Attracting Avatars To Your Sim

[Ran Modan]

Hi.  I run a gaming area in SL and have noticed a steady drop in new avatars coming to my Sim.  I've talked to some other local sim owners about what they do to attract new avatar visits.  Most say that linden giveaways and freebies are some of the best ways to attract new customers.  However, I'm giving away $500 a week on a free raffle and have tons of free games where you can win money and I'm still seeing a steady decline in visitors.

I'm curious  about what attracts you to a new sim?   What types of incentives draw you to a new area?  Do you look at ads or popularity count?  Do you use the search engine in SL?  How do you determine what types of sims to visit and what keeps you there once you stop by?

If you are a sim owner, what types of tips and tricks do you use to attract new customers and avatars?

Any thoughts will be appreciated.  I'm still learning how everyone approaches this game even after playing for multiple years!

[Tamara Artis]

One valuable trick I've learned is to reduce the number of clicks/steps people need to perform in order to get more infos about you or your business. Simple example is your signature here, it has 3 steps - select, right click and click to go to. Important fact we have to respect is that people are busy and lazy so clickable link is what you need. 

So after doing all that I got a sl map and well didn't find out anything about the place... If I'm not logged in to SL atm (and I'm not) and if lets say I really need 500L, maybe I would leave a tab openened for when I login laters but there is a big posibility I will forget about it and you just lost a visitor here. But lets say I clicked a link and it took me to your website. There you had all infos about your place, what games are there, photos that show people having fun etc. There is a bigger chance I see something interesting and login just to visit your place:)

Hope I helped!

[Maryanne Solo]

Do a "places" search and you'll find that theres one thing that repeatedly draws a big crowd.

Noobdity.

In fact that's why people create multiple alts, so they can stay noobed for longer.

Cater for them with "Noobed only" areas, things to do while Noobed and the like..

You'll have a very popular sim on your hands. 

 

[VRprofessor]

Something I have wondered about, does having avis on your sim (in your store) increase the chance of folks finding it via searches or such?  I ask because of the number of stores that have camping chairs.  My guess is that these are designed to raise some sort of usage statistics and move your sim/store up the search results ladder.   I'm curious as to whether my guess is right or not.

[Zenephobe]

No consent form for that question? A bit of research would provide you with the answer to your question as it has been discussed many many times throughout the years.

[Phil Deakins]

Until not long ago, traffic was a great help in the search rankings and it's probably still a little help. Traffic is the number of minutes that avatars spent on the land. LL banned the artificial improvement of traffic counts. Camping is not banned but it is banned on land that shows in search because it artificially inflates the land's traffic count. So if you see camping on land that shows in search, it is against the rules.

However, some places, such as my store, have camping that is allowed because it's not on land that shows in search. Mine is on its own little parcel, for instance, but is within the walls of the store.

[Lindal Kidd]

Maryanne has a good point.  One of my dear friends has a rental property business.  She calls it "Naked Landlady Rentals".  LOL...I wish I'd thought of that!

[RiiCassidy]

First make sure your land is actually enjoyable to look at and feels nice and clean. You say you run a gaming area is it fpr second life gaming or first life gaming make that clear. Have some of your friends on the land. The more people are in there, the more people want to go in there. Going back to number 1, make it comfortable have a little computer lab somewhere with working computers lined up, have huge boards or tv's wtih game sites loaded up on them and have residents compete againist each other. Have events where users can all play a COD game together or another game. Have a acard with classic's like pacman or sonic or something. Create a group, put it in your forum signature.

 

Sounds like a interesting idea, it just seems a bit dull the way your explaining it. I wouldn't mind visiting it though.