@Max – I am loving SCAM – are …
Comment posted on Update on “Site Build It Scam” Post by Lis
@Max – I am loving SCAM – are you old enough to remember the Man from UNCLE – they would have understood SCAM – I’ll add you to the list!
Lis also commented
- LOL re your bed time – sorry about that! Feel free to subscribe to my RSS feed and come back – most of the time I don’t have posts which take quite as long to read! Good luck with your new ventures
- Try WordPress – you can make it look like a regular website as well as using it as a blog
- Gabby I am so pleased you still have your $300! I hope you managed to get that website up with out SBI – I’m sure you will!
- Hi Lisa, Congrats on getting out sooner rather than later. Yes I do have an option to recommend: The Keyword Academy. It costs a $1 for the first month and $33/month after that but they will teach you how to think and you can have as many websites as you want . If you want to cancel after a month – you just cancel the sub in Paypal – there is no obligation to even tell them! And the forums are unregulated
And for the cynics the KWA program did not even exist when I wrote this post – it just happens to be the answer to the question that Lisa and many others have asked me!
- Well I can pretty much say that you will never come across a more interesting set of comments when looking for any product review that I’ve acquired over these 2 posts! Come visit again if you decide to persue makeing money online, and delighted to be an entertainment!
Recent comments by Lis
- Keyword Academy – Postrunner Tutorial – Adding A Site
I don’t see why not Rob – just specify what type of posts you are looking for – about Australia, independent not cruise travel that sort of thing - Brett McFall, The World Internet Summit, Is He Legit?
Static in Europe too? I just assume that anyone in the stats from perth, australia -is me – its close enough LOL - How to Earn Passive Income Online – My Guide
HUbpage’s Amazon capsule is only for the US store (same with their eBay store). Most of their traffic is from the US as well – andcerttianly most of the traffic who buy are from the US. I rarely target Australian traffic – the countries just not big enough – UK may or may not be I’m not sure- HP will be fine for backlinks but it has its limitations for monetizing non-US traffic - Brett McFall, The World Internet Summit, Is He Legit?
BK australia has a wonderful deal with IP addresses – I get a new one everytime I login, every few days anyway and if I disconnect the modem for 5 minutes …. Its a pain for excluding my own visits from stats but in every other way its fantastic – I’m watching…. LOL - Site Build It Scam Review
Ooops sorry had to delete your url and edit your comment – I don’t really want the unsuspecting reader to end up on a sitesell affiliate page do I ! LOL
powered by SEO Super Comments
Similar Posts:
- Site Build It Scam Review Redux!
- Site Build It Scam Review
- Is Today Blog a Scam?
- Spammers Send Me Post Ideas!
- Get Paid to Blog: Is it a Scam?
Like What You See – Please Sign Up!
So far I have around
who keep up to date with my erratic blog posts either by email or RSS feeder.
To sign up just click below and chose email or your favourite RSS reader
Subscribe in a reader or Lis on Facebook
Just an FYI. There is an Internet forum for website development in general called website babble. The lady who owns and runs this site (Lisa) is obviously a Site Build It affiliate. I have entered comments and responded to others on this forum but all of my comments have been removed, and they weren’t that harsh. It is their discretion of course however very unfair for the people looking for an honest evaluation of a product.
Can I suggest to everyone that we Tweet the URL of Lis’s site (this site) so that there is at least one website that shows the honest truth about Site Build It?
Yeah robust discussion is rarer than you might think online! I just got banned before I even posted on a new site a joined because of my “reputation” LMFAO The site you mention she’s not even directly selling SBI – she’s pushing her own ebook – so I can’t really see what her problem is??
If you’ve ever tried to raise a discussion on the SBI forums raising even the slightest criticism of the SBI system or pointing to other valid sources of information, you’ll realise very quickly that SBI has strong cultish tendencies. Disagreement with the SBI way
(or even healthy debate about it) is NOT tolerated. I had a post removed because it mentioned another source of internet marketing information, and then shouted down when I raised an objection.
Also if you want a nice looking website and you rely on templates, go elsewhere, the templates are TERRIBLE. Even if you upload your own html, SBI added features make a complete mess of your code (it never validates). WordPress is a much better option.
Site Build It Commentary
Site Build It is a unique method of getting your site online and making it work for you. but I also agree with what’s been said here. In most cases, the Site Build It Method works best for those who have nominal skills in the online world, because it tends to be quite limiting, but I don’t believe it to be a scam, just hugely overpriced and honestly a waste of your time.
I find the “free domain” commentary to be hype and hilarious at best. Honestly after having reviewed it and taken a hard look. I own 98 domains. were I to pay 300 dollars per domain for hosting, domain purchases and builds, who could afford that? Your domain isn’t free, you’re paying through the nose for it.
Now I’ll grant you, I like to design and I build wordpress sites for $150, including five posts that will be top ranked in Google. Thats cheap but here’s my thing. I think everyone deserves a website and everyone should be able to afford one. That means I don’t think my time is worth 100 bucks an hour or that I double the prices that people pay. I’ve been online since morons like Evoy were wearing three corner pants. I started programming with fortran, cobol and basic when a computer filled a room. I”m a fifty year old woman who doesn’t really care if idiots like Evoy spam my blogs.
It’s the troll mentality. You have to let them do their thing but I’m going to back the comments made here on this one. It’s a Lissowerbutts world on this site.. its their fucking blog, if they to swear, to use the odd badly spelled word or anything else, deal with it.
That being said. for all you proponents of SBI..
Hosting costs about 75 per year, so that pulls the total up to 225 for the first year. The fee for the next year to host would be about 5 dollars per month on a host that lets you change designs to your liking and etc and about ten dollars for a domain registration. With such a huge price differential and the fact that Caffeine is spidering blogs first now, I honestly don’t understand the draw, I’ll admit it, but I”ve been working online for more than 10 years, so I’ve seen a lot of these things sort of come and go.This one will too.
Site Build It was designed for those who buy books like. Computers for Dummies. Now, there’s nothing wrong with not knowing IT or computers or anything else, but there is something wrong with a community that fosters ignorance as a method of keeping you dependent upon them.
That I tend to find a bit on the horrid side. To offer you the means to use your own creativity and to help you learn more about the online world or the IT world is a good way to go. To offer you something that encourages you to depend on them and to pay a fairly exorbitant fee for the use of their services while not helping you to grow in any way, I find to be just a heinous way to do business and a less than efficient use of your time and energy.
Site Build It is a testament to the marketing and advertising skills of the owner that much I will say. The man could sell ice to eskimos cus he not only has all of these little wannabe’s seling his shit, but also defending him while he rakes them over the coals.. Now THAT.. is a good marketer.
Two things, in particular, draw me to Site Build It. (If anybody can show me similar or better options elsewhere then I would be very happy to know about them)…
1) Brainstorm It, their brainstorming tool. I know there are loads of alternatives, Market Samurai seems to be the one that is plugged most often. But Brainstorm It does appear to do a pretty good job of finding “low hanging fruit” to get a new site off to a good start with ranking in Google.
2) Content 2.0, their module for getting user generated content. OK, you could write an article on a blog and get 100 comments left on it. But you would still just have one web page with 100 comments. You would then have to write another page, and wait for more comments, and on it goes. Whereas, with SBI’s Content 2.0, if you write a web page and get 100 (decent, non-spammy) replies you would then have 101 web pages (because every reply is made into a new web page) each of which other people can then leave comments on. Is there a WordPress plugin, or anything else remotely within the budget of an ordinary Joe, that can do this? I would love to know if there is.
You could go the blackhat way with all this rehashed, auto-generated, auto-posted tosh. We’re not all inclined to go that road though.
Or I suppose you could start an article directory and get user generated content that way. But, unless you are ezinearticles, or articledashboard, or something like that, or you are an expert in a very specialized field, then I don’t think you would have much success getting people to submit articles (other than those that are auto-posted all over the place), because you are not offering them anything in the way of content to entice them to want to add more.
Sure Bill
1) Brainstorm 2.0: The Keyword Academy has a tool called niche refiinary which does the same thing – you actually use Google’s own keyword tool and then use Niche Refinary to rate the potential kws as far as difficulty is concerned
2) Content 2.0: Ironically I use something similar for this blog – called super SEO a free plugin. Also if you set WordPress to index tag pages and categories a 5 page site will get 30 pages indexed by Google with no extra work on your part.
I don’t use auto blogging or similar either – it doesn’t work as a long-term business model for me.
I have several sites in TKA’s postunner system both had over 40 user created articles published on them last month. Each article is unique, well written and focused on an easy keyword. The utlimate user generated content if you ask me — oh the price – included in the TKA membership – plus the costs for a domain name (about $10/year) and hosting (about $5/month)
Hope this helps
I have 2
I agree with you five thousand percent on the sbi. To the point that I am giving free hosting to a couple of their folks who wanted a blog. That place is bad news.
Bill two posts a week on wordpress will keep in motion and that keyword discovery tool is free LOL You can articles for under five bucks from needanarticle.com which is a great site. You are being ripped off fairly substantially.
Thank you very much for the replies.
Wordpress and all its plugins is definitely something that I am going to get myself more familiar with. The more I look into it, it’s frightening what you could achieve with that system if you had a good working knowledge of it, and a worthwhile project to go along with it.
As far as the Postrunner system though… unless I have completely misunderstood how it works, that is just a web ring. Not the same thing as SBI’s Content 2.0, which, in my opinion, has more potential if used to maximum effect.
@Bill – I had to google Web ring – its apparently a circle of webistes all linking to each other – Postrunner is nothing like that – its a way to get free user generated content to your site in exchange for a link out to the poster’s site – just like ezinearticles or hubpages.
SBI Content 2.0 – allows “allows every visitor to your website. the opportunity to create their own web page” – like hubpages or squidoo – or postrunner… The question is of course WHY would your visitor want to do that – precious few of them will unless there is something in it for them – revenue sharing, upfront payment, or backlinks is what normally works – so has Ken Evoy just invented the multi-user blog LMAO ?
I’ve worked with wordpress and multiple security and other plugins for a couple years. The potential for it is simply amazing.
I’ve done about I’d guess about 75 so far this year. some I build free and some I charge for and some I teach how to build their own.
You can build community sites, with multiple users and facebook like areas, as well as just about anything you want to build. Its a CMS, its a blog, or its both.
I”ve got 20+ odd sites of my own.. maybe a few more..and 90 some domain names. of those I’m guessing only 5 or 6 are really static html. In fact I’m evening building wordpress community sites for family reunion sites and I promise you its just such a low learning curve that you’re going to be completely impressed..
Take a look and if you’re interested I’d love to help you. The cost of having one done is just so nominal and it takes no time at all to learn. The total cost for a year , not counting the hundred or 150 or whatever they charge you to build it, is about 150 dollars for all your hosting and themes and just about anything you want to do..
drop in some advertising and you’re still under what it costs for the SBI thing and you learn in the bargain. I just don’t understand the draw honestly. A couple of my WP sites went to PR 4 in under 6 months. its a great way to get in motion.
There is no one who can’t do this. I’m teaching 80 year old women to build their own WordPress and they don’t need the sites that overcharge them or encourage them to leaven very little. I also have have some experience with webrings. Its not a bad way to get noticed.We used to use them a lot more than now but they are coming back somewhat.
There is a hub page, which has links to multiple sites, then you click on one and it takes you to another, a great deal like some of the blog sites do.You can actually join multiple webrings or start your own.
I really encourage people to learn and to grow and the best way to do that is to get out there and explore your options.
Happy building
Robbi Drake.
“I really encourage people to learn and to grow and the best way to do that is to get out there and explore your options.”
I wholeheartedly agree.
I still say there is merit in SBI’s system, especially since they added Content 2.0.
That said, I do not agree with Ken Evoy’s “SBI blinders” approach. Anybody who wants to achieve their maximum potential in this life does not, and should not, require to have their hand held every step of the way for ever more.
There is a big world out there beyond SBI, and, although I am no expert, I am discovering that what you say is right, the potential of WordPress is amazing. In actual fact, it’s frightening.
I spent years as a nurse. I began in programming, went to nursing and back to computers after ten years. I can honestly say that anything has merit. The most invasive technique, the most horrid drug has a side effect that can be beneficial.
WordPress is outstanding but it has it’s down side, just like anything else. I work on networks.. Networks aren’t always secure LOL everything has something negative but when that outweighs the positive then it’s time to change suits.
SBI may have the up side, in all honesty I can’t say.I think it is cost prohibitive for those who would and could most benefit from it and I don’t think that is accidental. I also think that the sort of.. cult mentality that is promoted is not accidental because otherwise why would you pay twice what you had to? Add the two things together and its a huge red flag to me.
I know older people who were convinced that they could not do this any other way. I honestly think that its wrong to consciously limit peoples potential and convince them that they can’t do something without you. That’s my big issue. I think anyone of any age can do whatever they want and convincing someone that they need you to be successful is just wrong on so many levels. LOL but thats my gripe.
I work with wordpress contributing. I’m good, but there is someone out there better. There is something that will be worth more than wordpress in a few years Nothing or no one is irreplaceable.
What bothers me the most I think about SBI is that it primarily takes people who are new users or elderly users and without actually saying so, convinces them that they are simply too stupid to learn something new and that SBI is their best option. Those people deal with that stereotype and that societal concept of them on a regular basis. Seeing it happen again in a way that costs them three times what they have to spend to get a website in a time when their money and everyone else’s is limited, just goes against the grain I think.Maybe its my underdog mentality popping out.
Anyhow. Thanks for your comments. and just FYI. even the experts aren’t experts. The computer world is changing so rapidly, with such dynamic things going on, Google Caffeine, changes in Yahoo and in Bing.. that even the most learned has something to learn.
And Liss Thank you for letting me sound off. Great site and a nice job of laying things out. So far as I’m concerned you don’t have to BE an expert at SEO all you had to prove to me was that they weren’t either.
Happy Tuesday Everyone
‘I know older people who were convinced that they could not do this any other way. I honestly think that its wrong to consciously limit peoples potential and convince them that they can’t do something without you. That’s my big issue. I think anyone of any age can do whatever they want and convincing someone that they need you to be successful is just wrong on so many levels. LOL but thats my gripe.’
I totally agree. I use WordPress and its easy to set up although using it to its full potential may take some time. But it’s time well spent! It doesn’t matter how much experience you have (or how old you are) if you put in the effort you can master it and then YOU are in control not someone else. As others have said setting up a site only involves paying out around $10 a month for hosting (with unlimited domains) and the cost of a domain. WordPress is free and there are a ton of free themes too. If you don’t even want to pay out this much start with free Hubpages. There’s absolutely no need to pay out hundreds of dollars for one website.
If you are a complete beginner do as Lis suggests and invest in the Keyword Academy. Not only will they teach you all you need to know about making money online but give you some great tools to use, all for $33 a month.
I’ve had a look at Site Build It and I agree with you, I don’t think it’s a scam at all. It’s just over expensive and turns out to be something that requires a lot more hassle than a lot of other services out there. Well done for putting up with all the negative reactions and keeping up with putting out your message.
Hi there, about a year too late for the original debate. Firstly, congratulations Lis on provoking so much debate – an impressive effort. As pathetic as I am, I have read every word and what strikes me most is the violent opinions on both sides of the fence. There appear to be many seasoned pros out there who have an aversion to SBI, others who seem very happy with it. If of interest, I propose a task where we get to evaluate SBI and its alleged scam status.
I started looking into online income 10 days ago. I quickly learned that putting ‘scam’ into Google after the scheme’s name (which is how I found you), sorted through the majority of the schemes. I was left with two sites which looked of interest and centred on niche blogging, a concept I had not come across before – SBI and The Niche Blogger. After a full two days of looking into it, a large amount spent on this site sifting through the various comments, I decided I would give SBI a go on the $29.99 a month deal, figuring that I have 3 weeks at home now, lots of time, so I could really give it a go and the most I could lose if I was not satisfied was $30, but I would hopefully learn something even then.
I am not particularly web savvy (can edit my own sites by cut and pasting – they were built by others), and I have no real agenda rather than building a business that will generate some passive income, but I thought it might be an interesting angle to the debate on your site to follow an SBI site being built.
I am happy to share my experiences of traffic numbers, monetization efforts (and any advice welcome!). I am also happy to have a standalone SBI experience update page on the site that people can follow (happy to route it through you or host it on your blog – you will have to show me how…).
I have not visited an SBI forum or had any contact with SBIers about from the initial sign up but so far I am more than impressed, not that I have been going along. As you will be able to check out, my site http://www.total-croatia.com (if you allow sites on your blog, will this come out as a link? If not, can you make it so? – that’s how techie I am!) was registered a couple of days ago. I signed up 4 days ago, have been through the ten day course and built 37 pages so far (need to revisit all to improve content, links and graphics, but I wanted something up for the search engines to fined. Got my stats page today and was surprised that Baidu has already found me after two days live. I have a contact page on the site, but doesn’t seem to be working yet (need to go through that part of the guide again – 10 days course and 37 pages uploaded is probably a bit to quick for four days…).
My intention is not to jump on the back of your success with this blog, but to help people out there evaluate, myself included. I am sure if some of your expert followers took an interest, then they might pass on a tip or two my way… Various claims have been made about SBI, positive and negative. I am happy to invest $30 as it sounds like a more promising option for a newbie like me, and more than happy to share my experience. Keep up the blogging – would be nice to get to your level one day!
Cheers from Croatia, Paul
Wow that really is quick Paul. Some cynics might say suspiciously quick!
Hi WordPress Fan, can understand the cynics and me being suspiciously quick. I am working this quickly for two reasons. Firstly I have 3 weeks off before an intense work period and wanted to get as much content loaded in that time; and secondly, if SBI is a scam, then I would rather find that out before parting with another $30. In my initial research, I came across lots of people who have spent lots of money, but also months if not years trying out different schemes. By having a real go at SBI for a month, I would learn if it works.
I joined up seven days ago, registered the site five days ago, and was more than a little surprised to find myself already number two in Google for the two words in my domain name, total croatia. Am also on the first page for some other random combinations that include the word Croatia, which encourages me to think that getting the focused content out there probably does work as per the SBI advice.
Once I figure out how to get the blog side of things, I think I might start a weekly blog on the SBI experience, including info on visitor numbers etc. I am as interested as many others looking for income online to see if SBI really works. Week One has far exceeded my expectations. Cheers Paul
Wow amazing that we’re still going. I got a couple new clients from —that OTHER place– this week. who had questions and comments and honestly, here is the interesting part. they want a blog, they want more help, but they are NOT ready to say, hey I think this is overpriced and overrated.. I’m thinking. wow. so whats it going to take? Gonna invite Lis as a guest blogger in the new toy this week. Definitely qualifies as technology twisted.
I don’t think there is a scam going on I just think it in unnecessary if you don’t have teh cash to spare.
I’d say that everyone agrees on that score, but honestly I don’t know how I feel about the scam end of it. Realistically, they tell you that you’re going to have a better traffic setup, a better way to do things, more authority, more this and more that than you would ever get any other way. In fact, the coaches, coach you to use this product and not really to learn anything new, keeping you more dependent and on that score, I think about half the world finds that its a scam because you don’t work so hard to keep people dependent on overpriced services if you’re an honest business. You offer them the options and tell them what’s out there that might work better.
I agree, it’s not so much that the product is a rip-off (but it is too expensive) – the training manual is very detailed and it teaches you a lot about SEO – but it’s the fact that they peddle it as the only option. They protect this notion to a ridculous extreme, even to the extent that they don’t allow free debate in the forums. I find this distasteful, nannying and highly suspect. They’re not fond of free debate outside of the forums either and I question the authenticity of some posts you see planted here and there. I can’t believe I’m still commenting on this subject, but it makes me mad!
Day 17 of my SBI experience and I have been giving this my best shot and building pages (some cynics would say suspiciously quickly… – see above). I have learned more about a single subject in the last 17 days than at any time in my life, mostly just to the SBI training, but also due to some independent research. I have even been to those ‘cultish’ SBI Forums and posted a couple of posts, and received some great feedback and tips.
So far I have parted with $29.99 and am due to part with the same again in 13 days. What have I got for my money so far? A whole load of new knowledge about internet marketing concentrated in one place that if I cancelled my subscription tomorrow would be far more valuable to me that $29.99. A live website of 100 pages, some more polished than others… After 15 days live (spent the first 2 days doing the 10 day tutorial), according to the stats, I have 209 unique visitors from 30 countries, including visitors from Facebook, Google and Twitter (I have no concept of how the latter works).
I have picked up some awesome free tips from the forums – people sharing their experiences of what works – and implemented one late last night, with the result I had 30 unique visitors yesterday, and I don’t expect it to drop much below that again as I implement more tips.
I am going to pay for next month no question and see where this goes and I hope to start monetising in a month. If by the end of the year I have a site with 100+ plus unique visitors a day (that would be a conservative estimate based on what I have learned these past 17 days), which brings me a passive income of $100 (again very conservative) and I pay $29.99 for that to look after itself, with access to all the SBI tools and great forum advice, is that such a rip off? Compared to searching in the internet wilderness for something which is cheaper? My aim is to make a profit, so if I am speculating (and $29.99 is not a fortune, even in these tough times) to accumulate, isn’t it better to send $29.99 to earn $100 than zero and zero?
I started researching online marketing 3 weeks ago and read about hundreds of people who bought this book, or tried that method, with the result that they are no further forward but a little bit poorer. Based on that, I decided to try one method, clear some time and really give it a go. $29.99 and 17 days later (not much sleep I admit), I couldn’t be happier.
The debate here has been a lively and interesting one, but seems to have moved from SBI being a scam to it being expensive and cultish. $300 up front is a gamble in the online world of scam, but $29.99 a month is not, especially if you free up time to really give it a go for a month. Is SBI cultish? Nothing I can see from the ‘inside’ suggests it is so, and I have had nothing but friendly advice and encouragement. If the worst complaint about SBI is their insistence that only their method works (and it seems that it does work), then is that really so bad compared to all the real scams that are out there?
As with anything, you get out what you put in. Giving it a go for $29.99 is not such an outgoing. I have nothing but positives so far, and I appreciate (as someone not particularly website savvy) the little things – the system analysing each page before upload, so you can rectify to make it more search engine friendly, the (free) Site Review forum, where others give honest and frank critiques, and the sharing of diamond tips for improving sites and rankings. Speaking of which…
Paul – you will discover that social media traffic from facebook, twitter etc will not buy anything – been proven again and again – but knock yourself out you will probably need to prove it to yourself. If your aim is to pay 30% of your income to Ken Evoy – then you are f*king nuts mate! I have sites that cost me $10/year to run – yup just the domain name – the hosting is paid for by other customers – go figure!.
I notice the Ken has offered this “recession busting” option of paying him even more PER A SITE ($30×12 =$360) – nice one – for him.
Paul if you are beginner as you claim then you are at least taking action which means you have much better chance of success than most wannabes. The sad thing of course that you would succeed in any genuine program – like the the one I have here which provides a whole lot more for the same price and doesn’t limit the number of sites you can run!
Hi Lis, this is what it says on the site re the recession buster
If you work the SBI! process, you will be successful. When your e-business is generating sufficient income, switch to the yearly subscription (and save $60/year).
which I read as give it a go for $30 a month (low risk trial) to see if it works and once it does, switch to the yearly and don’t pay more for that flexibility. Maybe I understood it wrong.
Have answered stuff in a much longer post below, but wanted to ask you, if you have time to answer, about your comment about social media traffic not buying anything. Only 10 of my 257 uniques in first 18 days have come from Facebook etc (I only registered there yesterday), but would like to know why you say they won’t buy. I would classify ‘buy’ as someone coming to the site and generating income – purchase, Google Ad click etc.
I am doing a site about all aspects of Croatia in English – a country with great tourism and lots of generic destination guide sites in English, but very little in terms of updated content on life, events, special interest etc, so if my site caters to all that, and invites people to contribute too, surely hits from social media sites would have value? Or am I missing something?
Would appreciate your thoughts, as I appreciate the debate on your blog. Cheers from a non-SBI plant (that made me laugh) in Croatia.
People who visit you via Facebook, twitter, other blogs, etc generally are wasting time at work – I have spent hours and hours on travel sites on other people’s time LOL They are browsers not shoppers. If they are acutally planning a trip they are googling stuff like – “hostel under 10 euros dubrovnick” (sp!)or “stag party beer garden splite” – those people are about to make a booking … if you see what I mean.
In the make money online niche its a little different – I do have “social” people here who follow me who – because they understand affiliate marketing – will come back and give me the commission if they decide to use a product I’ve talked about – but thats a little unusual. Few people booking a hostel understand that the website they click thru to hostel world from is the one that gets the commission (that’s a hint BTW)
Is SBI! a scam?…………… No
————–
Does it work?…………….. Yes… but not for everybody, and far better for some than for others, and not just dependent on how closely you follow the “Action Guide”. It also depends on a whole raft of other more personal factors, including…
genuine subject knowledge (as in “are you really an expert?”, because you had better be really interested if you are not, otherwise you will probably run out of “stamina” midstream);
life experience and personal circumstances (and some of us would rather keep that to ourselves, TYVM);
opportunity… we don’t all have the time or money to go swanning off to exotic locations, and we don’t all like our “home town” enough to wax lyrical about it on a website;
do you have a profession/consultant level experience, or a bricks and mortar business selling “high ticket” items… not essential, but very, very, very helpful for your bottom line if you do
your personality… this is probably the most important deciding factor of the lot, yet one which “gurus”, including Ken Evoy, ignore big time (although years ago Ken Evoy did produce an ebook called “Why People Fail”. It’s basically what he regards as a definitive list of negative personality traits that scupper the chances of anyone succeeding… it’s too simplified, he has everybody starting on a level playing field, and it gives not one iota of consideration to the effects of personal circumstances on how people respond).
————–
Is it worth the money?……… At $300 dollars a pop, most people couldn’t afford to get it wrong too often. That said, the equivalent of some of the individual modules (even if they were available) would probably cost that and more if purchased elsewhere. And $300 a year is not a lot for a genuine money-making business.
————–
Is SBI “the only way”?……….Don’t be ridiculous. It’s not even the best way for ALL beginners.
————–
Is it a “cult”?……………..IMO, yes, there are definitely cultish factions to it. Follow the leader without question, and all that good stuff. Some do. Some don’t. Who succeeds? Some of both.
—————
Paul, you almost sound like a Sitesell “plant”. Not saying you are. You just come across that way.
Nothing in this world is perfect.
Bill
I wondered too Bill- I read his comment carefully before posting it. Sadly I have had so much experience with SBI trolls that I know recognise some of the pre-packaged paragraphs they use! I didn’t find any in Paul’s so I let it thru … I am giving him the benefit of the doubt for the moment. Gotta laugh he gets useful free info on the forums – WTF does he think sites like this provide!
@Paul–the reality is that we permit you to come here and say what you want, but SBI does not permit honest debate and any type of detrimental feedback about their product, no matter how respectful.
Hell even the president doesn’t mind a bit of honest criticism, which is where the cult bit comes in.
When you don’t permit anyone to speak evil of, and protect your product to that extent, you get the bad name that you richly deserve of being a despot.. or a little tin dictator.
Sorry but if its not a cult or a scam or whatever other name you’d like to offer it.. why not permit honest and open and respectful debate? what have you got to lose if you have nothing to hide and nothing to lose?
It all seems just a bit too ridiculous to me that people are stupid enough to buy into it , but it’s all good. If you’re happy dude, then we’re happy.
Robbi – exactly – for any reading this new into the debate – I call SBI a cult because I was descended upon by zombies all chanting “death to Lis” in chorus – you think I am exaggerating – I’m not – my only regret is that I deleted the comments which hoped that I would die from cancer and my family would leave me – I thought it was in bad taste. To be clear that wasn’t from Ken himself – but from his organised “rapid response” team who descend when a negative review on SBI comes out. I wrote the original review because there were NO negative reviews at all in the SERPS – and then I found out why …
Oh Whoops. also @Paul.. for your money. you get one site, no sub-domains etc.YEP, maybe you get a few modules that you could get free form wordpress plugins.. so I’ll give you that one. but in any other addon hosting company, you get fifty kinds of free software, and also you can make unlimited domains. NOT just one.. SHOW me. another hosting company that charges you 300 bucks to host your sh!t and limits you that strongly and I’ll write a scathing commentary on them too.
RD
There is no website but SiteBuildIt, and Ken Evoy is it’s prophet.
Seriously though, all you SBI kool aid drinkers just don’t quit. SBI is one solution, amongst MANY. There are multiple paths to success, and no single person has all the answers, regardless of what they tell you.
I wouldn’t waste my time with SBI because I have 5+ websites that generate income, and I am not looking on dumping $1,500/year to Ken Evoy in order to continue. Finding success online is about studying and putting in hard work, if SBI helps you get there, so be it.
$30/mo. isn’t much to learn for a few months, but once you have a clue, less than $10/mo. for hosting multiple sites sounds MUCH BETTER.
/end debate
Mitch, totally agree with a couple of your points:
1. Finding success online is about studying and putting in hard work, if SBI helps you get there, so be it.
2. $30/mo. isn’t much to learn for a few months, but once you have a clue, less than $10/mo. for hosting multiple sites sounds MUCH BETTER.
I am prepared to put in the work (have decided that this is my one project for August), I know my subject and the SBI system has helped get me to where I am now – very pleased. $30 a month is nothing for the knowledge I have learned – the same price as buying 5 beers in London for a web expert friend to explain it all in the pub. The key thing for me is that now I understand how things work a little better (and that will only continue), I will then be able to better evaluate if I want to spend $1500 a year for 5 SBI sites for example, or go down a different route. The advantage all you guys have over me is you are very knowledgeable in this field, I am a newcomer, but having spent 4 days from initial looking into online marketing to deciding to give SBI a go, 18 days later, I am more than happy. And when I get more time to look around, maybe with my increased knowledge, I will find better and cheaper options that you guys are out there, or maybe I will stick with SBI for my next project, as I am comfortable in the system and there are nothing but positives so far. A comforting thing for me in a world of internet scams is that SBI for sure is not a con in terms of not delivering. Expensive? To you guys yes, to me, a newcomer, so far an absolute bargain.
SBI may well be one of many ways, as you say – so far for me it is the one I researched and decided to try and it has far exceeded my expectations. My aim is not to debate who has the best system, but to find one which works for me and will start generating passive income – and based on my experience so far, I am happy where I am.
A final thought for all you experienced passive income makers out there. You are all knowledgeable and no doubt successful, but there must have been a time long ago when you too knew nothing, and you probably tried a few things before finding your method. If you could have been guaranteed back then (not knowing what you do now), for $30 a month, within 3 weeks a 100 page self-built website (with no real web design skills), 257 unique visits (less than 10 of which are from Facebook etc) and random people adding content to the site for you through contact forms, wouldn’t you all have thought that was a great deal? Can see why Lis and Bill may suspect I am an SBI plant due to my enthusiasm. I am not, just a very happy beginner who seems to have found fairly solid ground at the first attempt after four days of research. Cheers
Paul – to answer some of your questions – I have no web design skills and no little html and less CSS – WordPress is now so easy to use it should be illegal – if your site was in WordPress you would be able to have a beautiful design and interaction with comments – like you get on this blog. Your photos are stunning and deserve to be properly featured – maybe something like this site (not mine- http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blog/ ) You built the website – you added the content and the photos – from everyone I’ve heard do both it would have been quicker and easier in WordPress. And you don’t make it easy for your users to add content (and travelers love to add content – see Matt’s site – because they can’t comment easily and have a converstion like we are here)
Not SBI or any other program can guarantee traffic or rankings – but decent keyword research and backlinks are the key to both – the actual architecture of the site is irrelevant.
You are doing well but you are focussed on the site as the most important part of getting website up the rankings – a common mistake – the most important thing is understanding which keywords are a) worth ranking for (ie has traffic) and b) has competition that you can beat. Get that wrong and a 1000 pages of brilliant content won’t help.
Happy to be wrong about the plant bit – buy me a beer if I make it Croatia – I’ve only ever heard good things about the country!
thanks for that – interesting site and will take a closer look later. i get the keyword and backlink bit- have done the keyword research prior to kick off and the content has been written accordingly for the first two tiers at least. working now on the linking bit but making good progress on that score. I will probably submit my site for review on the SBI forum in a week or so. As an interesting exercise, are you or anyone else interested in doing a review of the site at the same time? WOuld be interesting to compare notes and I will benefit from more good advice. Let me know.
The mention of beer is making me thirsty… cheers Paul
You’re a slow learner for someone who started registering domains in 2005 and now owns 48.
Hi WordPress Fan,
are you referring to me? Would be interested to know the 48 sites I own if yes… My businesses have a total of I think five, none of them built by me, some of them badly maintained by me (cut and paste HTML in Frontpage) – they cover Albania, Sarajevo, Croatia, Medjugorje and alcohol free hand gel (am happy to supply links as none generates more than 300 unique visitors a month) – what are the other 43 about?!? Just because I own a domain for my business, doesn’t mean I built it. If this wasn’t referring to me, then apologies.
Sorry Paul, yes I was referring to you. I don’t know what your other sites are but my suspicious mind made me look you up on whois.sc As you can see for yourself, it states you have 48 domains. Not exactly the complete beginner in the internet world you’re touting yourself as then. I don’t mean to be rude, I’m not into slanging matches or anything, but something just doesn’t ring true here. You say you have no axe to grind yet your comments read like a sales pitch. I’ve tried SBI myself so I know that it’s far from perfect, and if you got through their training manual in 4 days (took me weeks) then you’re too clever to need to use something as expensive and inflexible as Site Build It.
Good to hear you are not into slanging matches – me neither and thanks for the link to whois.sc and you are right, I do apparently own 48 sites (I don’t) – anyone know how I can find out what they are? I have registered a few over the years (starting Feb 04), but even if I did own 48, doesn’t mean I necessarily build them, just as i have owned 4 cars in the last five years but didn’t build them either. Am really intrigued as to where this info has come from and how I can find out – suggestions welcome. As for my being an internet beginner, in my first post I said – I am not particularly web savvy (can edit my own sites by cut and pasting – they were built by others) – and that is where I am at.
Re getting through the manual quickly, I have 3-4 weeks free and made a decision to give this 100%. I am sure I have overlooked certain bits in order to get started. Maybe there are better things out there, but as I said above, which beginner would not have gone for my current position after 3 weeks, having never looked at online marketing before? Now that I know a lot more, when I have time, I will look at alternatives, but while SBI continues to exceed my expectations and I now go back to my job, I am happy with the status quo. It is obvious from the comments above that SBI is not for everyone, but so far I am more than happy.
BTW quick question – as you are a self-described fan of SBI Paul – how did you find this little discussion? Just curious
Very interesting to be honest and I don’t normally contribute to forums that much. It is obvious that both sides have strong feelings. As for me, my focus is trying to get some passive income moving (am staying in the debate as I am learning lots), so am a little surprised at the lengths people have gone to to attack SBI. But an interesting debate and a heap of suggestions from your good self and others are certainly worth looking into when I get a min. You have steered a good moderating ship I think and appreciate the time you have put in to post replies to me. So a beer in Croatia for sure! And an even bigger one for whoever can give me the list of 48 sites I own…
Hi WordPress Fan, I contacted the domain company who say I have 48 domains (copied Lis and happy for her to share that email with you). I can totally understand your suspicions and I had no idea where the 48 came from. Here is their reply – makes you wonder why they bother really…
Thank you for contacting DomainTools.
In most cases like this, you are not the only “Paul Bradbury” that we show who owns domains.
Thank you again for using DomainTools.
Best regards,
Brian W
DomainTools Client Support
Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: DKD-738578
Department: DomainTools Memberships & Transactions
Priority: Low
Status: Closed
They only match on the name ????? Thank heavens that your name is not John Smith LOL
Right well, I signed up to Site Build It a short while ago to conduct a review and I can honestly say that although it’s not a scam, I’d recommend to people to steer clear. It’s not that it’s crooked, it’s just that it is very expensive and in addition, you can’t seem to see any genuine people involved with it to give you the downsides. Most people get suspicious in this instance and Site Build It takes too long to come up with real information for real people, it takes far too long to get beyond the hype.
LOL gosh you don’t say? You mean they don’t want honest discourse, but expect blind acceptance and vocal approval? Hm… sounds like some cult thing to me.. the only real difference I guess is that —hm… well the only one I can think of off hand is that they don’t promote mass suicide???