I grew up playing video games. Not surprising since most of my generation did. But I think I was more obsessed than most. 
Ever since childhood I have loved winning. Accumulating points is very gratifying to me, it makes me feel like I am accomplishing something even when I am not. Unfortunately I don’t get times these days to play much, but I have taken these tendencies and applied them to my professional career. The points I earn now are dollars!
Enough about me.
What I want to talk to you about today, could very well shape the future of real estate search on the net. I have realized that it truly is all about the dang points. Lets look at the success of Facebook. The very existence of this service proves to me that most of the population at least somewhat retains a high school mentality towards popularity. I frequently see what appears to be a compulsive need to have more friends than the next guy. The race is on to be the most popular person in the world, and it has caught on globally.
Friends are like points. Followers….Points. We need to take advantage of this seemingly ubiquitus human urge and use it to put money in our bank.
I have three favorites in my browser besides Twitter and Facebook. ActiveRain, Squidoo, and Trulia. All three of these sites fit my current definition of Web 2.0. They offer social interaction through comments and blogging, feature a ratings system where users can “like” posts, and reward users with the holy grail of social media: points. Of the three Squidoo does this the best. For any of you that haven’t tried Squidoo, please do, it’s oodles of fun and another great place to get links to your site, not to mention increasing your exposure online.
You can register here: http://www.squidoo.com/
and see my profile here: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Michael_Lewis_White
The Future of IDX search.
image by melina on flickr
Every so often innovation comes along and changes the game. I think bringing a points system to MLS search could be just that. As far as I can tell, it’s not being done (please correct me in the comments if I’m wrong), at least it’s definitely not in my area. Lots of local agents offer registration on their sites, which allows users to save searches and listings, and allows agents a form of lead capture. But nobody is giving away points.
What if a user got ten points for visiting your site for the first time? They could be informed of it with a friendly little floating box that welcomes them to the site. Include a link to a registration form where they can “sign in to claim their points”. Further use of the site, “liking” listings, site visits, tweeting, commenting – all get them more points.
Once interaction on that level is started, it gives rise to other possibilities. Sellers that were active on the site, could see their listings rise in the search results. Not many idx systems allow for a “most popular” sorting method. We all have featured listings, but what about listings that other users liked and rated? (I am not a lawyer, the legality of this would have to be determined)
But the points are worthless right?
This is where this idea gets interesting. You could give the points real value. In some states brokers are allowed to give cash rewards for purchasing homes. (like I said I am not a lawyer, consult your legal counsel) Those rewards could be given based on the points the user earned on the system. Obviously the maximum dollar amount would have to be predetermined or on a sliding scale based on the home’s value. This tactic is extremely valuable since the points could only be redeemed by purchasing one of your “featured listings”. Imagine the amount of sway this could hold in a buyer’s mind. They will try extremely hard to find a house that they “can use their points on”. Bam, you sold your listing.
In the absence o f a monetary award, other incentive programs could certainly be offered. Maybe the buyer with the most points earned for the month gets a gift certificate to a local restaurant. Or the seller with the most points gets their listing on the front page for a day. A creative agent might offer a free market valuation study for a seller or pesonal consultation for a buyer. That sounds like a giveaway I can offer right away.
This is going to take time.
I have a strong background in programming web systems, and I can tell you that this isn’t going to happen overnight. If I started coding this tomorrow it would be months before it was operational enough to start testing. However I am putting this idea into my pipeline, and I will start working on it soon. I believe this has never been done before in this industry, hopefully this article has started some big brains out there ticking. Possibly such a system is already in the works, and if anyone out there has a product that can do this, let me know. I welcome any and all discussion, questions, or offers of help in regards to this concept. Thank you all, and have a great day out there.
Note: This is a re-blog from my website. The original article and canonical url can be found here: http://www.houseinlouisville.com/blog/its-all-about-the-points/
Michael Lewis White, is a daddy. In his spare time he is also a blogger, home builder, and real estate enthusiast. His posts are focused on home buying, selling, and living in Louisville. You can read more insightful tips at his blog, and find your next home on his website at House in Louisville - http://www.houseinlouisville.com.
How to get noticed by Google.
Get Noticed by Evil Frog on Flickr
Getting a new site found by Google, is a relatively easy task if you know what you are doing. My golden rule of search engine optimization: “Without links, ye cannot be found.” If there are no pages linking to your site, there is no path for users or Google to get there. do believe that Google tracks new domains, but it does not automatically direct it’s spiders to find them.
The way your site will be discovered, is naturally through links that the spiders will stumble upon. These links need to be placed where they will be discovered automatically, on pages that Google already has in its index. This is sometimes seen as a barrier to entry, but I will show you how to get noticed even if you have never owned a website before now.
So where do we get links?
Well there are many ways, but here’s what I did:
Links! by Wirawat Lian-udom on Flickr
I setup an account on Squidoo. Squidoo is what I call a web 2.0 site. I have found many people misusing this term, so I will first define it for you. Web 2.0, is a concept of a new internet that is ruled by user’s not webmasters. Web 2.0 sites allow users to create profiles and publish content, without any html or web design experience. This definition is very broad, and I have found that many sites employ different methods and levels of this concept.
Squidoo is in my estimation, the perfect Web 2.0 site. All of the content is contributed by it’s users, anyone can setup an account and start publishing. Since Squidoo already has a nice page rank, and it is well indexed by the search engines, it is the perfect place for us to start our linking strategy.
So I setup my account, and published a lens. My first page I published is titled House in Louisville, and it contains unique content about buying a house in Louisville. You can visit this lens here: http://www.squidoo.com/house-in-louisville
And here is my profile page on Squidoo: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Michael_Lewis_White
You will notice that everywhere I posted content, I found a way to include a link to my web page. It is important that you include quality, unique content around your links, no one wants you to spam the web with junk. Try to follow the principle of the three U’s, unique, useful, updated.
Other places to get links.
Now I didn’t stop there. I proceeded to register additional accounts at other web 2.0 sites, create content there, and insert my precious links. All of the places I signed up are 100% free. Here is a list of sites I joined, and content I created:
- Squidoo:
I created an account and quickly authored these lenses.
http://www.squidoo.com/pictures-of-louisville
http://www.squidoo.com/real-estate-success-on-the-internet
http://www.squidoo.com/getting-nichey-with-it-niche-marketing
http://www.squidoo.com/house-in-louisville - WordPress:
I created this blog you are reading now. I chose houseinlouisville as my subdomain at wordpress.com. - ActiveRain:
This one is specific to the real estate industry.
I created an account, and posted a blog entry. I also added my website link to my profile. If you aren’t logged in, you can’t see my blog entry, because I haven’t paid for the service…yet. - Trulia:
Another one specific to real estate. If you are not in the industry, find sites for your market.
I created an account and posted a blog entry with a link to my site.
http://www.trulia.com/blog/houseinlouisville/2011/10/michael_lewis_white_checking_in_from_louisville_ky - Twitter:
I created an account, and left a few tweets with links to my site. Then whenever I publish a new blog post (like this one) I tweet it out.
Interlinking
Let’s take a moment to discuss interlinking. If you can find a way to work it in, always interlink these sites that you are creating. We want them to be found and indexed by Google as well, so lets leave a relevant link to our sites whenever possible. The previous paragraph is a perfect example of that. Remember that you can learn as much by watching what I do, as what I say. 
I am always careful to add an “About the Author” section, which is a non-spammy way to display your links. Now go forth, write some great content for yourself, and post it on some Web 2.0 sites!
What’s next?
Next time we are going to start work on the site itself. Remember I told you that the site was just a single page with an analytics script attached? Well tomorrow we are going to change all that.
About the Author
Michael Lewis White
Michael Lewis White, is a daddy. In his spare time he is also a blogger, home builder, and real estate enthusiast. His posts are focused on home buying, selling, and living in Louisville. You can read more insightful tips at his blog, and find your next home on his website at House in Louisville – http://www.houseinlouisville.com.
Day 3 of my Louisville real estate journey.
Setting up Hosting
The next step for me was setting up hosting for my new domain name. You could just host the site where you registered it. There are many registrars that make great hosts too- Host Gator and Godaddy are two of the big ones. Any of these hosts are fine for a beginner, but when you require more personalized support, and finer control of your web hosting environment, I recommend Hard Hat Hosting
You see I build all my sites using the LAMP stack, which stands for Linux, Apache, Mysql, and PHP. These are the applications that I run on my web server. Hosting the server with Hard Hat lets me worry about the software and they take care of the hardware. It also means I get near full control of all my server applications, and what versions I am running. I think most people will be just fine leaving their site hosted at one of the big providers I mentioned above.
Host Locally
Photo by Steve Rhodes
I am not following this advice…yet. I think you should host your server locally whenever possible. My reason for this is twofold:
- I think you should always buy local whenever you can. Support your local economy and you support yourself. http://www.keeplouisvilleweird.com/
- Your IP and physical location will be local and therefore content delivery will be faster.
Google does see your server’s IP and knows it’s location, how much weight they put on that I have no idea. But I don’t think it is too far a stretch to think that some weight is placed on server location, either now or in the future. When your site is downloaded to a user’s browser, the number of routers placed between you and them slows things down. So if your market is local like mine, then you want your local users to have the most direct route possible to your server. This philosophy assumes that all other considerations are equal between the local host you choose and the out of state host you have now. Here in Louisville I am lucky to have Hosting.com, and I am planning on talking with them soon.
Putting up a placeholder
So I pointed my domain name from 1and1 to my server at Hard Hat. Then I created a hosting account for the new domain. Next I fired up my handy text editor (I use Notepad++) and typed out this temporary page.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> </head> <body> <h1>House in Louisville</h1> <p>Welcome to <b>house in louisville</b>, soon to be louisville's center for home shopping.</p> <p>We will be providing services to the Louisville and Southern Indiana areas. The site is brand new, so we don't have much to offer yet. Thank you so much for stopping by, we will be providing great service to louisville home buyers and sellers soon!</p> <h2>Resources for buying a home</h2> <p>Until we get our act together, check out the current #1 place for home buying info in Louisville.<a href="http://louisvillerealtors.com">Greater Louisville Association of Realtors</a></p> <p>Thanks for Visiting! Be sure to check back soon, we've got plans, Big Plans!</p> </body> </html>
Hah! You didn’t know you were going to learn code on this journey… .
This code is all my website consists of at the moment. I just want a placeholder for now. I need a place to setup my google analytics. As you know my entire strategy for success is going to be based on the internet, and the most important thing I could do right now is start tracking my site.
Setting Up Google Analytics
Image by Michael White
Setting Google Analytics up is easy as pie. If you don’t have an account, create one. Then grab your code and paste it in between your head tags. Mine looks like this:
<script type="text/javascript">
var _gaq = _gaq || [];
_gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-26213451-2']);
_gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);
(function() {
var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true;
ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js';
var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);
})();
</script>
What this little snippet does is send everything about your sites visitors back to google. You need to have your code on every page of your site. You can’t just use this code above, you need to get yours from your analytics account. Once it is in place, we will see results in just 24 hours.
Next steps
The site is setup, and we have our analytics in place. But no one knows it even exists. There is not one link on the internet that leads to it, and Google has no way to find it. Tomorrow I will explain how I got the site picked up by Google. Thanks for reading, and remember to comment!
About Me
Michael Lewis White is an aspiring Realtor based in Louisville Ky. He blogs regularly about his city and his passions.
You can find out more and follow him at:
Twitter – http://twitter.com/houselouisville – Where I tweet like a bird.
Squidoo- http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/Michael_Lewis_White – Read my informative lenses on Squidoo.
And always http://www.houseinlouisville.com.
Day 2 of my Louisville real estate journey
Deciding on the title of your domain is critical to your online success, no matter what profession you are in. In real estate, internet dominance can mean instant success. In a business where 90% of all newcomers fail, I am determined not to add another failure to that statistic.
Your domain name is critical because it is the first signal that google sees. If I type “Abercrombie” into Google, it’s obvious that I am looking for http://www.abercrombie.com. Even if what I was searching for wasn’t famous, chances are that it would still rank pretty high for an exact match to the domain name. If I type “doodle zoo” (just gibberish to me) sites with doodlezoo in the domain name dominate the results.
Many Realtors in Louisville think along these lines when choosing a domain name. The common practice it seems is to go with your name, or if that’s taken they go with http://www.myname-realtor.com. That’s good if you want to be found by people searching for your name. In fact I suggest you reserve those domain names if they are available. (quickly Michael sneaks off and checks if michaellewiswhite.com is available….it is! He buys it on the spot)
But how many people are searching for your name? I have a very common name (still can’t believe that was available) and chances are that you will be competing with multiple other professionals for your name on the net. It is much better to specialize and target your niche with your domain name.
Why I chose http://www.houseinlouisville.com
This is pretty obvious by now. I first searched and pondered on what keywords real people would put into Google when searching for a house in Louisville. Guess what the top result was? House in Louisville.
Google currently shows 90,500 monthly searches for that combination of terms. What do you think those people are searching for? I’m betting that they are looking for a house in Louisville.
How did you figure that out?
Some of you will know this already, but for those that don’t:
- Google has what is called a keyword tracker that lets you input keywords to see what type of response you will get.
Now let me give you one more healthy piece of advice: Go Local. You don’t want results pulling in from all over the place, you want the targeted results for your market.
The industry pros in my market certainly know this to be a fact. ReMax is undoubtedly one of the biggest brokers in the Louisville area. and what is their site?
http://www.homesinlouisville.com
GLAR (Greater Louisville Association of Realtors): http://www.louisvillerealtors.com
Now we see the pattern emerging, other industry pros are using this strategy, so we will too.
Stay Tuned.
Tomorrow we will discuss what baby steps I took to get my site online and noticed by Google.
It’s good to be here.
Today is the second day of my real estate journey. Hi I’m Michael Lewis White, I am a builder, artist, Louisville native and soon to be realtor. I am in training at the A-Pass-Weikel Institute here in Louisville.
The journey I speak of is a personal one, but one that you can join in. Many people dream of a successful career in real estate, I intend over the next few years to make that dream a reality. My main website is House in Louisville, but the place where I am documenting my real estate adventures is http://houseinlouisville.wordpress.com.
I think Realtors young and old, new and experienced should check it out. Why is it interesting, you might ask. Well to explain that I have to tell you about myself. (This is going to be good)
My life story.
I was born Michael Lewis White, son of Lew and Phyllis White. My dad owned a small business here in Louisville, Electric Ladyland located on Bardstown Rd. My mom was a moderately successful real estate agent here in town. I was a prodigy. I don’t use that term lightly, I excelled in every subject under the sun. You name it I did it, and I was the best. In soccer, I was the goalie; baseball: pitcher; basketball: center. See the pattern? My music teacher doted on me, “the best student she ever had”. My regular teachers couldn’t get enough either, the only people that disliked me at school were the bad kids, they resented my performance. At 12 years old, as a 5th grader I decided to take the S.A.T. at U of L, just to see how I would do. After I got my 1550 score back the Dean of Admissions called me personally to humbly ask if I would “consider attending their school”.
My success didn’t stop there, by 18 I was running my own technology company, and employed several people that were decades older than I. I bought my first house that year, and got married. I was on the fast track to success. (this is what you were waiting for the downturn) After 5 years of marriage, and three beautiful children, things seemed to me like they couldn’t get any better. My company had grown to 15 employees, we were doing over a million dollars a year and everyone loved me. Everyone that is except my young wife. All the pressure of being married to a shooting star like me had taken a tremendous toll on her, and unbeknownst to me, she was very unhappy.
The moral change.
So when we had a rough month at the company (a big customer was holding back a large payment) I decided to put the employees first and not pay myself for the month. My wife jumped at the opportunity, and despite having brought home the bacon for 5 years, she decided to leave me due to that one month without pay. Of course the real issues weren’t about that, it was my 24/7 work schedule, the pressures of running a house with three babies and the fact that she never had a chance to live her life before being thrust into mine. So she just left.
I was raised in a house where Mom took care of the kids, and Dad made most of the money. The idea of me taking care of the kids was very foreign, I had zero skills in dealing with children or taking care of a household. I couldn’t even do my own laundry….she was gone and I was left holding the bag, the diaper bag.
The bad part.
Needless to say, my professional career suffered. I was completely unequipped to handle both sides of my life alone. I made the conscious decision right then that the kids were the most important of the two. Instead of slapping them in daycare, I did my best to care for them. The result at the office was disastrous. My employees needed me, I was their guiding light. They felt betrayed by their leader. Almost unaminously they decide to leave my company, and start a new one without me involved. I can’t blame them, i went from pushing them to work as hard as possible, to being almost non-existent at the office.
Within a few months, I had depleted my savings, lost my source of income, and was close to losing my home. Morose, I dropped the kids off at Mom’s house and went to visit an old client of mine and dear friend, Laura Wilson. Laura came to my rescue, she picked me up and dusted me off saying “Your worth saving Michael White”. Recalling those words still brings tears to my eyes. I moved in with Laura, and the kids went to live with my parents. I still saw them everyday, but I had no way to support them on my own. Laura and I fell in love, slowly, starting out as great friends and moving up from there. I realized that I had never truly known love before.
The return of the mac.
After a little while the kids moved in with Laura and I. She is a very cautious person, (it comes from being a banker for 20+ years) and she didn’t want to start a relationship with the kids until she was sure we would last. Once she did, they accepted her with open arms. We rarely heard from my ex, it was like she had dropped off the planet. That suited Laura, the kids and I just fine. We have all been living together in our happy home on Fairfax Ave for 6 years now. The kids are doing great, and I am the happiest man in the world.
That happiness didn’t come overnight, I really struggled at first with my new found responsibilities. Today I am super dad, I cook, I clean and I am a laundry professional. Laura has a unique career, she teaches bankers about regulations and her travels keep her on the road much of the time. That means Daddy is the number one caregiver in our household. The kids and I do everything together, I couldn’t do it without them.
Rebooting my career
This brings me to the present day, and the point of all this, my new real estate career. the kids are becoming more self sufficient, and I am ready to re-enter the workforce. I haven’t exactly been sitting on my thumbs all this time, technology has always been my passion, and in the past 6 years I have concentrated my learning on the web and web site design. I can code in every programming language known to man, and I have massive skills in graphics and design. From 3d animation to photography to film, I am an expert. With the skill set I have a natural fit would be to start a small web design studio. But I asked myself, why design web sites for others, and make them money, when I could design one for myself, where I make money?
So I set out to find a career that depended on the web to be successful. After careful research, I settled on real estate. I intend to dominate my local market through strategic use of the web. You can follow along my journey at http://houseinlouisville.wordpress.com. I plan to document every step I take, and every move I make. That way whether I win or lose, everyone entrepreneur out there can benefit from my story.
About the Author:
Michael Lewis White, is a daddy. In his spare time he is also a blogger, home builder, and real estate enthusiast. His posts are focused on home buying, selling, and living in Louisville. You can read more insightful tips at his blog, and find your next home on his website at House in Louisville – http://www.houseinlouisville.com.
Are you in good hands?
Well today is my first day embarking on my new career idea: to gain success in my local real estate market.
I intend to make this journey with you, dear reader, keeping me company. My plans hinge mainly around two principles that I hold true.
- No one loves real estate more than I do.
- No one in my market knows the internet better than me.
(well I guess I can only truly count on #2)
About me.
Who am I? Why do I think I can win on the net? What is real estate?
I am Michael Lewis White. Webmasters in 50 states fear me. I once roundhouse-kicked Chuck Norris and lived to blog about it. -Only the first statement is true.
Why should you be interested?
My background is in web design and internet marketing. I have decided to take on the local real estate agents and brokers in the battle for buyer’s eyeballs. I am going to document the whole process so you can benefit from my failure or success.
Why Real Estate?
Because I love the industry! Not necessarily sales, though that is a passion of mine, it’s the houses. I have spent time building houses, both working on the crew as a laborer and running the show as the builder. But I haven’t been able to achieve my personal dream of owning a house that I am proud of.
Currently I live at 244 Fairfax Ave Louisville, Ky 40207. Most people would be extremely satisfied with my house, but I’m not. I have worked around new homes all my life, and I am very accustomed to the easy lifestyle to be found in Suburbia. But I digress….
What Happened Today?
This section is where I will publish the meat of the day’s efforts.
- Domain Name. I registered the domain name houseinlouisville.com at my favorite hosting provider 1and1.com. Why did I pick that registrar? Well I have used them for years, they are large enough to be stable, and their prices are fair.
Why that Domain Name?
Oh that question is a doozy! Lets spend some time analyzing that….tbc.
Your host for this journey. Michael Lewis White
Hi, my name is Michael. Welcome to my blog. I plan on covering everything there is to know about living in Louisville, the real estate market, and using the internet to succeed. We all know that real estate gets sold online, and that in order to succeed in the modern real estate market you have to conquer that frontier.
This website aims to do just that. I will concentrate the info that I collect in my daily life living in louisville, and document the steps I take to succeed as a realtor. Today is the first day that I have actively pursued my real estate career. My hope is that through this blog I can give that fledgling career a boost right from the start.
About the Author:
Michael Lewis White, is a daddy. In his spare time he is also a blogger, home builder, and real estate enthusiast. His posts are focused on home buying, selling, and living in Louisville. You can read more insightful tips at his blog, and find your next home on his website at House in Louisville – http://www.houseinlouisville.com.
