new photo, so I hope it won't take too long to kit it out for each product. So far I'm having trouble with Elements text functions....EACH line has had to be a separate layer. (No doubt I'm doing something wrong; I'll figure it out eventually. I had found Elements for only forty bucks at Costco and am in the process of learning it....)

I *think* what I have will work, or I can look on XStreet - but I may be taking you up on that somewhere down the road. Again, thanks!

Czari, thanks! I got your IM when I logged in briefly earlier, but either the transcripts didn't make it to me, or I accidentally refused them. Could I trouble you to send them again? I suppose I need to look into joining her group for that, if there is one, too.

One thing I do know is that I want to remain in the driver's seat with any business I start in SL. I want my SL to include creating (and possibly selling) things, but I don't want my SL to be *about* that, if that makes sense. And with the school year about to start, I'm going to have less time to spend on SL than I've had over the summer, so I suppose I'll have to be more careful to make what I do have count.

Actually the new guidelines on Xstreet suggest any group of keywords on actally part of a comprehensive description are banned (Starting in September).

What is really most important is to write up a detailed descrption of the item using as many of those keywords as possible within the paragraphs. This wont get you in trouble and is better for the potential buyer

Since I had several transcripts from Jojo's classes, I sent them all in one file, but with SL being SL, that might have gone whacky. I'll send them to you individually. Jojo doesn't have a group, she just teaches the classes when the mood strikes.



Makes perfect sense and what I was alluding to earlier. I could make a LOT more sales if I created more and pushed the marketing more. When I did those things I had daily sales, but then it felt like work and ruined SL for me. Now that I'm down to no tier payments, I just come into SL when the mood strikes...and my health permits. A LOT less pressure and stress.

It is interesting how diffrnt we are. I love my storeand that is what motivates me to come into SL each day and work towards improving my store, making more sles, finding more customers, finding new ways to market as well as making more clothing.

I hate the boring things like making Ads and boxing up, but in general my SL is about my store these days (well as well as my partner) and I love it that way. I love watching people TP nto my store, finding ittems hey like, telling their friends, watching a marketing scheme i try or, or reevaluating one that didnt.

My partner said i should have done a business degree instead of a Social work one cos my head is tuned into thi stuff anfd loves it. But honestly i think it would be different in RL. This isnt my only income, it is still fun and it is a fun challenge seeing how well i can succeed, but at the same time i know that I am not reliant on the income my SL store makes it is just a nice bonus so the stress of omg im not making sales isnt there when things do get slower

Please don't make assumptions about someone you really know very little about, E. We are indeed different, but perhaps not quite in the same way you are thinking:

I love my store as well, but something I don't advertise widely but have alluded to here on the forums is my health. I have a chronic illness that landed me on disability three years ago. I will most likely be hospitalized in the near future. Right now, going from my bed to the computer is a major accomplishment and sitting up too long at the computer fatigues me. My mother brings my groceries to me as I am too weak to go out much. Most days I sleep the majority of the day. I would give anything to not have this illness, but such is life.

You see, I have a Master's Degree in Mental Health Counseling and worked with Hospice and LOVED my chosen profession and that job. Now I have to try and survive on $700.00 month. You never know what another person on SL is going through.

Also, you make regular references to your partner. I, too, had a partner for two years in SL. He was a HUGE part of my SL and without him...there are so many painful memories and just entering SL is hard.

So, just try to think how you might approach your business if your partner walked away from you one day, you were too ill to sit in a chair for long and were trying to figure out how to make even further cuts in your lifestyle to live on disability income.

I said once before I was going to leave this thread. It is the one thread I follow religiously due to the great info the posters shared. But for awhile now it has veered into some posters doing more bragging than helping. Nic's post was a breath of fresh air and reminded me of how this thread was in the beginning.

But due to what appeared to me to be a "I'm better than you" post, E, I think it truly is time for me to quit reading it. There are so many things I would love to do with my business but can't due to illness. And maybe, just maybe, you'll THINK before posting next time, E.

Not sure I understand this- do you mean grouping key words intentionally will now be banned? For example, if u sell a blouse, it wd now be wrong to have a grouping of such as : ladies, lady, shirt, t-shirt, top, etc?

Oh Czari don't take it like that please. I realize I cannot speak for Ecclectic, but just as a reader, it did not sound that way to me.

It is very refreshing to have Nic come in - I don't think we have fallen into bragging so much as comparisons and since we are the only ones around here lately other than Nic finding us, we have only ourselves to talk to about our businesses and where we are now.

I have followed your recent SL situation and was aware - but not to the degree - of your health situation. I truly feel for you in this regard though I would never say I understand or share your feelings or pain over these things since none of us can ever truly empathize. I do really hope you did not leave the thread or even SL to what ever degree you can participate. We all have our limitations whether drastic or mild - and only each one of us knows how involved we can or choose or wish to be.
/me hugs.

From the XStreet Marketplace Guidelines:
"Keyword spam is the use of words (such as brand names, item names, or other terms) that have nothing to do with the item listed so that the listing will appear in search results. Keyword spam is not allowed because it clutters the Marketplace and makes buying and selling more difficult. In addition:

We do not allow descriptions that promote unrelated items in other listings, for instance, items listed in other listing categories. For example, a listing for shoes cannot say things like, "Check out my other listings for cars and watches."

However, it is allowed to include a link to one's store in-world or one's other listings as long as the words used in the description do not skew search results. For example, the shoe merchant above could say: "I have these shoes in other colors, check those out here," but CANNOT say "I have these shoes in pink, yellow, blue, and green."

We expressly prohibit the hiding of unrelated keywords using white-on-white text, tiny fonts, HTML code, or other means intended to circumvent the rules."

I do not see that they are saying you cannot have keywords - ONLY UNRELATED KEYWORDS. Even when saying about hiding your KW, it specifically mentions UNRELATED.

I am sorry idid not mean to upset you and the way i wrote was not mean to be an 'im better than you' post.

Quite simply put it was a post that my motivation in SL lies almost soleyin my buesiness, it is THE thing which makes me log onto SL everyday.

I had no idea your partner had walked away, i knew you twohad parted ways and i m sorry if you felt like i was flanting, i wasnt, my partner just is a large part of my life, it feels weird not to talk about her.

I am sorry you struggle because of your illness and I do hope in time you are able to do some more, I am very sorry you felt the way you did about what i wrote, in all honesty I truely was fasinated with how people see their buesinesses and what part it plays in their SL lives. You Nic and Ama all expressed the desire for it to only be a part of your SL lives and not take up too much time etc. On the other hand I want it to take up more of my time and becoome a bigger part of mmy SL becuase i get joy from me

*sigh* maybe it is me who should stop posting since you are the second person who has taken something i said as me 'bragging' instead of the fact i am simply excited by my store, it is my joy and it is one of the best things in either of my lives.

There has been discussion on how this will pan out on the Xstreet forums. For now I think it remains to be seen what will be the result. I have always airred on the side of caution and not added any extra keywords beyond the listing itself.

*sigh* I'm sure this has been said before, but judging from my recent shopping trips, it can't be said too often:

If your store has a big grey sign named "Object" and another grey sign named "Object" and another grey sign named "Object" and another grey sign named "Object", and your competitor across the street has a big grey sign named "Your Competitor's Store" and another grey sign named "New Stuff Thisaway" and another grey sign named "Skins Thataway" and another grey sign named "Clothes Thatotherway"...

You really think I'm going to stick around waiting for things to rez in your store when I can't even tell if I'm in the right section of the shop, when it might turn out that none of the hundred textures around me are even the sort of thing I'm shopping for?

Sorry. Shopping in SL makes me Grumpy. Label your signage, _please_, guys. Heck, label your _walls_. If I'm out exploring, and the tooltips say that structure in the distance is "Such and Such a Shop", I might stop in. If I can't tell whether it's a shop or a nightclub or a brothel or a private home, I'm gonna pass right on by.

Actually... I don't think it's been said before at ALL in this thread, but thank you for saying it now. I wonder how many of us don't even give a thought to naming our signs?

Good idea! Nope never named a sign at alll! 'Course, my main store isn't in a mall so chances are u wd know where u landed but i do have a presence in some malls - /me runs off to christen her signs....

There are almost 4000 posts. I figured _everything_ had been said here before. *g* I was just surprised that the last few pages still seemed to be about improving sales and that the thread hadn't derailed completely ages ago.

Those signs are also a good place to drop in keywords for search. Good graphics are important, but good text can be effective advertising long before the graphics rez.

So folks- piece of advice needed...
My advert @ SLU has run out and I can either choose to end it- or choose to continue same or choose to use another.. I have decided to continue it- but should i go with the same one- or have a new done?
Opinions? Discuss
TIA

Amaranthim, I wish I had some input to offer. Without having seen either ad, and not usually being on SLU, I can only suggest that a change might catch readers' eyes as being different. On the other hand, I suppose using the same ad people have already seen might lead to them remembering it more through repetition.

I think I would consider changing things up a bit, but remember that advice is worth the paper it's not printed on...

Seeing this thread come back to the top reminded me that I have a question for you all. Do you have someone you bounce your ideas/prototypes off of? I came up with a rather silly idea the other day, tried it and it looked good to me - but I know my taste can be a little on the strange side. I can't tell if it's weird but good, or just weird.

My husband liked it when he saw it over my shoulder, and a couple of friends at the club liked it when I pulled it out there, but I'm so stuck on whether I want to go ahead and develop it for sale. My good friends I would normally ask for comment are away for a week, so I can't ask them until the weekend either.

Hi Nic- first off, we post here from time to time specifically to bring it to the fore so folks that may not have found us will

Regarding the advert- it is four adverts - two verticals and two horizontals in a gretone and a color tone of the pic in my siggy. I am thinking I can both be different and maintain continuity, if i use the same layout and wiht different lashes featured. That is one possibility- I could also do similar with other products since Talon Faire has become a sort of Department Store! I have jewelry, clothing, lashes, home decor, plants, and even small houses!

Yeah, my ADD is showing

hi everyone....ive been in rl much more lately so not much time in sl...but ive been catching up on the forums and i LOVE to read all of your successes!!! woohooo! nic - feel free to join to biz group i started and post questions to the group there....about ideas etc. we dont allow advertising your stuff there, but feedback and info requests are always welcome. oh lordy...ive been gone so long ive forgotten the exact group name....yipes...someone help me out here lol

Ama you can actually choose to have more than one ad running at the same time for the same cost the amount of times it will come up will be split between the two. soooo what i would do is actually do two versions.

I would have a new bright shiny one maybe with a differnt style and then have the same one as before running with it.

I am abut to sign up with SLU for an ad campaign and what Ihave done is have seeral versions of ads showcasing several areas and things I sell and I have two different styles. Ill run one stule this time and the other next time.

the ads that catch me the most on SLU are the new ones I havent seen before.


Nic i tend to bounce ideas off loads of people, if m not sure of something ill pop over to my club and ask the 20 girls there what they think... they usually have great suggestions. Soometims ill ask in one of the fashion groups iim in if anyone would like my prototype free in exchage for an opinion on it and they will also get a free copy ofthe end product. I often get verrrryyy direct opinions here so it isnt for the faint hearted thy will tell me it is shit etc at times, btu i need that

Finally i show my partner. We have different tastes but evn if she doesnt like the style she will tell me if something isnt right or just shouldnt be sold hehehe

I thinkthe best bet is when you are uming and ahhing abut something show as many pepel as possible , grab ther opiinions and makesome changes based on the opinions offered until you come up with something you can go "i would soooooo buy that!!!"

If you like it though... develop it for sale... even if you arent sure anyoen will buy it. some of my items I have made tht I liked but i nver thught anyone would buy are mybest sellers. If it doesnt sell well you have a new item thatyouare excited about.

I startd making clothes to save money cos well a fat pack that I made is only a few hundred linden in uploads where as most would be 7 or 8 hundred in as many colours as i tend to do in many storees. And well of course the sales briing that money back now... but I think the biggest thing is t make for yourself first and foremost.

Anyway i hope you will show us pics when it is done

*sneaks in looking around... slipping onto her chair.. munching on popcorn as she watches everyone*

hehe welcome Belinda, lots and lots to read here