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Site Build It! is changing its name to SBI

September 3, 2010 by John Dilbeck
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Sitesell and Site Build It

Ken Evoy, founder of Sitesell, announced recently that they are in the process of changing the name of their primary product from Site Build It! to SBI. This is not going to happen all at once, but will be a gradual transition over a period of months.

Personally, I think this is a good idea. I’ve been calling it SBI for some time now, because I think the name “Site Build It!” gives an erroneous impression of what the product offers — and I think the site builder is now the weakest part of the service in some ways.

SBI offers a whole lot of functionality that occurs behind the scenes and is taken care of for us without any direct actions on our part.

I think that the Brainstormer, Master Keyword List, Site Blueprint, and other tools are more important than the site builder part.

If I wanted a great site builder tool, I’d look into something like Weebly.com, Yola.com, or WordPress. They make it easy to build a site and update information.

But, and this is very important, neither of them offers any tools to help you research your niche and to provide information that your readers want to find. That is the main focus and primary competitive advantage that SBI offers.

To be fair, Sitesell has announced that their site builder will get a significant update this year and the projected time of delivery is in the December 2010 time frame.

We’ve already seen some significant advances in the use of themes and CSS in building SBI sites this year, and the new site builder could be a very important part of the innovation that helps new webmasters build sites that rank well in the search engines — and look good, too.

I’m not all that sold on the idea that a site has to be “modern” looking to be effective. I still have sites that are two-column, low in graphics, load quickly, and rank well for the keywords I’m targeting. Why would I want to change them?

Well, there is one thing I do want to change on my MurphyGold.com site. Site sponsorship is an important part of the monetization of that site, and I’ve been too sick to really take advantage of it over the last year.

I could do it now, if I were physically able, by uploading my own HTML files and I know how to program HTML in my sleep. In fact, I changed my AYearFromNow.com site from SBI’s site builder (also known as the block by block builder) and uploaded my own HTML for awhile, but I switched it back for a variety of reasons that were more personal in nature and don’t really pertain to this post.

I know all about the power of includes in building websites and the use of CSS, and make use of them in my other sites.

When the new site builder is introduced later this year, I’ll continue using CSS and I’ll start using includes. Hopefully, I’ll be feeling better by then and will be able to seriously focus my mind on what I want to accomplish, again.

But most of that is beside the point. I’m not a beginner, and I have lots of ways to build websites that look good enough and — more importantly — get the click and make the sale.

On most of my pages, I want the reader to focus on one of two things. My Most Wanted Response (MWR) is usually for the reader to click on an affiliate link or a Google Adsense Ad. Preferably an affiliate link, because they generally pay better.

On most pages, my secondary response or fall-back response is to click on an Adsense Ad. They’re going to leave my page anyway, so I might as well make something from it when they do.

This is not always true, however. I’ll be removing Adsense ads from some of the pages that don’t earn much and I’ll probably be removing the Adsense ads from the bottom of the pages, because they earn only a fraction of what the ads at the top of the page earn.

And, on some of my pages, I don’t even try to monetize visits. They are there purely for inspiration, motivation, or information. Not every page has to be a money maker.

So, why am I talking about all of this?

I think that what is important in a website (if we’re using it to earn a living) is to give the reader good information (as good as we’re able to prepare and present), and then only one or two choices for further actions. When there are too many choices, it leads to confusion, and confusion leads to inaction, or clicking the back button on the browser.

So, I’m all for simple, fast-loading designs that offer a couple of choices for actions on the page.

The exception is site sponsorship, as I mentioned earlier. When it comes to a business owner deciding to sponsor my site, then I want their link to be presented on every page of the site, and a third right column is a good place to put that. The use of includes makes it much easier to maintain.

JD, what does all that have to do with Sitesell changing the name from Site Build It! to SBI?

It may not mean much to you, but it is very important to me.

SBI is much more than a tool for building a page on a website, or even an interlinking group of pages. The actual building of the site is much less important than the tools that make it so easy to brainstorm topics, to prioritize those topics, and to design a site blue print so that we can present the information that is important in our niche in the best way possible so that we’ll rank highly in the search engine results and get lots of free visitors from the search engines.

SBI offers those tools and more, and all at the low price of only $300 per year per site.

Even though I’m not physically able to make use of all of this right now, I’m happy to pay the fee, because my sites continue to get thousands of page views every month, and generate some income while I’m recovering — all with little effort on my part.

I think the emphasis on the site builder in SBI was a good thing a few years ago, but not so much now. As the tools built into SBI continue to grow, expand, and mature, I believe the totality of the product is much more important than any part of it.

I would never again consider trying to build a website in a niche without doing the research and brainstorming that SBI makes so easy. And, it’s not only in the initial brainstorming and planning phase that this is important. We continually revise our approach as we find changes in the topics and keywords that are important to our readers. This means that it is easier to keep on top of the subject with SBI than it is without it.

I think that’s what is important.

What do you think?

Tags: SBI, Site Build It, Sitesell

Comments

5 Comments on Site Build It! is changing its name to SBI

Tweets that mention Site Build It! is changing its name to SBI : 21st Century Affiliate Marketing -- Topsy.com on Sat, 4th Sep 2010 12:38 am

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Pat Marcello and webwerbung.info, webwerbung.info. webwerbung.info said: Site Build It! is changing its name to SBI – 21st Century Affiliate Marketing : Ken Evoy, founder of Sitesell,… http://ow.ly/18RoWW [...]

Brian D. Hawkins on Sat, 4th Sep 2010 9:52 am

I thought for sure you were going to say Ken Evoy acquired SBI.com but it looks like CitiBank has it. That sure would be cool though.

I totally agree that research and brainstorming is extremely before starting a site. Time is too limited to waste on running in circles. I have over a hundred domains and I’m letting many/most expire because I shouldn’t have registered them to begin with. It takes much more than just a good idea.

In fact, here’s how good I’ve been with research. Today one of my domains expires CaughtOffGaurd.com. Notice how I spelled ‘Guard’ lol.

Dennis Edell @ Direct Sales Marketing on Sat, 4th Sep 2010 3:37 pm

A little confused, aren’t they interchangeable? Is he just making it “official” or what?

John Dilbeck on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 12:12 pm

Good afternoon, Brian,

I know what you mean about getting a good idea, registering a domain, and then trying to build it and make it profitable. I’ve wasted years of my life doing that. In fact, I blogged about that this morning.

It looks like there’s a little “poetic justice” in your CaughtOffGaurd.com domain. (grin)

I’ve really enjoyed testing all the things that I tested over the last 13 years or so, but I’m getting tired of all the associated hassles.

Even upgrading three plug-ins this morning on this blog bothered me. I just don’t have to deal with that stuff on my SBI hosted sites.

Nobody else has provided me any tools for researching and building a website nearly as good or as comprehensive as I get with SBI.

Over time, other than two or three blogs (which I’ll write to now and then), two communities powered by Ning that are doing well, and maybe one or two other sites, all my future development work will be done using SBI.

Some won’t want to hear about it, so they’re welcome to unsubscribe or not bother reading what I write. I’ve tested lots of things, built lots of sites, and learned what puts food on my table without taking advantage of anyone.

I’ve done my round of traffic exchanges, network marketing (MLM), downline builders, and other things that are supposed to work, and I eventually learned enough to get off that treadmill to nowhere. I regret promoting them, but I know better now.

One reason my income is down is because I no longer promote anything that I’m not positive works as advertised and helps someone build a real business and not just waste time being busy.

Thanks for your comment. I always enjoy hearing from you and your viewpoint.

Act on your dream!

John Dilbeck on Mon, 6th Sep 2010 12:27 pm

Good afternoon, Dennis.

The name has always been “Site Build It!,” but many of us are lazy and just started referring to it as SBI.

Now, mainly because of the confusion that some people have when lumping SBI in with other site builders, Ken has decided to make the name change official and will be phasing it in over the coming months, gradually.

When SBI was introduced, there were only a few site builders available and the block-by-block tool that SBI introduced made it easy for beginners with absolutely no experience to build sites that were optimized to get good search engine traffic.

Now, even though the block-by-block builder still works as well as ever, it is clunky when compared to sites like Weebly.com, Yola.com and others who offer fancy AJAX powered site builders.

It’s not the site builder tool that makes SBI stand out, it’s all the research tools, training, action guide, forum, and tools that make it a complete unified business building system.

So, by reducing the emphasis that some people assume on the site building tool, Ken wants to focus on the complete system that has proven it can help thousands of people build real businesses online.

I’m not talking about a few hundred dollars a month. I’m talking about a 5- or 6-figure income that has replaced full-time jobs for lots of people I know and have followed for the last few years.

So, yes, for some, the changeover from Site Build It! to SBI will be somewhat of a non-issue, for others it may help them focus more on what the system offers.

At least, that’s Ken’s plan as I understand it.

Act on your dream!

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