Lean Domain Search: Two Weeks After the HackerNews Launch

http://www.mattmazur.com/2012/01/lean-domain-search-two-weeks-after-the-hackernews-launch/

by matt1 • 14 years ago

45 18 14 years ago

mattmazur.com

tstegart3• 14 years ago

Thanks for doing a post-mortem on the launch, they're always great to read. Good luck with the new project.

matt16• 14 years ago

No problem! I wish more folks did this too especially the ones that don't do well.

tstegart3• 14 years ago

I agree. They're like mini case studies on what to improve, what to strive for, and what to avoid.

james-fend• 14 years ago

Thanks for the data, pretty interesting. I was thinking of doing one myself here in a few for Freelancify

tstegart3• 14 years ago

Please do, a lot of people find them immensely interesting and helpful.

bgraves• 14 years ago

Interesting recap and I was glad that you mentioned Mixpanel since I didn't think Google Analytics was capable of capture stats like Avg. Searches per User.

Feedback:

* The green on black is very harsh to my eyes. Have you considered alternate color schemes?

* Add social network profile availability to the results. This isn't something that other domain name search services offer, and could attract people wanting to know if their startup name is available on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

* Add search traffic from the Google Adwords API for my favorited search terms.

larrydag2• 14 years ago

I agree with the sentiment of the green on black. It does look harsh and 90's stylish web 1.0. I would suggest doing A/B testing on some color schemas. For ideas on color to test I would suggest looking at some domain name search competitors or other list search type sites to see schemas they use.

matt16• 14 years ago

Thanks -- I'll set up some A/B tests and see how it goes.

nt_mark• 14 years ago

Shameless self-promotion but as opposed to lean, how about beautiful domain search courtesy of nametoolkit.com and Twitter Bootstrap?

patd• 14 years ago

More searches could also mean that the results aren't great and users keep on searching before giving up. Google is successful when you search less.

Isn't "the number of users buying a domain" the best metrics or at least "the number of outgoing clicks to the registrars" ?

matt16• 14 years ago

Yes and no -- it's difficult measuring how many domains are actually registered because a lot of people do not use the registration links I provide.

Affiliate revenue is a one metric, but I'm not sure that completely reflects the quality either. I'm not sure it's possible to look at one metric and get the full picture.

corey• 14 years ago

Hello Matt, I just want to say thanks for Lean Domain Search. A couple weeks ago I was struggling to think of a domain name for a small project of mine and then I saw your post. It helped me find a pretty good unregistered domain name in just a couple minutes. Since I'm no very creative myself, this really took a burden off my mind and helped me stay motivated.

Thanks!

matt16• 14 years ago

That's perfect -- thank you!

spung• 14 years ago

In your screenshot of the design changes, wouldn't it be preferable with the registrar logos in the modal dialog?

matt16• 14 years ago

Maybe -- I need to A/B test it at some point.

The trick is fitting all those logos in there while still keeping the dialog a manageable size and designed well.

SteveJS• 14 years ago

Great idea. It's bookmarked now.

One bit of feedback: It does not indicate if the base search term is a free domain on it's own. I understand that is not the common case, but it does mean a user needs to check that as well, outside your search.

matt16• 14 years ago

I've been meaning to add this. Will do this week. Thanks!

Lean Domain Search: Two Weeks After the HackerNews Launch

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