Made back money on site build it?

[Rebecca800]

Originally Posted by ouyang

I'm wondering one more thing, when you started off did you have a goal of how much income you'd like to be making from the site? Did you meet this goals earlier or later than you thought?

Thanks for the nice feedback! I didn't have a monetary goal when I started SBI, although I did aim high because I was inspired by Steve's article about making money online. I also knew that my freelance work as a writer was dwindling fast and I desperately wanted to find a new work-at-home source of income. I guess deep down I wanted a full-time salary from SBI but I really wasn't sure if that was realistic back then. Of course, know I know...

The good thing is SBI has such a superb system in place that if you really work hard, you have a good chance of succeeding and being able to live off your website. That I can say for sure. I believe that if you aren't making good money with SBI within a year, then you aren't following the instructions clearly enough... or you haven't put enough time into it. Every niche is different but SBI lays down the rules for a profitable niche early on so you don't mess it up. That's how it keeps you on track, every step of the way. Making money is the final step (day 10) and that really should come naturally once you have all your other ducks in a row

Good luck with your site - will you tell us your URL once you have it running? The SBI forums are very, very useful but our little SBI community here is also pretty cool. I actually think we are more business minded than the average SBIer so you get a lot more interesting feedback.

[newmark]

Originally Posted by ouyang

What you're saying is that the first time you mess up, the change costs $50 and if there were to be a second time that your subscription would have to be cancelled and another one started?

I'm not Sam, but this is true. One chance, then you will need to start from scratch again. Hopefully, most people will be able to get it right second time around.

[ouyang]

Good luck with your site - will you tell us your URL once you have it running?

Rebecca, with the readings I did from Steve's blog and with your feedback I'm feeling quite motivated! I'll be happy to share my site with you and the forum, I'm really looking forward to that as like you mentioned the forum seems like a really good spot to get constructive criticism and encouragement.

I'm feeling like SBI will cut a lot of time off the top of my start up. I've been thinking about launching an online business for a few months now and the idea has all been rather daunting. I saw SBI a few times but never put much thought into it, not until recently anyway.

I have a few niches in mind, all rather centered towards Chinese art and/or tea. I'll throw a few ideas into the Brainstorming software they have and see what comes up.

Newmark, thanks for the reply. That's good to know. Are you an SBIer?

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by ouyang

Also the same above question is for any other SBIers out there, I know Curtis that you may be lurking around too so I'd love to hear from you as well.

Originally Posted by Rebecca800

I actually think we are more business minded than the average SBIer so you get a lot more interesting feedback.

Originally Posted by Bradshaw

Wow, Curtis. Do you realize how insanely good that is?

That is VERY GOOD. That is almost absurd. It is extremely good. Well done man.

Yes I do realize that 1/225 is pretty good. Especially compared to many other SBI'ers who, as Rebecca said, aren't exactly "business savvy" per se. A LOT of the SBI crowd on the forums are people who have absolutely no business knowledge at all, as in many of them probably don't know what the heck "conversion" or even "internet marketing" really is.

Of course, I think most of them still manage to make some sort of profit from their site, especially if they don't give up if their first year or first website isn't amazing.

On the topic of choosing the wrong website name or niche and having to start over. Well, I chose the wrong niche three times!

My first website is my acupuncture website. I basically chose that because "the numbers looked good" and not because I had any amount of passion for it. I realized a few months in that I didn't have the passion for acupuncture to devote myself to the website, although I do have a passion for money so I can force myself to work on it with my profits in mind.

My 2nd website, well I made the mistake of starting an SBI site that would be my "blog" - or something. I basically had no idea what I was doing, and went against everything they say at SBI on how to choose a niche. I wanted to "brand myself" but quickly lost my passion for that after realizing I had chosen the wrong idea to build a website on. I decided to ask for a refund from SBI on this website and gave it up altogether.

My 3rd website, my business website. Well, I DO have a passion for business, which is why I'm keeping this one alive. The only problem is that my work with SBI is my only real business experience, which so far doesn't really give me any "gusto" to back up my writing. The website homepage has gotten a page rank of 3 though, so if I could find some legitimate advertisers I think I could at least make the SBI subscription pay for itself by selling links. (btw - SBI warns you not to sell page rank as per Google's guidelines. In this case I wouldn't mind selling links simply because I don't have much to lose from my business website anyways. It is sitting at like 10 visitors per day)

And finally, my 4th website. Well, I haven't made it yet! I bought the subscription for my business website on their Christmas special, which I believe they do every year. The special is "buy 1 get 1 free", so I have a bonus SBI subscription sitting around waiting to be activated. I have been searching for a new niche to use it on, but so far can't find anything I am really passionate about. Still searching...

(btw, SBI has a lot of specials on holidays throughout the year. Not sure when their next one is, but they often give deals like "buy 2 subscriptions for $400" or something like that. I believe the "buy 1 get 1 free" is only at Christmas, but not sure. Also, you only get the 1st year free on the 2nd site, in case you were wondering)

[ouyang]

Hey Curtis, thanks for taking the time to write such a lengthy reply. It was really nice to read about the learning curve that you went through. So from all the sites, ideas, time and money that you've been through what would your biggest pieces of advice be to offer to someone just starting off in SBI?

[alexplatups]

In reality, everything depends on your goal, and your strategy.

If I was starting over again, I would not go with SBI, but that's because
I have experience, and I am aware of what I want to create now.

Back then, I didn't, well I thought I did, but now I realize that I didn't.

I am glad that I went through that experience though, because it showed me
my strenghts and my weaknesses, and this is invaluable.

Who is SBI for? IMO it is for people that want to make money from adsense
and from affiliate marketing and that don't want to waste their time with
HTML, and all the other BS that you have to know to create a site.

If you simply want to make money with SBI, IMO pick a niche that has to do
with health, relationships, and/or money, and after creating about 30 pages
start putting adsense on the pages and links to affiliate products, like
e-books, DVDs, etc., on EVERY PAGE of your site.

and then make sure to go back to the first 30 pages put the adsense and
the affiliate links, and then just continue to put adsense and affiliate links
on the other pages that you create.

the most important thing, and this is VERY IMPORTANT, is to write information
that is incomplete, and you have to do this CONSCIOUSLY and be AWARE
that you are doing it and why, because your "main goal" is to get the
customer interested enough that he clicks on your adsense ad, or your
affiliate link, and this can only be created when you have given him enough
information to create the DESIRE, but not enough that there was a sort of
RESOLUTION of the tension that built up while he reads your article.

If you can't do this, then your income will be quite low, but if you can, and
continue to do this, you can make a killing with an SBI site, and this is how
the majority of the people that are "CRUSHING IT" are doing it!

...Gary Vaynerchuk is famous for that saying of crushing it, and if you
never saw his video, where he talks about passion...then you should:

YouTube - Web 2.0 Expo NY: Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library), Building Personal Brand Within the Social Media Landscape

and maybe even watch the other videos where he talks about what it's
all about in reality!!!

[Curtis2011]

Originally Posted by ouyang

Hey Curtis, thanks for taking the time to write such a lengthy reply. It was really nice to read about the learning curve that you went through. So from all the sites, ideas, time and money that you've been through what would your biggest pieces of advice be to offer to someone just starting off in SBI?

I would say you have to choose the right niche. That is probably the biggest challenge.

You have to pick a niche where people are already BUYING stuff, so you'll know that they will buy from you if you hit the nail right with your marketing or sales page. With my acupuncture site, well I basically went in blind. Of course, at the time I was just getting interested in online business and had absolutely no idea what I was doing. From what I can see, I am literally the only person on the internet selling "acupuncture charts" in a downloadable ebook (probably because there is relatively little demand for it ).

I am trying to find a new niche that has a lot more potential than my current one. I am thinking of something to do with weight loss or maybe muscle gain in particular, since I am actually interested in that topic lately.

(I would love to be an affiliate for P90X, since I actually use that. But they don't have an affiliate program! )

I think the hardest part is finding a niche that is profitable, but that you are actually motivated to write 100+ pages of content about the topic. If you can write 100 pages of SEO'd material for your website on a topic, you can get a good chunk of traffic. Once you have the traffic, it's almost impossible to not make some amount of money.

[Rebecca800]

Absolutely, a good niche can make or break your site.

To choose lucid dreaming, I used SBI's Brainstormer module. Worked a charm. I really was going to doing stock market investing instead, but SBI made me realize my passion for lucid dreaming was stronger.

To choose natural vision improvement, I reverse engineered the process. I started with an excellent product and then figured out the keywords and supply/demand stats. That's mainly why I only sell one brand on the site. The whole concept was product-focused to start with, instead of content focused. I will definitely do this model again.

To choose Shelties... that was easy. It was entirely passion driven. Then I researched it and found Shelties are way popular in America, so the numbers were there. Competition among my female-driven audience is also thin. It may not be as product driven but the traffic and community on Facebook is growing rapidly - AdSense will be a good earner for this one.

[robcartoons]

I have yet to monetize my SBI site, however as a side-result of setting up the site, I have generated income to cover the monthly fee. I sent some of the cartoons I'd drawn for a page off to a local magazine and, bingo!, I'd made my first income from cartoons. It's just a start, but I found it very motivating and will continue to provide a little extra income per month.

As I continue to work on the site I am forced into a regular drawing schedule, which is very good for developing my drawing skills as well as learning about sites/business through SBI.

All-in-all, it's been a great learning experience so far and lots more to come (including income I hope!)

[ouyang]

Hey Curtis & Rebecca thanks for the advice, I'm going to heed it and spend some extra time thinking about the right niche for me.

Rebecca, it was also quite interesting to hear about the process of choosing your different site concepts. I signed up for SBI three days ago and am really enjoying the process so far, I find the Brainstormer tool already worth the $30.00 it cost for the first month. My niche seems to be a good one but I still need to take it through a few more days of analysis apparently, so I'll see what happens. I'm in no huge rush... although there is something about registering my first "proper" domain name that makes me feel excited.

Rob, nice to hear from you and best of luck in the future with your passion and income streams.

[robcartoons]

Hi Ouyang,
thanks for the comment. Welcome to SBI! Take your time with the analysis. I can definitely understand the thrill of registering your first domain name, but make sure you choose the right one. When I first started with SBI I rushed into things without taking my time with the Action Guide, as a result of this I later had to change my domain name. Remember the way of the tortoise that is frequently referred to.

It's probably a good idea if I review the AG again, to make sure I'm staying on track.

Anyway, enjoy the process!