Sites with SBI and elsewhere - your take on it?

37 replies
I have one site with SBI and one hosted on Hostgator. The SBI site is doing better. In fact, since I moved the one site from SBI, it has done nothing on adsense. I want to build several more sites but am torn about where to build and host. SBI has a lot of tools and maybe the traffic is better because of that. Any experience with hosting on SBI and elsewhere? What is your experience? Thanks, Kate
#sbi #sites
  • Profile picture of the author BobRenwick
    By SBI I assume you're referring to Site Build It! This is an excellent platform that I've used myself. It gets high marks from everybody.

    The problem is the cost and if you plan to build multiple sites you'd be way better off learning how to build Wordpress sites. They're completely free except for domain and hosting and with the plugins they'll do everything but make your coffee.

    For static sites, as opposed to blogs, XSite Pro is also excellent and will allow you to build unlimited sites with a relatively small upfront cost to purchase the software.

    As far as hosting I use Hostgator too as well as Bluehost. There are many good hosts out there and it really doesn't matter which one of the many good ones you choose.
    Your host, as a rule, won't affect website performance so much as onsite and offsite optimization.
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    • Profile picture of the author katied772
      When I took my one site from SBI, I rebuilt it with Xsite Pro and then hosted with HG. I used to get some adsense clicks when it was with SBI but since I moved it in Jan, I have received no clicks, not one. I don't know if the site is not indexed or what the problem is. Before, SBI did all that. Don't really want to build more sites with SBI. I love the program but can't see the cost for many sites. This is the site. I think it has potential, but....
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      • Profile picture of the author clickrover
        What other conventional marketing methods are you utilizing? PPC? Blogging? Back links? Social bookmarking? SEO?

        The key is to employ as many different methods as possible, and try to interlink those methods. SBI is great, but a little elbow grease can alleviate the need for the cost.

        Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

        When I took my one site from SBI, I rebuilt it with Xsite Pro and then hosted with HG. I used to get some adsense clicks when it was with SBI but since I moved it in Jan, I have received no clicks, not one. I don't know if the site is not indexed or what the problem is. Before, SBI did all that. Don't really want to build more sites with SBI. I love the program but can't see the cost for many sites. This is the site. I think it has potential, but....
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        • Profile picture of the author katied772
          I haven't used anything since moving it. I thought the site would keep the traffic it had. I do know I need to do something. What would you recommend to start?
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    • Profile picture of the author IHhello
      Originally Posted by Bob Renwick View Post

      By SBI I assume you're referring to Site Build It! This is an excellent platform that I've used myself. It gets high marks from everybody.

      The problem is the cost and if you plan to build multiple sites you'd be way better off learning how to build Wordpress sites. They're completely free except for domain and hosting and with the plugins they'll do everything but make your coffee.
      I also have one SBI site and the platform is excellent. One more thing is that if you just starting out, they will teach very well how to do SEO.

      However, it is not flexible platform, so for affiliate marketing it is better to learn Wordpress, as you can do virtually anything with it - cheaply and fast.
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  • Profile picture of the author clickrover
    Your hosting account isn't going to make much difference. We have always went with a cost effective approach, which now happens to be our own hosted server platform. Hostgator is a fine company and I have never heard any complaints in regard.

    Site Built It! is a great platform as stated above, though for the cost you could put in the hours of work and obtain similar results. Though SBI does offer tools that make haste of the process and even lend themselves well to less experienced site builders.
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  • Profile picture of the author Josh T.
    SBI, as mentioned, is great as a beginner tool. But their websites wreak of dated styles and layouts. Your website literally looks like it was built in 1998, no matter how fancy you get with it. I'll echo the above in stating that Wordpress is a much more functional option.

    In my experience, the hosting should have nothing to do with your traffic. Further, if you did a complete transfer of the content, it should basically be the same site. Why would the performance be affected? All of the indexing, etc has been done already.

    First thing I would do would be to find out where the traffic is coming from (Google, Ads, Email, etc.). If you have Analytics installed, this should give you a good chunk of your answer.
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  • Profile picture of the author kevinw1
    katied, your site IS indexed, it comes up if you simply do a search on the domain name. But you need to learn to do basic SEO if you're going to build your own sites. I recommend Dan Thies' free ebook "SEO Fast Start" - you can get it here:
    Free SEO Book: Read SEO Fast Start by Dan Thies
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    • Profile picture of the author StacyHolmes
      Hi katied

      I've been where you are and know how you feel. I almost canned my SBI subscription once, but I think I was much more frustrated than you - but I'm only judging by the way your post sounds. :p It happened to me about 4 mos before I was hit with the SBI! snowball - the phenomenon that occurs when the search engines pick you up and your traffic starts to roll in on its own.

      Yet right before that, I was pondering canceling. Thought I had made a huge a mistake and just couldn't "get it." Soon after, though, I broke through and make $30x the subscription fee. And I only work a few hours a month on my site, though it continues to grow on its own.

      When someone's site isn't performing, I can totally see the logic in wanting to cancel. I urge you not to fall into the "looks are everything" trap, though, because performance is senior to appearance, period. I do, however, see a few mistakes that could be holding you back and it's not with your look and feel.

      It looks like you've put a lot of work into your site. It would be a much happier ending if you learned what the problem was, what mistake you made, etc., because if you were making good money, I'm sure the fee wouldn't be an issue.

      The only thing I can suggest here would be to hire an SBI coach for an hour or so to give it one last look. (Someone authorized and skilled in SBI, so you get the real thing.) Or get help in the SBI! forums before you transfer it.

      You've come a long way. The one thing I've learned is - with all the mistakes I've made on my site, would never have discovered my biggest errors had I not persisted. And I would keep making the same mistake over and over. But I know. Everybody's different.

      Best of luck to you, katied.
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      • Profile picture of the author katied772
        Stacy,
        I'm not planning on leaving SBI. I still have a site there and plan on keeping it there. I am just concerned about adding more sites @ 30.00 per month each.
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  • Profile picture of the author theemperor
    Stacy

    I did can my subscription. They have a great SEO course that has helped me hugely, but the hosting / web creation side is like having a ball and chain around your ankles.

    Example - Want to add google analytics? You just have to add a new block on EVERY DAMN PAGE one bye one!

    What takes 5 minutes in Wordpress is a 1-day job in SBI.
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    SBI = scam

    Stacy,

    Maybe you should post more at the warrior forum than simply come here to defend/promote SBI.

    So instead of offering helpful advice to the user you recommend upselling them to a SBI coach. Seriously none of this stuff is rocket science. Write content, build links.
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    Katie,

    Are you getting traffic?

    Looking at your pages you seem to be targeting really competitive terms, have you been building links to your site with proper anchor text?
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    • Profile picture of the author katied772
      Originally Posted by derrickp View Post

      Katie,

      Are you getting traffic?

      Looking at your pages you seem to be targeting really competitive terms, have you been building links to your site with proper anchor text?
      Are you talking about article marketing?
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    • Profile picture of the author katied772
      What is the best way?
      Elaborate please.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ryan D
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        Originally Posted by Josh T. View Post

        SBI, as mentioned, is great as a beginner tool. But their websites wreak of dated styles and layouts. Your website literally looks like it was built in 1998, no matter how fancy you get with it. I'll echo the above in stating that Wordpress is a much more functional option.
        Most stock templates that come with website builders are garbage, no matter it's SBI, xsitepro, or Wordpress. You can customize all of them, so I wouldn't base my decision on what kind of templates you ahve available.

        But to the question, SBI hosting is not better than any other type of hosting. As long as the SE can crawl the page, it doesn't matter where you host.

        SBI does a nice job of giving you a set of tools to use to properly build a site that has demand. In a sense, they are building a wall around you and getting you to only follow their system without outside help for the most part. It's good for you in the sense that you keep your eye on the ball, it's bad for you because Sitesell wants to keep you focused on their products.

        SBI is generally a good value if you're going to bulid a straight-up contnet site. I think it's a really good starting point for people that tend to take their eye off the ball a lot. It kind of focuses you to work on one site.

        Lots of limitations though like lack of FTP and the fact that you can't upload many types of files. Overall, good program, but mostly for beginners.
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      • Profile picture of the author derrickp
        Katie,

        There is no single best way, you really shouldn't rely on any one method to build links.

        1) Write quality content that people naturally link to
        2) If possible find other sites in your niche that are quality ask the owner to do an interview with you(9 times out of 10 they will like from their site to yours). You may have to link to them(but not always). Either way it is a link although a recip link isn't as good).
        3) Blog directories, website directories
        4) Blog Commenting(related blogs, really good comments no spam)
        5) Article Marketing
        6) Linking programs(seolinkvine, backlink solutions, linkvana many others too)
        7) Write guest posts for other sites/blogs

        Some ways are better than others, but this list should get you started.

        Originally Posted by katied772 View Post

        What is the best way?
        Elaborate please.
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    Article marketing can build links but it isn't the best way.
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  • Profile picture of the author StacyHolmes
    Hi again

    All I can say is : There is a mistake.

    If you've gone this far, this is a mistake. I think I know what it is.

    You'd be best served to find it.
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    • Profile picture of the author katied772
      Originally Posted by StacyHolmes View Post

      Hi again

      All I can say is : There is a mistake.

      If you've gone this far, this is a mistake. I think I know what it is.

      You'd be best served to find it.
      Stacy,
      Not sure if you are directing this at me. As I said, I'm not leaving SBI. I still have my one site there and plan on keeping it there. I like SBI a lot. If you see a problem with my site why don't you share it with me? I know you recommended coaching, but I've been off work since March due to an injury. Cannot budget for it now.
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  • Profile picture of the author kyhell
    BI Is a huge waste of money that is best spent elsewhere.
    9.99 for domain name
    10.00 a month for hosting

    5 min wordpress install

    20 min to set it up the way you want

    rinse repeat

    every thing that SBI does for you, you can do for peanuts and if you take the time to read you can do it better.
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    • Profile picture of the author StacyHolmes
      You've been on my mind, katied. I'm like that. I get a puzzle in my head and I just can't let it go.

      If you see a problem with my site why don't you share it with me?
      Not here. Not in this forum and not on the same thread where someone is slamming SBI. Sorry, but that's just not right.

      Because I was thinking about you, I came back here and posted to encourage you to get the right help. Maybe I'll PM you, but you should also go to the SBI forum so you can get more viewpoints. There are a lot of factors to consider like, how old is your site? What is your traffic level? I can't tell that from here, but I can see your Alexa ranking and I can view page source.

      Here's one thing I see (and it's not THE error I noticed): why are you capitalizing words in your URLs? Have you used Analyze It?

      That's all, I'm not going into it here and I'll stay out of it. I'm shutting up now.
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      • Profile picture of the author katied772
        Stacy:
        Sent you a pm.
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    • Profile picture of the author Ryan D
      Banned
      Originally Posted by kyhell View Post

      BI Is a huge waste of money that is best spent elsewhere.
      9.99 for domain name
      10.00 a month for hosting

      5 min wordpress install

      20 min to set it up the way you want

      rinse repeat

      every thing that SBI does for you, you can do for peanuts and if you take the time to read you can do it better.
      it's not a waste of money if it makes something easier to do or understand.
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      • Profile picture of the author sydneypm
        Hi Katied,

        I also have an SBI site as well as Hostgator. I believe it comes down to learning more on your own... especially traffic.

        I liked SBI for the training I received because IM is so overwhelming. But I did not learn how to make money until I came here. In my experience, I fell into the trap of "just keep creating content," and Google will recognize you. I did that with only some backlinking and it did not work.

        At the same time, in my experience, learning how to make money with IM is not simply a matter of building a site, linking, rinse and repeat for every niche is different and building backlinks just does not to seem to be as easy as some people make it out. This takes time, more than anything (imho).

        One example: Adding blog comments does not work in my niche very well since most blogs do not allow comments with links or even profiles.

        You have to study your competition to see what works for them. No one can do that for you.

        I did not find the "snowball" effect to be true for it does not just happen after getting some links. Links will add and drop. You have to keep at it.

        While I do get organic links from people using my SBI site as "references," they have not been enough to get the traffic to my site that I need. People have to find your site in order to link to it while Google will not list you highly (in some niches) unless you have plenty of backlinks. And just because some people use your site for a reference or put a link to it does not mean that this person is "respected" or authority enough to get other people to come to your site through that link.

        I am not trying to "bash" anyone or any service, but I am being realistic considering my experience. The internet is a huge place. Getting more links out there and the recognition you need takes a lot of time and experimenting/tweaking/effort that no one can do for you.

        Personally, I would never move my SBI site to another host. However, due to the cost I will not add more sites. I feel it is in my best interest to learn how to build sites, list my sites (which is not really hard), and get traffic to them myself.

        If I were you, I would find some of the posts here on "making money" and "building traffic," and study those. I would also read about the many ways that people make money and compare it to what you are now doing. Use everything you learn to see what you can do better.

        I hope this helps at least some.
        Sincerely,
        Cindy P.
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        • Profile picture of the author Ash67
          Originally Posted by sydneypm View Post

          If I were you, I would find some of the posts here on "making money" and "building traffic," and study those. I would also read about the many ways that people make money and compare it to what you are now doing. Use everything you learn to see what you can do better.
          This is so true, I,ve learned allot just by reading comments left on this forum.
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        • Profile picture of the author katied772
          Cindy,

          <<Personally, I would never move my SBI site to another host. However, due to the cost I will not add more sites. I feel it is in my best interest to learn how to build sites, list my sites (which is not really hard), and get traffic to them myself.>>

          This is exactly how I am feeling. Nice to see someone else feels the same way. I love SBI but can't afford to keep multiple sites there.
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  • Profile picture of the author cma01
    I've never used SBI, but I've come across too many niches where there are SBI sites in the top three to dismiss it as "a scam." Whatever their training program is must work.

    Yes, most of the layouts are absolutely hideous. But I came across a couple of SBI sites recently that actually looked nice, so they must be updating their templates.

    I'm not familiar enough with the program to know, but unless they have some sort of promotion service for sites in the network, I can't see how switching a host would affect your traffic.

    Also keep in mind that there have been a lot of changes in Google's algorithm in the past few months, and those changes may be affecting you rather than switching hosts.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ash67
    I was going to join SBI last year, but then I came across George Browns google sniper course which basically teaches you how to build multiple websites and how to rank N0 1 for your keyword.
    So I chose this option because it was a hell of alot cheaper than SBI, I currently have 14 websites on the go with eight of them ranking N0 1 for there keywords.
    If I was to do this with SBI for 14 sites it would cost me a fortune.
    I have my hosting with Godaddy and it only cost just under $9.00 a month for hosting and less than $8.00 per domain.
    Its a no brainer really.
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  • Profile picture of the author JonRyker
    I have 1 site build it website which is doing OK but I could not afford to pay for anymore sites through sbi, so I now use godaddy and wordpress which seems to be working out quite well for me at the moment.
    Early days yet but you never know, This time next year Rodney!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author derrickp
    Anyone thinking about SBI should read(and the comments):
    Site Build It Scam Review | Passive Income Online: Lis Sowerbutts

    The information provided at SBI is nothing special and the costs for what you get are crazy high, it is geared towards people who are new and takes advantage of that.
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    • Profile picture of the author Hitanshu
      Ash!!!!! you are my hero. Thank you so much for recommending me George's Brown Google snipper. This program looks so awesome & it is exactly what I was looking for.

      There is one problem though, this program was launhed more than a year ago. does the techiniques in this program still works? Are you making any morney on those 14 sites? If yes, please let me know the figure you are making every month? You can pm me if you dont want to tell me figures in public. Would really appreciate a response
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      • Profile picture of the author StacyHolmes
        Sydneypm said:

        I did not find the "snowball" effect to be true for it does not just happen after getting some links. Links will add and drop. You have to keep at it.
        But it does happen. It happened to me, personally, so that's coming from actual experience.

        I'm not disputing what you're saying Sydney, because I believe you are being honest. But because it didn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

        There are factors to take into account.

        Some niches, like Making Money Online for example, are very very competitive. Also, how broad is your site concept? If you pick a broad site concept in a competitive niche, it will be very very hard to get the snowball rolling. It will be almost impossible to breathe.

        Then, how well does one use the tools? Does one brainstorm correctly, choosing the correct keywords for the T2 and T3 pages? Or does one pick only high demand/high supply keywords? How is the content written? What is the voice and is it cohesive? And what about theme sexiness. You could have a highly profitable niche, but if it's boring, it's not going to attract much traffic or excitement. Etc., etc., etc.

        So to say the snowball doesn't happen as a general statement is not fair. It does happen. I do agree that every niche is different though.

        Katied: I can't PM you from here. I will send you a message on your SBI site.

        Have a good day, and best of luck to everyone!
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        • Profile picture of the author sydneypm
          Originally Posted by StacyHolmes View Post

          Sydneypm said:
          I'm not disputing what you're saying Sydney, because I believe you are being honest. But because it didn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

          There are factors to take into account.

          Some niches, like Making Money Online for example, are very very competitive. Also, how broad is your site concept? If you pick a broad site concept in a competitive niche, it will be very very hard to get the snowball rolling. It will be almost impossible to breathe.

          Then, how well does one use the tools? Does one brainstorm correctly, choosing the correct keywords for the T2 and T3 pages? Or does one pick only high demand/high supply keywords? How is the content written? What is the voice and is it cohesive? And what about theme sexiness. You could have a highly profitable niche, but if it's boring, it's not going to attract much traffic or excitement. Etc., etc., etc.
          This is true. Yet, my comment was not based solely on my experience, but all that I have learned because of my experience. From what I have learned, most sites (and IM in general) takes a lot of work to make a "decent" income.

          I just wanted to point out all facts and intricacies of IM as one could easily misconstrue "the snowball effect" to mean that once your site gets many hits, it will keep building on its own, as a snowball rolls downhill and needs no more pushing. At this point you can sit back and let it (your site/business) roll on its own.

          I understand it is possible to get to a point where one does not have to work "as hard," as one learns to work smarter. Yet, this learning takes time because it is different for every niche and business model.

          Thank you for adding these important observations. In the end, I hope all of these comments shed some light for anyone who needs it.

          Sincerely,
          Cindy P.
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      • Profile picture of the author Ash67
        Hitanshu, I can't leave a pm as I need to have over 50 post to do so.
        But yes I am earning a regular income from some of my sites, and the rest of them I am still working on.
        If you want to get in touch with me, go to one of my site,s in my signature and leave a comment and I will get back to you with more detailed information.
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  • Profile picture of the author youngprepro
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    • Profile picture of the author StacyHolmes
      One could easily misconstrue "the snowball effect" to mean that once your site gets many hits, it will keep building on its own, as a snowball rolls downhill and needs no more pushing. At this point you can sit back and let it (your site/business) roll on its own.
      I only work on my site occasionally (once a month or so) when I want to and only when I feel like it. The income gradually increases as well as the traffic. I do not run around keeping that site propped up. My checks arrive in the mail or direct deposits like clockwork.

      I've had periods of time (months) where I could not work on the site at all. My income, traffic and inbound links increased during that time.

      I have other sites I work on to get up to that point. Not there yet.

      Could I live on site #1? Not yet, and not in my town, but it earns as much as 4 figs/mo and the traffic is unkillable.

      So I guess we're at a stalemate Cindy. Obviously not everyone has the same experiences.

      By the way, my snowballing site is one of those "ugly SBI sites," too.

      So go figure.
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