Site Build It! (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

Site Build It!

[jamestl2]

I like your last point you make in the post:

I know… I’m evil, but it’s a good kind of evil.

[Brutha]

I think that post was better than your first about Site Built It. You said from the beginning that the point of the post is to advertise Site Built It.

[seeker5]

Good Topic Header and Introduction

[dezzo]

just what I needed to know... I was very curious about this site

[owls8521]

Just so people know... there is a 10 MB per file limit when using Site Build It. You can have an unlimited number of files, but you can't upload files larger than 10 MB. I didn't find this information on their site, but it was told to me as an answer to a question I asked. I thought that was pretty limiting.

[Gene]

Originally Posted by owls8521

Just so people know... there is a 10 MB per file limit when using Site Build It. You can have an unlimited number of files, but you can't upload files larger than 10 MB. I didn't find this information on their site, but it was told to me as an answer to a question I asked. I thought that was pretty limiting.

That would be a deal killer for me if I were unable to upload media files for my sites.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by Gene

That would be a deal killer for me if I were unable to upload media files for my sites.

Hmmm. A 10 MB file means roughly a 10 minute mp3. That does seem a little limiting, however it wouldn't bother me as I have no intention to produce an mp3 or a video. Alternatively, with youtube and other hosting situations, wouldn't it be possible to store your big media files elsewhere while using your site with SBI to link to them?

[Laetitia]

Thank you Steve for your detailed articles on SBI. As I really trust your advices, it really made me want to become a member.
My question is : is SBI available in other langages ? (french for example) ? Or should I consider writing my site in englich ? And what about a double langage site (enter french, enter englich)...would that be possible on SBI ?

No need to say I need an answer before the 22d of februar

Good luck with the book.
You can count on me buying it.

[Savage]

I don't know about non-English sites, but I heard they've been translating their sales pages, so I'd imagine they'd welcome such customers.

The best place to ask is via their questions form. People tell me they're really good about providing detailed answers.

[firefly]

Does anyone see an account log-in page? I've found log-ins for the forums and tools, but not for my account itself. I ask because when I ordered it didn't mention anything about getting 15 months as opposed to 12 months and I want to make sure Steve's link/tag was processed correctly.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by firefly

Does anyone see an account log-in page? I've found log-ins for the forums and tools, but not for my account itself. I ask because when I ordered it didn't mention anything about getting 15 months as opposed to 12 months and I want to make sure Steve's link/tag was processed correctly.

You should get a welcome email with your login info and all the details you need to get started. Make sure it didn't end up in your spam filter.

They have to manually add the 3 bonus months, since this was a custom deal they did for us and not one of their standard promotions. Basically they scan for my affiliate code once a day and then upgrade those accounts. So I'd give it a day or two to kick in. If for any reason you don't get the bonus time, just drop me an email with your account info, and I'll make sure you get it!

Again, the best place to ask them anything is their questions form.

[firefly]

Thanks so much Steve! I was rushing to get my order in since the Valentine's Day discount is going to expire while I'm at work today and I panicked a bit when I didn't see the extra months added. I'll just sit tight and check on it in a few days. No worries.

[seeker5]

Originally Posted by firefly

Thanks so much Steve! I was rushing to get my order in since the Valentine's Day discount is going to expire while I'm at work today and I panicked a bit when I didn't see the extra months added. I'll just sit tight and check on it in a few days. No worries.

I'm curious - why the impetus to get the V-Day extra? Wouldn't you want to first try it out with one subscription before adding another?

[Savage]

I think one reason the Valentine's Day special is doing well is that the whole thing is covered by their money-back guarantee. It saves you $200 if you were going to make a 2nd site anyway. Almost half the people signing up via my links are getting the special.

A lot of people don't immediately jump into two sites of their own, but they get one for a child or significant other as a gift. Then they can build their sites together and share ideas as they go along.

Building online businesses as a couple is a great bonding experience. While I was building up Dexterity Software, Erin was buildng VegFamily. She sold her site about a year ago, but it's still online in mostly the same form. These were totally different businesses, so we couldn't really share traffic, but we were able to share ideas. I made most of my income from direct product sales while hers came from advertising and affiliate sales. Both businesses were profitable and covered all our expenses for years. And they were pretty easy to maintain.

I've been told that most SBI customers have multiple sites. Even their existing customers snap up these specials when they come around. Since every site becomes an income-generating vehicle, it's a long-term investment for the owner. If you can get a site for $100 instead of $299, even if it only brings in a trickle like $50/month, you're making money, especially if you can just let it sit there for years.

[Brutha]

Do you know how much people who sign up for one year, also sign up for another year after the first year is over?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Do you know how much people who sign up for one year, also sign up for another year after the first year is over?

Yes, I do. I also know the figure for the 3rd year and beyond. I didn't share that publicly though, since it was told to me in a private phone call, and I didn't see it mentioned publicly on their site. I treat that kind of info as confidential, since it could be considered privileged business info.

I'll just say I found their renewal rates impressive and don't have any worries about their long-term customer satisfaction.

Even without knowing the renewal rates, if you consider their business model, it's easy to see they aren't going to be profitable if they just sign people up who quit on them. They need to keep their customers happy, which means they need to get their customers making a profit too, so they'll keep renewing year after year. The longer people stay with them, the more money they make. Their biggest costs are up-front, with the setup, training, and customer support. Once they get someone up and running with a successful site, the ongoing renewals should be mostly profit for them, and the customer is happy too if their site keeps making money.

They also focus heavily on affiliate marketing and referral sales from customers. Their top affiliates are all customers. If they screw their customers, they'd kill their affilate sales, since their best customers would stop recommending them. For better or worse, they've put themselves in a position where they basically have to perform well, or they'd go down pretty hard.

[zeldacheri]

I went and signed up for SBI! based on Steve's first blog post about it and the introductory video on the SBI! site. And I sprung for the Valentine's Day special too, since I also need to build a site for my dad in addition to overhauling my existing site.

I'm currently in Day 3 of the action guide, and am finding the whole process fascinating and challenging. When I initially built my site in 1998, I was a SAHM who taught herself HTML from a book and did all my coding via Windows Notepad. If there were tools for analyzing key word demand and supply in 1998, I certainly didn't know anything about them! Though web technology is now light-years from 1998, I've not had the time or inclination to keep pace. I knew my site needed a complete redesign and re-focusing, I just didn't want to have to get into the technology. So I let it languish, unloved and minimally maintained for the past several years.

When I read Steve's post about SBI! it just sounded right for me, and I'm happy to say that so far it seems like the perfect step for me to have taken. The proof will be later on, of course, but my interest in re-doing the site has been rekindled and I feel much more in control than when I started way back when. Thanks so much for the recommendation!

I'd like to mention, however, that though the steps in the SBI! action guide are divided into "days", the length of a "day" can vary from about 20 minutes for Day 1, to potentially many days for Day 2 and Day 3, depending on the continuity of time devoted and the time needed for a person to find just the right niche and theme for him/her. So people shouldn't imagine that the 10 day program will really only take 10 calendar days -- it could and probably will be significantly longer.

[Brutha]

I treat that kind of info as confidential, since it could be considered privileged business info.

Understandable.

Even without knowing the renewal rates, if you consider their business model, it's easy to see they aren't going to be profitable if they just sign people up who quit on them.

They make pure profit when someone signs up and quits without using up any traffic.

Once they get someone up and running with a successful site,

Yes, the question is: How many people do they get up with a successful site.
I think first year renewel rates are a good metric for that, because the people who get their site up and running will renew. People who won't get their site up and running probably won't renew.

[wulph]

Originally Posted by Brutha

They make pure profit when someone signs up and quits without using up any traffic.

Not really. They seem to have a pretty comprehensive guarantee, including 100% refund within 30 days or prorated based on portion of year thereafter.

---

I signed up today based on Steve's recommendation and reviews, as well as the $100 special. The first thing I've noticed is that the videos are EXCRUCIATINGLY slow. I really wish they had a Playback Speed slider! Also, the action guide is full of marketing fluff, which makes it difficult for me to stay focused on the material. Fortunately, there's also a textual version, which makes it easier to keep pace. I am finding it effective to watch the video, then read the corresponding text.

Without Steve's review, I wouldn't have considered this service. The main pages seem too "sales-ish" and I felt like they were trying too hard to get me to buy, without giving me any real information. Buzzwords and exclamation points and catch phrases aplenty, though.

Thanks, Steve, for exposing the real value here. Your no-nonsense "what to expect" sections were much more helpful in making this decision.

One more thing: The introductory material leads you to believe that you're 10 days away from profit. In reality, a "day" is a variable length of time, and it could take you much longer than 10 days to complete the steps!

[Gene]

Originally Posted by seeker5

Hmmm. A 10 MB file means roughly a 10 minute mp3. That does seem a little limiting, however it wouldn't bother me as I have no intention to produce an mp3 or a video. Alternatively, with youtube and other hosting situations, wouldn't it be possible to store your big media files elsewhere while using your site with SBI to link to them?

I am sure it would be possible to store the files somewhere else and link to them. It might also be possible to FTP them to the server the software uses and then just point to it with the software.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Yes, the question is: How many people do they get up with a successful site.

You'd be surprised -- it's a lot.

They list some of their successes on this results page, including the sites' URLs, screen shots, and Alexa rankings. These are just some that made it into the top 1% traffic-wise. It's a very long page.

Make no mistake -- it's still going to require effort to make an SBI site successful. But they do offer a pretty clear process to get there.

[Brutha]

They list some of their successes on this results page, including the sites' URLs, screen shots, and Alexa rankings.

That shows that there are people who uy the service that succeed, but it gives me no information about how many of the people who sign up succeed.

I usually put no trust into testimonials that are given out by the firm that sells a product because they often aren't representive.

By the way, how long does your deal with the 3 additional months hold, is it a time limited opportunity?

[Calculusaurus]

Originally Posted by Brutha

That shows that there are people who uy the service that succeed, but it gives me no information about how many of the people who sign up succeed.

I usually put no trust into testimonials that are given out by the firm that sells a product because they often aren't representive.

To me that's an irrelevant question. To put it in the words of Steve, it's like asking what percentage of people who are in martial arts become black belts; it's really a function of personal input.

However, if you were truly dedicated to becoming a black belt, it might be helpful to find out what trainers are the best. In the case of SBI, I suppose it'd be interesting to see how many people succeeded with SBI when they couldn't succeed by other means. But how are you going to get those statistics? I don't put a lot of trust in testimonials either. So I guess people will just have to try it to find out.

[Savage]

@Brutha: I'm afraid I don't have that kind of detailed info... sorry. If I did know I probably wouldn't share it unless it was already posted on their website, but in this case I simply don't know. Odds of success don't really mean much to me. I just needed to see that a significant number of their customers were succeeding, and they provided abundant evidence of that. The exact distribution wouldn't mean anything to me, since we're the ones who ultimately determine our own positions on the bell curve.

The 3-month bonus expires at midnight on Feb 22nd. I haven't heard any talk about them extending it, so for now I assume that's firm. Originally I wanted them to offer the bonus for at least 30 days, but they were only willing to do 7. We compromised on 10. Keeping their affiliates happy is critical to their business, and right now I'm the only one who's able to offer this special deal as far as I know, so if the offer is up too long, their other top affiliates might consider it unfair.

In some ways it is unfair, but when it comes to advocating for my visitors, I'm a bit of a bear.

They were OK with offering this bonus very temporarily because (1) I have a lot of traffic, which makes it worth their while, and (2) the personal development field is a largely untapped market for them, so this deal shouldn't really compete in the same circles as their other top affiliates, most of whom seem to be in the Internet marketing field.

My prediction is that we'll be seeing a lot more PD bloggers promoting SBI in the coming months, since their service is a strong fit for the kinds of people who are attracted to PD. It's only been a few days, and I already have 44 sub-affiliates signed up, many of whom I recognize as other bloggers. One has already gotten her first sale.

[Gene]

If a customer signs up for Site Build IT can the customer bring his existing domain name and use it with the service?

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Gene

If a customer signs up for Site Build IT can the customer bring his existing domain name and use it with the service?

I'm pretty sure the answer to your question is yes, but again the best place to ask anything like this is their questions form. Your questions will be answered by actual SBI customers who are experienced with the service.

[zeldacheri]

Originally Posted by Gene

If a customer signs up for Site Build IT can the customer bring his existing domain name and use it with the service?

yes.

[Wildside]

I signed up last night for the valentine special. Just made it in before midnight . I'm pretty excited about the whole process. I have wanted my own site for the last year or so but was always put off by having to learn so much new tech. This seems right up my alley. I look at it as a great learning experience into how to build a high traffic website. I'm really not even that concerned about recouping my money. Heck I have spent more than $400 (that's the total for two websites via the valentine special) on a lot more ridicules things than learning how to produce a great website...and who knows...I might even make a bit of money! Thanks for the recommendation Steve.

[Laetitia]

Hi everyone,

2 more infos :
1- I just used their Question Forum and they answer really fast (within the same day).
For foreign SP visitors : yes, it's possible to use other langages (using A/Z alphabet). The interface remains in english, but you're free to write your site in any langage (again : A to Z).