Would like feedback on starting SL counterpart to RL business

Hi -- I'm an utter newbie to SL. I'm a web designer in RL, and one of my clients is interested in gaining a foothold in SL -- to help promote their services, which, not to give it all away, is akin to a taxi service.

Do any of you have any (good) advice on how one establishes a presence in SL?

•*buy land, build building
• advertise -- but how? And would that interest you as a SL resident? I admit, there's too much advertising in RL, and I don't know if SL needs more
• create something interesting for the SL community. Would the concept of a SL taxi service (but more environmentally friendly, as is the service in RL) be possible?

I know this is super-vague -- but I find myself in the position of explorer in a brave new world, and need to report back what I have found. Any info on how one actually runs a business in SL (apart from those that actually make objects in SL, which seems relatively straightforward in concept) would be appreciated.

Well, the first thing to do in developing a business plan is to identify a need.

Is there a need for a taxi service in SL?

You can teleport anywhere you need to go.

Taxis, be they ground-based or flying, will run into the same problems all vehicles encounter. Ban lines, sim crossing ejections or crashes, etc.

I don't know how this would work... if you can figure it out more power to ya!!

Max

I like to go into SL to have fun, meet and hang out with interesting people, look at awesome builds, take or teach classes and learn how to create things and sell them for lindens. If I need something akin to a taxi service I go to the yellow pages or google. For me SL is a community that is doing amazing magical things with amazing magical technology. I hope you and your client can spend some time in SL and do something FUN or creative or innovative. There is more to life than billboards, in RL and SL.

not sure how well real world businesses do in SL however here are a few that are in SL
just go into search and look them up perhaps you can get an idea of which way to go

toyota
nissan
pontiac

ibm
amazon

there is also an oil refinery that uses SL as a teaching ground
and Kingdom media was set up here (not sure if they still are)

those are the ones off the top of my head

in each case they seem to present an "sl" version of their product

eg: if its really a taxi service say the guy owns "checker cabs" he can make himself a taxi cab and an ingame taxi parking lot

to advertise this
use classifieds, metaverse messanger forums

those are the mediums that seem to work and are well known there are other things but I dont know how well they work

billboards don't seem to work in SL because we port around a lot perhaps an "information" kiosk he rents in a mall or complex with similar interests

land well for what i just suggested your looking at a lot of land (cars = lots of prims) plus the buildings . Maybe you want to give a class on how to decorate your cab (something that people like to do is customize things)

taxi's take peopel around so if he purchased a sim he could possibly put a taxi tour around and make the sim into some kind of park land or something.. (nissan has like 4 sims i lost count its a huge place to drive on so they put a bundle of money into this)

eventually Linden lab will be "web enabling' SL much better (i'm a web designer too and am poised for the day they do that hehe)

that's about all i can think of budget is of course a huge influence here hehe

hope that helps

Thanks (so far)…

Just to clarify -- I hadn't wanted to give too much away, as I didn't want to spill whatever beans there were to spill, but before we run too far afield, the business is pedicabs -- rickshaws -- in real life. The fellow who runs it -- who is progressive, eco-friendly, forward-looking -- had become captivated by the prospect of becoming present, in some fashion, on SecondLife. And I'm investigating that. I'll look at the firms you suggested --

As to teleporting vs taxis -- of course, of course. Not sure there's any need for a "taxi service" of any ilk in SL. Conceptually, though, there might be some appeal in "being taken for a ride", i.e. hopping in a rickshaw and being given a tour, i.e. an unplanned ride. I don't know if that's even possible in SL -- to have agents moving your avatar around.

you can try there is a group building a railway through sl as well hehe there are lots of roads however the big huge issue is sim crossings they are not so smooth. If you go to the mentorship forum you will find the blog (i think i saw it there) about their trials and tribulations building a railway connecting sims through SL

Anyhow I just realized you were the person who's question i answered on another forum hehe

you can use "robots" to drive the rickshaws and even animate them its a lot of scripting and lsl is not visual and its a bit wierd to get used to but its learnable easily enough if you have done other program languages

anyhow good luck if there is a scripting wiki and basic scripting classes if you want to get an idea of lsl there was once a "university" in SL that i went to that was great but the creators have since left so basically you will have access to introductory level classes for most things scripting/building etc once you get past the beginner level the classes are a bit harder to find in certain areas.

Advertising in SL doesn't work quite the way it does in Real world beacuse of the mechanics ingame some things which people hold onto coming into sl dont get response again because of the medium and the way people port etc

people love to do advernture stuff so the rickshaw service provided you can make it work smoothly would get some attention i think just like balloon rides and boat tours do in SL