Vendor ramblings

I've been noticing some vendor migration patterns. Themed shopping zones are built, they're inhabited by 80-90% of the same vendors selling the same products. The zones have a rush of business for a few months, the same vendors move out as sales drop, then a new place appears with the same theme and the cycle repeats. There's some zones that aren't part of the cycle. They have strong events and/or have a purpose from outside of SL.

So with the short-time zones... how do I want to use them? As vending locations (and leaving a location when it isn't profitable?) As a form of marketing, and if so would I do better to get poster space instead? What about outright marketing - do I want to look for poster space in themed non-vendor areas, set up or work with events, etc? Do I want to set up something to count views (ie note whenever someone interacts with my stuff?)

A large portion of my grid sales are at my main shop, but many of those are via Search, and that puts me at the mercy of a functioning Search. I've been using the Store HUD, SLExchange, and including transferable pictures in my products and I suspect over time those decrease my reliance on Search.

And working more seriously with other vendors - do I want to look for partners to consolidate marketing efforts? If I do, would I rather go with the themed landmarks idea or would something like Luskwood's all-partners-at-one-site arrangement be more effective? How would I want to deal with the land and marketing sides of such a business arrangement? I know how badly a friends-to-housemate arrangement can go, and from the stories I've heard friends-to-business partner is much the same.

How much energy am I willing to put into it, and how much am I willing to commit long term to sustain it? What I've got right now is little effort - track transactions, pay a couple rental boxes, pay Chantal once a month, and take care of my tier. I get 10x more support conversations about my freebies than my products. They're usually about sound features (usually looking for a song player) that aren't in the Sound Prims package.