I’ve largely been supportive of Linden Lab’s efforts to bring advertising to their website. One area where I remain unconvinced is with regards to the dashboard, which I feel should remain unhindered. Another area where I’m not convinced it’s a good idea is the SL Marketplace.
One reason why I’m not convinced the SL Marketplace is a good fit is because people are already paying to advertise their wares there. However I do welcome Linden Lab’s blog post wherby they announce their intention to allow Second Life residents to be able to buy advertising space on their properties, Second Life related adverts are a good fit for any of their pages really. The devil will of course be in the detail, but the concept has potential. Inara Pey has a good blog post about LL’s announcement: Linden Lab Comments On New Advertising Moves.
However I often read people suggesting they use the SL Marketplace like a catalogue and teleport inworld to buy items. I think there’s potential here for extending the marketplace to have a catalogue section, such as an inworld items category, whereby a merchant would pay a listing fee for a limited time inclusion in this category.
Now you may wonder why they wouldn’t just list said item on the marketplace in the first place, well, when it comes to no copy items, they’re problematic, Direct Delivery doesn’t support them for a start, you’re better off buying the no copy item inworld and picking it up really, which is how sales of breedables often work.
The Marketplace gives potential customers the opportunity to quickly compare items, prices, permissions etc. Whereas you can list items inworld to be found via the inworld search, you can’t give your inworld listing the same sort of richness that a marketplace listing provides.
Also, if people have got their eyes on the marketplace, a few inworld listings could well be good advertising for your store as a whole.
Overall I’d rather see the marketplace be the sole domain of Second Life related merchandise and services, that’s its main purpose. I feel there are enough other properties on the Second Life website for them to engage with external advertisers, but there is room on the marketplace to advertise Second Life related ventures, with a bit of thought, it could be a very productive area for Linden Lab and merchants.
The Maretplace is potentially LL’s most valuable web property for advertising revenue, simply on the level of traffic it carries. Ergo, it makes sense for LL to exploit it – particularly given they’ll be allowing merchants to use the advertising option in the future.
The concern does remain the impact on listing enhancements – as you and I both point out. But I’m not sure this alone should negate broader advertising on the Marketplace.
Perhaps the solution is for LL to allow merchants to advertise through the other SL web properties and then only allow external ads on the Marketplace. This scores both ways:
– Merchants get wider exposure through the other LS web services, where there ads combine with external ads
– External ads create zero competition for listing enhancements but still allow LL revenue generation
I agree with the idea of a catalogue for merchandise which can only be purchased in-world. This would meet the demands of a very precise market within SL and enable LL to earn a small addition commission on items in return for a more focus funnelling of users back into in-world stores.
And, just to poke youa a little bit, I had to smile at your, “Overall I’d rather see the marketplace be the sole domain of Second Life related merchandise and services, that’s its main purpose.”
…Weren’t you not too long ago advocating the Marketplace should be broadened to include real-world items? 😉
OK, so providing real-world goods isn’t the same as advertising per se – but each of them pretty much amount to the same thing – making the Marketplace more than the sole domain of Second Life related merchandise (either that, or your definition of “SL related merchandise” sits on some pretty thin ice) :-).
(And this last comment, meant somewhat tongue-in-cheek shouldn’t be taken to mean I don’t think RL goods should be sold through the MP!)
Hey I’m allowed to change my mind :p If I was talking about Adobe Photoshop being sold on the marketplace then that has potential, I can’t recall what I meant by RL items. I’ll have to take notes, on another post I am contradicting myself on LL providing buyer protection, I’d love to see it but they don’t have the resources but that now sounds like I’ve changed my tune too! This getting old business is no fun.
I just think that the marketplace, should be an area where SL related ads are given prominence, I accept the more eyes on the page argument and that it’s therefore more lucrative a location for these external ads.
I’m not sure that merchants will welcome adverts that potentially take people away from the marketplace.
Overall I do think advertising is a sensible road for LL to tread, but it’s a tricky road.
Oh, I agree, the idea needs to be navigated sensibly. On the other hand, I don’t see external ads being a major issue for the Marketplace any more than they might be for the forum pages or Profile feeds (or the Dashboard! 😉 ).
Let’s face it, if I’m going to the Marketplace with a specific purpose in trying to find something SL-related, anfd I happen across an add for real-world goods that piques my interest, it might offer-up a diversion while I go see what it is about – but at the end of the day, I’ll still be back on the Marketplace in order to continue my search for whatever SL goods drew me there in the first place.
So where, realistically, is the harm (or competition)?
Where probelms really raise their little heads is – to me at least – in allowing SL merchants to have ads in the “Adsense” areas of the Marketplace pages.
This is because such a move breeds a situation where, for example, I go to the Marketplace looking for something, but merchants A, B, & C, who are paying a pretty penny for listing enhancements, never see my traffic because merchant D has an ad at the top of the MP page which immediately grabs my attention and carries me off directly to their in-world store or their SLMP store to make a purchase.
That is surely a recipe by which upset is allowed to manifest itself, and far more so than ads for real-world goods / services / the latest miracle weightloss scheme …
I don’t think adsense slots will make much of an ipact because adsense means using a different company to place your adverts, this is why the GlamAdapt deal failed, you couldn’t pay for those ads from your Second Life account.
I’ve had complaints from merchants about the ads on the marketplace, I can see both sides of the argument here, the eyes on the prize in terms of page views make it a good location, but merchants want to sell their wares there, it’s one of the few areas of the website that I do feel LL need to take a bit more care, especially if people keep seeing those Roman Orgy ads there!