Socially Mundane

Informational Notecards.

Always offer an informational notecard for every product you sell.

Always.

Even if you think you have nothing to say. Even if it will be the same notecard for every single product you sell. The reason is to make it easy as possible for anyone to give you their money and often what prevents a purchase is a simple, lingering question about your product, your policies on support, or something else you may think of as “niggle nonsense”.

The notecard should answer that question. The notecard should push the shopper “over the fence” when they are considering your product against a competing product.

First, at the top of the notecard, state what the product is and what it does. Then the price and permissions of the product. Important: if you have the prim permissions on your product set to “no modify” and you include scripting of some sort (color-change, resize, etc.) - do not advertise your product as “modify”. You will only piss-off your customer. If the prims are no-modify, but include modifier scripts, then say so. Be transparent and up-front about your product!

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The headline above is utterly laughable and why you really should never throw much weight into the authenticity or authority of any so-called news media. All of them, especially blogger - even for “big names” like Ars Technica, ever since Walter Cronkite left the business. I mean really, Ars Technica? Are you decking serious?

The headline above is an Ars Technica headline. I saw it an laughed, then shook my head, then considered it confirmed that blog is no better than all the rest who will write anything, no matter how stupid, inaccurate and downright wrong, just to get more clicks.

Here is why the End User License Agreement and its restrictions are perfectly legal, nay, the correct option for the iBooks Author application:

• It is called iBooks Author, hence it is a tool specifically intended for creating and outputting iBooks-compatible content. Being able to repurpose that output into any other format is a generous optional bonus Apple has seen fit in their hearts to allow (PDF and plain text files) - anything else is technically reverse-engineering and a DMCA violation.
• The restriction that anything created and output in the iBooks file format with iBooks Author can only be sold through iBooks makes perfect sense. The app is obviously designed as a development tool for the iBookstore. This is not so say the content itself cannot be sold anywhere you wish, only the iBooks-formatted file that is output from the application.
• If you wish to create an iBooks-formatted file and give it away for free to the whole wide world, there is no restriction to do this. Have at it. It will be ‘pirated’ across the Internet and around the world within minutes, so you may as well give it away free.
• The end purpose of iBooks Author is to create iBooks-formatted files for use in iBooks and sold through iTunes (it is essentially an iTunes Development Tool). It is not intended to be some “publishing application” akin to Microsoft word or Adobe InDesign. Because Apple is providing it as a development tool for a specific platform (iBooks) they can put any restriction on the output of that tool they so choose.
• If you want to sell the content in your multi-touch book anywhere you want beyond iTunes then do so, just don’t use iBooks Author iTunes Development Tool to create the files.

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One of the frustrating things shoppers face is having to decipher product specifications and details when they shop. To help make it easy as possible for a buyer to give you their money, ensure your “product art” is not only ‘net-optimized (file size,) but also visually optimized to help sell the product for you.

As already mentioned in previous tips, your product must be the focus of the image - a clean, neutral background works best. But also, when taking these snapshots of your product, learn to use the zoom feature (CTRL-0 and CTRL-8) to set a good view. Be consistent in the style and presentation across the genre of products and then secondarily, across your entire line of products.

Right: were you shopping for a prim sword? Here are two to choose from.

Always try to include the permissions of your product on the artwork, but not the price (note to creators: if the prims are no-modify, do not claim your product is modify just because you use resize scripts: you are false-advertising).

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Art file optimization.

A huge problem many retailers in SL have is that their products are not seen by many potential buyers who want that product and are willing to pay for it. This is because of the urge many creators have to present high-resolution, detailed “product art”.

Ouch.

Because these textures are nicely detailed, high-resolution images, they take a long time to download. They are in a queue with everyone else’s high-resolution textures… all waiting to download to the shopper’s viewer and it’s worse if it happens to be in a high-traffic sim (see tip #01 about that). Hence: the grey box city at almost every market or mall.

Remember, the hunter is impatient. They are on a hunt. They have places to go, things to do. Often, if the grey boxes don’t start coloring-in fast enough, they’ll teleport away to the next destination on their search result list.

You simply must optimize your product art for this purpose, allowing your textures to rez faster than everyone else’s. The more potential customers that actually see your product art, the more who will translate into actual buyers. It is highly recommended you have points of sale in-world and also at SL Marketplace. Because of this, it will take a little planning when preparing your product art.

A few highly-recommended steps for creating optimized product art that will help boost sales:

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Repeat after me: “traffic is evil”.

I know what you’re thinking: huh?

There are two kinds of shoppers in real life and in Second Life: the hunter and the gatherer. The gatherer gathers. They are the window-shoppers who browse around. In Second Life, unlike first life, gatherers are likely one in a hundred. They teleport somewhere, usually landing in some market or something, and a vendor image catches their eye. They investigate.

Hunting is far easier. You know what you want, even if it’s just a genre of product (clothing, for example) and so you hunt. Even the gatherers hunt: gatherers will hunt for those merchants (creators) they already know. They go to their favorite shops and once there they then slide into gatherer (browsing) mode.

In short: it is ridiculously rare that you will attract new customers by your advertising (including vendor images) alone. It just doesn’t happen.

So what does traffic have to do with all this, you ask?

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It’s a new year. And every new year I rehash this theme I originally wrote on back in 2006. It’s accurate, effective and true. Apparently Linden Lab thinks so as I have discovered they link to the original in the Second Life Support wiki.

Either way, I like to review and refresh the article to bring it up to date and the theme still applies.

Second Life users: if you ever need creator support you’d do very well to read and understand. Second Life creators: you’d do very well to accomplish the same. It’s just good for business.

Oh, and this “best practices” applies in real life, too.

So, without further ado, let’s get started, shall we?

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Six years on the Second Life grid and I can count failed “customer support” from in-world creators on one hand. And in those cases, it always was a case of “AWOL” where no response to my inquiry was ever received. Of course, I’ve dealt with my share of rude, crude creators, just as a creator I’ve dealt with rude, crude customers. However, as a rule of thumb, I’ve always received excellent support from practically any creator when I needed it. I am willing to share my simple recipe for success in the scenario of needing or giving creator support. When I say creator support, I am referring to those times when there is a need to contact the creator of something purchased in-world or through the Second Life Marketplace.

These scenarios include, but obviously are not limited to:

• Failed deliveries on purchases (rare on today’s grid, kudos Linden Lab)
• Wrong permissions from those advertised (more frequent than appears)
• Missing portions of a “package” (rare, but happens)
• Something does not operate as expected (also rare, but more frequent than it should be)
• Something becomes broken (too common - usually due to creator paranoia)
• Something becomes lost (rarely ever Linden Lab’s fault, this is a user issue)

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I have what some might call a serious lack of general confidence in government. I just don’t trust the efficiency, accuracy, or ethical motivation in governmental ‘administrative’ work, especially the more local the government. Perhaps what I’m about to describe vindicates this attitude. Perhaps it doesn’t. Judge for yourself.

• A traffic infraction is caught on camera, but the citation is never received.
• A past-due notice is received, with a threat to be sent to collections.
• Though a rebuttal letter is sent in response to the postcard, a request for written statement is hence received - or choose to appear in person at court.
• However, the notices indicates that if a written statement is made, one waves any right to appeal. (?!)
• Even though a defense of “denial of due process” is reasonable, the case is dismissed because there are two vehicles on the road with the same license plates.

NOTE: because it appears to me the super-majority of world population are gullible idiots, I warn you what is stated here following is my personal experience. You would be the ridiculous idiot if you attempt to use any of what is written here as a legal defense for yourself in any charge made against you.

Government efficiency.

I return home and collect the mail one day to find a simple postcard. On it is a simple statement:

RE: Case BEP xxxxxx
You owe: $159.00

This was actually a bit of a surprise as the original citation was never received. Because the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the right of “due process”, which includes clear information on the nature and cause of any charges” - this would be a simple case of “piss-off”. However, this means a ‘no-contact’ would have the due charges sent to a collection agency, then everything gets all mucked-up. It is better to avoid this scenario.

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