hello , ANY COMMENTS ON SITE BUILD IT?

30 replies
It looks quite impressive BUT doesn't everything I have bought and is sitting gathering dust on my hard drive!

I am a newbie and was looking at it for site building.

Regards,
Mike
#build #comments #site
  • Profile picture of the author kierenm
    Great, possibly the best, piece of software for creating a great site- except you can't use it on more than one I don't think. For more flexibility XSitePro is another option.. that piece of software's getting pretty advanced too of late..
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  • Profile picture of the author Bigsofty
    Site build it demands their own hosting and won't allow any form of database driven script, making it useless for many types of site. However if you just want a plain text site with some pretty pictures it has a lot going for it.

    At that price level though I'd recommend learning what you need without using them - I also have concerns about how easy it would be to transfer your site to a different host in the future (in theory easy but...?)


    B.
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    • Profile picture of the author nikhilg
      Hello,

      Without getting into technical issues SBI is a good package. This is a comment who has made two attempts with SBI to make money and who has failed at both.

      I made plenty of mistakes but SBI requires a good amount of investment of time and effort before you will start seeing results in terms of money. I stuck with my site for about two years before finally giving it up as a lost cause as I no longer had the stamina or the interest to continue.

      There is also the problem to information overload. Ken Envoy's training materials and emails offer an enormous amount of guidance and it is difficult for a newbie to understand what is really important. I only ended up getting confused. SBI does offer a step by step manual for building a site and getting traffic but in my view even this manual does not really focus on what is really important and I only ended up getting confused.

      If you do succeed with SBI you will have a site that produces revenue for you without much maintenance or effort on your part. If you fail you will find that you have wasted a year or more in time and effort without anything to show for it. It is not a business plan that you can test quickly to see if it is profitable or not.

      As to the mistakes that I made, these were:
      1) I did not focus on long tail keywords that were profitable while building my pages
      2) I did not have a good linking plan. I did not link to individual pages but only to my home page. I also wasted a lot of time getting links from worthless sites.

      I do not want to work with SBI anymore. I do not have the stamina. But if you wish to go ahead good luck. There are many people who have succeeded with SBI.

      I really cannot suggest a good alternative though. I am myself looking for one.

      If you are a newbie you can look at the Definitive Job Slayer's Guide by Dean Shainin which is a WSO offered at this forum. It contains 99 methods through which a newbie can make money quickly using internet marketing. Look it up; it is good and costs only 17 dollars

      Hope this helps.

      regards

      Nikhil
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      • Profile picture of the author Eswar
        Sitebuildit is a good piece of website builder and membership site for newbies. Newbies can learn lots of information from the owner Dr.Kenevoy.
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        • Profile picture of the author akaelo
          I also spent two years working on a site using SiteBuildIt. I recently opted not to continue. It was simply too cumbersome to create new pages, not to mention the whole methodology promoted over there is just not in line with how I work. (I can't focus on just one site! I need new projects that go up quick and can be replicated if profitable.) The most frustrating thing is that I spent two years creating a really great, informative site for ballet dancers (I am a former pro ballet dancer myself,) I couldn't even make enough to cover the $300/yr costs.

          After having a baby in July, I just couldn't justify commiting my time and money what had basically turned into a community service project. The biggest reason that this project failed for me was that the people who were searching for terms related to my site were mostly 12-14! These girls didn't have control of a credit card, and the ads in my niche paid pennies. It just took way too much effort to make zero $.

          In the end, I was hoping I might be able to transfer hosting and salvage my site, but they don't transfer hosting! I have all my text on my own PC, but I won't be spending the time to rebuild the site - I wish I could, but it's just not worth it.

          I will say that I ranked on the first page for the term "ballet dancers" which was quite competetive, without any reallinking strategy.

          I have moved on to using XSitePro because of the ease of use and versatility.
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          • Profile picture of the author Rick67
            Originally Posted by akaelo View Post

            I also spent two years working on a site using SiteBuildIt. I recently opted not to continue. It was simply too cumbersome to create new pages, not to mention the whole methodology promoted over there is just not in line with how I work. .
            I used SiteSell (Ken Envoy) for a serveral months and also gave it up for the same reason stated above.

            This was a few years ago and I don't know if they have improved their webpage building.

            In a nutshell they were using VERY OUTDATED technology. It is VERY cumbersome, very frustrating.
            Quite a few complained about it in his "forum". His response was something like "the turtle wins the race". Since he was stuck with this cumbersome software, he tries to justify it with propaganda that the slow and steady wins. Problem is, the hours and hours it takes building the webpages are hours wasted when there are faster technologies out there.

            On the otherhand, they have some great keyword research tools and overall help and training. I just wish they were more up to date in the technology.

            Rick
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  • Profile picture of the author gcintermed
    Those were good posts, and confirmed my suspicions about SiteBuildIt. In internet marketing there is a lot to be said for starting out with something simple and quick. That's because you learn a lot from your failures, so it's better for them to happen quickly and inexpensively, instead of spending 2 years on a site that makes no money.

    SuildBuildIt reminds me of AOL, in that it is a world unto itself, a complete system that you must embrace fully. I found the manual (400+) pages to be scattered and verbose, and it is very easy get lost in the details and lose sight of the big goals. But it is a complete system. So if you are looking for that level of hand-holding it might be for you.
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    • Profile picture of the author SarahMcHarry
      I too used Site Build It for a couple of years and I found it a great way to get going. But like the others here, after a lot of hard slog I found that I had built a great website which did get traffic but which didn't earn any money.

      Ken Evoy never uses 10 words when 100 will do (!) and his stuff is very verbose. It takes a lot of time to read through all the stuff and, when you've done it, you find that a lot is not really relevant.

      Things have moved on since SBI was created to plug a gap in site building. What I would now recommend is using WordPress blogs instead of conventional websites.

      Get a hosting account that lets you create multiple addon domains and you can build as many WordPress blogs as you want for the cost of one hosting account. Even a newbie can build a simple WP blog to do the very basic things that SBI can do.

      Sarah
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  • Profile picture of the author gcintermed
    ... and it's worth mentioning, for those newbies out there, that a) Wordpress is FREE, b) there are tons of plug-ins and templates, and c) you can install a site using Wordpress in 5 minutes (ok, maybe 10 if it is your first time).

    I agree, Wordpress is a great option for building your first site, and in many ways, it has made Site BuildIt obsolete for most purposes.

    The SBI model is to build a site based on good keywords that has useful content, and monetize with affiliate sales. It's not a bad model, they just make it more work than it has to be these days.
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    • Profile picture of the author balara
      My experience with SBI is reflected in pretty well all of the comments above. Just getting through the training manual was a long distance marathon in itself, and like a marathon runner, I was exhausted at the end (and still didn't have much of a clue how to build a site). What I found to be most helpful was the SBI forum. Some great people hang out there and are willing to help anyone at any time. SBI says that html skills are not needed. Wrong! Basic html knowledge (and a bit more)is essential with SBI as their editor can be very temperamental.
      Nevertheless, I enjoyed my time there, the social contact at the forum was great, loved looking at other member's sites, and was quite convinced that I was working really hard doing nothing productive. Eventually I finished up with a "nice" site which made me feel very "important" amongst my non internet friends ("Wow! You've got your own website??) Never worked out how to monetise it though!

      Cheers
      Veronica
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  • Profile picture of the author philk49
    With the progress Wordpress has made you can put up your site and stay in control of it much easier. I found sitebuildit cumbersome and found I learned more after I stopped using it. For some newbies it may just what they need. There is a lot of information on that site.
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    • Profile picture of the author akaelo
      Originally Posted by philk49 View Post

      With the progress Wordpress has made you can put up your site and stay in control of it much easier. I found sitebuildit cumbersome and found I learned more after I stopped using it. For some newbies it may just what they need. There is a lot of information on that site.
      For me, it was a good introduction to on page SEO and a variety of other things. I liked that before I posted a page it would analyze it for on page SEO factors, but soon I didn't need it. SBI is a lot like training wheels - great while you need it, but after a while it just gets in the way of your speed!
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  • Profile picture of the author noelgama
    Hi,

    I started with Apple's iWeb (which I still use for non-commercial persuits) and then went on to XSitePro... but gave it up for SBI! I've completed the Home page - it can be viewed at Discover-Daman dotcom.

    Noel Gama
    India
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  • Profile picture of the author sunnyman
    All I can say is I tested that stuff several years ago as a newbie - and even then I quickly felt closed-in and asked for a refund.
    As said, it is a closed little world - and why lock yourself into that when there are so many other more flexible ways of doing things?

    If you have trouble building a site - use Wordpress, or simply buy a book like "HTML for dummies" - best investment you'll ever make!
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  • Profile picture of the author sizzleld
    I have been using SBI for quite some time now. I dont know much to building a website, so it works fo me and keeps me in order. I use SBI and combine it with other methods mentioned elsewhere to hopefully get a jump towards the competition.

    Hope this helps

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  • Profile picture of the author bannerdemers
    Commision Junction raves about it's affiliate program.
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    tools and resources to get you started
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  • Profile picture of the author MobileEyeGuy
    Just my two cents, but if you want fast, easy, and cheap, I have used GODADDY, I have always had very good customer support with them, and as far as slapping together sites, they are a one stop shop
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    • Profile picture of the author strategic
      I have been building with site build it since 2003 and have built around 20 sites for myself and my clients.

      A site can take me from one week - up to 9 months to build, depending on the requirements.

      All you do is follow the instructions and you have a foolproof income earning website. (But since in the early days I was such a determined fool to be in such a rush on a couple of my sites, I also had to let a couple go... totally my error of judgment in keyword selection etc.)

      Otherwise, the rest of the sites just keep growing in ranking and earnings... even on autopilot since I hardly have time to even look at them any more.

      As for the 'free' blogs mentioned here ... they are not as free as you are told, as you have to pay out money every step of the way, including having to buy your domain name, your email services, your autoresponders, then if you have a successful site you have to pay extra monthly fees for bandwidth yada yada, etc etc etc. and before you know it you are paying a heck of alot more than SiteSell will ever charge. And Blogs are so bloggy... yuck. Nothing like a sweet website, neat and organised, userfriendly, tons of info, good free ebook downloads, ezine builder and subscriber system, that search engines adore and refer free organic traffic to etc. etc. Blogs are so boring, with horrible spammy link entries no-one ever bothers to read.

      Somewhere there are 'real' blogs that are genuinely maintained by committed bloggers devoted to their topic, but I wish everyone else would just admit that they build hundreds of these horrible 1 - 10 page blogs just for SEO linking, or vainly trying to earn a few cents a week, just like those revolting adsense sites that drive visitors crazy with nothing but ads on them.

      I'm not going to get into any bunfights here, so don't waste your time baiting me, I just know what I know about the other website hosting systems I have used, and once you get into what you thought was a good deal, you will only realize Site Build It is like nothing else on the marketplace.

      My clients all agree too. None of them are addicted webmaster nutcases like me. They are busy and dont have much time to SEO their sites for ever and ever, so its essential that its SEO is done correctly from the very start. One client has not updated his website even once in many years and it still feeds him retail and distributor leads and as well it earns him extra affiliate income and private advertising placements. Amazing.

      I love a lot of the other tools that are out there, (especially Squidoo, Knols & YahooAnswers for human traffic to my sites) but even so, when it comes to building a long-term money earning website, with all the whistles and bells in one roof that you could ever want, all the automated SEO built in for even the most hopeless web builder, for an all inclusive cost of less than $25 pcm SBI has no competition. Absolutely no competition.

      My websites are built like the investment you make in first writing a book. A lot of labour to get set up, then it is on the market as a 'forever' product that sells and earns me money right through my retirement. A bit of occasional SEO/linking a couple of times a year and I expect to keep earning from them for the next 40 years.

      Site Build It hosting & website building services is not for the 'get rich quick' market.

      Any website you build with it becomes a real business, and it will reward you with a lifetime of income as a result.


      And the only limits to what you can do with SBI, is your own imagination. Maybe the old-timers here should check out what Site Sell is about nowadays.

      **Can you tell that I love Site Sell????**
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  • Profile picture of the author noelgama
    Cheers, Strategic!

    I've just uploaded the Home page of my second SBI at Effective-Human-Resources-Writing.com

    Noel
    India
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    • Profile picture of the author strategic
      Ooooooooooh... you have a fascinating niche!

      As someone who spent a few years in the HR/recruiting/training sector, I know what you are talking about.

      I'm bookmarking your site so that I can keep my eye on your development as time goes by.

      Please PM me when you have a few more pages online, as I will be happy to do some bookmarking and linking with your site, as I think judging by your writing at even this early stage, that you will be creating a quality business project here.

      Keep it up, well done.

      Originally Posted by noelgama View Post

      Cheers, Strategic!

      I've just uploaded the Home page of my second SBI at Effective-Human-Resources-Writing.com

      Noel
      India
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      • Profile picture of the author noelgama
        ThankX, Strategic - for the kind and encouraging words and more so because now that I know there's someone keeping an eye on the project, I cannot afford the luxury of procrastination

        I will definitely take you up on your offer - will PM you as soon as I have a few 2/3-tier pages up!

        Noel
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  • Hey,

    I run a site on Mallorca using Site Build It. I have to say 'I love it'. As long as you go through the videos, day by day, you'll be fine. I've used it for the past 2 years and i love the fact that everything is in one place. Yes, some say that it's not very flexible and this...is true, but when you get to learn html, site build it gives you the option of uploading your own html pages.

    For what I and other site build it users get, $29.99 a month..is definitely worth it. I would definitely recommend it for a newbie.

    Good Luck!
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  • Profile picture of the author StacyHolmes
    Well, as we always say and as indicated by some of the responses above, Site Build It! is not for everybody.

    Warrior is a great community, full of lots of ambitious, creative people with independent spirit. Just the name "Warrior" implies headstrong independence.

    So realize that mindset may not enjoy or appreciate the structure of Site Build It! which is a self-paced course with exact steps.

    It is not intended to be a stand-alone site builder, that's not the point. It is intended for building ever-growing sustainable businesses. It is not for diving in and slapping up a site overnight, so if that's what you're looking for, sure, there's always Wordpress or GoDaddy, etc.

    It does not take people down complex technical paths of scripting and coding, but focuses on what one needs to do to get traffic. It's not a free-for-all community, but is very focused on a workable, reproducible method that has statistical, verifiable proof of success. It's not the only way to be successful, but it is a method that works.

    The materials are voluminous because the Internet is highly competitive and Ken Evoy believes in over-delivery. He works hard to provide information and resources that encompass myriad business building situations, because it is not a cookie-cutter subject.

    Everybody's different, and that's okay.

    The mascot mentioned above is Shelly the Tortoise. Why? Because sometimes people just need to persist. It has been found that many people on the Net flit from one thing to the next, always looking for the magic pixie dust that will make them rich. They end up wasting a lot of time and energy that way (and money). So sometimes it is a matter of putting one foot in front of the other and that's what Shelly is all about. Of course, Shelly is also cute, which is to make learning more light and fun as being frantically stressed tends to lead away from creativity and productivity and down the road to failure. And some people are frantically stressed when they are trying to get going, but many of them run headlong into brick walls, too.


    One client has not updated his website even once in many years and it still feeds him retail and distributor leads and as well it earns him extra affiliate income and private advertising placements. Amazing.
    Like strategic, I have experienced my own personal success with Site Build It and one of my projects is virtually hands-free now, creating income every month that is funneled into my retirement savings. Another feeds leads for a family venture and the other keeps my husband supplied with new clients, so it works in my experience.


    Best of luck on your venture, Mike! Whatever you choose to do, I wish you much success.
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  • Profile picture of the author tush
    Here is one thing I do not like about Site build it..., their affiliate programme. You can not be paid your commissions when clients renew their sites unless you make a new sale all together. I think this is ridiculous!!!

    Other than that, I love sbi. It has really been good to me. It is almost the only programme I have seen online which gives one step by step instructions on how to do something and one succeeds. I am building another site with them. Everything is in one place. I highly recommend it for newbies especially those who are good at following instructions.
    tush
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    • Profile picture of the author rkurata
      In my opinion Site Build It is a great program, but is a bit dated. Now is the time for the Wordpress era. Ken Envoy is great, but like everyone has stated it's a long process.

      I've moved on to using the Michael Brown's Niche Blitzkrieg system. Make small niche Wordpress blogs targeting long tail keyword niches. This system REALLY works and I fully stand by it. There is a whole training course how to do niche research, build a wordpress site, monetize it, and build traffic. There's also a community forum to keep you on track.
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  • I started with SITE BUILD IT and it did teach me a lot, I still have my site build it account but I use wordpress now. The training on sitebuild it was very good and it does help you with seo. It will take time to build a site and building pages with site build it is quite slow. The training is really good but it says day1 day2 etc but don't feel pressured into completing the training each day. if you have never built a site, site build it is a good place to start. good luck
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  • Profile picture of the author jkmg
    Hi. I have been building websites for quite awhile now, and I have tried all the site building software throughout the years. Nobody new really wants to hear this, but take the time to learn Photoshop and Dreamweaver and the possibilities are endless. They are NOT as hard to learn as you might think (I mean, heck, I did it!).

    There is a super WSO here which is a step-by-step course on creating minisites in Photoshop and preparing them to upload to the web. Trust me when I tell you, ANYBODY can follow these videos, and when you see how easy it is you will be in fifth gear creating your own masterpieces.

    This is just my opinion, but nothing I ever created using site building software could ever compare to the sites made I've made from scratch.

    Just FYI there about a gazillion free tutorials on Photoshop and Dreamweaver on the net, just google them.
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    • Profile picture of the author StacyHolmes
      There were so many misconceptions and out-of-date information in here, I decided I'd show this thread to Ken Evoy and get his impressions. At the end of the day, I think Ken is resigned that there are people for whom SBI is just right . . . they get it, they use it, and they change their lives with it.

      And then there are folks for whom it's just not right. I heard him say in a meeting recently, "We're not trying to make everyone love SBI!. But I would like to correct the faulty impressions, out-of-date information and other urban myths that seem to stay alive by repeating themselves over and over."

      Sure enough, I got his attention. He agrees with parts of what folks don't like about SBI!. If you feel "trapped" and that is more important than business success, then you and SBI! don't belong together. No hard feelings. But he did want to comment on all the inaccuracies, exaggerations, missed points, etc.

      So here's Ken's reply. He told me:

      "Stacy, it really just boils down to the bottom line.

      "If folks have yet to succeed online, just try it risk-free. Most will like it. Some won't. Remember, in forums like Warrior, you'll find more who don't like SBI!, because they congregate on the Internet Marketing forums while SBIers aren't here. They spend their time building their businesses and helping out (or asking questions) in the SBI! forums."
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    • Profile picture of the author xatsmann
      Originally Posted by jkmg View Post

      Hi. I have been building websites for quite awhile now, and I have tried all the site building software throughout the years. Nobody new really wants to hear this, but take the time to learn Photoshop and Dreamweaver and the possibilities are endless. They are NOT as hard to learn as you might think (I mean, heck, I did it!).

      There is a super WSO here which is a step-by-step course on creating minisites in Photoshop and preparing them to upload to the web. Trust me when I tell you, ANYBODY can follow these videos, and when you see how easy it is you will be in fifth gear creating your own masterpieces.

      This is just my opinion, but nothing I ever created using site building software could ever compare to the sites made I've made from scratch.

      Just FYI there about a gazillion free tutorials on Photoshop and Dreamweaver on the net, just google them.
      Whoa--hold on with using Dreamweaver and Photoshop, there are significant cons to both!

      Although I'm an IM newbie I'm a IT support person with over 20 years experience and I have to say that Dreamweaver and Photoshop have several major flaws: first, they are VERY expensive--full blown Dreamweaver package is over $1800. Two, they are bloatware--they hog up hard drive and memory and will slow your processor down significantly while open even if you're not doing much with them. Three, they need CONSTANT upgrades which cost $$$, adobe can't survive unless they constantly dinging you for money apparently. You can easily replace Photoshop with GIMP but Dreamweaver is much harder to replace.

      Finally, I'm not sure that you want to use Dreamweaver anyway, since it is like learning math with a calculator, you never really understand what is going on and you're completely dependent on Dreamweaver to do all the heavy lifting and coding for you. You need to hand code HTML/CSS in the beginning, yes its kind of boring but you need to know how to read HTML code or you'll never be able to understand what is going on inside your website.
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