Is it allowed to advertise my real world business in SL?

[sec2engineer]

I produce things like music and games so I wondered if it is allowed to advertise my websites and social media on my land?

And what is the cheapest land I can get? I only would need something small.

[Bree Giffen]

Yes, you can advertise your real-world goods and services in Second Life. How you advertise has some restrictions though. Mostly it's to stop people from making ads that spoil the enjoyment of others living nearby.  The cheapest land you can get is probably rental land. You can look at the Land forums in here and check the rental subforum. You can see rentable land and you can contact those offering rentals to see what else they can do. I'm not sure if SL is a large enough audience for you to justify your advertising here but it should be cheap enough to test it out.

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Linden_Lab_Official:Policy_on_ad_farms_and_network_advertisers

[LittleMe Jewell]

52 minutes ago, sec2engineer said:

I produce things like music and games so I wondered if it is allowed to advertise my websites and social media on my land?

And what is the cheapest land I can get? I only would need something small.

Getting some land just to put out some advertisements would not be wise.  The number of people that would see such advertising would be very small and not make it worth it.  

There are various clubs and shopping areas that also have advertising boards.  Something like that might work better.

Also, you can include links in your Forum signature here, though only forum folks will see it -- and only the ones that have not disabled signatures.

[BillFletcher]

I know of an SL landowner who has a RL Herbalife business and  has ads for it in some of his properties.

 

[Quistess Alpha]

1 hour ago, sec2engineer said:

And what is the cheapest land I can get? I only would need something small.

my vague recollections of micro-parcel rental rates were in the neighborhood of 50~100 L$ per week. Small parcels can often have inconvenient shapes though.

[Maitimo]

Rental properties may have rules against commercial activity (including advertising).

Also, please don't make your ad board big or ugly, full bright, spinning, glowing, flashing, hovering above the ground, giving out unsolicited notecards etc.  Everyone will simply de-render it (or report you).

[sec2engineer]

Thanks for the responses. It has given me a lot to think about and research more.

I understand the main point is not to make it too bright and flashy or irritating for others.

I was just thinking of something like a small private room, could be invisible to everyone until you go in.

To get some traffic I want to put one of those collect coin games in there.

The ad would basically just be a block with text on it, maybe a graphic. Was not thinking of any animations or lights or sounds.

Yes maybe renting would be best.

I will look at the ad boards in people's clubs too.

Edited December 29, 2022 by sec2engineer

[Rolig Loon]

Remember that you are not allowed to advertise in the forums, if that had crossed your mind.  The Guidelines also say "Do not reference other websites offering any product or service."

[Lindal Kidd]

I know there was a jewelry store some years back that sold virtual copies of their creations in SL, and also offered them for sale in RL. And of course, some big corporations tried advertising in SL, notably L'Oreal and Nike, although those attempts didn't come to anything.

[Polenth Yue]

The ad rules are mainly about outdoor adverts, so putting up a little building with details about your stuff inside would usually be fine. Even with outdoor ads, I've not had complaints about having my book posters outside my shop. It's not really like having a microparcel with a giant ad stuck on it. I've also had links for my main website and social media.

If you do end up crossing a line and not realising it, the most likely response will be that the stuff will get returned with a note. You'd have to be doing something majorly bad for it to be assumed that you did it on purpose.

[Sid Nagy]

My experience: Advertising on add boards is mainly sponsoring the venue that puts them up.
I tried them in the past for my SL shop I had in the past. Results were next to nothing.
Inworld advertising in general, simply doesn't work as Lindal already explained. Big professionals like Nike tried it and failed.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

25 minutes ago, Sid Nagy said:

Inworld advertising in general, simply doesn't work as Lindal already explained. Big professionals like Nike tried it and failed.

Depends on what you're advertising, maybe. And where.

Years ago I had a friend who advertised her phone sex business on her profile. I think she did quite well with it . . .

Using your profile for that purpose is, I think, fine -- and may actually be more effective, assuming that you get out and about to where people are.

[Sid Nagy]

13 minutes ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

Depends on what you're advertising, maybe. And where.

Years ago I had a friend who advertised her phone sex business on her profile. I think she did quite well with it . . .

Using your profile for that purpose is, I think, fine -- and may actually be more effective, assuming that you get out and about to where people are.

Sex always sells.
Plus, that is where a lot of people come to SL for.
 

 

Edited December 29, 2022 by Sid Nagy

[Toothless Draegonne]

15 hours ago, sec2engineer said:

I produce things like music and games so I wondered if it is allowed to advertise my websites and social media on my land?

And what is the cheapest land I can get? I only would need something small.

You absolutely can, and you don't even need land to throw a few lindens a week into some choice adboards that are dotted around all kinds of regions. What I would suggest is to lurk around some places and see if the community is a fit for your services, then go buy an adboard or two. Be wary of regions that are more bots than real people. Bots don't buy stuff!

Cheapest land for an in-world store would probably be to get a premium account and then buy into a 1152m^2 (1024m^2 + 10% deeded-to-group bonus) mainland parcel somewhere. Don't bother with any expensive buy-in fees, you're literally a teleport away from anywhere else and you're not getting an inworld store for "the ambience". Set your store up in a skybox, make a landmark to it for sharing out, and job done. The rent for that land will be included in the $99/year premium fee.

And yes, nothing stopping you putting your business details in your profile's about: section.

 

(Any other questions like what "deeded to group" means and the exact procedures for doing all of the above, well, you can learn from individuals or ask builder-type help groups 😆 )

Edited December 29, 2022 by Toothless Draegonne

[Maitimo]

On 12/29/2022 at 12:12 AM, sec2engineer said:

To get some traffic I want to put one of those collect coin games in there.

 

The trouble with the coin collect game is that it attracts only one sort of person - the sort who has no money, and no RL means of purchasing any.  Such people will not be able to avail themselves of your RL business even if they wanted to.