After having spent four years obsessing about domain names during my tenure at Network Solutions, I briefly walked away from the whole “virtual real estate” concept. No longer – I slipped today, and it proves the level of my geekdom, at least according to one of my colleagues.
Did I register 40k domain names? Was I perusing the pending renewal lists at NetSol trying to find the perfect used domain?
No. It was the Virginia DMV site that caught my attention. One of the joys of living in Virginia is that vanity license plates are really inexpensive, and they have a ton of different designs. For the past eight years I have made Virginia my home, and (more importantly) the Northern Virginia roads my daily parking lot. One of the few interesting pass-times in the morning traffic is trying to guess what the vanity plates mean. Some are pretty obvious, like HOTMS or MOMTAXI. Others are not as obvious – and have GOT to be in a foreign language. Since I don’t know this for sure, I won’t copy any here (just to keep the post G-rated).
So, what was I doing on the Virginia DMV site? Yes – I was buying my own mobile advertising! For only $40, I get a 16″ (or so) wide banner placement for two years. Fixed placement – significant reach (Northern Virginia is quite populated) and great frequency.
Here’s my new advertisement.
In about two weeks, I will be sporting a lovely new advertisement for PRWeb.
Of course, I don’t think I will be able to charge advertising fees to myself – but it will be interesting to see whether my newest approach will get any traction in my market. And for $40, if it results in one sale – well, it will have a great ROI! Now, how can I append Google Analytics tagging to my car?
