One website building program that I have been consistantly asked about by readers over the last 12 or more months is Site Build It. While not a blogging platform as such it is a way of building a website for money and as a result I guess readers feel I will have an opinion of it. Unfortunately I’ve not used it before so don’t have any personal experience to offer. When I mentioned this on Twitter recently Julie Bonner (one of b5media’s staff writers) told me that she’d used SBI successfully – I asked her if she’d be interested in writing a user review. She agreed and here it is.
I first heard of SBI (Site Build It) back in August of 2004. I had tried, unsuccessfully, to build a website on my own a few months before that. Needless to say, I was frustrated because of my sheer lack of knowledge of html, seo and all the other stuff involved. I knew I could write, I knew I loved to write and I knew there was money to be made on the Internet. What I needed was a program where I could just pump out good content and have all of the other stuff taken care of for me, while making money of course. That’s when SBI fell into my lap.
In July 2004 I purchased SBI and hit the ground running. In a span of about 3 years, I built a handful of websites and then turned around and flipped them for a profit. I wrote on everything from decorating kids’ bedrooms to on-line games for kids. While I was in the process of building the sites, I was making a fairly decent income off of Google Adsense and affiliate links. To say I am grateful to SBI and what it has taught me, would be an understatement.
Some of you may be asking what the benefits of purchasing SBI are. It’s not super expensive, but pricey enough to where you need to do your research and think about if this is something you are willing to open your wallet for. You also have to realize that every year there is a renewal fee. For me personally, my income from the site has covered that fee over and above, so it has never been an issue.
Here are some of the benefits of SBI:
- Hosting is taken care of.
- You are guided through the process of choosing a topic and domain name that is profitable.
- There is an amazing keyword tool built in to the system.
- You can choose from many different templates, or upload your own.
- They submit your site to the search engines. All you have to do is place your keywords in the right places – which they tell you exactly where that is.
- No knowledge of html, ftp, graphic or programming skills needed.
- The training is phenomenal!
- Forum support is some of the best I have ever seen. It’s a very active forum with the give first attitude.
- You have the chance to learn from people who are making a full-time income off of their SBI sites.
- It is great for beginners who cringe at the word Internet or website.
I won’t go into great detail about the individual benefits, because SBI has a great site where they explain everything. You can read about the program or take their video tour.
What I will tell you, is that if you think you can go out and purchase SBI, throw up a few pages and watch the money start rolling in, then you might as well not waste your time or money. I was successful at building web sites and making money at it because I worked hard. SBI gives you the tools, but you have to provide the blood, sweat and tears. I spent many late nights writing and writing and writing and it payed off. I wrote for three months before I started seeing the money come in, but once it did, it just didn’t stop and continued to grow from there.
If you dig a little into the SBI site, you will see that this program has really changed people’s lives. I can tell you that it’s true. I have personally exchanged emails with people who are making a full time living off of their SBI sites, but like I said, it’s because they worked very hard in the beginning. They understood what they needed to do and they just did it.
SBI is what convinced me that making money on-line was truly possible. The thought of working from home and doing something that I loved became a reality for me and I have never looked back. It’s funny because SBI is one of the places where I first heard about this thing called blogging. They talked about it as a way to promote your web site and build traffic and encourage you to use the two together. Little did I know back then that blogging would take over my life.
My web site building days are currently on hold because, well, blogging is my new love. Will I pick it up again some day? Maybe. And if I do, I can guarantee you that Site Build It is where I will go back to. No doubt about that!
A Note from Darren – thanks to Julie for this review. While I’ve not use Site Build It at all and can only rely upon the advice of people I respect and trust (like Julie) I find myself reacting to the idea of SBI in a couple of ways.
Firstly, if I’m honest – when I hear of these programs I get a little skeptical. Why would you need to pay for this type of thing when you can set up your own blog or website using free tools?
Secondly, I really like the sound of some of the tools and features bundled up in this product. Some of the keyword tools, SEO that is built in, the community aspect etc. While the skeptical side of my brain tells me that you can get a lot of this for free – I guess I’m reminded of my first year online trying to build my first blogs where I quite literally had no idea what I was doing. I had to ask a fellow blogger how to make text bold – I didn’t know where to begin.
While some of us who have been around for a while might look down our noses at this type of tool I think that they can have a place – particularly for those starting out, who want to learn some basics and who don’t have the skills (or know someone with them) to get going. The idea of a service that bundles a lot of this stuff into a package and then charges for it will not appeal to everyone – some of us prefer to spend time researching, pulling together information from lots of sources etc – However for some, SBI sounds like a good ‘getting started’ tool.
I’d love to hear readers experiences of SBI. Have you used it? How did you find it? What did you like? What could they improve and do better?
I am hearing about SBi for the first time from this post.Hmm it seems to be a good service.But I accept that every success starts only from lose.Even I didn’t know how to on my Pc at first when I got.Ok then I gonna proceed using SBI.thanks for mentioning it
I use SBI – have several sites with them. I also have several sites that are not on SBI. I agree the backend software and support are excellent and as a non-tech writer I couldn’t have gone to full time Internet writing without this support. So big time kudo’s there.
Can you do it without that level of support? Surely. If you already have a experienced skill set and can leverage existing work and traffic, you can do it on your own and do it well. But the average person simply doesn’t have that level of experience and skillset. And the time to obtain those is drastically shortened within a support network such as SBI.
Can you replicate the software inside SBI? Absolutely. But you had better be prepared to shell out some serious bucks for some of it. Yes, some is available for free or open source but an integrated package that all works nicely together is another issue.
Does it work? Frankly, I have much better experience (and way more money) with my SBI sites than I do with my non-SBI sites. I have the non-SBI sites because they do certain kinds of things that aren’t built into the SBI cms system. I have the traffic logs and income statements to back this up.
Are there problems with SBI? Darn straight (it’s a computer system isn’t it) ;-) – but the tech team is really good – and performance standard are clear. There’s a direct line to the owner if support doesn’t solve the problem and I can tell you – it works. The support on the forums is amazing although the size of them makes it a tad tough for a newbie to find things.
So – non of my SBI sites have ever been hacked (wish I could say the same for my WP sites). The backend software is excellent. The support is good. If you want advanced functionality such as ajax or php control, then you have to look elsewhere – but if you want a system that generates a ton of traffic – with a minimum of fuss and muss – then this is imho the best one I’ve found.
There are so many user testimonials online, that this is clearly a winning system. The people who run the co. seem so genuine, and the customer web sites successful. I don’t agree with the way SBI encourages long hyphenated domain names, but I guess they focus on organic traffic not resale value. I dont use them because i am the type of person that likes to do it the hard way and learn through experience. But i think SBI is an excellent choice for many people.
Considering testing it out, but the system refuses to sign me up. Maybe it’s an omen? I spent half an hour trying to sign up and it has rejected me every time. Not a great start, IMO. We’ll see how good technical support is on this.
It is quite a good program and well organized also. In a lot of ways, it teaches a lot about making websites from scratch and also how to structure the site in such a way that both search engines and readers would enjoy reading the site.
Thumbs up for this program by Ken Envoy, And the tools that the program provides, those that involve keyword analysis and planning for how the site would be like the next 6 months to a year is invaluable as it aims to find a market niche which you would both enjoy doing and writing about and also bring in monetization opportunities.
Great program. Had I first started out on making websites on the internet using this program, it would have cut short a lot of road that most affiliate marketers take to do keyword analysis and niche market targeting and focused on what really makes a business on the internet.
I was really pleased to see this blog post about Site Build It. I’ve had my site with them for around three years now and agree that the tools and support available to me is fantastic.
I have never seen a forum quite like Site Build It’s – there is such a support network in there encouraging you all the way.
I have been involved with gathering together internet marketing tips for a non – sbi site I work for and I’m amazed at the things I find “new” strategies that Ken and the rest of the team at Site Build It have been discussing for years.
I’ll be honest and say that I haven’t made any money from my site yet, but that is because I’ve not put the hard work into it. I renewed my subscription two days ago (all my pages and data were there despite me leaving my subscription expired for a couple of weeks) and this time I’ll make it work!
If you have a passion for something but not the site building skills then I can’t recommend it enough!
Hi Darren –
I, too, have a couple of websites with SBI. When I started, I couldn’t have done without it. Now, I probably could, but don’t want to. Why?
Like others mentioned, there’s that community support. I like to use their forums to try to pay back some of what I’ve received over the years.
Some things the responses above didn’t mention: unlimited pages per site, no bandwidth limitations, a regular ‘what is new and how much of it you actually need’ newsletter (what a great timesaver!)
For a newbie, there can’t be a better way to get started. Full, detailed instructions, no technical knowledge needed, discussions on how other owners are making money online, free advice from others who’ve ‘been there and done that’.
And yes, there’s that recurring 299 dollar nnual fee, but it’s been that price since I joined 5 years ago. And, you have to balance that against a cheapo webhost who a) won’t give detailed advice b) hasn’t got unlimited storage space c) doesn’t offer (real) unlimited bandwidth d) hasn’t got a stable of successful, one-woman-or-man, money-earning website owners, all happy to share their experience.
For the first-timer, it’s not just good, it’s incomparable.
(And, no, I don’t work for them; they work for me; – and how!)
Darren – is that an affiliate link to SBI in this post? I noticed the words problogger in the URL but when clicking it goes straight to the SBI site home page. It’s difficult to find a review of SBI that isn’t coded with an affiliate link.
We designed a site for a customer using SBI and found it to be an extremely unintuitive, clunky system. I disliked that the documentation about SBI is only available to people who signup with SBI. Also, when I inquired for help via SBI technical support. I got back a vague reply and then a lengthy message from an affiliate user (who provided the tech support) about the great value of SBI. When I ask for tech support, I do NOT want a sales pitch!
SBI may work for some but anyone with any decent knowledge of the net will find it frustrating. The main reason to use SBI is probably to get into their affiliate program and then promote SBI
From what I see Google is happy to rank SiteBuildIt sites. My sites (not SBI) are in the fitness and weight loss niches and I’m often competing with some high ranking SBI sites.
We’ve all seen their similar designs but their writing layouts are similar too with their short paragraphs and regular bolding of words. Makes them easy to read and very scannable, i’m usually quite impressed.
I have 5 websites. 2 are with SBI and the other 3 hosted elsewhere.
The 2 SBI sites make money and the the other 3 just sit there doing nothing no matter how hard I try.
I totally agree with the OP that you will make diddly squat unless you do some hard work but for a relative novice like myself SBI presses all the right buttons. They take care of all the SE submission stuff and the tools that come with are well worth it.
OK, some will say you can get free tools online but if you’re serious about your business and your future then there comes a point where you must get serious about your tools.
I’ve used Site Build It since 2006 and have 2 sites so far.
I am easily one of their biggest fanboys! ;)
The product is top-notch and they continue to improve and expand it, all at no extra expense to me. The support is some of the best around (if you ever need it) and their affiliate program is fantastic.
Ken Evoy, the president, is a terrific guy, to boot.
As a result of Site Build It, in June of this year, I started working from home, full-time.
I used SBI for my first couple of websites. I did this at a time when I was just too busy to have the time to learn all the finer points of HTML website design and I wanted to spend what time I had on building a business.
To someone who has a serious motivation to start on online business but who doesn’t want to get bogged down in the technicalities, SBI is a great way to start.
It provides an excellent training in all aspects of Internet marketing and that is where I learned all the fundamentals of the game.
Like Julie, I discovered blogging and I found out that I could do all that I wanted with WordPress blogs. I gradually migrated by sites away from SBI to WP blogs and I’ve never looked back :-)
Although the cost of SBI may seem expensive, it isn’t really when you consider how much you get for your money. You could easily spend (waste!) much more on all the ancilliary services that they provide, all bundled in with the fee.
I can truly recommend SBI!
Sarah
SBI is good tool if you are not a webmaster. And basically if you are developing some static html sites.
Good for creating some quick affiliate landing pages site, adsense MFA’s.
SBI is a great program and Ken Evoy offers many beginners a legitimate money making oppurtunity. The process of setting up your website has you going in the right direction from the start. It kinda takes away the learning curve. There are many SBI sites ranking well for good keywords. I’m sure there is money to be made with that system.
However, the web sites from SBI are very generic and look outdated. I have ran across many SBI website and new once I landed on them that they were SBI sites. They all have the same feel.
It is kinda pricey but just about anything you learn from SBI their premium fee you can find elsewhere for free. I have ran across a girls website 2createawebsite.com and she lays it all out for free.
I’m not by any mean promoting her site but i have learned a great deal from it… just an idea.
Between problogger and her site you can’t go wrong. I have been following this blog and her site for about a year now I’m doing well and I haven’t paid a penny for any of the information.
Thanks A TON Darren!
@Doug: that web site might lay it all out for free but it’s still an affiliate for SFI :)
I am really glad you posted this review of SiteBuildit. I have known of this product for years, but I always associated ‘sales letter’ type sites with it. They looked spammy to me and I wondered how anyone would make money off them as I knew I personally would never shop on one.
I am glad to hear some folks are doing well with SBI. Sounds like the toolset has grown over the years, too.
My experience was similar to Jeff’s.
I am an IT professional (I’m a systems tester and have a degree in CS) and have put up my own websites. I signed up for SBI thinking maybe there was some magic to their traffic thing that I’d gain from it, but I never actually completely got a site up and running simply because the process of using their interface was driving me nuts.
I contacted support and had a less than satisfactory experience with them, so I just abandoned the whole thing. In the meantime I’ve started another blog with a traditional webhost and I’m happily tweaking wordpress to suit myself.
The onus for my SBI failure is really on myself — I didn’t give it a good try. But I just got so dang frustrated.
I have been using SBI from past 4 years. I started using it as a total newbie.
Now I have learned the bit of the ropes and any sudden websites I need for the moment, I go the cheapo way with cheap hosting. But If I am building a website for the long term, It is only with SBI.
I have spend thousands of dollars only buying software and ebooks and all the other crazy stuff, I have so far not received the value like SBI does.
If people think $299 is too expensive, They are probably thinking very small.
For the amount of time and effort it saves, it is a very small price
I’ve never even heard of it. :(
Nice little sponsored post you’ve got here.
Doesn’t look decent. Don’t think I’d try it.
I don’t really remember how I discovered SBi (it may be because of their free affiliate marketing ebook), but although I was a beginner, I quickly got the seo thing.
And I found that it was better for me to do my own sites from scratch since I know html.
Bottom line… Never got Sbi, however I recommend it because I know that it’s a good program.
Franck
I have never used SBI, but to me the sites seem to all look the same, and it’s a very outdated look. Very 1990s. I’ll assume you can only host one site per $299 year. With most other standard hosts these days you can host many on one account. And it seems like every review I’ve read of SBI has the obligatory affiliate link. So it’s hard to accept the reviews as unbiased. It feels more like a sales pitch.
I probably could have done well with it since I had no coding knowledge and I’ve been forced to learn bits and pieces from my genius husband and that means I have to wait on him to learn it first….which is sometimes weeks or even months…but now that I can do some coding, I wouldn’t use it I don’t think but I do have a friend who is just getting started and wants my help and I may definitely send her that way because she will be asking me all kinds of questions about coding and then I’ll have to ask my husband and then wait and wait…she an do it herself faster this way I think.
I built my site with SBI. It goes far beyond a site builder though, as it’s taught me how to set up a web business from top to bottom in less than three months (from web dummy to having a full-fledged site). I have to agree that with the other positive comments here that the support is great, and the back end tools are fantastic.
I love that it’s the furthest thing from a GRQ program: more like a “get business at your own pace!” program. Hard work, but like anything worth doing involves hard work and satisfaction.
My only problem with it in the beginning was the ugly templates! Very outdated. So, using their resources, I learned HTML and CSS and built my own fairly quickly ~ problem solved.
Hey Darren,
Ken Evoy here. I’ve been a fan of your writing for many years. It was a pleasant surprise to see your review here today.
I won’t comment on the merits of Site Build It! as I may be just a touch biased. ;-) But I read the comments with great interest.
The majority, of course, make me smile. :-) But I’d give my eye teeth (whichever ones those are!) to eliminate some of the the myths about SBI! that have grown up over the years (they all look the same, for newbies only, can get all the same tools for free, etc.). And, of course, we don’t do well with the techie-smarter-than-thou group who just won’t do it the SBI! way.
But all in all, the review and comments give a fair, balanced impression of Site Build It!. It won’t be for everyone, but for those who know what they want and are ready to work for it, they won’t find any better way to build a profitable business. There are, of course, 1,000 faster ways to put up a site.
The difference between the two (site vs business) is, of course, immense.
Thanks very much for the SBI! mention. If you ever want to do an interview together about SBI!, I’d love to chat with you about it (and handle questions from those who propagate the myths ;-) ).
All the best,
Ken Evoy
Founder, SiteSell.com
I’ve been using SBI for almost 4 years. I have only 1 website with SBI and am in the top 10 ranking in Google and Yahoo.
I recommend it for everyone especially for those who don’t know anything about building a website from scratch and have no time to learn.
After hearing so much about blogging, I tried doing one using wordpress.
Having tried both, I think I will still use SBI for my next web site.
FM
I’ve used SBI for years now and have built quite a few sites through it. I’ve also delved into other areas, namely free resources that IM recommend all the time. For me, this free resources require a huge learning curve and time to develop the skills, which I just don’t have. SBI gave me everything and each time I think they’re missing something I go in search of the latest and greatest strategies, I always, always, come back to SBI for my big ideas because I know it works.
I’m another very happy SBIer. In fact, were it not for SBI I’m quite certain I would not be a webmaster today. I currently have one SBI site, have #2 blocked out and about to go, am about to build #3 for a client and have had numerous enquiries about building for others.
I literally started my site knowing nothing beyond how to surf the web and use email. I now have over 100 pages, my traffic is slowly building (currently at about 15,000 page views a month) and I’m making a bit from AdSense and a couple of other small monetization options. It’s not big yet, but it’s paid for my SBI site several times over. And that’s with me not having the freedom to work on it full time and often having to go several weeks or even months without touching it. As soon as I am free to go full-tilt on my webwork, I know this site (and others) will take off monetarily.
It is not a “sales page” type site or a landing page for a product. It is a full-blooded content site about a tourist town I know well and love.
I would not build a site without SBI because I have no idea how to do it and don’t want to waste time on the learning curve. Why should I when I can do everything I want and need to do within the SBI framework?
And to Doug: 2createawebsite.com was created by Lisa Irby, an avid SBIer. She’s not just an affiliate, she is an extremely successful SBI site builder too. Her http://www.flat-stomach-exercises.com is just one of her SBI sites.
Several here have mentioned the SBI forums. In my opinion, they are worth the price of the whole subscription. Never have I seen such a group of helpful, caring, positive people. The information available there is just astounding, as is the moral support from others going through the same learning curve. And Ken Evoy, the founder of SBI, often pops into the forum and joins the discussion.
I simply can’t imagine myself building a web presence without SBI.
Useful as usally. I’ check it out.
I’d say that SBI does everything that it promises to do. But even better than the ‘product’ is the company itself. They don’t just sell you the system, they really do stay with you.
SBI is no ‘get rich quick’, you need to devote yourself to it but if you do you won’t be disappointed.
Well I’m not a sponsor but I do use SBI and personally have nothing but good things to say about them.
I first tried them in 2005 and thought I would try running before I could walk and funnily enough the site didn’t work. They do tell you to follow the Action Guide! Anyway, I came back last year and am currently working on my Tokyo site – which is going very well because I finally figured out that if I do it by the Action Guide things start to happen. As the poster said, it is not easy and is definitely not the solution if you are wanting to put up a site overnight. I have been working now for 7 months and have a long way to go yet… but then I’m in it for the long term.
Little by little is the name of the game for me… but SBI holds my hand all the way. As a beginner in the field of building websites, this is what I need.
I’m a journalist – no web experience whatsoever until a couple of years ago. I wanted a website and spent quite a lot of money trying to ‘figure it out’ – much more than SBI’s yearly cost.
The result today? I have a site with 300+ pages (this from someone who didn’t know what domain name meant). It not only pays for itself, but earns me a growing monthly income. I could never have done this in the same amount of time otherwise.
I have two sites with SBI, and plan on adding two more next year. I wouldn’t do it any other way. Of course you can do it yourself – but why, when this is so easy??
Of course you can get a better template elsewhere… yes, they tend to look alike… and there IS a lot to master… and SBI doesn’t do it for you – you actually have to do the hard work.
Oh yes, the forums, I almost forgot. It’s one of the few places on the web where people are more anxious to help you than to have you help them…
There are some comments here saying that all the knowledge and tools that you can get without Site Build It Action Guide and Tools can be found for free.
That’s true. But let’s imagine an average person (not an experienced blogger with HTML expertise) who wants to start an online business:
1. Does she know where to look on the web to find this info?
2. How does she know who to trust?
3. Can she distinguish between crap (and there 99% of that online) and real useful information?
4. Does she have the time to sift through this massive information, organize it and start taking action while having a full time job, 2 kids and husband that needs taking care of? ;)
5. Will she have full support of the community and HUNDREDS of examples of successful websites built with the same system so she can learn from examples and people who succeeded before her?
Answer these questions and you’ll see that SBI is really something that saves you time, money and shows you how at first you can work from home but later you can just watch money rolling in day after day. No need to be an expert blogger and or a HTML wizard.
I’ve freed myself from work with SBI and I am happy to help anyone escape the slavery of work and enjoy the freedom that online business can give you.
I assisted a friend to get a site started using the SBI system and can share several points that will assist those considering buying it.
The system takes you through a keyword research process to determine whether there is any demand for what you’re considering. Because I already had a background in keyword research I recognized what the system was doing and why.
This research took hours and is a very good thing as you don’t want a site no one will visit! BUT…If you are not willing to go through a lengthy research process you will not like the system and are unlikely to get a site up and running.
If – and ONLY IF – you are willing to follow the process and do what is required, you will end up with a more commercial site than you would otherwise.
Years back when I used it there was an SBI site about juggling with enormous traffic. It was obvious why – they weren’t targeting juggling. They were targeting keyword phrases relating to reasons someone would hire a juggler.
Having a site no one can find will never make you any money. Building a site about a topic no one is searching for makes it really challenging to be found. There is a brilliant mind behind that system and it does many things it will take most Web site owners years to learn – if ever.
Times have changed. Today most people would be better off with WordPress for information sites and Volusion for shopping sites – but you still really need someone with years of experience to help you do it right.
The best thing anyone with a Web site (or planning to have one) can do is buy an inexpensive book called Don’t Make Me Think. Everyone involved in Web sites should own a copy. You can read sample chapters online.
very great sharing…….. I am very enjoy the posting,thanks
Twitter’s giving me a “That page doesn’t exist! ” error from Julie’s link. :(
I heard about Site Build It! only recently. Fortunately, by the time I started building websites and blogs, I had enough technical knowledge of how to do it. But I feel that SBI, is more than just building sites. Although I’ve never tried it out, I can judge from the user reviews and testimonials that it is a really awesome and useful tool that has helped so many people become successful. Maybe I’ll try it out in the future.
Granted that it is easy to put up a Web site or a blog, these days.
But I know of no other company than SiteSell Inc. that will help one build a sound business using the Web as first business domain.
I discovered, during 2006, that Site Build It! means business.
By that I mean that SBI! is the coherent package that helped me start in business, from the ground up, on a micro budget.
With time, I discovered that SBI! is a proven business building process.
SBI! has enabled me to diversify my business. I can leverage the knowledge I have accumulated over the years. Some of it comes from work experience and some comes from my hobbies and interests.
I own two Web sites built using the SBI! business building process. I have a third one in the works that I plan to put online in early 2009, at the latest. I have also built a SBI! site to promote my wife’s (our ;-) B&B.
I have admitted publicly before that I have become a business man in spite of myself. When I first started, I only had the desire to self-publish while marketing my writings on a near zero budget.
You see, marketing is key to a writer’s success. It’s key to any business.
The SBI! marketing process worked beyond my wildest dreams.
P.S. Jeff, the complete, yes, complete documentation package for Site Build It! – called the SBI! Action Guide – is available to the public, free of charge. Look for the Action-Guide page on the SiteSell site.
I’ve heard of it, and I guess I just wouldn’t use it. Why would you want to use that, when you could create a website or blog in which you can have it exactly the way you want it, instead of trying to find different templates they have, picking as close to what you want? It just doesn’t make sense to me. And why not research and learn? Why not learn some HTML, and format my blog the way I want it? Yes, it takes awhile, but anything worthwhile in life takes awhile. Learn and make your blog or website EXACTLY what YOU want it to be… Having said that, I am on blogspot, but I will eventually, when I get a new, use wordpress. Of course I won’t be using straight HTML. Even using wordpress widgets is cheating some, as we are getting HTML code from snagging the widgets. But I just can’t imagine using SBI. Make your blog exactly the way you want it, and stretch yourself and learn!…
Krissy :)
Just wondering, Darren, why are my comments always “awaiting moderation”? They used to not be! Could I possibly have done something wrong? And also, why can’t I unsubscribe to comments? I checked that box once, mistakenly, and now I can’t get the comments to stop filling up my emailbox! Hundreds of comments, LOL! When I hit the unsubscribe, it gives me a message like “you cannot choose this option to unsubscribe. You do not have the correct key.” Eegads! I am putting in the key number in the browser that you all are giving me! So I don’t know what else to do! Could you not send me hundreds of comments? Thanks so much! By the way, I want to say I DO appreciate your ProBlogger, it is my all time favorite blog, I reccomment you to ALL my friends!
God bless, Krissy :)
Here’s my little unsponsored comment…
To talk about Site Build It! in comparison with any other sitebuilding tool (free or paid) is not doing it justice.
Building a site is the easy part.
To build an online business requires much more. You need to do the footwork to know that there actually is a market for you, that you know how your future customers are looking for what you provide, and if they’re willing to spend money on it. Without a market, no business.
The difference with SBI! vs. ‘the rest’, is that the process shows you how to do that research to determine there is a market, and that your web site building efforts are not in vain. Days 1 through 5 of the Action Guide (which is available to everyone, btw, just do a Google search on Action Guide) are what in the offline world is called “creating a business plan”.
When comparing SBI! to other solutions, just ask yourself whether or not they’re helping you to create a business plan.
No business plan? Well, then you’re building a hobby site. Nothing wrong with that, I guess.
You ask “Why would you need to pay for this type of thing when you can set up your own blog or website using free tools?”
Well I used SBI a few years ago and what it gives heaps of is guidance. It practically forces you to remember each step of researching your niche, finding keywords, planning and optimising your content and building links, plus it takes care of the structural SEO for you.
It gets a bit too restrictive for anything terribly original, but by that time you’ve got the basics nailed and ready to move on to stuff like WordPress where you’re free to forget all the rules and make mistakes galore.
You won’t find instant riches off SBI but if you can’t even make your money back in Adsense over the year then you probably don’t have the application for online marketing in any case.
I wanted to weigh in here too. I am an SBI owner, having built 6 of my own sites using this platform. I also have a number of other non-SBI sites that I built using straight HTML, WordPress and Blogger. None but the SBI sites are making any significant amount of money.
And that’s despite thinking I’m using all of my SBI knowledge to build those other sites. There’s something special about how SBI sites succeed.
I also wanted to comment on the many comments here about the SBI “look”. I agree; many SBI sites do look similar, certainly those built with the SBI blockbuilder (that requires no HTML knowledge) often look similar in layout. But, there are many ways you change that SBI look:
* You can upload your own graphics for the header, the navigation bar and the background, so that your template is like no other SBI site (By the way, there are over 200 different templates available too, and any of those can be changed in a number of different ways)
* You can use a stylesheet (with the blockbuilder) to set different fonts, font colors, headline sizes, bullets, page background color and more.
* You can upload your own HTML pages, created with any stock template or your own unique design; these can be any layout you want
* 2 different SBI owners sell a $50 template that enables you to add the much coveted right sidebar, using the upload your own HTML option. One works within the standard 725px wide SBI layout (recommended for a reason, by the way). The other offers either a fixed or fluid 3 column layout that can be as wide as you want.
So there is NO reason why any SBI site has to have the standard SBI “look”, if it is not wanted. No reason at all. You’re only limited by your imagination and your HTML skills, which is also true of any of the WordPress or other platform built sites.
Second, as others have said, SBI is about so much more than building a website. It’s about building a business. And it’s about making friends and becoming part of a community, which is a wonderful benefit when you work from home full time on websites as I do (which SBI made possible, by the way).
And I beg to differ with whoever said people join SBI only so they can become affiliates. You don’t have to own SBI to be an affiliate for SiteSell.But you’ll certainly be more convincing (as with any affiliate product) if you can speak knowledgeably about its pros and cons.
Do I think SBI is perfect? No, not by a long shot. But I do think it’s a great package for a reasonable price for people who are serious about working hard to succeed. And Ken Evoy and his crew regularly respond to “wishes” asked for by SBI users and have regularly upgraded everything about the platform without once raising the price. Phenomenal.
It would be extremely rare to find an SBI user who has truly followed the system set forth in the SBI Action Guide and who is not happy with the results. Pure and simple, SBI works… if you do.
As for me, my SBI sites are making me over $2000/month, and steadily increasing every single month. And the one that’s making the most (though 4.5 years old), I put very little effort into at this point. So that’s almost 100% passive income! Works for me…
I have had an SBI site for about 7 months. I chose SBI because I wasn’t making any money online and I got so confused reading all the different ebooks not knowing what to do first.
I haven’t made much money yet, but I have learned a ton. They don’t spoon feed you. I have had to work at building my 50+ pages of content. I learned a lot about how to set up a page so that the search engines will find it.
I only have about an hour a day to work on my site. I’m sure if I had more time I would be further ahead.
I like what has been said here – Building pages is easy, building a business on the web is not.
SBI helps by sifting through all the internet jargon and gives you the best of the best information to work from. $25 a month cost is nothing compared to what you get in information, guidance and service.
Very good review. I actually seen this program not too long ago and was wondering of perchasing the software.
I do have a question though, when it says that hosting is taken care of what does that mean? Do you actually real legit hosting or do you get a crappy hosting plan.
1. I second the question on hosting. What if by some crazy stroke of luck we get a day with huge hits to our site – how do we know it won’t crash?
2. Is SBI for use with a BLOG or only a site with static pages?
To IronBlogger And Kelly: SBI offers unlimited bandwidth and the price never changes. And yes, SBI sites easily handle Digg and other massive traffic spikes.
I have personally experienced Digg traffic with no problems (got 12000 visitors in a day on a site which averaged 200 at that time) and so have others that have reported that in the SBI forums.
I currently have one SBI site. Honestly, I have learned more in the six months it has been live than in all my years online. Part of this is the supportive community that is part of the SBI package.
My site is young. Yet, I rank with Google for a couple of my pages, get almost 100 unique visitors a day and am making a bit of money on adsense. In the meantime, I am learning HTML, CSS and a host of other skills that will allow me to make my current site and any others I set up successful.
We have a wide range of folks at SBI, many are experienced webmasters. I suppose they see the value of having all those tools in one streamlined package. In addition to great support both technical and community.
SBI offers a blog function, or you can set up a third party blog and make it part of your site.
I’ve never known my site or any others’ to be down. While my site is not the most advanced example, you are all welcome to check it out. Eventually, I will institute a new look and feel via CSS.
I haven’t used SBI before, but one of my very good friends has mentioned to me that he had great success in using SBI for his first experience in site-building. I think that you’re probably correct in saying that most of the more seasoned people on here already know how to do what SBI does (except, for free), but I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve wasted stubbornly teaching myself how to do things that could have been easily solved by attaining professional help. Tip to new bloggers: don’t forget to factor in the costs of consuming time through teaching yourself, in comparison to what a site and service like this one would cost you.
How is it different from http://www.webnode.com ?
Webnode is the free WordPress Alternative I used to build4 or 5 sites pretty easily with drag n drop functionality.
Jennifer Goodwin – Founder & CEO
http://www.internetGIRLfriday.com