Experiences with Site Build It!

[Kylark]

I'll be using this thread to record brief thoughts and impressions about my journey with Site Build It! I invite others to do the same.

The first thing I'll say is, yes, it is a lot of hard work. Fortunately, they break everything down for you step by step in their Action Guide. Since you have to choose your own topic, there is room for creativity, but there are definite guiderails steering you toward choosing a profitable topic. The very first part of the process, brainstorming your niche, has been a huge learning experience for me. SBI provides tools to determine supply-and-demand, i.e., what people are searching for, and how many content providers match those searches. Your goal is to find a niche where you can provide good quality content targeted to keyword searchers.

I'm astonished at the things I'm learning. Doing these exercises has been like peeling the lid off the Internet to see what's inside.

[ZHereford]

Originally Posted by Kylark

The first thing I'll say is, yes, it is a lot of hard work.

I think this is one point that cannot be overstated!

SBI helps give you the tools, but there is no question that traffic building, research and learning along the way is entirely up to you. Your success is proportional to what you put into it.

[AndrewPavelski]

I'm looking forward to reading how Site Build It works out for you. If you think it does a nice job, I will probably give it a shot. It sounds like a good concept that is easy to use to create a quality website.

Originally Posted by Kylark

I'll be using this thread to record brief thoughts and impressions about my journey with Site Build It! I invite others to do the same.

The first thing I'll say is, yes, it is a lot of hard work. Fortunately, they break everything down for you step by step in their Action Guide. Since you have to choose your own topic, there is room for creativity, but there are definite guiderails steering you toward choosing a profitable topic. The very first part of the process, brainstorming your niche, has been a huge learning experience for me. SBI provides tools to determine supply-and-demand, i.e., what people are searching for, and how many content providers match those searches. Your goal is to find a niche where you can provide good quality content targeted to keyword searchers.

I'm astonished at the things I'm learning. Doing these exercises has been like peeling the lid off the Internet to see what's inside.

[fcrdash]

I am a mortgage professional and have been trying to figure out how to put together a blog and/or website for a while now. I had hired a young man to help me "design" a website and I got frustrated because he was focusing on making it look nice, but I couldn't figure out how people would find me. There are a lot of mortgage sites out there, but I think I will give a bit of a different twist. When I read Steve's posts about SiteBuildIt! I had my credit card out in a few hours. That was Thurs night.

They have the concept phase and build it phase blocked out in what they call "days" . The intro video and day one take about an hour. Then day two you start fiddling around with seed words and keywords, using keyword search tools. I spent 10 hours yesterday on this and it was a very useful experience. The only part I am grappling with is that they want you to have 3 site concepts. My mortgage concept has the potential to be profitable especially if I use mortgage calculators - that was a big surprise. I had read articles written by real estate marketing people who say NOT to use calculators. But if people will come to my site because of them then maybe they'll read on in the site and blog. Now I am struggling with the other two concepts. I do have ideas for other sites, but right now I just have to get my mortage site up and running. Can I just skip having three and move on with my one?

Today, I'll press on in Day 2!

Thanks, Steve, for bringing this to our attention.

[Kylark]

Originally Posted by fcrdash

The only part I am grappling with is that they want you to have 3 site concepts. My mortgage concept has the potential to be profitable especially if I use mortgage calculators - that was a big surprise. I had read articles written by real estate marketing people who say NOT to use calculators. But if people will come to my site because of them then maybe they'll read on in the site and blog. Now I am struggling with the other two concepts. I do have ideas for other sites, but right now I just have to get my mortage site up and running. Can I just skip having three and move on with my one?

I was wondering the same thing, since the first concept I did keywords for turned out to have fruitful results. I want to just forge ahead with it, but I guess I'll do two more keywords just to have a basis for comparison.

Maybe you could do two more keywords that include the word "mortgage"?

I bet this has been addressed in the SBI forums, too. I've already posted a question about the brainstormer there and it was replied to fairly quickly.

[joylangtry]

I replied already to the SBI! blog thread, so I won't repeat my initial comments here.

If your specific purpose is to create a site to support an existing business, then you have a slightly different need. You may want to consider 3 different approaches to your specialty in the site concept phase. Mortgages are a huge, hot topic now. What can you offer in your site that will differentiate yourself? Do you specialize in a specific product such as reverse mortgages? Are you helping homeowners who need to convert their ARMs to fixed products? Do you serve a specific state or region? This might help you stay in the mortgage topic, yet distinguish a niche you can dominate.

It's hugely tempting to go ahead with your first concept, but doing research on 3 different ones can help you see trends that may not be apparent when you search on only one keyword topic. It may feel like a waste of time, but if you create a eureka moment for yourself when you learn that your passion for transvestite anteaters has high demand and low supply, it's well worth the effort & time.

Have fun!


Joy

[fcrdash]

I thought this was it!

[seeker5]

I'm a new "SBI!" owner as well (interesting way they use terminology). Good idea to start this thread, I'll be reading it!

[Nelson]

I'm still waiting for Paypal to verify me before I can buy. I don't usually buy stuff on the internet but for SBI I got really excited and now that I've done some research on it I'm completely ready to buy.

SBI has so many satisfied customers it's ridiculous. I had to go through about 5 pages of positive reviews on Google before I gave up looking for a negative review.

I've been browsing through the action guide and the MYSP ebook. It's really well devloped stuff. Unfortunately, I can't use Brainstorm It! because I'm not a member yet. So I have yet to determine my perfect niche.

Good luck to everybody who's buying in to this SBI fad

[Bruce Achterberg]

Originally Posted by fcrdash

I thought this was it!

Fcrdash, this is the thread joy was talking about. All of Steve's blog posts automatically get their own discussion thread in the Steve Pavlina board.

[DavidDavidDavid]

Nelson: I'm curious which reviews of SBI! you came up with through google...both me and Ellie (from that other SBI! thread) could only seem to find those put out by current SBI! Affliates...that means, free-lance salespeople...that's not to say SBI! isn't good (I think it's extremely good, and in terms of what's out there, positively great, even) or that these salesfolks are just joshing everyone -- but there doesn't seem to be "independent" third-party reviews.

To its credit, SBI! actually references a thread in one of its fora which involves a guy who seemed to have given up on SBI!...it's the "Find Your Niche" sticky, the Micheal's Journey link...having read all fourteen long pages of it, it does appear that that guy simply wasn't able to devote a lot of time to SBI! brainstorming, given his job and family demands.

As you'll soon see for yourself, finding your niche is the absolute most critical aspect of the whole SBI! model -- indeed, it's the "what" of the "what, how, for whom" from Business 101 (I'd imagine)!

[Nelson]

Thanks for the niche advice David, the action guide is also intensely focused on choosing your niche and making sure it will be profitable before you move foward.

As for the reviews it only makes sense that anyone who uses and likes the product would also become a salesperson for it. However, I do agree that many of those selling SBI seemed to be more interested in selling based on the products features than based on their own success with it.

I did find one affiliate who had major proof that she was sucessful with SBI. Lisa, admin of the Website Babble forums. (Website Babble Webmaster Forums - Powered by vBulletin)

She has been running multiple SBI sites succesfully since 2005. She has developed sites with and without SBI and she still uses SBI for her websites to this day. That was really all the proof I needed to see.

[Key2Wealth]

I think the SBI program is great, I have learnt so much following the 10 day program although i found it took a lot longer than 10 days on a part time basis.

It is a lot of hard work and I am still working on it.

Have a great day

Lee Stuckey

[fcrdash]

I am on my 3rd day of day two!

[beel]

i'm curious how often you can use the brainstorm tool. i have several sites already and don't feel sitebuildit is for me, but i have been following the threads on it and the brainstorm tool seems very useful. i am tempted to buy it just for the brainstorm tool for keywords, searches, etc and for education that can apply to all of my sites, rather than the actual site building aspect. i seem to have gotten the impression in one of these threads that you can only research using brainstorm tool for a limited number of keywords. is this correct?

[joylangtry]

Originally Posted by beel

i'm curious how often you can use the brainstorm tool. i have several sites already and don't feel sitebuildit is for me, but i have been following the threads on it and the brainstorm tool seems very useful. i am tempted to buy it just for the brainstorm tool for keywords, searches, etc and for education that can apply to all of my sites, rather than the actual site building aspect. i seem to have gotten the impression in one of these threads that you can only research using brainstorm tool for a limited number of keywords. is this correct?

Hi beel,

Part of your SBI! subscription includes 25 Wordtracker searches (per year), and you can pay extra for more than that. According to SBI, Wordtracker is a third-party paid service normally costing the same price as SBI!. If you use up your 25, you can buy more searches at $20 for 100 or $50 for 500 (this info is quoted from the SBI! help files as of the date I posted). Apparently Wordtracker offers a free watered-down version, also.

Your SBI! Master Keyword List is able to hold 1000 keywords, and all related info. The process of brainstorming involves repetitive culling out of low demand, high supply or otherwise less useful keywords, so you can keep your count low enough that later searches can accommodate enough new terms before hitting that 1000 max.

You can also export .csv files from the data, so theoretically, you could build your 1000 keywords, export, erase, and then repeat. Doing that, you will likely need to purchase more Wordtracker searches.

Hope this helps.

Joy

[Dan.Linehan]

So, what does everyone think so far overall? Also, what is the initial expense to begin?

[DavidDavidDavid]

Nelson: Thanks for the reference to Lisa's sites; I'll have a look-see!

Joy:Thanks for the info. I find that aspect of the SBI! program a bit confusing right now.

Dan: "Initial expense" is $299 for the year, unless you wait for their two or three seasonal specials like the recent Valentine's Day one, where you get two sites for $399.

I'm at my third week of my SBI! subscription -- though I've actually used it maybe only nine days altogether -- and it's a good introduction to web-business, better than most books on the subject because it's hands-on. If you think of it as a practical online introductory-to-intermediate course in e-commerce for the little guy, you most likely won't be disappointed. Though my ultimate goal is financial independence (hey, you probably hit the bull's eye by at least aiming for it), I would say it's $399 well-spent even if all I actually got out of it was an education.

[Nelson]

I am so glad I signed up with SBI. The Brainstorming process and the Monetization planning is almost worth the $299 pricetag by itself.

I was very confident about my first site concept (Dungeons and Dragons - yes I know, I'm a huge dork ) and it looked amazing up until "Day 4" of the SBI process. I had tons of great keywords, a content plan that would go well into 200 articles and my niche was the perfect size.

Unfortunately, when I got to day 4 I discovered a shocking truth:

There isn't any money in D&D!

The adsense ads and affiliate programs available were so low profit that I would make more money taking a job at McDonalds than by making a D&D website.

If I wasn't using SBI and was simply working on my own - I would not have any idea how to check the potential profits of my website. I would have gone stumbling along, making valuable content for weeks, months or maybe even years before I gave up or went broke.

Now I've got a new site concept that looks VERY profitable and has a decent amount of potential content and a good niche position. All because of the SBI tools.

SBI has already saved me hundreds of hours worth of work, struggle and (most importantly) potential poverty.

I know a good amount of stuff about building websites. I can code HTML and CSS , I worked as a graphic designer for two years and I am a pretty good writer (well...you can be the judge of that.) - However, I never learned the marketing or financial areas of web design.

I could use the brainstorming tools for 29 days, develop a website and get a full refund with a free domain name thrown in for good measure.

But I'm not going to.

But not because of honor, duty, ethics, morals or whatever.

I'm going to continue with SBI because SBI has proven its worth to me. What if there is something along the road that I need help with? What if there is some other area of web design that I don't understand or that I'm not even aware of?

I'm going to go the full 15 months and try my luck with SBI. Hope you see me at the top

[jackieulmer]

Hey all! I actually found this forum through Ken Evoy's newsletter this weekend. I've been using SBI for about 3 years now and am very happy with it.

Yes, it takes work. Yes, it makes you pull your hair out. Yes, it stretches you beyond and then further, and for those who make it through, they are well on their way to a profitable internet business. Mine certainly has been.

And, when I started online, there was no SBI and everything involved learning website design, SEO and all of that independently to survive. And, I am glad I have that background now. I still pulled my hair out.

In January, I started a new site there and REALLY have jumped into the process even though I know my niche and was already certain where I wanted to go with it. Ir wasn't the most profitable per SBI's tools, but when I did my own research checking out my competition through Google and keywords, I felt confident I could gain what I was looking for with some elbow grease. Having a previous background now with SEO and some of that doesn't hurt either.

I'll be interested in following everyone's progress and sharing mine.

[Nelson]

Hi Jackie! Welcome to the forums.

Just wondering - how profitable is your first site after 3 years?

[fcrdash]

My SBI project has been extremely challenging and thought provoking. Yes, I thought I had a great idea, but the perspective that I had was off. I know that I would not have known how to go about tweaking the concepts. That is definately worth $299!

One mistake I made was using brainstorm it before I had tweaked the concept. So, I probably wasted ten free words. That was the price of trying to push the system to fast.

kelly

[Ninja]

Just wondering (I can't find it on the site, though maybe I overlooked something): is SBI an option for people who don't live in the USA? I'm talking about payments, support, legal stuff...