Over 1 million people have
traded in their real lives to explore an online world known as Second Life.
Second Life is a 3-D virtual
world built entirely by its residents. This new world was released in 2003,
before blogs and user-generated content hit the mainstream. Needless to say,
Second Life was way ahead of its time.
By Kim Roach
Over 1 million people have
traded in their real lives to explore an online world known as Second Life.
Second Life is a 3-D virtual
world built entirely by its residents. This new world was released in 2003,
before blogs and user-generated content hit the mainstream. Needless to say,
Second Life was way ahead of its time.
However, Second Life still shows
a very close resemblance to real life. Within the buzzing online world, people
are buying houses, buying clothes (one of Second Life's hottest industries),
throwing parties, going to concerts, and taking their own pictures, and even
opening up their own businesses.
American Apparel was the first
"real world" company to open a store in the virtual world of Second
Life. Their ultra-modern clothing store is located on a beach resort and has
quickly become a hot-spot within Second Life. The launch of their new store has
created a viral buzz that spread to Forbes,
Business Week, and many other news
outlets. The viral buzz has bolstered salës for their online and offline
clothing.
A number of other real-world
brands are getting involved as well. They include Intel, Nissan, Reuters, Sony
BMG, Adidas, CNET, and Wired. Major marketers, advertising agencies, and news
outfits are all starting to take part in Second Life.
And why not? Second Life
recently hit one million members. Over $500,000 dollars is spent within Second
Life every day. This is real monëy, not just the Linden dollar, the universal currency within
Second Life. A couple hundred people are even making a full-time living on Second
Life. With these kind of numbers, this is certainly a platform that businesses
should be looking at as a potential marketing opportunķty. Second Life is a
great way for businesses to reach consumers, test marketing strategies and
release new product ideas with relatively little ķnvestment.
Now, before you take your own
business into this virtual world, you should first learn the marketing
strategies that are required to successfully market your brand and products
within Second Life. You will find that many of these tactics are quite similar
to the search engine optimization strategies and online marketing tactics that
you have been studying for years.
SEO, press, advertising, web
design, alternative search engines, directory listings, link optimization, and
classifieds can all be found within Second Life.
To begin, let's get started with
some familiar search engine optimization strategies.
Title Tags:
When creating your own virtual
real estate, you will need to include a few important keywords in the title,
just like you would for your Web sites.
Remember to use terms that
people would actually search for, not just your company name.
For example, if you are American
Apparel and selling clothing, you might use the title, "American Apparel
clothing and fashion". This would work well because it includes keywords
that avatars within Second Life are likely to search for.
Descriptions:
You will also need a description
for your virtual property, including more of your secondary keywords. Make sure
it is enticing so that visitors will want to clķck through to your store when
searching within Second Life.
Staying with our example of
American Apparel, you might use the following description.
"Find the hottest
styles and latest fashions for your avatar. Whether you are looking for shirts,
skirts, pants, shorts, or tank tops, you'll find it all at American Apparel."
This description uses inviting
copy as well as secondary keywords that people may be searching for.
Directory Listings:
Your next step is to get your
company listed in the Second Life directory. Make sure your virtual real estate
is listed for your targeted keywords. This will help ensure that your listing
shows up when doing a Find in-world search.
Link Optimization:
Building inbound links within
Second Life is a little bit different from what you would normally do for your
traditional Web sites. However, you can certainly take advantage of
cross-promotion within this massive virtual landscape. Simply offer
teleportation between your online virtual roperties and your partners. It may
sound far-fetched now, but partnerships and joint ventures could very easily
become mainstream in Second Life. When it does, linking to others will be as
easy as setting up a teleport.
Paid Advertising:
Your organic search campaign is
very important within Second Life. However, you can also increase your exposure
through paid advertising.
MetaAdverse, an advertising network for
Second Life, has a database of properties in which marketers can post
billboards. In fact, they even allow you to track your visitors based on the
advertisements you place.
Banner Blindness:
Unfortunately, paid advertising
does have its' drawbacks. Banners and other in-your-face advertisements have
lost much of their value due to banner blindness. Within Second Life, avatars
are quickly doing the same thing: ignoring the mass of advertising that has
surrounded their virtual cities.
To succeed in Second Life, you
must bring your prospects true value through an engaged online experience.
Build relationships and add content that adds to their online entertainment. If
you are a band, then put on a free concert within this massive virtual world.
If you are a politician, why not hold a public debate? If you are a fashion
designer, get involved in one of the Second Life fashion shows.
Pontiac has created a great example of creating an exciting user
experience within Second Life. They have set up Motorati island, a 96-acre plot
of land in Second Life where they sell virtual versions of the Pontiac Solstice
GXP and stage races on their very own race track.
You must create an experience
that is fun and exciting. People don't come online to have the very same
experiences they do offline.
Multiple Search Engines:
Much like the Internet, Second
Life has one dominant search engine. It is located at the bottom of the screen
within this virtual world and can be compared to Google in it's domination.
However, there are outside efforts to improve the Second Life search engines
with secondary offerings. An example is Second411. This alternative search
engine allows Second Life store owners to list all of their items within a
consolidated shopping search engine.
To get the most amount of
exposure, you need to be present in the main search engine as well as any
alternative search engines that are created.
Classifieds:
You should be running a
classified ad every week within Second Life. Your classified listings come with
basic statistics, so you'll know exactly how many people are coming to your
shop through your classified listing. If you find that you aren't getting very
good results, simply change your copy until you get it right.
Location is Key:
On the Web, it is very important
to choose a good domain name. In Second Life, it's important to choose a good
virtual location. Look for an area that already contains some established
merchants. If you have some friends, you could also partner together and create
your own shopping area. Either way, you will need to leverage the marketing and
promotions of your neighbors.
If you want to spread your
products even further, you may also want to consider getting your virtual
products into malls and booths.
Business Networking:
Almost everything that can be
accomplished in the offline world is made available in some form or fashion
within your own virtual world, including business networking. Online and
offline, it's still very much about who you know.
So, why not take your potential
clients and partners out for lunch at the nearest virtual cafe?
Press:
Reuters is the first news bureau to
set up shop in Second Life. However, there are a number of other news outlets
and websites that are reporting on the daily events within Second Life.
If your business is doing
something newsworthy within Second Life, then you certainly need to let these
media outlets know. Good press is one of the keys to viral buzz.
Here are a few of the places in
the press line who are reporting on Second Life.
3pointD
New World Notes
Second Life Herald
Metaverse Messenger
Second Life Insider
Tao’s Thoughts on Second Life
Are you starting to see the
potential of Second Life optimization? The rules of marketing are changing and
we as webmasters must keep up if we want to thrive.
Get ready for the future of
search...
* Kim Roach is a staff writer and editor of SEO-News newsletters.
