Birth of a Site
Posted on October 27, 2008 - Filed Under Business
With the book coming along, the next step was developing the website.
It is my belief that websites are becoming a natural extension of books. Books won’t go away any time soon. But for the internet crowd, websites are proving to be a very powerful marketing tool in advancing not only readership but also sales of the book.
Just look at Tim and his Four Hour Work Week site.
The first step: what about the end user? If someone were to read the book, what resources should be available to help them further their objective of buying investment property? What information could I provide to help them along their investing path?
My mentor recommended I take a look at creating a path. Some simple steps users could identify with readily and would also help organize the site into some kind of logical fashion.
I created a five step plan, using action verbs.
- Prepare
- Define
- Assemble
- Acquire
- Manage
Each step corresponds to a section of the book. For example, the Define section refers to those chapters in the book where we discuss how to define a Business Model. The Define section of the site has those tools available to help someone define their business model. So in the book, we discuss the theory. On the website, we actually do it.
After listing out each section, and what useful content should be under each section, the content for the site came together rather quickly.
Next step: design or lookie-feel of the website.
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Birth of the Book
Posted on October 23, 2008 - Filed Under Business
The starting point for BuyThatDuplex was a book.
I knew I had wanted to do a book for many moons. Real Estate seemed to be a good starting point. But what can you write about a subject that’s been talked about to death?
Taking a chapter from Sir Richard Branson’s book, I let my frustration be my guide. What really bothered me about real estate books? What could I do differently? What could I do better?
Following my frustration, the book practically wrote itself. At the same time, my niche market became defined. I wanted to go after that market segment, where people are considering buying their first piece of investment property.
Forget about GET RICH NOW with REAL ESTATE
Scrap the whole Become a Millionaire over night in 1 easy step!
My focus would be to provide a sort of manual to walk someone through that first purchase. And everything else that was built would support this same idea.
Now let me state for the record: writing a book is tough. My editor equated it to giving birth. The original idea had been kicked around for nearly two years. But it was February through August were I did nothing but eat, sleep and breath this book. My crowning moment was when I finally put the book down and said “It is finished” and then had a brain aneurysm.
The next step: Website.
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Shining Star
Posted on October 22, 2008 - Filed Under Business
The highlight of this blog was not my first purchase.
Nor was it my second.
The day my student loans were paid off pales in comparison.
This singular event is the highest point, my proudest moment of this blog.
A few weeks back, I talked about and Leslie’s efforts to bring laptops to kids stricken with cancer. Her story so moved me, touched me that I felt the need to share it with you. What I did not expect was that several of you would also be moved and touched by her story.
To those of you who also donated to Leslie’s cause, I thank you for making not only my day brighter but those of those kids as well.
Tomorrow I’ll start the discussion on the new site.
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Change of Gears
Posted on October 21, 2008 - Filed Under Business
Before heading along much further, I should probably explain something. When I started this online venture, it was quite different from what I debuted yesterday. A lot different.
This primary idea I was focused on was suddenly shoved to the back while a secondary idea came up. I had always wanted to write a book and I would pick at it a little bit at a time. But when the market tanked, I knew the time for the book had arrived.
To make this idea more concrete, Apple announced their new iPhone would accept 3rd party applications. That got me all fired up. To see the principles of my book displayed on an iPhone would be cool. So while the book was in the hands of the editors, I started writing a specification for the iPhone.
Anyway I’d like to take a poll. I won’t talkabout the nuts and bolts of this idea if you’re not curious. So take a second and vote below on whether you’d like a break down of what I did and why I did it.
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Here at last
Posted on October 20, 2008 - Filed Under Business
Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, and the rest of you.
Thanks for your patience last week. Things got nutty but at least it went forward.
Feedback is king. Last week, probably about 50 suggestions floated across my doorstep and I grabbed about 90% of them. Most were little tweaks here and there. Some were major re-writes. But in the end, I think it’s the customer who will benefit from it the most.
One giant request came in: change the name.
Not that the name of the site or the product is bad. But it doesn’t leave room for further expansion. And of course I have many ideas on ways to expand not only the site but the number of software offerings.
So without further adieu, please check it out and let me know what you think.
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The beauty of .
