SL's Web Map & SLurls Get Little Traffic: 77-154K Visitors

I recently mentioned that this blog sees little clickthrough to SLurls and maps.secondlife.com, the Second Life websites where the SL world map is displayed and linked to the client-accessible grid, and as I thought, that turns out to be generally true. Check out Google Ad Planner's traffic data for both sites:

According to Google, slurl.com gets about 70K total monthly visitors and maps.secondlife.com gets about 77K total monthly visitors. There's probably quite a lot of overlap of unique visitors between those sites, but at absolute maximum, this is around 150K uniques at most. That's a fraction of Second Life's million or so unique monthly users, not to mention SL's 400K monetized users. (And at least some of that traffic is from non-SLers.)

What's that mean for folks who run an SL-oriented site, like the hundreds of virtual fashion blogs, or sites for SL fashion brands? This:

Generally speaking, not many SLers are clicking through from websites to go in-world, so on your website, you probably want to put more emphasis on the web-based Marketplace, which gets way more traffic. Speaking even more broadly, this lack of traffic from the web is yet another challenge to SL landowners: Since very few visitors are coming in-world via the web, you probably need to put more effort into SL-based promotional channels, such as in-world groups and clickable teleports. But seeing as a reported 70% of SLers don't regularly stray outside their last logged-in location, that's also also a small market to chase after.

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Comments

[Pussycat Catnap]

When I see a SLURL on a blog, often I'm already inworld and just either inworld search the -owner- of the place or copy-paste the SLURL into the location bar - which insta teleports me there.

Clicking the SLURL on the other hand, causes a 2-step process, so I only do this when I forget.

Generally I find it more useful to know the name of a maker of some fashion item, and then find a location inworld on my own or their MP entry - as fitting the situation - than a SLURL.

I would suggest said bloggers start including the URL to the designer's profile on my.secondlife.com - from there I can get to their MP or Picks or whatever...

[Hamlet Au]

I click on a SLurl, which launches the official viewer, which takes me to the place I want to go. But because the official viewer doesn't work well on my ALIENWARE, I then need to log off the official viewer and then launch the Imprudence viewer. Which doesn't display mesh, but does actually run for me OK. Yet another way it's such a pain in the ass to write about anything in SL.

[jdtrue writer]

Just food for thought I read this and all the sl blogs 90% of the time on a tablet so no I never could click a link like a slurl to do me any good

[Bunny]

I personally avoid SLurls unless I already have the SL Viewer open. Most of the time I hover over a link to see if it's an SLurl and ignore it if it is.

If you're not logged into SL there's little value to SLurls. Yeah, you can see the map, but unless I'm logged in that means nothing and there's no way easy way to save them for later. They're a good pointer to a place if you don't already have a landmark, but when you're not logged in, they're worthless.

As other posters have mentioned, the in-world search and profiles are what I use the most.

- Bunny

[Honour]

I drag the slurl down to my tool bar onto the SL icon, which opens and I drop it on my viewer screen. The teleport window opens and I click that.

There's no need to click through.

[Pussycat Catnap]

Hamlet: SLURLS opening a viewer different from the one you prefer is a bug that gets play on the forums every few days. I don't remember the solution, but I do know there is one.

Maybe somebody who does know it will post it, otherwise I suggest searching the forums (and if you find it, maybe blog about it since a different crowd reads your blog from that which reads the forums).

I will add also that if not already logged into SL, I tend to never click SLURLS.

BUT I have been known to bookmark somebody's my.secondlife profile for later. Especially as these work inworld as well (at least on the official viewer) - navigating and remembering my SL points of interest by person rather than place makes it easier to be consistent in what I do both in and out of game.

My suggestion to the prospective blogger: link both the profile and the Marketplace page. Consider the SLURLS optional. Shop location after all - is the most likely thing to become out of date. Some folks NEVER move in SL, others pack up and move seemingly daily... :)

Looking at my own my.secondlife entry, there's a spot for homepage. If I cared more about being a merchant, I'd put my marketplace URL there - and I've seen MANY merchants do so.

Instead I care about gabbing, so it links to my blog.

There's a JIRA in there somewhere - perhaps suggesting profiles on my.secondlife include marketplace URLs (always, opt-in, or opt-out).

[Indigo Mertel]

Promotion within Second Life is very complex and a topic I covered in one of the few posts I made on my blog. It's also the reason why I was less than enthusiast when LL launched its own social streaming instead of improving what we already have. Notecards, groups are obsolete communication tools, they both need to be improved with web technology.

[DBDigital Epsilon]

SLURL's are invaulable for sending links to people in group chat (or personal IM's). If you click on a SLURL inside a IM/Local chat window you will go there without going to the map system. Granted it pulls up another box asking if you want to teleport but not bad. And using landmarks are usually a two click affair anyway. Actually 3 if you are receiving a new one: accept the LM, click on the LM, then teleport confirm/info box.

When I find SLRUL's on blogs or such I copy and paste them into local chat then teleport from there. It is easy to do and only take seconds. And who doesn't use cut and paste in SL all the time anyway? I have also been known to bookmark locations in my browser (Firefox) to visit later. I don't use the built in browser.

I suspect most people are doing this instead of going to the map website for the simple reason it is one less click to copy and paste the SLURL in IM/local chat rather than use the map site which unless you are using the build in browser tends to launch the LL viewer. Although this can also depend on which viewer you last installed.

Anyway since they are not using the map (using it directly inside SL similar to a LM) your web map traffic results are far from conclusive.

[Ezra]

Yep I never click SLURLs to open the viewer or instantiate a landmark for me, I always Copy the SLURL and paste it in the viewer's bar.

I bet a lot of users go weeks without ever seeing maps.secondlife.com but drop URLs into their viewers daily. At least that's how I am.

[Amanda Dallin]

I have to agree with most of the posts here. I use the Slurl in world but almost never to click through to the map from a blog. I would think the number who use it without clicking through is much higher than those who use it the way it was intended. A lot like Second Life itself that way.

[Shug Maitland]

I agree with jdtrue, I use a second computer for browsing while in world. SLurls are a poor substitute for LMs to me. The same would be true for anyone shopping marketplace or browsing blogs from work, or a tablet, or even a web enabled phone.

[Orca Flotta]

What is this I don't even ...

Honestly now, what is your problem guys?
LM, slurl ... it don't mean nothing when I'm not in world. Where would I go with my tablet or cellphone? Once I'm inworld I use LM and slurl without even thinking twice.
When I'm offline and find an interesting slurl in a blog I just open my viewer (non official) and then click the slurl again. Or I copy/paste it ... so many options, all pretty standard SL user stuff, aka common sense
.
So please excuse me for not understanding why you are discussing such a non-topic here.

[Saffia Widdershins]

Well, clearly, it's just me then racking up the figures, because I find myself using these links at least a couple of times a day. And when I hit the link, Windows obligingly asks me which of my panoply of viewers I want to use ...

[Pathfinder]

Hamlet said: "not many SLers are clicking through from websites to go in-world"

Orca said: "LM, slurl ... it don't mean nothing when I'm not in world. Where would I go with my tablet or cellphone?"

Which is precisely why I keep banging the drum for virtual worlds that can be embedded in the web as well as work easily on mobile/tablet devices.

[Adeon Writer]

You still can't see mesh? Have you tried Singularity lately? Imprudence is a dead viewer. They will not be updating anymore.

[Ajax Manatiso]

I agree with Adeon -- Singularity is the cream viewer right now. But the Slurls try to launch the official viewer, which out to be put out of its misery -- another LL cash disposal project that is worthless for going inworld.

[sirhc desantis]

Although whatever viewer I am running (currently Singularity) is set to auto-launch, its incredibly rare that I use a web slurl without it already running. I'd sooner take a look first inworld to see where its taking me before jumping.

[Orca Flotta]

>> Hamlet said: "not many SLers are clicking through from websites to go in-world"

Orca said: "LM, slurl ... it don't mean nothing when I'm not in world. Where would I go with my tablet or cellphone?"

Which is precisely why I keep banging the drum for virtual worlds that can be embedded in the web as well as work easily on mobile/tablet devices. <<

Please don't get me wrong Pathfinder; I neither own a tablet nor a cellphone. I was just making a (bad) joke about people who complain about how they can't do SL stuff with their telephones. For me grabbing a slurl from a SL blog is SL stuff, so I'd never do something that senseless with inadequate hardware in the first place.

Call me oldfashioned but for all my interwebz needs I simply make use of something called a Komputah or something. You kidz prolly don't remember those awkward and noisy big boxes, but besides of knocking your knees against them under the desk they are just fantabulous and have all the power you need to take part in a virtual world. Clever little me has her machine now raised on some old bricks I found in the backyard and put it on the side of my desk: Freedom for my knees!!! \o/ YAY! \o/

And when using the interwebz I learned to have patience like a good little jedi, I don't expect everything to work with just one mousyclicky. This instant gratification mindset of you younglings doesn't get you anywhere; in the long run it will only leave you unhappy and unfullfilled and complaining and whining about the smallest little non-problems.

>> I agree with Adeon -- Singularity is the cream viewer right now. <<

Wrong, Ajax, there is not a single cream viewer out there. YOUR cream viewer is the one that works best for YOUR needs, best supports YOUR workflow and runs best on YOUR hardware. It's different for everybody. For me it's still the bird but I would never promote it as the best, the one and only, the shizzniss, the mother of all viewers, the cream, the grand poobah, the holy honeypot, the ...

[foneco zuzu]

Hamlet a good way to avoid your problem!
Format disk!
NEVER INSTALL ANY VIEWER FROM THE LAB!
Just install a Tpv (Imprudence is my choice for OSG, Firestorm to Kitely, Pre Mesh Phoneix for Sl but any will do as long as.... It is not a Linden 1!

[foneco zuzu]

And Orca, you make so much sense that i fear its useless to most of the readers here!

[foneco zuzu]

But with Optical fiber, patience is something you will not accept anymore! The times for endless minutes to see all in World should had already being solved long ago!

[Adeon Writer]

SLURL's load my TPV for me. I did nothing special for this to happen.

[Pussycat Catnap]

"But the Slurls try to launch the official viewer, which out to be put out of its misery -- another LL cash disposal project that is worthless for going inworld."

That's a mater of opinion. I use the official viewer exclusively, and I'm far from alone on that. Some of us very much strongly prefer the V3 UI. The project that moved us from v1 to v3 may not have been done in an ideal manner - but there are quite a few who would argue it was a very worthwhile transition to have made, now that we are out on the other end of it.

[Pussycat Catnap]

"Please don't get me wrong Pathfinder; I neither own a tablet nor a cellphone."

Likewise.

I almost bought a tablet recently - but I couldn't think of anything that I could do with it that I could not do better on my laptop.

Why downgrade?

Which is precisely what a tablet is. A downgrade. And a decent model costs more than many laptops these days. If you want one with 3g/4g... then you're hitting at least $600... a price at which you can get a vastly more powerful laptop. But for that $600, you get a machine that is -inferior- to buying a $300 laptop and a USB mobile hotspot card.

Tablets just make no sense, and once their hype stage dies out... we'll probably move on to the eReaders like a Kindle or basic Nook, the cellphones, and then laptops.

Tablets feel like Laserdisc players - seemed really cool at the time, but really not the ideal way of doing things.

[Ferd Frederix]

I like cruising Pathfinders sim on my $300 1Ghz android tablet. The mesh dragon is killer! It's smoother than SL on the fastest computer I have, (which is really fast).

Hamlet, check out id.secondlife.com on Googles Ad planner at https://www.google.com/adplanner

That is the login engine for all SL properties. and there are only 480K world-wide unique visitors a month. They have to pass thru it to log in anywhere. You can break the users down by country, for example, US is 470K, Brazil-85K,UK-57K, etc. A country wide breakdown would be interesting. I found it interesting that more females log in than males, by a large margin.

Hamlet, when are you going to fix or trash the old Alien? You are using 5 year old AWFUL viewers on a machine that can outpace most desktops. It makes your opinion on SL issues suspect to me when you cannot see the glorious changes the Lindens have made with mesh, V3 windlights that are set by the sim owner, and shared media items.

I know you love that beat up box, as I love mine, but you need to either get a decent machine with modern drivers or uninstall the trash driver you have and put the correct one on it.

SL is glorious in V3 and Firestorm and even Phoenix, as the textures now load in seconds, lag is almost gone, the colors are richer, and the windlights are far better. You can actually see my statues talk, frown, and move their lips in my sim. Not to mention that the shadows are gorgeous. The first time I enabled shadows, I was not expecting them to come thru the ceiling of my textured, 1 prim dome and make the same shadows on the floor. It (rather shockingly) changed my bland floor into a dynamic environment.

Beside that, you are looking at SL in only 8 bits! You cannot even see a mesh object, which means you are looking at 8-bit land. Yes, Minecraft-quality 8 bits, as sculpts are limited to 8-bit precision, in rounded blobby shapes with only limited vertexes. Come see a real mesh sword or a mesh vehicle. It looks REAL.

You need to get the correct video driver installed, INCLUDING the driver control panel, turn all the SL rendering buttons for aliasing to OFF so the CPU is not doing the hardware's job, set up a GPU profile for SL, turn everything on in the hardware to max, and allow those graphic CPUs to do their work!

Toss the old Alienware driver. Get the Nvidia or AMD version that de-OEM's it and put that puppy to work!

Or go try the Hydrant test. Take the Alien out, throw it at the nearest fire hydrant, and if it survives, keep it and stay in 8-bit land.

Or send me a notecard with your Help-About specs or email me and I'll dig up the correct driver up for you.

[Ferd Frederix]

Forgive me for ranting about the Alien - it's not easy to fork over money for a decent machine. It just makes me mad to see the best and most respected blogger about SL using old tech to see a new world.

[Pathfinder]

@Orca and @Pussycat

http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2011-08-03/

(and for the record, I use mobile/tablet devices but spend most of my time on my own Grandpa Box)

[val kendal]

For the opposite side: I click through all the time. I visit a series of SL art, travel, news and fashion sites routinely (including NWN, Flickr, Koinup) and if I see something interesting I will click the SLURL and open each one as a separate browser tab. Then I go in world on my favorite viewer, click on each SLurl and either see what I want right then, or make a series of LMs that appear at the top of my LM list in my inventory for later visiting. On the other hand, I almost never see something I want on a blog and go look for it on the Marketplace. Not that I don't use the Marketplace - I use it a lot, but to find a specific item when searching for it in world would be a nightmare.

On the other hand - with 50,000 people on in a day (?) and

[Hamlet Au]

"It just makes me mad to see the best and most respected blogger about SL using old tech to see a new world."

Thanks, it makes me mad too. I've discussed this before: My AlienWare M11x runs next generation AAA games like Skyrim just about perfectly, but somehow, can't run a client that's been around in some form for 10 year old very well. Why should I spend $2000 to make up for Linden Lab's shortcomings?

[val kendal]

but one other thing, thinking about those numbers - if we use your numbers, then 150K out of 1,000K people who log on in a month are visiting the map sites. 15% One in seven. One in seven people who will log into SL on any given day are visiting the map sites via click through. That seems pretty good to me, considering how many people just log in and stay at home or go to just one or two usual places? It's even higher if you consider it as a fraction of the people who will actually spend money - so why is it a disappointing statistic?

[Melancholy Lemon]

I'd second what many people here say. I spent a long time with slurls either invoking the wrong viewer or broken (invoking a viewer I'd unisntalled). I generally didn't care enough to fix it - it's easy enough to find places in-world.

mel

[Ferd Frederix]

Hamlet, get the Alien fixed or email me and I'll get the correct driver for you.

It's a shame to miss Second Life in the spring.

[web design company uk]

I had to refresh the page 2 times to view this page for some reason, however, the information here was worth the wait.