Beebo Brink

Lately I've noticed that many content creators with a store aren't running any kind of classified ads within SL. Frankly, I consider this a short-sighted view of what purpose these ads can serve.

One of the most common ways I find new designers is when I see an object or outfit inworld and check the creator name. I then click through to the Profile and select the Classified Ad tab so I can TP to their store. Right then, right there, when I'm burning to buy whatever it is I just saw.

So when the Classified Ad is missing, my first thought is that they're probably out of business. But I check Picks next, and more times than I can count the creator has all their own favorite Picks mixed in with what may or may not be their own store. So now I have to click through those to read descriptions and guess if one the store is theirs. If the store name doesn't use some part of their avatar name, there's no way to tell.

End result: no sale. No new customer who checks back to see what you're doing, so no future sales either.

All this because a store owner doesn't want to pay L$50/wk for an ad? Am I missing something here?

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Ingrid N

I never got much traffic from my L$50 ad. I think in 10 weeks I got 8 tps from it. I'm still going to run one now that I've moved my store, but more out of obligation than anything. I mean, if it brings in one or two sales in that time, I've basically broken even.

Now Xstreet, that's been useful .

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Joshua Nightshade

I always check the profile for a classified simply because if I happen upon the name of the store somewhere else, I want to be sure I'm going to their main location.

I would guess that likely the majority of my traffic comes from classifieds. It's hard to tell one way or the other without throwing up a survey asking where people come from, but the metrics in my profile match up pretty closely to the number of visitors I get in my sim.

Beebo Brink

I don't see classifieds as only a direct means for making sales. They are part of a general promotion/marketing effort to make it easy for people to find my store and learn what I'm offering. L$200/mo is a pretty reasonable expense for that purpose.

Ingrid N

Do you use different keywords for your classifieds and your parcel description?

Beebo Brink

In my case, I run a number of classified ads for specific products, using different key words and images showcasing that product. Because I'm in a niche market, the key words are pretty specific and effective.

But keywords are only germane to Search Results. In this thread I'm talking specifically about how classifieds help someone who is directly checking my Profile, not doing a search. If someone mentions my name -- Oh, yeah, Beebo Brink makes aged skins -- they can pull up my Profile and click right through to my store.

LoganBauer

It's interesting, the different ways people search for stuff. When I'm looking for a store, if I know the name especially, I'll search for the name under "all" - I used to be in the habit of searching under "places". That used to work well but has been less and less effective - If that doesn't work I look in their profile picks.

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eku Zhong

i dunno when the count is reset.. but looking at mine i see 384TP 19 map and one profile...

thats fine by me

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Joshua Nightshade

It resets every time the classified renews.

eku Zhong

oo so thats not bad .. i was thinking all time.. and still pretty happy.

LoganBauer

I don't think it resets unless you change the keywords or something. Mine renews every week but the count definitely isn't resetting every week.

Cristiano

My classified ad has a nasty habit of just randomly disappearing, even though it is set to autorenew. I have had to recreate it more times than I care to think about.

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Khamon

Oh Joshua, say "the metrics in my profile" again.

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Joshua Nightshade

Actually I think I'm wrong, but I can't remember how often the count resets now.

Beebo Brink

But let's say you're wandering through a new sim and you see a park bench that you absolutely love and you want one for your own parcel. There's no way to search for the store name because you don't know it, and searching for "park bench" will get you ten gazillion search results. So the obvious option is to pull up the creator's Profile. Say his name is Thomas Doe, and there are no ads in his profile, just Picks. How are you supposed to know that among the 6 listed picks, Pickle Barrel is his store?

You don't. So a new shiny catches your eye and you walk on and Thomas Doe lost an easy sale.

Ann Launay

If I'm looking at a creator's profile for their shop, I always go to Picks first...most of the time, there's no need to check for a Classified ad.

In my experience, most content creators do something to set their own store apart, such as add characters to the beginning, so it comes first alphabetically, or put 'My Store/Shop/Mainstore' in the title.

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Carter-Madhu

I recently took out two classifieds, one for the cafe and one for my DJ services. I think I paid only 60L for each - the keywords I care about aren't that crowded and 60L was enough to get me in the top 10 or higher for most of them. At 60L a piece, if I get only one or two extra visitors to the cafe per week, I consider it pennies well spent. And as Beebo notes it can be useful brand reinforcement even if it doesn't lead to an immediate TP. So far, I'm glad I did it.

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Khamon

I can say from experience that my sales are half again greater when a 50L classified is posted. Also, my counters reset randomly, sometimes not when the ad renews, sometimes do in the middle of a run for no apparent reason.

Kyllie Wylie

What drives me nuts are the people who put stuff up on SLX and dont put *Any* information about thier store on the SLX listing, and then dont have any information in thier profile either! ...

I gave up on one girl who had a item I liked on SLX but I wanted to see it ressed in world first... she even had "visit my store" in her 2nd life profile but no mention of even what the name of the store was or what sim it was in!!

.... and nothing in her picks / classified to give any indication... I bet she sits in her empty store wondering why her sales are so poor.....

I cant be bothered enough to send note cards or IM people hopeing I hear back in a week....

Oh and I do know some people just sell on SLX and dont have an in world store, but put that fact in the listing too so I dont waste a hour of my time trying to puzzle out that fact!!

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Beebo Brink

I would hazard a guess that one reason for that is exactly what I've outlined above. Your trees and plants are scattered all over the grid and are their own form of advertisement just by their presence. So when someone sees one they like, it's easy to pull up your Profile and get through to your store.

Beebo Brink

The reason I posted this thread today is because I had just finished trying to find a store among a creator's Picks and there was nothing to set their store apart. Assuming it's still open, the connection to the content creator was hidden by all the other stores that deal with similar merchandise. So I just gave up as my impulse to buy faded.

Carter-Madhu

My experience is maybe 75/25 on this ... 75% percent of creators have something distinguishing their shop in their picks, and 25% don't -either don't have their shop picked at all, or have it mixed in with other picks to where it's not immediately easy to find.

Personally I'm not in the habit of looking at the classifieds tab either - but whether I do - or even whether most people do it - it is not the best metric of whether it's useful. If only 1 in 100 people who look a creator's profile or search for one of that creator's keywords sees her classified, that exposure is still well worth a few cents a week.

Tyche Shepherd

I have to admit I check the picks before classifieds to find someones store and it seems to work in 90% of cases but there are some who either have no picks or what seems to be their friends shops in picks so its hard to differentiate. Then I may check classifieds .

If there is then nothing there then they obviously don't want to be found so I'll not intrude on their privacy That is unless I really want their stuff - in which case I'll use any method whatsoever including breaking laws to run them down on the grid - there is no hiding a fashion hungry Tyche with lindens in her hot sweaty paws...

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Ciaran Laval

Mine don't, I'm still waiting for Meta Linden to get back to me about it.

Free Xue

Just trying to make me do more work, huh!?!?