I was wondering if anyone has used site build-it to build an affiliate site or any other site, seems like everyone swears by it. How did it work for you? Does anyone know exactly what tools they use that are not found on the web such as wordtracker,etc ?
I have never used it...I've always done my own research, but I am interested in how they calculate profitability and what tools they use as well Brandon
I'm also interested to hear "true" stories about them, every time I read about an article about them it just sounds like a too good to be true salesman speak.
Actually, it is how I got started with affiliate marketing before coming to digitalpoint. I think for me it was a great start to learn aspects of the web business. You really do not need to know any code to get started which is nice if you are a newbie. I did make some with them but nothing close to what was advertised. Maybe I could have if I stuck it out but I am a impatient person . But I quickly found it limiting and I wanted to use the co-op so I moved off it after several months. So was it worth it? For me, it was for a few months only. I am sure that there are great success stories out there but I think it is much harder now just following their methodology.
I have not used it for any such ideas, but I personally do not take it as a very good idea. But if there are any interesting stories, I would love to hear.
I don't know if 'everybody swears by it', but I certainly do. I am a fairly patient person so the fact that it does not bring 'instant' success does not bother me. But I think to search for 'instant' success would be a mighty long one. Site Build It! is one of those rare things that is actually better than it says it is. You have to put the work in of course, and it pays to follow the Action Guide that comes with SBI, but in my mind it certainly gets results. The best thing is that it gets those results without using any tricks for short term gain, in other words it really does build a long term business.
I LOVE being a SiteSell client! My whole on-line editing business came about because of SiteSell. Originally, as a writer, I just wanted a site to sell my book (still unpublished, but coming ). The thought that I would have to get traffic to a site hadn't even entered my head. Yes, I was a very raw recruit... Thanks to the Action Guide, the "manual" that comes with the site, I did some serious thinking and business building. As a result, I've developed a wonderful editing business with a world-wide reach. As a service seller, I'm my own primary affiliate of course. But my site more than pays for itself from what I call "passive income." Since my main concern is editing, I haven't put in the time and energy to snag more of the passive income. I keep promising myself that I will. SiteSell never tried to fool me into thinking that the passive income would come without my own efforts being added, so I certainly don't blame them for any lack on my part. What I can say to SiteSell's credit is that this amazing suite of tools (software, hosting, e-books, mail, etc., etc., etc.) keeps growing like Topsy. In fact, in a recent post in the SiteSell forum, there was at least one plaintive cry to stop the new stuff coming down the pike as some of us have trouble keeping up. I know I do. Of course the flow doesn't slow down. Whatever I posted here as a great new feature would be cooling off by the time you read it. Well, O.K., not quite that fast, but sometimes it feels that way to me. I can't answer what replaces what because, frankly, I've never cared. I have everything I want in one package, super support, a great business, and no need to try worry about the "small stuff." I hope this answers at least some questions. I invite you to see my site, not because it's the greatest -- I was a real newbie when I started it and I made some mistakes -- but because it's real and I think a good example of what someone with absolutely no experience can do with SiteSell. And of course, if any of you are looking for an editor... Audrey Owen Gibsons, B.C. Any editor can fix your work I help you become a better writer http://www.writershelper.com
Wow! Just found my way to this forum and when I saw this post, I just had to speak up since I am at the point where I can no longer abide SiteBuildit. Here's my 2cents: Stay away from SiteBuildIt....they over promote and do not deliver. I could types reams of what is wrong with them. They promise a lot of tools but many don't work like their Value Exchange (been out of service for months), their new email system really sucks (overprotective measures to eliminate spam really screwed up my emails coming through my websites with them) and now they have a new keyword research tool that has been so buggy that it has driven me buggy! Let's face it folks, there are only 2 databases the we have as resources. Overture and Woodtracker and SiteBuildIt uses just those and nothing else...no magic forumula folks, elieve me. Let me say it again. There is nothing magical about SBI. They simply have a good copywriter and Evoy self-promotes constantly in all the emails and at the support forum...one begins to feel like we are in a cult where the cult leader doesn't let you think for yourself. Their message is constantly: We''ll take care of you. You don't have to learn a thing. Just follow us. (That is exactly how cults work, folk, by creating dependency). Rather that go on about what is bad about the them, I 'd rather point you to Andy Williams at http://ez-search-engine-optimization.com to get his stuff. He is more down to earth than Evoy who talks so much that trying to get through a newsletter or a forum post of his is a days work! Andy REALLY cuts to the chase and shows you how to find the niches and his Wordtracker software (http://kra.ez-search-engine-optimization.com/) is super wonderful and so much easier than the SBI new buggy keyword tool (the old one wasn't any better and has not been for over a year!) Or you can simply get Andy's free Wordtracker tutorial Pdf (which by the way you can get without even forking over your email address - that's how REAL Andy is) where he explains right up front is method and how to use the software. I've started 3 new sites in the past 6 months with the ezSEO method and used their own sitebuilder software (which, again is so much simpler that Evoy's). I have started earning adsense money within the last 6 months and it has conviced me that it is time to move my SiteBuildIt sites over since they are just not producing nearly as well. Rather, I think I should just let them die since trying to move a site off SiteBuildIt is more than I want to handle (another cult thing is to be sure you are so hooked that trying to move a site after using their internal page builder keeps you stuck with them). Well, enough said. You can tell I am passionate about getting out of the SBI cult and moving over to a system that is more promising and less restrictive. P.S. None of the links here are affilaite links although they could be. I just want you to know there are better systems that deliver more and teach you more, too! Good luck!
I know for a fact that it is great for some, well one person I know swears by them. He has 2 sites, with them, and following their guidelines etc, makes over a thousand a month with adsense on his SBI sites, and there less than a year old. He says they really bring in the traffic if you follow their guidelines, to making high traffic sites, etc, and are great for hosting etc. He truly loves SBI and is making a 3rd site with them now. I am going to give em a try in a month or two myself.
Now I suppose that anyone who believes I've joined a cult won't believe anything I say because I'd be discredited as a brainwashed person out of the gate. But for those who might still accept that a happy customer is not necessarily a cult member, I'd like to address the comments made above. 1. overpromote and not deliver? Nonsense! When I first bought my site, I created a flurry of support e-mails. As I said in my first post, I was an absolute complete newbie. I did everything wrong at least once. The simplest things had me in tears. I had constant and patient replies to my questions. And I do mean constant. Sometimes I lost count of the number of e-mails I would send in one day. At one point, I broke protocol to ask if the person answering me was one person, or a team all using the same name. (He is one person -- there is a team, but one person was answering me.) As an aside, at the end of every support email there is a link to Ken's personal email and clients are encouraged to use it if not satisfied with support. I don't want to write endlessly, so I'm just hitting a highlihgt or two that mean a lot to me personally. Ken uses the term OVERdeliver. SiteSell does that in spades. His philosophy became mine. He teaches his clients to give and give and give on the Web. And he practices what he preaches. I can't imagine where anyone could get so many features in one bundle for such a low price with such great support. I try to do the same on my site. I was already a good editor, but I became a stellar business person thanks to Ken's example. 2. Value Exchange works just fine. In fact I got new matches this morning. It's not magic and I prefer my own trolling methods for links-in, but I am signed up for Value Exchange and get some good links from it. 3. The email system has had some glitches as any new product will do. I have not, however, lost any mail or had any problem that wasn't solved really quickly. I contacted support when I was having trouble accessing my SBI mail through Eudora and within hours all SBI clients had new instructions on how to get the mail through Eudora or other programs. 4. Brainstorm It!, the research tool, is also new and has had some problems. It is now stable and the complaints have dropped off. It is certainly better than the old Manager, which was really a problem for me on my Mac. The problems with Manager provoked development of Brainstorm It! This is a way of life with SiteSell. Something needs work, it gets worked on. 5. I have to smile at the comments about Ken and his writing. It's actually one of the things that drew me to SiteSell. Like any relationship, the upside has a flipside, that is a downside. (You marry a confident man and turns out he's overbearing. Or the compliant woman has no personal opinions.) When I first bought my site I read most of what Ken wrote. He has produced some excellent books on writing for the Web. I knew they were good because I couldn't stop reading them. I was reading Make Your Words Sell on a lap top while riding a ferry through breathtaking scenery that I never take for granted. One half of my brain was taking in the message. The other half (I'm an editor after all) was saying, How is this guy holding my attention like this? Long-winded? You bet! In fact a recent Sitesell forum post asked how the rest of us deal with Ken's frequent and long emails. (We skim them.) I don't expect Ken's newsletters to be written as well as his books or his site and he does go on a bit. I forgive him, because from time to time I'm the one who needs that extra bit of information that is making someone else groan and scroll on looking for the tasty bits. 6. Don't think for yourself? Are you kidding? Ken asks us to think for him! The wish list is the seedbed for much of what get developed by SiteSell. There are other forum posts where clients are enthusiastically (and for free) thinktanking new ideas. We think for ourselves and also with and for each other. I suppose that might feel like a cult to some. It feels like family to me. There are an amazing number of smart and helpful people who are SiteSell clients. Thanks to Ken's attitude and example, and the provision of the forum, I have access to their B and M (brains and motivation -- another of Ken's catchphrases.) Sorry if I've gotten a little warm on this topic. This one felt like a bit of a personal attack on my intelligence. I'll settle down and keep on going. 7. "Don't worry, we'll look after that." And SiteSell certainly does. Google comes out with Sitemap submission and guess what. Last night, Ken's long newletter explains it and assures us that the "propeller heads" have already updated SiteSell to take care of it for us. I say, Thank goodness! Yes, some SiteSell clients had tried their own work around, posted to the fourm about how to do it. (Lots of work.) -- There are geeks among us. Not everyone is as technically inept as I am. -- I'm frankly glad that I don't have to keep my eye on the breaking news, software, or theories. I write my site. SiteSell takes care of the background stuff. Will there be some glitches with the Site map submissions? Maybe. Do I care? Not at all. First, if SiteSell has a glitch I can only imagine the hash I'd be making of it if I were doing it on my own. Second, if there's a glitch, I know for sure the propeller heads will be burning the midnight oil until it's fixed. I certainly don't ask for more than that. When SiteSell opened its forum, I sneaked in and began reading and learning like a sponge. I soon understood that I had an area of expertise (editing) that people there could use. I posted lots of help for others just to pay back all the great help I got myself. No matter how many posts I make, I doubt I'll ever balance that scale. I can ask anything I like. I'll get a great answer, often before my fingers that typed in the question have cooled off. I'll always be treated with respect. Those things go a long way with me. And the product does everything I was ever promised. (This spring, my ibook's hard drive crashed and my HP printer turned out to have had a wrong part installed at the factory. I didn't get rid of either. I took advantage of the redress each company offered. When SiteSell has a flaw, it gets prompt attention.) Now I'm going to go back to watching the rain water my flowers while I edit a client's site. Audrey Owen Any editor and fix your work I can help you become a better writer www.writershelper.com
Over promote and do not deliver ? Well, they promote, yes they are a business after all. But my experience is that they certainly do deliver. SBI has never failed to deliver a single thing that has been promised. Value Exchange certainly has not been out of service for me. Sorry if you've had a problem with it, did you report it to SBI support? Again, a different experience with Spam and Virus Blast It, I love that new feature, it's keeping my email inbox nice and clean. I don't want to be disagreeable but I've never got the message " You don't have to learn a thing. Just follow us." Of course you have to learn, and I'm very glad that I did.
does anyone know where I can become an affiliate of site build it? i've searched on the internet and can't find it..
When I last checked, only SBI members can be affiliates. A membership which includes your website, hosting and all services for a year was around $300 yearly U.S. And for each affiliate sale you make (bringing new members) you earned like $75 each time
I have got a link where you can be affiliate , I suppose, I tried this to become one SiteSell Affilliate
The early bird gets the worm. Well done! Anyone can be an affilitate. People who own SiteSell sites make the best affiliates because we really know its value. Just in case you missed the link above, you can use this one http://5P.inquire-sbi.com (I don't know how to make the URL thing work.) A great free resource for anyone wanting to do any affiliate marketing is the course (almost 200 pages) available at http://amc.inquire-sbi.com It promotes SiteSell, but has great info for any affiliate marketer.
Sitesell has just opened its doors to invited guests to its amazing forums. If anyone is thinking about joining the Sitesell community, this is a great way to test the waters before buying. This has just opened up this evening and is still in beta, but it's looking good. Here's how this works. Go to http://forums.sitesell.com/ You will go to a page that asks for a user name and password. Enter writershelper.com for both. (Don't use www.) You will be able to read any thread there. You cannot post. But you will see what the run of the mill clientelle think of the product. This is really letting you in to see the "family" warts and all. This is not a formal dinner party, but an invitation to move into the guest room. This invitation and the technology to make it work are in beta, so any comments would be helpful. I'll check back here for any comments you might have. Happy reading.
My sister's built a site using Site Build-It! that's working out quite well for her (see Stroller-Advisor.com). She likes SBI because it lets her concentrate on the writing, not the HTML. If you're not techie, and you don't want to learn to do it yourself, it's definitely a program to consider.
but i heard it's about $30 a month, no? included with all the goodies. i too had a colleague who used SBI and had only praises for it. as for myself, i did it the traditional way: learning HTML and CSS.
It's not just the coding. Many people use html and css with SBI!. There's a huge number of features, far too many to list. But if I were to buy the features I use individually, the cost would be much higher than waht I pay,and that's not counting the features I don't use but could. Many people say and believe that the forum alone is worth the fee.