Advice on Sales!!

Thanks Amar, and yes there are a lot of things I have made that I dislike, and those do not go up for sale, they sit in my inventory, sometimes for over a year before I go back to them LOL

3ring, no I did not think it was you
I am pretty sure you have the balls to not post annon

Rhaorth, since you didn't respond to my compliments on your clothes, I want to also state that I was not the one who posted the rude comments. I don't even know the blog it was on.

So- what do you do to nudge peeps along when you have maxed out your use of groups for generating traffic? I am getting traffic regardless but not tons and obviously the more (them) the merrier (me).
Besides, FabFree, FashCon & Freestyle- know any other major groups?

Bump back to 1st page...

I'd be interested in this too. Hopefully the pending grid hunt will help

Hi Prawny!

For those of us who are not fashion creators, there are some furnishing type groups where we can announce new products, specials, etc. Two of those groups are listed "somewhere" in this thread. I have them listed in world and can update this when I go back in unless someone updates the names of those groups beforehand. I believe Desiree belongs to at least one of them.

I *think* one is called Homestyle Consolidated - which I joined. I forget the name of the second one, but the owner needs to come and verify the business before issuing a designer's tag. Since my main shop isn't built yet, I have yet to join that one.

Yes, HomeStyle Consolidated is definitely one. As a furniture designer I also put announcements out on Got Deals as well as 2 of the Freebie groups. I found the freebie groups to be helpful as long as I am purposeful in how I use them.

Admittedly, using groups aside from our store's update group is new for me but so far I am pleased with the results.

Nice one Czari. I think it might be wise to wait for your update. Think it would take quite a while to re-read this entire thread, lol

How the heck does on get in with these people?????

http://fashionplanet.worldofsl.com/

Am, the answer is here in the forum...somewhere. Something about dropping a notecard on someone at a different domain name. I can't remember. Search it, I'm sure you'll find it.

Desiree mentioned the other one I was trying to remember - Got Deals

/327/6c/224202/1.html

For future reference

sorry did not see the comment
I tend to speed read and skim posts here a lot as of late.

my apologies
I never thought it was you either

ohhh hi

When I see your freebie notices, I run not walk! Your stuff is amazingly beautiful Someday when I'm rich and have a lot of space, I will be a great customer lol

homestyle and got deals I have not heard of.

I am guessing they are in world groups?

Pops her head up....wow you guys have been busy

Sorry have not been around much, kind of lost my momentum once the new main store build was in place, have not even put all the existing products back out yet.

OMG Rha, that is just so not on for someone to post like that without even giving their name. Fair enough we are all entitled to our own opinions, but to post annonymously like that is just gutless and I can't help wondering if it is maybe a jealous competitor. The products of yours I have seen are great, not my style, but I would expect them to appeal to many in sl. I do love your fine line teddy suits and have been tempted, the only thing to stop me so far is I have not had a tattoo that would look great with them in a photo for a sale board. That is the one big reason I buy clothes these days for use in showing off tattoos.

As for groups for sending notices, personally I am not sure they are worth it, have sent notices to a few of late, and yes have had one or two people turn up, but nothing earth shattering.

The dollarbies I put out have been very disappointing, not many sales from them at all, but maybe they are just not the designs people want right now.

We are currently testing a homepage featured listing on slx ourselves right now and have to admit the results so far are very encouraging. Traffic and sales on slx have definitely increased. Slx still only contributes to about 1 or 2 % of our total sales, but the increased visits to our slx pages is definitely getting our name out there more.

I still sponsor at 2 clubs every week in sl, and all attendees at those events get a 50L$ gift certificate......these have definitely generated extra sales, sometimes people just buy a tattoo worth 50L$ but in most cases they spend quite a bit more and I have had several compliments on them.

I have done one hunt before the one kindly being organised by Rha and did get a lot of positive feedback from it, so am looking forward to this one very much. Which reminds me, I must remember to check I have the pumpkin and get the stuff for them sorted out before friday.

The apple bobbing at main store has been a popular feature with customers, and we have since added a midnight madness board inside the store, but this has proved very disappointing. The general idea is you place a gift inside the board, set a target number of avatars, and if the target is reached by midnight that day, all registered avs receive the gift you placed in the board. I honestly thought this would work well, but no, not sure whether we should reposition it, but we did not want it in the courtyard as we felt it would start to look overcrowded if we placed too many items there.

Still have a lot of things in the pipeline, just need to find the enthusiasm, so don't worry if I am not online much for a few days, am probably out having some rl fun and recharging my batteries

huggsss with love
Rhia xxx

for those concerned about sales, i just want you to realize that there are a LOT of freebies out there right now, mostly halloween themed, and it's really hard for people to part with $ when they can get something comparible for free from so many different places. be patient. saturday people will be shopping again, probably for autumn type colors... and then xmas.

if you want to compete during holidays and SL events, you need to offer styles/colors in these themes or items that are directly related to these themes. this is partly why summer is so dry on sales for so many. there's no big 'theme' to rev up for and attract people with, outside of summer fun stuffs..... and everyone makes that.

my halloween stuffs are selling, but nothing else is. i hope this is helpful to you.

Rhia, yep I too wondered why they would hide behind an annon post. Ah well, water under the bridge

as for the midnight madness board, I too have one of those, and sometimes I see folks have clicked it, and other times... not so much

I am at a loss as to what will garner sales, traffic etc...

on a side note and a good side note hehe, spoke with the owner of avatar island (I work for them as a customer service/helper) and they said I can have a spot on the sim for a store!

IF I want to I can use a big enough space so I do not need to stay on mainland....

however I have a fondness for mainland.... and will keep it as long as my store can support the tier....

IF it stops supporting it's self at least I know I have a place I can relocate if needed!!

meanwhile I will be putting a satellite store there

Desiree would have more info on these than I do, but they are in world groups, although I think they have blogs as well, which are basically for home furnishings stores/products. I'm a member of Homestyle Consolidated only atm, because to be listed as a designer for Got Deals, the owner of the group has to make a visit to one's store to verify it is indeed a furnishings store, or what kind of store, or something.

Homestyle Consolidated is not so much a freebie/dollarbie group as one to let members know of new products, etc. Although putting a gift out in the store and mentioning that in the notices I do see a lot. I haven't used it yet myself so will be interested to see how that works for me.

If I'd only waited for 2 seconds I'd have seen your post. Thanks for the info anyway.
I shall definitely look into these 2 groups, but that'll be when I've finished updating some stuff I'm working on 1st. Want to make sure everything is spot on

For those of you that have the LM Exchange Board- it needs replacing - get your new one at:

http://www.xstreetsl.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=526235

Re GOT DEALS - is not just for furnishings- I send out notices with them as well. I do find I get plenty of traffic on days I send out notices with any big group. Right now I am talking to the owner of one large group in SLProfiles in hopes she will either create or sanction an In-World group from her existing database- Have you guys been posting to SL Profiles? I can't say as I have any direct evidence of traffic being generated thru them but all exposure has to be good.

*waves at Ralektra*

Thanks so much! That really does mean a lot to me!

(and psssst...some of my new stuff is lower in prims )

I think the way I look at Groups and Free Gifts is purely as promotion.

This is what I figure...

- Having a well thought out free gift and announcing it in groups is a way to get people into my store who may not have been there before.

- Some of those people might buy additional pieces. I offer my free gifts for a limited time only (usually 1 or 2 days) and they are most often an item from a new set. There have certainly been occasions when people have gotten the gift, liked it and then returned to buy the rest of the set.

- Having the free gifts out in the "world" give others an opportunity to see my work and if they like, to come explore my store. How many times have you seen a shoe, skirt, furny, house, etc that you like while out and about and right clicked to get the creator info and then TPed to the creator's store to check it out? I do that all the time!

I'm still experimenting with the best use of groups and free gifts...but as I mentioned yesterday I'm pleased with the results so far.

~ Desi

this is also what I have been doing (except I tend to leave mine out a bit longer)
and I find it does help with sales, and folks like the one piece they buy the rest, or buy a color they like

I will proly need to post this in the building forum but posted here and in the Thread in case of quicker answers.

I made a really pretty silver cuff bracelet and put it out for sale. But this one is a bit bigger than my gift one- I find when my arm changes position- of course, the prim cuff does not- not a big problem with the silver roses one but in the large silver cuff it is very evident. Now, there is a script for "smart skirts" so that the skirts sit naturally- anyone seen any thing like that that I might use in the bracelet?

Beatenetworks will have a class to help with marketing. "This class will pay particular attention to layout of ads in Second Life, and has some applicability outside of virtual worlds. This course is intended for non-marketing professionals."

10:30am Thursday Oct 30, IM Allison Selene for a reservation.