When was the last time you got two individually-wrapped Wint O Green LifeSavers? For free?
That's the idea behind StartSampling.com, a new site that's been moving up our search logs. The first searches came in about May 1 -- presumably when the site went live -- and queries have risen about 200% since then.
The basic idea is: get free samples online! The sample items aren't anything you'll squeal your head off about -- recent choices included a tiny bag of Fisher peanuts and three Penguin caffeinated peppermints (favored by "coders, clubbers, truckers, and adrenaline junkies"). But hey, who's grousing? They're free.
You can also read testimonials for past products like portable stain remover wipes ("Got dark black cherry juice out of a white shirt") or write up your own testimonial about those two heavenly Wint O Greens.
The site's cleverest innovation is a green light / red light system that tells you whether samples are still available for a given item -- plus an individual meter that tells you just how many LifeSaver samples remain.
Search traffic for StartSampling isn't up to Britney Spears levels yet: last week the name got about as many queries as travel insurance, the bodybuilding drug Xenadrine or B-list Baywatch babe Erika Eleniak.
Will Web users someday ask for free samples as much as they ask for A-list Baywatch stars? We'll see.
