HATS Software was created in 1992. My original service as electronic income tax filing with the IRS. Although the venture never really took off, it lit my entrepreneurial fires.
Shortly after that I developed an application that made it easy for real estate agents to have their own distributed database of MLS listings. RE:Search Software was introduced in 1995 and enjoyed a seven year run when it was effectively rendered unnecessary by increased broad band internet access.
In 1998, RE:Search was extended to allowing users to provide their listings on their very own web sites. This is when HATS entered the online development world. My first apps were written in ASP and included an only fund raising auction for charity.
In the early 2000′s, the local MLS introduced their Internet Data eXchange (IDX). This opened the door for real estate agents and brokers to provide searchable real estate on their web sites. HATS was one of the first providers in the Northern New England market. Well known in the local market due to our RE:Search app, business significantly increased.
It was at this point in time that I realized PHP was a much better foundation for me to build upon so I rewrote all of my software in PHP3 and leased my Linux first data server. HATS still maintains a web server for hosting and a data server for IDX.
Starting around 2005, I started writing my own content management system for web sites. I converted several of my client’s sites to this system but soon realized my simple approach was lacking in potential functionality. So I started looking around and discovered Joomla!. I was amazed at its power and support but soon concluded the management functionality was far too complicated for the average non technical user – my customer base.
In late 2010, I was asked to develop a blog based web site for a client. After playing with WordPress for a short time, I realized that it is an excellent base for a content management system! Not only that, I could write plug-ins for my IDX server and offer turn key sites for my clients. I dove in and quickly developed AgentAve-WP – a plug-in for WordPress. One of the unique aspects of AgentAve-WP is it didn’t FRAME the content, it INCLUDED the content. This, of course, significantly SEO opportunities.