Marketing Your Products In Second Life

While these are suggestions were originally written for a Resident fashion business, they're good general advice if you retail in Second Life. Help keep this page updated!

Inworld marketing

Free

• First of all, you need a main store or office. This can be something you rent, but you're likely going to want to own a reliable location if you're successful. This is the place you will send all your customers to through landmarks.
• Include landmarks with your items when you sell them. Referrals and repeat sales are big and free ways to gain loyal customers.
• Make an update or support group. Loyal customers will want to know when you put out something new, run an exclusive sale, or make special offers. Make sure to invite your visitors and customers to your group.
• Make sure your parcel is listed in Viewer search.
• Refine your searchable parcel details (name, description) and contents to obtain a higher position in search in a clean way, compliant with the ToS.
• List your business by joining the free business listings. Some directories have inworld browsing capabilities.

Paid

• Place an advert in the SecondAds.com pay-per-click advertising network. This will display your advert grid wide in a huge number of locations. Visit their inworld Headquarters Adcenter to learn more.
• Use traffic tools such as the Goldtokens.net gaming network to bring traffic to your land. These are cheap and effective ways to bring people to visit your store or business.
• Make some great ads and place them in magazines (see the list below) — it's usually cheap.
• Rent small shops/offices in big clubs with lots of traffic but be smart about visibility and location. Location is everything here. People love to zoom out and window-shop with their cameras while their avatar is dancing the night away.
• Post a classified in Viewer search (learn how) with a high enough L$ amount to get you in the top five of your keywords (hat, accessory, and so on). With the right keywords, this can pay off in spades.
• Use inworld ad-boards to publish your ads, a standalone one, or within a global network (like AdFusion adboards or MGK Advertisement).
• ISN Virtual Worlds offers "Extensive inworld experience, distribution and marketing management of virtual goods".
• RezzMe Advertising offers "Gridwide billboard network. We also create promotional items, graphic, and web development. Visit any of our billboards to setup your ad very easily."

Marketplace Marketing

It's possible to promote your marketplace products using the following services:

• Add your product to Reviewblaster to automatically reward people for leaving reviews on your products. Having reviews on your products encourages people to buy your products. This is a unique service for Second Life Marketplace merchants.

Web and online marketing

Free

As 100% of your customers use the Internet, spread quality information about your goods and services all over the Net.

• Register your business in SL Business Directory, a free listing of Second Life business. Upload images and provide the description of your business. This project also provides a lot of advertising services which will be useful for all business owners. This will boost your popularity in Google as well.
• Check out all the blogs for who you should send items to to get reviewed, and follow their contact policy. The usual process is: you simply drop a notecard with your info and some items on a reviewer Resident. Tons of people with L$ burning holes in their pockets read these reviews and are looking for high-quality things that they feel compelled buy.
• Use SLPano URLs to publish your links on the web. The SLPano URL acts like a SLurl link, but allows you to specify a business descriptions, upload screenshots, and so on.

Paid

• Advertise your art gallery, business, products, and services in Windlight Magazine.
• Advertise your shop location on YoSims. Motivate others to review your post so that you get a good ranking.
• Advertise your products or services in ROLE Magazine and benefit from "their commitment to actual, verifiable readership statistics".
• Advertise your products or services in Best of SL Magazine.
• Advertise your products or services in Oh Boi Magazine, the premier LGBT Magazine.
• Advertise items for roleplayers in RRM Reigning Realms Monthly.
• Advertise your business on RezzMe Advertising.
• Advertise your business on GLANCE Magazine.
• Advertise your products or services on Bridge Radio FX Radio Station.

Consulting

Experienced Residents who can advise you and share their knowledge:

• Glaznah Gassner - Advertising, dealing with SL Search tips and hints.
• AmyNevilly Resident - Chief designer and Marketer of renowned SecondAds.com company. Known expert in viral marketing, marketplace promotion and inworld traffic generation tools.