Got Stuff? Sell it! Part II by leb388 |  |
NEOPIAN MARKETPLACE - All right, so you have a shop, and you know what items
to put in it, but you want something more, right? Some people have cool graphics,
neat backgrounds and music, counters, and neat shop names and shopkeepers in
their shops. Maybe you want your shop to be a tribute to your guild or a battle
shop.
But if you have no clue what you want and if your shop's been looking dull
lately, here's some tips to make it look great:
1. Shop name. This isn't the most important, but it's one of
the first things people see when they go to your shop. It doesn't have to be
catchy or clever, just something better than "My Shop." Make it something people
can understand (don't use something like "/\/\j 73chn0 $h0p 04 $7u44"). You
can always go back and change it later, so it doesn't matter what you choose
at first. Some cool names include what people like, such as Shoyrus, Fire Faeries,
and their guild. If your shop is a gallery, you can call it "My Gallery of Water
Items" or "(your name)'s Water Gallery"--one way sounds simple, the other's
personalised. There can be a twist of letters, like "My $tuff $hop." My shop's
name is "Limited, 'FOO'," a sort of twist on Limited Too. Brainstorm and experiment
to find the right name for you.
2. Your Shop's Size. As with the shop name, you can change this
by clicking "Create/Edit a Shop" from the "Your Shop" section of the main shops.
This doesn't show in your shop, but it does on your userlookup, and it drastically
affects your shop. You start out with a size 1, but this level of your shop
only holds five items. Since items take time to sell, this can be frustrating
if you have 30 items you want to get rid of. A good size to stick with is 7-12
for a shop if you're just beginning, 15-25 if you're an expert, and more for
a gallery. That way, you can stock more items in your shop at a time. Also,
it may seem like a waste at first to spend all those Neopoints on upgrading
your shop's size, but it's really worth the investment.
3. Shopkeepers. Every shop has to have a shopkeeper, and you
have tons of choices. From casual and regular faeries to normal and unusual
pets, there's quite a selection. For the longest time, I had the "Shoyru Wizard,"
then I tried the "Casual Soup Faerie" for awhile, and now I've got a picture
of my Desert Aisha, Li. You can choose from the dropdown list which one you
want; there should be each pet, so you can find yours, or you can choose something
else. You can also choose the "Transparent" box if you have a background and
don't want a white box around your shopkeeper. You can also choose something
for your shopkeeper to say; a simple "Welcome!" is all you need, but you can
personalised it more if you want.
4. Your Shop's Description. This is one of the most important
features in your shop. This is where you put the code for your graphics, and
you can also put a message in your shop, like "Welcome to my shop--I hope you
find what you need!" It can be as long or as short as you want. Contests aren't
allowed anymore, even in guild shops, since most of these turned out to be scams.
And if you have offensive content in your shop description, you're likely to
get your shop reported (All this does is wipe your shop's description, but until
you change it it displays the message, "This shop's description was found to
be unsuitable and was cleared."). Other than that, experiment until you find
something you like.
5. Backgrounds and Music. All of you DSL people out there, take
note: these take a long time to load for those of us working on slow modems,
especially if you have lots of images. It's best to only stick with music and
backgrounds in galleries, because having too much stuff in your shop makes people
less likely to buy more items. But people searching through galleries have more
time, and a background and/or music that fits the theme of the gallery gives
it a cool, unique look.
6. Text size/type/colour. This is covered in the Neopets Basic HTML guide.
Make sure the text is readable so that people can find what they want and the
prices of the items.
7. Images. You can choose from "priceless" items (I've seen some
clever ones, like "Freedom; One in stock; Cost: Priceless" and a picture of
an American flag to a picture with the word "Eh!" followed by "Canadian Slang;
One in stock; Cost: Priceless.") which are in your shop description and can't
be bought, or simpler things like dolls, blinkies, and puffs. Also, some guilds
offer "quizzes" where you can fill out a form by answering questions about yourself
and find out what Faerie you'd be, what Neopet best suits you, whatever. All
of these are easy to load as long as they aren't too large in size (A basic
rule of thumb could be that if the picture is larger than your shopkeeper, don't
use it in your shop.). If they are, people begin to get frustrated that your
shop takes too long to load, and may leave before they buy an item.
8. Counters. I find these useful for checking how many people
visited my shop in a day vs. how many items were bought, or just to keep track
and see if people come to my shop even when it's not stocked. You can get a
lot of information from counters, and a lot of sites offer free ones with many
different colours and images. T
9. Affiliating. If you've got a friend who restocks their shop
often, ask if you can affiliate with them. That means you put something like
the following in your shop:
Also, please check out leb388's shop here!
Change the link and the person's username from the example above to link to
them, but only if they agree to link to your shop from theirs. This can increase
visitors to both of your shops, helping you get more Neopoints to expand and
restock your shop, continuing the cycle!
If there is anything in a shop that is especially offensive or insulting,
simple click "Report Shop," then a window will pop up. Read the information
there, and click "OK." You'll have anonymously reported the person, and their
shop description may be wiped.
Well, that's about it! I hope you've found my tips useful. An organised, attractive
yet easily-navigable shop can mean more people buying items, and more Neopoints
for you. But remember not to overprice, or you won't get any things sold at
all! Happy editing! |
