When you’re first starting out on the Web with your first website, most of us tend to think mostly about how the site will look. I mean, we all want a cool-looking site, right? Something that reflects positively on us, that we can proud to show off to our families, friends and neighbors? It’s a natural desire, and in my opinion, there’s nothing wrong with feeling that way.

Here’s where I have always disagreed with Dr. Ken Evoy of Site Build It. He’s kind of a plain and simple kind of guy. He doesn’t put on airs and he doesn’t think websites should either. But I know that I and many other SBIers have never really bought into that opinion 100%. Dr. Ken’s assertion is that it’s the content that matters… and I don’t disagree with that. Content is your #1 priority when you build a website that you want people to actually visit.

But… if you want them to stick around, your website has to be reasonably attractive and to portray a professional image… or at least an image that matches the niche you’re targeting. When Site Build It was first made, it had 10 templates, each in 2 different color schemes. I didn’t find any of them particularly attractive, but you were allowed to upload your own header, which helped. And that lasted for several years. Then, they ran a design contest and introduced about 100 more designs, but you had to be willing to dowload/upload them, which was a barrier for some people.

About a year later, they ran another design contest and introduced 100 new designs. But all of them were designed to work with their standard, left-aligned, 2-column format, with a narrow content pane. So although there was some design variation, you could still recognize an SBI site a mile away, even if it didn’t have the ubiquitous “Powered by SBI” graphic at the bottom of the page.

For many years, you could upload your own HTML pages and then, of course, your design could be anything at all that you wanted. But you had to know how to do HTML and be willing to learn how to upload… not that hard, but still too hard for a lot of folks.

But NOW… exciting changes are in the works! The folks at Sitesell.com ran yet another design contest in the fall… this  one for 3-column designs, which many of us had been clamoring for. 107 new designs won out of over 400 that were submitted. And here’s the really great news… they’re all going to be available in the block builder, which means even if you don’t know and don’t want to know anything about HTML, you’ll be able to have a very modern-looking 3-column design. And your design will be so unique, there will no longer be easy identification of SBI websites… at least not by their look and feel. (They’ll still be the ones dominating the first 30 results in the search engines for their niches!)

Along with the new templates will come a totally new web-based WSIWYG page builder. They’re saying it will be along the lines of Weebly, if you’re familiar with it. This is going to be a HUGE improvement, and should remove one of the final barriers to people purchasing this product, in my opinion. Not only will it be easier to use, it’ll be based on CSS (style sheets), which will give you basically endless possibilities for a totally customized design. Here are a couple of samples of the award-winning new designs:

Sample SBI Template

Another very Web 2.0 template

We’re not sure when all of these changes will become widely available… some time this year for sure, but how soon is anyone’s guess. However, there is no reason to delay getting Site Build It if you want to build an online home business. The truth is, SBI sites succeed, no matter what they look like. I’ve seen some pretty ugly sites that are still getting tons of traffic and making their owners steady money every month… because they contain quality content and score high in the search engines, which don’t really evaluate what a site looks like, only what it contains.

And in time, you’ll be able to not only have a site that performs well… it’ll also look great!

One of the wild claims made by the interlinked bloggers who started the firestorm was that the only people who are positive about SBI are those who are affiliates, meaning they’re paid to say nice things about SBI through their affiliate commissions. They went on to say that most of the SBI review pages on the net were written by people wanting to make a buck through their SBI affiliate links.

This SBI myth — or false claim — is a bit harder to disprove, because you can never really know for sure what is in the mind of someone whose writing you read on the Web. People can say anything they want and without body language or facial expression, it’s much harder to judge the tone of their written words.

But I read what the slammers I mentioned above said, especially the original blogger, and she clearly had no idea what she was talking about. She had many errors in her so-called review of SBI that made it clear she’d never even used SBI. So it was hard for me to see that what she and her ilk were accusing SBI affiliates of was much different. But I digress..The myth that only SBI affiliates have good things to say about Site Build It is partly right. I mean, people who use SBI and decide to become affiliates ARE usually positive and there’s a reason for that. It’s simple. Because Site Build It is a quality product. And because they have built successful, money-making websites using the SBI system and tools. So why wouldn’t they want to share it with others?

I am one of those affiliates and I’m very up front with you about that. There’s no need to not be honest about it. I have nothing to hide. I am a proud user of SBI with 7 successful websites that support me and I’m happy to help others do the same.

So the next time, you hear that only affiliates recommend Site Build It, ask yourself why?

Well, duh…

No program, system or strategy works for everyone, no matter how great a product or service it is. That’s just common sense. We’re each of us different, with different tastes, skills, interests and preferences than the other.

SBI is one way of building a successful online home business. In my opinion, it’s one of the best, if not the best. But I know it’s not the only way. And no, it isn’t the right online home business system for everyone. For instance, if you’re looking for a get rich quick method, that’s not SBI.

Or, if you are not interested in creating a content site about a topic you know or love, then Site Build It is probably not for you either. Because that is their basic model for online home business. If you can’t conceive of writing at least 30 to 50 pages of content, then you’re not going to succeed with a content-based website.

Another reason why SBI doesn’t work for some people is that they don’t follow the program. There’s a saying… “Work the program and the program works for you.” But for various reasons, people don’t work the program and then they complain that SBI doesn’t work. Site Build It offers an extremely detailed, step-by-step Action Guide to teach you how to build a web-based business. It’s divided into 10 major stages, each of which has to be completed in sequence in order to achieve success.

My seven SBI websites attest to the power of this approach. As do all of the sites listed on this page:

http://results.sitesell.com

But people who have failed at SBI will tell you we are all just flukes, or plain lucky. But that’s not right. The truth is, we each of us followed the SBI Action Guide, at least well enough to actually achieve the success we were looking for when we started out. Many of us have even exceeded that level of success… many times over.

But some people think the Action Guide is too slow, or too detailed, or not current enough, or … who knows. So, they go off on their own, doing something else, perhaps following every new “guru” trend that comes along… and then when their SBI site sits their in the black hole of cyberspace with no traffic, no sales and no success… they blame SBI.

Not fair…

So, when people say SBI just doesn’t work, I say, that’s right, it doesn’t… unless…

• You’re willing to put in lots of hard work
• You’re patient enough to give your site time to succeed
• You follow the Action Guide, every step along the way

Here are a couple of the things I’ve read:

• SBI owns your domain, not you. So, if you want to transfer it to a new web host, either you won’t be able to… or it’ll cost you, big time.
• You have no control over your website because you don’t have access to the backend.

So, are they true? Well…. NO.

Does SBI Control Your Domain?

SBI functions as both a web host and your domain registrar when you sign up with them. So, they DO register your domain name for you (through Tucows.com)… at no additional charge. But they don’t own the domain name; you do. I’ll prove it to you. Just follow these steps:

1. Go to this page: http://results.sitesell.com/scsweb.html
2. On that page you’ll see a list of many successful SBI websites. (Or you can also look at my SBI site URLs on the right sidebar here.)
3. Next, go to http://www.betterwhois.com & insert any of the SBI URLs from the Results page or mine here and look at the Administrative Contact listed. It doesn’t say SBI, SiteSell or anything like that, does it? (Unless of course you happen to choose anguilla-beaches.com, which IS owned by the daughter of SBI founder, Ken Evoy.)

So, you can easily prove to yourself that SBI does NOT own your domain; the SBI website owner does. And should an SBI owner decide to transfer their site away from SBI, all they have to do is initiate a domain transfer. It’s as easy to do at SBI as it is anywhere else. I know, because I’ve done it. Just be sure to save your pages before you do so, because you’ll have to upload them all over again to your new web host. And it doesn’t cost anything to leave SBI either; in fact, they’ll probably give you a prorated refund if you ask.

One other thing… if you DO leave SBI, any functionality you were using, such as forms, Content 2.0 or the ezine mailer, will obviously no longer work once you leave SBI.

Do You Control Your Website?

Some people equate not being able to do traditional FTP file uploads or being able to access your backend directly with not having control over your website. Again, this is NOT true. You can’t upload batches of files, and that is something most experienced webmasters like me find a little frustrating. SBI says it helps avoid problems when you can’t directly access your database of files. I’m not sure I buy it. But I also don’t buy that it means I’m not in charge of my own site.

The SBI staff never touch your site or anything in it. You own and control all your content. You add and subtract functionality in complete freedom… as you see fit. Over the past few years, they have given you more and more control, albeit somewhat indirectly to much more functionality than was originally true.

For example, you didn’t used to be able to install a true blog, a forum or a php-based shopping cart script on your SBI site, because you couldn’t upload PHP files or install PHP based scripts. But about a year ago, they rolled out a new module called InfinIt that now makes all that possible by putting those add-ons in a subdomain of your site (which is actually hosted elsewhere, but appears to be a seamless subsection of your site). Here’s an example on one of my sites:

http://mama.motor-scooters-guide.com/

So, my answer once again to the many SBI myths that have to do with your control over your own site is once again… WRONG! SBI is not the enemy; it is simply a tool to build a successful business on the Web.

If you believe that, then I’m guessing you’re willing to spend hundreds (maybe even thousands) of dollars on those get rich quick (GRQ) systems that promise you the moon for very little work. In fact, you’ll make money while you sleep… all without spending a dime! If you believe that malarkey, then I have some nice swampland in Florida I’d like to sell you…

Hey, Site Build It has never pretended to be a GRQ system. In fact, Dr. Ken Evoy tells you that over and over in the pages of his site. That’s not the market SiteSell is trying to target. Why? Because people who want something for nothing are usually not willing to put the work into building a real business…  that really works.

Site Build It is founded upon the niche content model. What’s that? Well, it’s a model that says if you build plenty of engaging, high quality, original content around a specific niche, then free traffic will flow to it… and you’ll build a business that makes you money for the long term. It’s a proven model that many gurus will tell you works. It’s not a new or cutting edge idea, but it’s completely solid.

And yes, it DOES take time to build a website business using the niche content model. You’ve got to have at least 30 to 50 pages of at least 150 words each to even get in the game. More than that is better, and it helps if you add new content on a regular basis. So, it’s work, lots of it.

But, let me ask you something… Doesn’t any successful business take work?

The answer is a no-brainer… of course it does!

The Myth of Shortcuts

You may have read on other sites that it is possible to make lots of money by building a free WordPress blog with other people’s content (either through scraped RSS feeds or by posting resell rights content). And yes, it is possible to make money using that model… just not for very long. See, the search engines like Google and Yahoo don’t really like those types of sites. You might get ranked for a while, but sooner or later the SEs will realize there’s nothing unique about your content, and they’ll dump you to the bottom of search results listings.

Believe me, I know… I’ve tried that model too. It just doesn’t work that well. You have to keep starting over in new niches every few months to stay ahead of the game. And isn’t that work too?

Another shortcut is to outsource, hire others to build your content for you. SBI certainly doesn’t prohibit this, but the bottom line is that the most successful content sites are ones that establish a connection with their visitors, because of the unique “voice” of the site’s owner… you.

Building a Site Build It Website DOES Take Time

Building a website with Site Build It is going to take at least a few weeks of dedicated work. You simply can’t throw up a site overnight, not if you expect it to succeed. I’ve built more than 10 websites with SBI (for myself and others), and I’m a fast writer. But still, it takes hours and hours of work. But if you’ve chosen your niche wisely to be something you’re interested in or knowledgeable about, it becomes largely a labor of love.

You just keep chipping away at it, and before you know it, you have more than 100 pages of solid, quality content! It might sound overwhelming, but here’s the good news…

The SBI Action Guide takes you through a step-by-step process that teaches you what to do, why to do it that way, and how to do it. They leave nothing uncovered. And, if you learn better by seeing or listening, the Action Guide comes in a video format as well. In the near future, you may even be able to download it to your iPod or iPhone!

SBI! Action Guide
View the Video Action Guide

Proof the Niche Content Model Works

Don’t believe in the value of this model? Would some real life results help you buy into the need to work hard and take your time as tradeoffs for your ultimate success? Would a few real live case studies help convince you? You’ll find them here, in every type of business, from service sellers, to infopublishers, to affiliate marketers, to MLM businesspeople:

SBI Case Studies

“My online success means so much more to me than money. The fulfillment I feel in my own life and the example I’m setting for my kids far outweighs the dollars (although dollars will always be welcome!). My boys are growing up with the knowledge that they really can achieve their dreams if they’re willing to have faith in themselves and take action in their lives. Then all it takes is some dedication and hard work, which is easy to muster when you’re doing something you love! … Oh yeah, and SBI! of course.”

~ Michelle Schill
style-hair-magazine.com
http://case-studies.sitesell.com/scsweb.html#WAHM

I’ve been working hard on my SBI sites for 4 years now, and it’s paid off. I make enough to pay my mortgage and most of my monthly bills now from the monetization on my SBI websites, and it’s getting better all the time. You don’t have to be a writer either to succeed with an SBI niche content site. You just have to be able to write like you talk.

So, yes, Site Build It is a lot of work and success doesn’t come overnight… but if you work the system and are patient, success WILL come!

• “It’s OK for your first site, but then you will want to move on.”
• “Not for professionals, I don’t need it. I can do it all myself.”
• “SBI is too simplistic.”

. But here’s the thing… it’s just not true.

I’ve been building websites and running a successful web-based business since 1998, so I think you’d have to agree I am definitely NOT a newbie. And yet… I LOVE SBI and it is my preferred platform for building niche content sites. I know how to code in HTML and use CSS style sheets, but still… I prefer SBI. There has to be good reasons for that, and so that’s what I’ll cover in this post…

The Case of the SBI Block by Block Page Builder

Site Build It offers a way to build a web page that requires no technical knowledge or HTML coding, and at the same time teaches you the elements of web page building, including search engine optimization (SEO), writing content that connects with the reader and linking strategies between pages on your site. It’s kind of a building blocks metaphor. You choose different types of blocks, such as:

• Headline block
• Text block
• Text link block
• Graphic block
• Divider block
• Form block

… and bit by bit, you construct a web page. No messing around with code or styles… it’s a great way for a new webmaster to learn. Later on, if they want, they can incorporate bits of code to “jazz up” their pages, if they wish. But we tech-savvy webmasters like the block builder too!

Although a couple of my SBI websites are uploaded, most of them were built using the block by block page builder. You really can’t beat its ease of use. If they would just add some WYSIWYG capabilities (for code free bolding, color changes, font sizes, etc.), as well as an AdSense block, I figure the block builder would be almost perfect. And here’s the good news… a major overhaul to the system is about to be rolled out at this writing, so all those things just might be part of it!

It’s Easy to Transition From BlockBuilder to Uploading Your Own Coded Pages

If you do get to the point, though, where you want to use an external HTML editor like Dreamweaver or Coffee Cup so that you’ll have flexibility in design, etc., no problem. It’s super easy to transition over to uploading your pages through Site Build It’s Web FTP module. No, it’s not quite as easy to use as true FTP, but it does work, once you get used to it.

So, the block builder might be thought of as the training wheels to help you transition (as you skill and knowledge grows) to doing it all yourself… or, like me, you might just stick with the block builder for good. Either way, you can still make use of SBI’s powerful SEO analyzer that tells you how to optimize your page on a variety of different factors.

SBI Is NOT Just Hosting… It’s an All-in-One-Spot Suite of Tools

Along the same lines as SBI is only for newbies is the idea that it’s just a basic product, that more experienced webmasters would find limiting or infantile. Again, this isn’t true, but it IS hard to truly understand all that SBI offers unless you actually try it out.

Look at the SiteBuildIt Tools page to get an idea of all that is included. Bottom line? SBI is always on top of the latest knowledge and trends, and when it makes sense, they roll out a new module or a new set of step by step instructions that will enable SBI webmasters to stay on top of their businesses.

It’s not only incredibly convenient, but it’s also more cost effective. Instead of having to go out and buy a bunch of add-ons, or at least to root out the free ones, SBI has them all in one place for you, as part of your original package. It’s all just so efficient.

The SBI! Forums are full of top-notch professionals who “see the light” and try SBI!. They adapted to a different way of doing things and invariably end up saying, “Sure, I suppose I could do all this by using third party tools and so forth. But why in the world would I want to?

IMPORTANT: A site’s success does not lie in the building and hosting of a site. The power of SBI! is in the CTPM process that is executed by all the tools you need all in one spot.

The CTPM Process in a Nutshell

“

I don’t really agree with this. Dr. Ken Evoy and his team are constantly scouring web trends and evaluating their long-term hardiness and usefulness. And then they tell SBI owners about it in the weekly newsletter and on the forums. They do know what’s going on and Site Build It reflects it. Does that mean they’ll jump on every emerging trend? No, definitely not. Because trends don’t always have lasting power. They also don’t recommend anything black hat or illegal.

That’s because Dr. Ken and his team are all about learning how to build a web business that works for today… and on into the future.

Here are some of the justifications you’ll read for SBI being out of date, as well as my responses…

• The website templates are old-fashioned and non-web 2.0 looking. True, if you’re only looking at their original 20 designs, the ones that were packaged with SBI when it was first rolled out, nearly a decade ago. But, SBI ran a design contest a few years ago that netted around 70 or 80 new designs that you could upload to their blockbuilder as your template. Then, again, they ran another design contest about 2.5 years ago that netted yet another 100 new designs. So we’re now up to almost 300 templates, all free to use. And, to make things better, you can completely customize any of those templates, by changing color schemes, header graphics, etc. Or, you can start from scratch and design your own graphics and colors. Take a look at my 7 SBI sites (in the right sidebar) and you’ll see the kind of variety you can get with SBI, even in the blockbuilder. If you’re comfortable with working with HTML code, you can even upload your completely customized website, bypassing the blockbuilder altogether. And that can be based on ANY template you desire, as long as it is coded in HTML (not PHP or ASP). Sure, you’ll still see a lot of SBI websites that use the old designs, but that’s only because their owners have been focusing more on building their content than on designing a glitzy look and feel. They have their priorities straight too. They can always go back later and upgrade the design, once their site has begun to work for them.
• SBI doesn’t use up to date SEO. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and it means doing certain things to your content that help search engines see what it is about and to assign it a high value so that your pages show up in the first 3 pages of search result listings if possible. Again, SBI DOES understand SEO and they help you understand it too. They have a really powerful tool that you can run on every single page you build, whether it’s in the block builder or uploading your own HTML pages, called Analyze It. Analyze It looks at all kinds of on-page factors to see if you have used your keywords in the right places, with the right frequency and many other issues. If you haven’t, they tell you why it’s important to change, even how important it is. Dr. Ken Evoy talks about how while SEO is important, it’s not the be-all and end-all to success on the Web, no matter what you’ve heard. These days, what Dr. Ken has been telling us for years is widely acknowledged… the best way to get ranked by the search engines is to build lots of well-written, niche-focused content. The rest will happen naturally. Want proof? Search on a keyword… I’m betting you’re going to find at least one SBI site in the first 30 sites (3 pages) of search results. Or look at the SBI Results Page, where you can check out hundreds of SBI-built websites that rank in the top 1% of all websites on the Internet.
• SBI hasn’t kept up with the times, though it may once have been good. Wrong again… SBI is constantly changing. In the last year or two, they’ve added a social bookmarking tool for your pages and a Web 2.0 style module that enables your visitors to contribute content to your site. SBI was also the first to develop an automated Google Sitemaps, within 48 hours of Google launching it. Ditto for Yahoo!’s version. And it’s still the most automated system for sitemaps. SBI has an unmatched database of sites, submissions, spider behavior, indexing and ranking and is constantly tweaking and improving site-management algorithms. This is cutting edge stuff and the best part is that the SBI owner does not have to spend a second worrying about it. Don’t believe me? Check out their Proof Page.

There may be other variations on this theme, but rest assured… Site Build IS with the times and so will your site be if you build it using Site Build It’s tools. You may even be cutting edge in your niche!

Let’s deconstruct each of the SBI costs too much arguments…

$299 a Year Is Awfully Expensive Web Hosting

When SBI was first launched, $25/month was pretty typical pricing for webhosts. In those days, you didn’t have a lot of choices. You’d easily pay $25 to $50 a month just to host one website! I know; I was doing it myself for my very first website, hosted with one of the premier web hosts of the early 2000s.

How our web world has changed since then, though. Cheap web hosts like HostGator, GoDaddy and many, many more prolifertated in the past 5 years. Now, it’s exceedingly common to find webhosting accounts with huge bandwidths and unlimited domains for around $5 to $10/month. I have a couple of those accounts myself, and they’re great… if you know how to use them.

In the end, though, those accounts are mostly just basic webhosting. Sure, they may offer one-click installations of forums, blogs, and related tools. And maybe a one-off autoresponder and email account management. But that’s about it. They don’t tell you how to create a site, especially not a successful traffic-producing site. They definitely don’t teach you how to build a business. So, yeah, you can have any number of sites with those kinds of webhosts, but that doesn’t mean anyone will ever find them. That takes other tools, usually ones the webhost doesn’t offer, at least not for no additional charge.

If you’re going to compare pricing, then you have to be sure you’re comparing apples to apples, not apples to oranges, as the saying goes. Site Build It isn’t just a webhost. They’re so much more: Compare SBI to a typical webhost

For instance, one of the best features of SBI is their keyword/niche brainstorming tool. It’s extremely robust, showing demand, true supply, potential profitability and detailed competition info for every keyword you input. They use Wordtracker as their backend, and if you’ve ever priced Wordtracker, you know how valuable an inclusion their data is in the SBI package.

I Can Just Get Free Tools That Are as Good as SBI’s Tools

Even assuming that were completely true (which it isn’t), how much time would you need to spend to find all the equivalent tools that SBI offers from free vendors? More than I’d care to count up, I’ll tell you. Here’s just a glimpse into SBI’s tools:

• A step by step course in eBusiness, with video tutorials and a written Action Guide. Sure, there is tons of free information on online business available on the Web. But there’s also truckloads of crappola, information that at best is too vague and meaningless to be implementable, and at worst is downright wrong or misleading. There are also a number of inexpensive ecourses and ebooks you can download. Some of these are good (Jimmy Brown’s  and Jim Daniel’s offerings come to mind),  but again many of them are just affiliate-link stuffed crap or incomplete “blueprints” for success. The better offerings may be the elite packages offered on CD and printed manuscripts, but who can afford to pay a couple of thousand dollars for these, especially when you’re just getting started? Download a free eBook by Ken Evoy to get a feel for the quality of the education offered by the SBI team. (Yes, some of the info in this book is a bit dated, as it was last updated in 2002, but much of it is timeless advice about how to connect with web visitors and establish trust, so as to get the click or the sale.)
• Robust keyword research tool & niche finder. Keyword research tools are a dime a dozen these days. There’s the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, a free trial of Wordtracker, Nichebot, and many more. Again, this is true, but each of those tools has its limitations, and to truly gather all the information you need to make a decision about profitable keywords and niche, you might have to use 2 or more of these free tools and then figure out how to combine the data and make sense of it. With Site Build It, that’s all done for you, all on one screen. And there’s plenty of context help to assist you in interpreting the data.
• No-HTML-Required website builder with over 200 free templates. Some people complain that free or inexpensive website design tools can easily produce attractive websites that are more flexible than SBI’s block builder interface. SBI has taken some hits on their design templates and their block builder. And this is an area I have to agree could be better. At this writing (spring 2009), they don’t have a WSIWYG interface, where clicking a button bolds your text or changes its color. And there’s only one layout, with a left-sided navigation bar and rather narrow content pane. But, if you’re a beginner, don’t know or don’t want to know HTML and have very few graphical skills, SBI will get the job done for you. Sure, WordPress might offer more modern designs and XSitePro might seem more flexible, but you really don’t need all those bells and whistles starting out. If you want to use them later, you still can… with SBI. It’ll integrate nicely!
• An RSS feed submitter, that effectively transforms your website into a blog. One of the reasons so many webmasters love WordPress and Blogger so much is the fact that they are blogging platforms and search engines (especially Google) love blogs. Site Build It detractors claim that content website model is no match for a blog. But let’s take a closer look at why SEs love blogs so much… It’s because blogs generally adhere to a standard of constantly updating content. The nature of a blog is frequent posts on new topics. SEs love constantly new content. People assume that a simple content model like SBI won’t produce that perception of updating content. But, with SBI’s RSS/Blog It module (included free), every change on your website, whether new page or updated page, becomes part of your RSS feed and is pinged out into the world accordingly. So your content website is going to look to the SEs pretty much like a blog. Here’s the RSS/BlogIt page on one of my sites, so you can see what I mean: http://www.discover-acadia.com/acadia-national-park-blog.html

There’s a lot more too, but I don’t want to make this post any longer than necessary. You can find more description on their tools on this page at Site Build It:

http://tools.sitesell.com

One other point I want to make clear is that SBI is adding new and improved tools… all the time. They roll out new features almost every month… at NO additional charge. In fact, the price hasn’t gone up as long as I’ve been using Site Build It (and that’s 9 years!) Oh, and that slightly lacking, non WSIWYG site builder? It’s about to change, big time. I don’t know yet all the details, but I do know it’s going to be CSS driven and offer the option of a 3-column layout. I’ll be sure to report here with my review of it when it happens, probably within the next 3 months, I think.

You Have to Keep Paying That $299 Every Year & For Every New Site

Well, yeah… of course, you don’t get to renew for free. No quality webhost offers free renewals. After all, they’re in business too. And all those great tools, features, etc. that Site Build It offers do cost them money to maintain, troubleshoot and update.

Here’s some good news, though, and something you might not have heard at all those other “Site Build It is scam!” sites… Once you’ve had SBI for a year, you can renew on a month to month basis, rather than having to dole out $299 all at once. So, if a year has gone by and your site is starting to make money, but you’re not 100% sure you want to stick with it, you can just re-up on the monthly plan. It’s a lot easier to stomach $29/month, especially when money is super tight.

And yes, every new website license/account is $299. You might ask why you have to pay that whole amount once you’ve been through the SBI training materials. You may not feel like you really need to review all that stuff again. Goog point, but here’s the thing… you’re not really paying that $299 for the eCourse, though that IS a standard feature of SBI. The $299 is for the webhosting and all of the powerful tools that come with SBI. The course is a wonderful free bonus. At least that’s how I look at it.

Also, Site Build It offers specials several times a year, around nearly every major US holiday (spring, our 3 summer holidays, Thanksgiving), where you can get a second SBI site for only $100. If you buy at Christmas time, you can get your second site free for the first year. This is a great deal, and the way I’ve gotten many of my sites.

And when you’ve built a successful, money-making website with SBI, then that $299 isn’t really that hard to swallow… because you’re probably making it back withink the first month or two after renewal anyway.

So, I hope by now you realize that the Site Build It myth that SBI costs too much is just that… a total myth. SBI is worth every penny you’ll spend on it!

“This affiliate marketing case study describes how a novice working part-time used Site Build It! to create an affiliate web site that achieved $49,000 in sales in just over a year. His second site has now achieved more than $308,000 in sales for one merchant. We earn a commission on that. He spends nothing on advertising.”
~ Allan Gardyne
Rupert’s SBI! Experiment
http://case-studies.sitesell.com/

Here are the arguments I’ve seen put out there for the cult theory:

• SBI’ers speak out in unison when others say negative things about Site Build It. I’m one of those who have done that, and yes, it does happen. But we aren’t “defending our faith”. How do we know to speak out in the first place? Well, SBI’ers love their SBI forum. It’s a nonjudgmental gathering place where you can always find a kind word and just the help you need when you need it. Anyway, Dr. Ken Evoy, the founder of Site Build It, monitors all mentions of SBI on the Web, and if he sees someone slamming SBI unfairly, then he lets the forums know. Some of us feel motivated to set the record straight with the bashers.
• SBI’ers use the same wording and phrasing to defend SBI. That is sometimes true, but it’s due more to the fact that we’ve all been through the same basic educational process about the same product. It’s not brainwashing; it’s just a common frame of reference. I’ve heard the same kind of unison from iPhone lovers, MAC users or even from those who love a particular dance craze or musical genre.
• SBI’ers experiences all sound the same. There’s an easy explanation for that one. If you follow the SBI system and work hard and give it enough time, you will succeed. Hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of Site Build It users are enjoying steady incomes from free traffic on their niche content sites, made using the SBI system. Here are some SBI results…
• No one could really love SBI as much as SBI’ers seem to. Why not? People love products with a passion all the time. Hence the legions of Mini Cooper faithfuls and rabid MAC computer lovers, and Guitar Hero addicts. And after all, if a product enables you to quit your “day job” and live comfortably, while being plain fun, what’s not to love?

So what do you think? Is SBI a cult? Here’s why one SBI’er loves SBI: