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I wrote on my twitter account a couple days ago, “So has anybody been trying any twitterflipping? And the response, was a ton of emails asking what was twitterflipping. I didn’t think this was that new an idea, but apparently I’m one of the first who thought of it. Now I’m not really advocating this because of the potential of annoying twitter and getting suspended, but I’m writing this post to explain what it is, and to show links proving it’s out there.
If you don’t know what twitter is, read these other posts I’ve written on twitter, for help on setting it up, and using it to help your blog. Tips for maximizing your Twitter, and How to Use Twitter.
Twitter Flipping is similar to site flippping. Which in case you don’t know, is essentially buying domains to sell them for a profit. When you buy a domain to sell it, there are lots of factors that go into it, especially if it’s one that is expiring, and thus already has links and subscribers. If your interested in siteflipping here is a great site to help you with finding good ones to buy.
But Twitter Flipping is slightly different in that, it’s free. All you do is make an account for free, and then you can potentially sell it. However, because they are free, most likely nobody wants it. So the question is how can you make it worth anything? There are several ways to make a twitter account worth selling, which I will explain in steps below.
- Make your own custom design
Twitter has included the option, of allowing you to create your own unique design. Because most people don’t really understand how to valuable twitter is, very few people take the time to create a custom design. If you are good with web design, then you can create a nice unique one, the will really help the price of the account.
- Make sure it have a lot of followers
I wouldn’t recommend selling a twitter account that has less then 1,000 followers. There are many different ways to get more followers, putting a link up on your site, being active on the twitter, writing a post about it asking for followers… This is one of the most attractive points when you’re selling a twitter account, and largely what they will determine whether to bid or not. Although a twitter follower is no where near the value of an RSS subscriber yet, we may be quickly reaching that point. Not in a 1 to 1 ratio, but in like a 7 to 1 or maybe 5 to 1 ratio. Twitter followers are very useful as a way to get traffic, and can be just as devoted as subscribers. Having alot of followers, makes a twitter account worth buying, because of the great marketing potential.
- Make sure the account has a good reputation
If the account’s reputation is for being a spammer, who just posts his blog links every time, then you won’t be passing on a good piece of merchandise. If you have a reputation for answering questions, being polite and helpful, and your able to pass that onto to the buyer, then people will continue to follow the account. Look at it like if you were flipping a site, spend time, get to know your followers, and be helpful to them.
- Keep the account for several weeks at least
Don’t sell the account in the first couple weeks. Like a blog domain, it appreciates in value, give it a chance to grow some. Don’t put it on the blog forums to fast, let it grow.
- Look for a valuable account name
This is the most important one of them all, and the one is the most valuable. Look for a twitter account that has the name of a popular site, or movie, or famous person… If someone was able to get twitter.com/problogger it would have been worth a lot of money. Twitter accounts are going Fast! so now is the chance to grab up potentially valuable accounts before they are gone.
Those are some tips that should help your twitter account be worth more in value. Now you may have read all that and gone, isn’t that illegal? The answer is surprisingly no, there is nothing in Twitter’s Terms of Service that talk about selling accounts. Now, does that mean this will stay that way for long? probably not. However, for now it is legit, so take advantage of it while you can.
Your second question is, “now who in the world would buy a twitter account?!?!” This all started when Andrew Baron from rocketboom.com thought,
“It would be silly to just delete this account I have here, especially if there is someone out there that had like interests and had something to say or wanted to get involved in some relevant conversations. In terms of monetary value, I have no expectations or needs at all so I decided not to put a minimum bid on this. Whatever will be, will be. The winner of this auction gets my account with all of my followers.”
And so he put the auction up on ebay, and it sold for over 1,200 dollars. That’s quite a bit of cash, especially when he self admittingly had no idea what he was doing with the site, and didn’t even use his account very much.
Now your third question is, well even if somebody was stupid enough to buy it, he would immediately lose all of his followers once the blog changes right? Wrong. The followers of the site under Andrew Baron was, 1397. Since then, the number instead of decreasing, has jumped to 4324.
Now all of this I find very interesting, becuase I never thought that people would actually be able to make money from this. Does this article mean I am telling you to go do this? No. Am I telling you that people can do it, and can make money from it? Yes. You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you want to do it or not. But I just find it all very interesting, and if you want to do it, these are some tips to show you how.
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November 29th, 2008 at 1:47 am
[...] Read the original [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 1:54 am
[...] Look for a twitter account that has the name of a popular site, or movie, or famous person… If someone was able to get twitter.com/problogger it would have been worth a lot of money. Twitter accounts are going Fast! so now is the chance … More [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 2:04 am
Great post dude.Its useful for me.I am looking forward to use this.
Harishs last blog post..6 Expert Blogging Tips By Blogging Kid
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November 29th, 2008 at 2:13 am
I’m glad it was helpful Harish, I look forward to hearing about your success. Keep me updated.
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November 29th, 2008 at 2:14 am
Wow! This is very interesting I never would have thought about buying and selling Twitter accounts. I don’t think it’s for me. I think I have more to gain from keeping my Twitter account. I think once I get my followers up I want to keep my account for my benefit but I do think this concept is interesting.
Gerald Weber SEO Tips Blogs last blog post..7 Deadly Blogging Mistakes
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November 29th, 2008 at 2:26 am
[...] Don’t put it on the blog forums to fast, let it grow . 5. Read more [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 4:04 am
Close! But the auction never completed and the account was never sold. I still have the account. I havent looked recently but at the time, Twitter’s Terms of Service did not exclude a sale.
Andrew Barons last blog post..All Children Love a Parade
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November 29th, 2008 at 4:14 am
Yeah Gerald, I totally understand, I’m not going to sell my mastersofseo account either. But what you would sell, is the sites your are going to flip. Because the twitter account is of no use anymore, if you don’t own the site. If nothing else you can include it in the sell of the domain when you flip it.
Andrew: I’m sorry to hear that, I’m still amazed at how high the bid was. Did you do any type of advertisement for it? It may have been the right move to keep it, because it’s certainly gotten you some publicity, and lots of links and new followers. But your right, I just checked their TOS today, and it still isn’t specifically prohibited, thought I doubt that will stay for long.
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November 29th, 2008 at 4:53 am
Ohkay so this is Twitter Flipping. You know what man, I don’t think its a good idea. Because you are going to basically sell your personality and your followers to some one else, and some other personality.
Regards: rizzy
http://twitter.com/rizzy81
rizzy-Follow me on Twitters last blog post..rizzy81: @mastersofseo oh this is absolutely great. Did my question regarding Twitter Flipping play a part in it?
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November 29th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Now this is something different. Still, I don’t get it why people would buy twitter accounts. Is it because of the followers? So that the buyer can promote his products to his followers?
Ganeshs last blog post..Subscribe to Online Bull and Get a Chance to Win $10 Cash
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November 29th, 2008 at 8:31 am
[...] What is Twitter Flipping? I going to start offering prizes to email subscribers, hopefully starting in december, so make sure you are subscribed, and through email if you want free prizes. I wrote on my twitter account a couple days ago, “So has anybody been … [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Exactly Ganesh, it’s the internet marketing potential. When one has over 1,000 people reading what you write, there’s great potential if you know how to use it.
However, like I said earlier Rizzy, the accounts that you would sell, are the accounts for a site that you are selling. If you are still going to be writing on the blog, then in my mind there’s no point on selling if. I picture it as something you add in with a blog domain that you are trying to flip. I hope that makes sense.
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November 29th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
[...] What is Twitter Flipping? Now all of this I find very interesting, becuase I never thought that people would actually be able to make money from this. Does this article mean I am telling you to go do this? No. Am I telling you that people can do it, and can make … [...]
November 29th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
[...] What is Twitter Flipping? I going to start offering prizes to email subscribers, hopefully starting in december, so make sure you are subscribed, and through email if you want free prizes. I wrote on my twitter account a couple days ago, “So has anybody been … [...]
November 30th, 2008 at 12:26 am
An interesting idea if you’r selling the blog, but I would never sell just the account.
Small mistake in the beginning….”Domaining” is buying and selling of domain names…..”site flipping” is the selling of made sites, not just the domain.
Dennis Edells last blog post..A Winner For The $5 Favicon Contest!
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December 1st, 2008 at 8:02 am
Your idea of Twitter flipping is interesting and genius!
Blogging from Scratchs last blog post..Site is for sale and November Income Report
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December 1st, 2008 at 1:57 pm
Hey
Now this idea is totally new to me !!
HHmmm .. Do I agree with the idea, yes I suppose in a sense I do however as some have said I really doubt it will be long before Twitter puts a stop to it.
Cant see them being happy that uses monetise their service with no benefit to them.
Good business thiking though
Dean
http://www.DeanHolland.com
Dean Hollands last blog post..What Im Doing.. ( Regular updated post )
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December 1st, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Oh good grief! Yet another use or way to use social media… when will I ever catch up?
Probably never if I keep writing, but thanks anyway.
Anne Wayman, now blogging at http://www.aboutfreelancewriting.com
Anne Waymans last blog post..Of Creativity
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December 2nd, 2008 at 7:17 pm
1200 Dollars? For Twitter Account! Interesting.
Mr. Is last blog post..Does Your Blog Need More Luv From Readers?
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December 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 am
This is really an interesting thought. Getting 1200 bucks for just followers wouldn’t be bad. Perhaps somebody like John Chow can trade his followers for more…
But how can one really transfer the account? Is it legally allowed?
Ajith Edasserys last blog post..Right Time to Start Your New Self-Hosted Professional Blog
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December 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 am
It is for now Ajith, though it probably will soon be illegal. However, if you look earlier in the comments, Andrew said the deal did not actually go through. I don’t know why, but I guess it didn’t end up happening.
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December 7th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
Ahh… Thats something fresh.. Never thought of that!
Ben Peis last blog post..Blogging With One Hand
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December 11th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Thanks for that advice. Never heard of Twitter Flipping before, but sounds like a nice little money maker. I suppose there a lot of the same sorts of sites that you can do this with…
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December 14th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Great layout, very easy to read and understand.
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June 17th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I have 2 accounts with 11k and 16k followers respectively.
If I wanted to sell them, where would be the best place to do it?
Both accounts are in excellent standing.
Mel
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