10May 2008
Project FlipSquare Open For Beta Testing!!!
Well, it's been close to a year later and it looks like we've finally launched one of our secret projects. I don't usually share project details with clients and partners until said projects are pretty much completed. So, since this is now the case, let's learn a bit more about this new site!
What is FlipSquare?
FlipSquare is an auctioning site dedicated to providing a service that allows people to buy and sell websites and domain names. This is something that will cater to the growing market of site flipping.
What is Site Flipping?
Ever heard of house flipping? Sure you have! Almost every channel on cable television has some sort of show dedicated to the concept. You take a crappy, rundown property and buy it for real cheap. You invest a little bit of time and love into building up the property's value and then you sell it off to the highest bidder to turn a nice profit.
Site flipping is pretty much the exact same thing. Well, in concept at least. The website attached to the domain could be considered the house while the domain itself is the property your house sits on; internet real estate, if you will. The value of a domain name is determined by many, many different variables. Some of which include how much ad revenue it brings in per month, unique visitors, page views, how well it ranks among search engines, Alexa rankings, what kind of and how much content it might serve.
All these things, over time, increase the value of your domain name and / or website. Some people actually do this for a living where they just buy hundreds of low-ranking domain names, 'flip' them into something valuable and then sell them to turn in a nice profit.
Aren't There Sites That Already Do This?
Sure there are, but none of them really do it right. Some auctioning sites that cater to this market are just heavily-modified discussion boards. Other sites, like Site Point, offer a dedicated marketplace, but the implementation seems more like an afterthought when compared to the rest of the site.
FlipSquare is a website that is not only 100% dedicated to this market, but offers a huge range of neat features that make the process not only more convenient, but a bit more fun and intuitive.
So, What Do You Need Us For?
Since this is a relatively new site... Ok, VERY new site. We don't have a whole lot of exposure at the moment. We didn't really market the idea for competitive reasons, so, in a way, we kind of shot ourselves in the foot. We are planning on doing a month-long beta test where everyone and anyone that wants to try the system out can do so absolutely free of charge. That's right, use every feature on the site for free. Screw around, break it, or if you really want to, start a genuine auction and take advantage of all the free stuff.
What's in it for me?
Well, you get access to everything the site has to offer 100% free of charge. Also, once the beta testing phase is at a point where we feel comfortable with declaring everything stable, every user that registered during the beta phase will receive 50 free credits. That's a $50 (USD) value. Also, all testers will get first pickin's when it comes to new features, projects and contests.
We could really use everybody's help with this, so go out and spread the word!
How do we report an issue?
We make use of the wonderful service the people over at Lighthouse are offering. It's really a great issue tracking system and we've made it very easy for you to access our account to post anything strange you might find.
Closing ...
This is probably one of the biggest projects I've ever worked on. Excluding the initial basic design comps, I engineered everything myself and provided an end-to-end solution. I'm very proud of this project as a LOT of blood, time and sweat went into it. I want this thing to reach its full potential, but I can't do that without everybody's help.
Eric, Aaron, myself and the rest of the FlipSquare team thank you all in advance!
This is a great idea, even if the comparison to house flipping left me confused at first (flipping? WTF? Some US thinkg obviously ;)).
Anyway, I like the idea and the site. Only thing I would say is that when you sign up and want to list when you haven't purchased any credits, it should show you the form (so new users know the sorts of data they'll be expected to enter) along with the message about not having any credits. Just being told I have to buy credits before I even know what I'm doing is a bit off-putting – what if your form was utter p00p for example – I'd have just paid $ for what could have been some sort of scam. Just thinking like the end-user might ;)
Other than that, top notch and I may have some things to put on at some point. Think some of the form fields should disappear with Domain only though as not really required.
Carry on with the good work!