Using Twitter to virally sell domain names..
[Part 4 of Domaining on Twitter]
In my last three posts, I discussed the potential for using Twitter for domaining, as well as specific tips to increase followers and connect with other Twitter domainers. In today’s post I want to tell you about a domaining experiment that I’m about to try…
Each day I’ll post a domain and ask people to Tweet in their guess of how much it is worth. The next day, the domain will be auctioned off in a no-reserve Snapnames auction and the person guessing closest wins 10% of the sales price.
It should be an interesting test. If it works, it will be great proof that Twitter can effectively be used to sell domains. If it doesn’t, I may get hosed a little on the no reserve auction, but hopefully I’ll learn something. I’ll be promoting the contest using Twitter and and have added a viral component to help build interest in the contest. I’ll track the number of click-throughs and entries received. When it’s over, I’ll write a follow up post and share the results.
Here’s the link to the contest:
Domaining Contest: Test out your domain appraisal skills: Guess the selling price of ImageBackupSoftware.com and win 10%.
And here’s the one-click link to automatically tweet your entry.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is an interesting concept. It should work successfully if you manage to get a few people onboard re-tweeting, and if you are willing to risk a few quality domain names in zero-reserve auctions.
From my own perspective, I believe domainers are a bit shy of wanting to be seen entering contests. Entrants are normally non-domainers. Whether it is a sense of pride of the unwillingness to support fellow domainers, I don’t know. But contests can be a great source of market research data.
Thanks for your thoughts Kevin. So far the experiment is going
well, but it has not gone viral. Exposure has been good as a number
of domainers were kind enough to retweet my initial announcement.
Regarding domains, I don’t mind risking a few of them, since I
agree that’s what it takes to really prove a no-reserve marketplace.
Good point about domainers not typically joining contests – I know
I don’t. However, I’m hoping the specific nature of the contest
(domain appraisal) and the possibility of a substantial reward will
overcome this. Also I kept it as simple as possible. No personal
information, email, etc. – just a tweet.