New Business owner needs advice!

The name says it all. I'm a new business owner (only three completed designs, currently) and I have three vendors in place at the moment..none of which are making money. Other then increasing my inventory size (which I plan to do), can anyone give me some advice as to how I should properly market my wares?

What do you sell? Post a classified here in the Forums and in world if you can afford it.

everything and anything, to tell you the truth. And I have placed classifieds..though I didnt spend a ton on the advertising fee in game (I STILL cant believe the top priced add cost its poster 600 bucks!). To specify though, My company "Sun Studios" Sells costumes and accessories. To date, I have two full costumes (A nurse design, and a chun-li cosplay thing) and a knee high prim boot. However as a buisness im not very well established.

I get most of my sales from SLExchange (http://www.slexchange.com). Its free to become a seller there. You only pay commission on sales.

You should also, if you are not already using Apez vendors (you did not mention which vendors you are using) get an Apez iServ. These are free and allow you to load your products onto the Apez vendor net where Apez vendor owners can sell your merchandise, also for a commission. I suggest getting both the SLEX Magic Box and the Apez server together and setting up your merchandise in both systems at the same time. The process for both is very similar.

You get the SLEX magic box at the web page. Here is a SLURL for a place you can get either the Apez server, or the entire vendor system:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Foxboro/108/165/87/

NOTE: The iServ is JUST the server. It allows you to make your products available to other owners but no provision for selling them. Apez also has both free and pro versions of their vendor system. You'll find all of them at the above location in the vendor where you land.

My current vendors are simple low-lag vendors. (You know..one big picture frame, arrow buttons, logo) that I manually load my products into. I need a server of somekind for those online vendor systems, right?

Currently I live in whatever sandbox I crash in..and have a friend thats been nice enough to let me place my slboutique and slexchange prims there. Granted its only been up there for a few days now..but no dice.

Be sure to mention your store in your profile, make a classified ad, add the store location in your picks. If you sell on slex you can put your slex link in your web tab. Also put something in your signature on the forums here. I'm not sure if you need an apez vendor with your current inventory. I think the free one takes a commision and it does the same job as a box set to sell it's contents.

that slurl takes me to an empty plot

Hum...Well my profile IS currently bare. I suppose adding some info into it wouldn't hurt. Ive been toying with the ideas of renting stalls (currently my vendors are in places that let me get in for free) and possibly even renting my own shop. But Im not sure at what point to do that.

Advertising in the Metaverse Messenger ( http://www.metaversemessenger.com ) is a very cost effective way of increasing your sales.

You are getting some great advice here.

I would fill in that profile right away. In your favorites list everyplace that you sell your merchandise, but also fill in the front page with some info about yourself and mentions that you have a buisness. I almost always look at the profile of the person I am buying from, and find most shops by checking the creator of things I like and then using their profile to find their store.

I also agree that listing on the SLEX is a great way to go. Even if you don't make sales there, think of it as free advertising. Costumes are exactly the sort of thing I use SLEX to find. Here again, having a profile that is up to date gives a potential shopper a way to find you after you pique their interest if your location is too unstable to list in your slex ads.

Also, if you are so inclined, you could make a simple little something as a freebie and post it on SLEX. I made some holiday stuff on a whim and I cannot believe how many people are still ordering it even though it is way out of season. For me there is no tie in between it and my products, but for you there could be. Maybe you offer an accesory that is simple but of a quality that will make them want to come back for more? The freebie listing there seems to get a lot of traffic.

If you start looking for shop space to rent, take your time. There are LOTS of shops available. Look for one that allows you to set your own TP point in your ad if you can get it. That way, the ad YOU pay for advertises your stall and not the landing point for the mall.

Don't get discouraged, sometimes it just takes awhile for your stuff to trickle out into the marketplace.

Good Luck!

Ack..darn fat fingers! ITs been fixed thanks! But here it is again:

http://slurl.com/secondlife/Foxboro/108/165/87/

Yes, agreed 100%, that profile is first and formost. Get it updated with a location where your wares are being sold. For the online vendors you need the iServ server I told you of. It is 3 prims so should not be too much of a problem finding a friend to let you rez it on their land. I *think* Apez will even let you place one in their data center. There are also a few data centers around where you can rent a server rack and place your Apez AND SLEX servers.

For now your vendor is probably fine. Just be prepared. As you grow you'll grow out of the freebie vendor and need something more professional. I recommend APEZ because it DOES allow you to have your wares in other people's vendors, AND you can expand your own offerings with the wares of others. I'm not sure if there are others that do that. Apez is the only one I KNOW of and the most well known that does (actually I'd suggest anyone selling things in SL get an iServ even if they don't use Apez vendors...its free and it opens up a whole new potential avenue of sales).

This is a very helpful thread. I'm getting a few pointers too. Thanks to all that responded to the OP .

A freebie item on SLEX or SLB does help make you more known. Be sure to include a LM with it to direct people to your store.

Another possibility is a promotion in conjunction with an in world event or night club. You donate a small amount of L$ and some clothes as prizes. This can be a cost effective way to reach people.

the products you sell you want to try to make better than the rest, so when people
see one someone else has they say " ooOOoo thats nice whered you get it ?? ", IE make them better than just another table or chair etc.

rent some land for yourself, a 512 will do at first set up shop there and make the land searchable in places and use any keywords you think peopel might use when looking for your kind of products

a couple of vendor spaces isnt really enough not as your unknown at the moment, few months ago i had 67 different vendor spots in SL most didnt make enough to cover the rent but quite a few make a healthy profit so i have dropped the unproffitable ones, you should try to get a few more spots in idealy high traffic malls that dont use campers.

make a company name for yourself so people relate your products to the company
and try to have the company name displayed at all your vendor locations

try to make new products often so you have more of a selection for people to look through and to draw people in.

If I were you, I would work more on raising your store inventory before I worried so much about other things. There's a good reason. If you do get customers, the more things you have, the more likely you are to interest the customer in buying something. With only 2 or 3 items (and it being a specialty outfit shop as well), it just seems unlikely you're going to get a whole lot of buys out of 2 or 3 things.

I've visited your vendor inworld. I'd recommend:

– An own shop. Doesn't have to be large, can be inside of a freebie house placed on first land.

– Separate vendors for each product. People should see all your wares on one look. They might overlook the buttons for the previous / next product, and possibly don't even bother to cycle through your wares if they don't see what they're looking for right away. Also, unscripted Linden vendors (simple boxes set to "sell content" create less lag and allow the customer to see the permissions of all included products before the purchase.

– Only one classified ad. Advertise "Cosplay", first and foremost. Mention all your products within the ad text though, with a product description (to get keywords like "sexy", "latex", "fetish wear" etc. into the text, sex sells). It makes more sense to invest your complete advertising budget into one ad, that way you'll get a better rank.

Make sure you use full descriptions and names for all your goods. Using your 'company name' in the description feild, has always helped me find the name of the creator (sl's asignments for creator by default doesn't always work) and pass that on, rather than using search. Giving them your name, they can search for you, then click your profile Picks tab, and automatically have a link to your outlets.

Another tip... network, network, network... meet other designers.. they maybe persuaded to allow you a small space in their high traffic shop(s) to sell your items from (assuming you are not in competition), think along the lines of.. if you sell shoes.. could you persuade a dress maker to allow you to sell those 'accessories' in their shop? It could work to their advantage, as you became more recognised, ppls coming to find your goods, will also find theirs? Think Asda/Walmart concept.

I have dabbled in creating a galleria, to enhance its traffic, I invited a well known artist to decorate it with his art.. we both sell better and smarter.

I like checking profiles, it's nice to find things by accident by looking in picks and classified tabs, and a completed profile also gives a better impression to someone thinking of paying you money- you look like more than an anonymous alt.

Three items isn't much, so I definitely agree on the advice to split them out into separate vendors or boxes. I haven't been in world (and would probably just crash anyway) but the product pictures I hope are clear, well lit and show the items well. I would also consider doing colour variations of your existing work- I don't know what style the boots are, but things like brown as well as black for leather gives you two things to sell for the cost of one more evening in the paint package.

Post new items in the forum here (I keep forgetting to follow my own advice, though ) and other SL forums.

A place for your own store could be tough... an ongoing expense. Not sure what to recommend there, except maybe not to bother with some faceless stripmall.

IM me in world - I'll do you a market stall for a couple of weeks as a trial, see if it makes anything for you and if it does then great - and no massive overheads on the way.

There ya go Starbuckk your first bit of Networking