What your oldest REW Site? And it's story! Fun Birthday Game Using Archive.org

[Morgan]

@Mike Trinch posted on my Facebook the other day when we shared it would be our 9th birthday today

And he was right! I looked it up on archive.org

Here is his first site which we started building in 2007 and was launched in early 2008

It’s actually still a really nice website even by today’s standards (though it was optimized for 800 x 600 and not responsive so could not work today).

Unfortunately, our project management system doesn’t go back that far, so I had to look it up on archive.org

It was actually a bit of fun seeing this old site. So I thought since it’s our birthday, and we have so many members on here that are past or present customers, why not ask our members to share their story and their first site.

Whether you’re @Garyashton and you launched on a template in 2003 combining REW with iframed Wolfnet IDX

Or @judyorr who has been with us since 2005

Remember flash slideshows? Can’t even get them to render anymore

I can recall sites like Preston Guyton’s first custom (at the time, the largest custom site we had done)

Designed by @Phil in 2005! <<< This dude is celebrating 19 years at REW soon! WHAT!!!

So many epic sites! Did you know? Since Gary’s site way back, we have done over 50,000 custom projects? And that is just since we started tracking in RPM, so it’s actually a lot more than that.

Crazy!

So how about it? Care to share your first REW website screenshot with us (along with a story?)

Head over to archive.org if you want to grab a screen

[Mike]

Hilarious. I recall being on the phone with @Morgan and you were working on my site in real time and would be like “Ok hit refresh and let me know what you think” lol

[Morgan]

That was a really fun project. I love doing that stuff (still to this day!) - been staying up late with @Pozek several nights these past few months talking about new features, and some of them are REALLY cool! (Like the new Netflix of real estate library or customized lead flyouts)

To be honest, it’s a big reason I want to bring the forums back. The collaboration. I miss it!

I’m no CEO (we all know that), I like to build cool s@#t - that’s what I love to do. (And that is what OG’s like @REW.Michael @Phil @hatzopoulos @AmyPye @Moriah @Aayaam <<< the list goes on) love to do.

So we’re bringing it back! I’m actually going to start a new thread with all the things that are either “close” or “done” in R & D, as well as share some of the longer-term projects so clients can get excited, but also contribute to making them even better.

Custom source management, budget attribution, deal management, intranet, dialer, translations, AI - there is some BIG stuff coming!

[Morgan]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! Here’s my share (Real Estate Webmasters circa 2004 < sponsored by SEO Guy lol) we didn’t even know if it was a thing yet or not.

OMG - there was even a LINK EXCHANGE forum! bahahhahah old school SEO for sure! We did that stuff in the open back then heh!

[Pozek]

Maybe not my best memory, but this seems like a good time to post this! I remember in 2014/2015 I was a REW partner. It was clear they were the best provider in the game, but I just couldn’t see spending THAT much money on web dev, seo, ppc management, etc. I mean, there’s cheaper options! So we left to a competitor. Unfortunately the cheaper options got me significantly less results. In 2022 I started searching for options to get me the results I wanted. I needed something to pair well with the immense amount of content marketing we were putting out. My pride had me looking everywhere other than REW. After looking hard at a ton of options, I messaged @Morgan to explain what I was up to. He was super kind, saw the vision, and was excited to whip up something dope. 4 months in and our organic reach is up 25x, time on site is up 10x, and more importantly lead flow is through the roof. We’re about to really f*ck some stuff up together! Stoked to be back.

-KP

[judyorr]

I started with REW in 2005 when I was still in IL. That site was my baby (looks like an ugly baby now) and I learned how to rank #1 for my most important keywords - until one of the Google algorithms (Penguin?) changed that.

I loved that green forum and it’s where I learned all about the SEO of the day. I hated when it got switched to Facebook and am glad it’s back. And yes, the link exchanging. I think I still had many of those links until I moved to AZ and started on a brand new site.

[Morgan]

Yeah, probably penguin. A classic example of how SEO evolved and one type of highly effective tactic became harm over night.

Gotta love this game!

We’ve seen SO MANY updates since then haven’t we?

Good times Judy! I’m glad you’re here