Using Twitter to Find Sales Leads

I personally find it annoying when people tweet to me to ask if I want to buy a domain name. The vast majority aren’t even domain names I would hand register, and it’s a bit annoying when I receive two notifications about the tweet (email and Twitter). I think there is a better way to use Twitter to find a good prospect to buy a domain name, and I want to share some tips.

Here are some steps you might use to find a prospective sales lead for a domain name:

  • Use the Twitter search functionality to search for the topic of your domain name. I presume there will be a variety of keywords associated with the topic of your domain name, and you can search for those topics separately. For instance, if I wanted to sell DogWalker.com, I could search for “dog walker,” “dog walking,” and maybe even “pet care.” You might want to use quotes around your search to make it more targeted.
  • On the left hand side of the search results, select the “people” option. This search eliminates timeline tweets and searches for user profiles. It makes it likely that the search results have the keyword topic in their profile rather than a casual mention at some point in time. For example, it will show people who have “dog walking” in their profile rather than a tweet that says “out walking the dog.”
  • Click the various profiles to gauge whether the person or company is in the particular business that is related to your domain name. Make a judgment call about whether that person or company would have an interest in your domain name. Don’t email them if they aren’t a good prospect, as that will annoy them and could get you into trouble (see spam warning below).
  • Visit the website they have listed in their profile and find their contact information on the website. Double check that you think their business would benefit from owning the domain name you own.
  • Send a well-written, targeted email directly to the person offering the domain name.

There could be laws against sending unsolicited emails to people. I am not a lawyer, so I won’t try to opine about this, but sending any unsolicited emails to people you don’t know, especially if you send them in bulk, could result in penalties.

In my opinion, sending out a ton of tweets about a domain name looks spammy and is more annoying than receiving a targeted email. This is especially the case if a person is doing this with many domain names and sending dozens or hundreds of tweets about it. Frankly, I can’t recall ever seeing a valuable domain name sold this way, and that should probably tell you something right there.

I have not sold a domain name using this method, but it looks like it could be a good way to find a prospective buyer for a domain name. It sure beats the alternative method of sending out tweets to a ton of random Twitter accounts.

Elliot Silver
Elliot Silver
About The Author: Elliot Silver is an Internet entrepreneur and publisher of DomainInvesting.com. Elliot is also the founder and President of Top Notch Domains, LLC, a company that has closed eight figures in deals. Please read the DomainInvesting.com Terms of Use page for additional information about the publisher, website comment policy, disclosures, and conflicts of interest. Reach out to Elliot: Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
  1. I have been doing the same thing with Twitter, but haven’t had any luck selling any domain names, but have gotten inquiries about names I have mentioned in tweets.

    I am currently using your suggestion to compile a list of companies to contact over the next few weeks.

    I will follow up if I have any positive results with this method.

    • Be sure the domain names are good and will make sense to the recipients.

      If you ever have to explain what a domain name means or why it has value, it’s probably best to not send outbound emails to try and sell.

      This isn’t specific advice to you personally.

  2. I never knew you could do a Twitter search.

    This is exactly why I continue to read your blog on a daily basis. You never know what you may learn.

  3. “Frankly, I can’t recall ever seeing a valuable domain name sold this way, and that should probably tell you something right there.”

    I haven’t either. There are always exceptions but for the most part I don’t think sending out unsolicited messages has much probability of success.

    Domain ‘For Sale’ emails have really gotten out of control and I don’t see that changing, unfortunately.

    Everyone has heard it before but if someone absolutely insists on sending out unsolicited emails about domain names:

    They better own the domain.

    The Whois needs to be in their name.

    The address they are emailing from shouldn’t be an awful looking free email account (hotmail, yahoo, etc.) – unless it’s the same on the Whois.

    Try to make sure that the person receiving it knows you are a REAL person with a real first and last name, an address or at least a phone number, a website address if you have it, twitter handle, etc.

    Keep it short.

    Check your spelling and grammar.

    Follow the can-spam act.

    etc.

    If the domain needs a big sales pitch, if you are buying domains that you aren’t prepared to hold for a few years, if your domains don’t get inbound inquiries… then they probably aren’t the right domains.

    • Good advice.

      When I send emails, they are targeted and are domain names that I know are valuable. For instance, I am quite sure that if I put it on a domain forum with a $1k price, someone will buy immediately.

      Most emails I receive contain domain names I would not even hand register with a $1.99 GoDaddy coupon, let alone pay a premium.

    • Very true. Realistically, although it is really far-fetched, even if someone emailed and said I will pay you $xx amount to take this horrible domain, it just wouldn’t make sense… The back and forth emails, the payment, transfer, set auto renew to off, or delete the domain once you get it, etc.

  4. I agree that sending out spammy tweets to tons of people doesn’t really do a lot for anyone that we’ve ever heard of anyway. Who knows how many people have actually first seen a domain being promoted through someone’s twitter feed or being tweeted at someone else’s account. I’ve never seen statistics. The annoying part is when names are being tweeted that have no meaning or value to most investors I’m sure is what you are referring to. However I do believe that getting good domains in front of people is important, and with twitter you can do that by tweeting the domain you have at someone’s twitter account or just making a tweet about the domain you have to show up in your own twitter feed, so that those following you will see it. One positive about tweeting it at someone else’s twitter is that it will only show up on your twitter feed, and it will only show up to them and in their notifications and not on their feed unless they want to retweet it, which is good, cause if they have interest in the domain they will reach out, if not they won’t. I completely agree with making sure it’s a domain that will fit the person’s or business’s needs you are tweeting to or sending the email too though. Twitter can be a genius marketing tool when all the functions are utilized.

  5. Another point I forgot to add, that is beneficial via twitter. If you have a good domain and you tweet it on your own account, or tweet it at someone else’s, if the person you tweet it to has a lot of followers 1,000 to 100K+ and chooses to retweet your tweet that potentially gets your domain in front of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of viewers, if not more depending on how many followers that persons account has. Our twitter account @Domain_Media currently has around 1,125 followers, which we are thankful for. If someone tweets a good domain I am more than happy to retweet it and would do the same if we had 100K + followers. I believe in helping each other out to the best of our abilities in this industry.

  6. Yes many times before, but yesterday for example Joe Uddeme @juddeme of Domain Holdings @DomainHoldings tweeted “RF.com is now under exclusive. Joe@domainholdings.com for more information. @domainholdings #domains” which you retweeted and I did as well. Before I had read that tweet I didn’t know RF.com was for sale. Although I may have stumbled across it in an email newsletter or someone’s blog at some point the tweet just led me to research the name right then and although I’ve visited the DomainHoldings.com website many times in the past it got me curious to see what new domain inventory they had listed. That tweet not only led me to know that RF.com was for sale, but also led me back to see what else was available from DomainHoldings.com.

  7. Thanks for your post. I will not hide that is not my style but I send you a twitter with four offers for sale the domain name, but not the last email that you send Elliot be for Merry Christmas.

    Although I think also that the best response twitter me not interested in your offer.

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