Attitude is Everything

August 29, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 18 Comments
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Inspirational, Motivational, Simple Truths 

One of the things I always hear about inspirational movies, books, and quotes is they are fine for a little while, but the inspiration and motivation doesn’t last.

It’s true.

They don’t last for long.

As Zig Ziglar said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

Zig Ziglar
Zig Ziglar

(I love reading what Mr. Ziglar has to say. I’ve read his books many times over the years and I recommend See You At The Top. If you’d rather listen to him on CD or downloadable audio files, I recommend his See You at the Top 25th Anniversary Edition. He, too, believes that attitude is everything, and it was from reading one of his books that I adopted the attitude of gratitude, and practice it every day.)

I like to read inspirational stories and watch videos. When I’m really hard at work and time is short, that is often when I most need a motivation boost.

That’s why I like the books and movies available at Simple Truths.

Here’s a great three-minute reminder about the importance of attitude:

Since you’re reading this blog, you’re probably interested in affiliate marketing, too.

Simple Truths has an affiliate program that is managed by ShareASale.com, and it’s easy to join and promote.

Now, I’m going to make another cup of coffee, sit next to the air conditioner and watch the Attitude is Everything movie…

Act on your dream!

JD

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NovaMind 5 for Mac has been released

August 27, 2011 by John Dilbeck · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Business, Macintosh, Mind Mapping, NovaMind, iPad 

I’ve been using NovaMind 5 for Mac extensively for about a month now, and it has become one of the central applications that I use all throughout the day, and ranks right up there with my web browser and email. In fact, I’m using it so much that I will probably add it to the applications that launch automatically whenever I turn my computer on.

All this time, NovaMind 5 for Mac has been in beta testing. I encountered three problems and reported them. None of them were serious and I was right back to work. I haven’t had any issues with the application for several days and it’s doing exactly what I want it to do.

NovaMind is a great investment for my business

I think this is going to become one of those “the best $50 I ever invested in my business” kind of things. As I stated earlier, I’ll be upgrading to the Platinum version as soon as I need the project management capabilities. I don’t need them right now.

I previously wrote a couple of articles about NovaMind and mind mapping, here:

Mind mapping is an incredible way to brainstorm and organize

Brainstorming and mind mapping

As I said previously, when I start using a new tool, I start with as much enthusiasm as I can muster and I’m determined to give it a fair chance. Most applications just don’t live up to my expectations and I use them less as time passes.

In the case of NovaMind 5 for Mac, however, that isn’t true. The more I use it, and the more I learn about what I can do with it, the better I like it.

I’m not saying that would be your experience, but it certainly is mine.

Since I started seriously using NovaMind, I haven’t used any of the other mind mapping applications I downloaded to my Mac, but I still use MindNode on my iPod when I’m out of the office.

NovaMind is available for Windows, too

Don’t forget, there is also a version of NovaMind for Windows.

NovaMind 5 for Mac leaves beta testing and is released

NovaMind announced the release of this application on their blog, yesterday, and also announced the addition of capabilities to import files from other mind mapping applications. Now NovaMind can import from iMindMap, XMind, FreeMind, MindNode, and SimpleMind, as well as from OPML and text files. The Pro and Platinum versions can also import from Mind Manager.

NovaMind can import from OmniOutliner

NovaMind also added the ability to import from OmniOutliner in the latest release.

This is something that may come in handy for those of us who like to stick lots of different kinds of information into one big file so we can find it later by simply searching in that file using Command-F.

I have a couple of large text files and use TextWrangler to manage them. It works, but only for text information.

I’ve been considering OmniOutliner for storage and organizing of various kinds of information. Now that I know that NovaMind can import from OmniOutliner, it has rekindled my interest.

I’ve never used OmniOutliner, but I have several friends who rave about it. It’s something I’ve been meaning to try, to see if it would help me better organize all the stuff I go through every day. There are two versions, and I’m not sure, yet, which one I’ll try. It’ll probably be October before I’ll have the time to do it and I’ll probably write about my experience with the application.

There are two versions of OmniOutliner for Mac, and a new iPad version:

OmniOutliner for Mac, by The Omni Group

OmniOutliner Pro for Mac, by The Omni Group

OmniOutliner for iPad, by The Omni Group

I’ll probably try out the Pro version, because I think the clipping ability and being able to store voice memos will work the way I do.

If I can then import those documents, reliably, into NovaMind, I think I’ll finally have a system of storing and finding all the various bits of information I need for running my business, writing my blogs, creating my websites, and writing that book that’s floating around in the back of my mind.

NovaMind Help is online

If you’re interested in NovaMind 5 for Mac, they have added the full documentation for the product on their NovaMind 5 Help page.

This has been an interesting month and I am very happy that I learned about mind mapping, and found and purchased NovaMind 5 for Mac.

I am better organized, my business is better documented, and all the ideas I have been putting on to-do lists and sticky notes now have an organized home in the master mind map for my business.

I think that’s a very good thing.

I use and recommend NovaMind

I enjoy using NovaMind mind mapping software and recommend it to you.

The use of this application has radically changed how I manage my business — definitely for the better.

Act on your dream!

JD

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I really dislike unethical people

August 23, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 18 Comments
Filed under: Ethics, Musings, Opinions 

I really, really dislike unethical people.

When I was sick, I gave up a number of websites I developed over the years. Some intentionally, one by accident when I failed to renew it while I was in the hospital.

While doing some Google searches as part of my continuing tracking of keyword phrases for which I compete, I found several of my old domains still on page one of Google. When I visited the sites, the new owners were still showing my old content on those sites — but they had added lots of links to things I would NEVER endorse.

It really bothers me that people might mistake the new links on my old domains as recommendations from me and I hate to think that someone would waste time and/or money thinking they were following my advice.

So, I decided that it was time to have my copyrighted work removed from those domains. What they are doing is unethical and illegal.

A couple of days ago, I spent a few hours sending emails to the new owners of the domains to notify them that I’ll be filing DMCA notifications of copyright infringement, if they don’t remove all references to me, my business, and any materials I produced.

In a couple of cases, they’re still showing MY copyright on their pages.

I accidentally lost one domain last spring, when I failed to renew it while I was in the hospital. The only value it can possibly have for the new owner is that I’m still sending visitors there, because I haven’t had time and energy to remove all the links from my sites to that domain.

I hated to lose that domain, because it was going to play a role in my local marketing plans over the coming years.

I intentionally gave up several domains when I decided to de-emphasize blogging this year. They may have value to the new owners, but some of them are wasting it, in my opinion. I don’t understand why they don’t just delete all my old content and start over, instead of using so much of what I produced and leaving themselves open to a copyright infringement claim.

I just don’t understand that type of thinking.

They’re selling their souls for a pittance of money they may make from the domains, and if they don’t remove my material, I’ll also file a DMCA notice with Google and that can jeopardize their Adsense accounts.

All they have to do is remove everything I produced. Then they can do whatever they want with the domains.

Over time, I’ll find and remove the links from my current sites to those domains.

If anyone is reading this who is playing fast and loose with copyrighted material, stop and think. Don’t steal what others have produced.

Write your own articles, take your own photographs, create your own graphics.

Other people will steal them and reuse them, but they live on the dark side.

I find lots of sites that are illegally using photos I took and posted on my sites. Eventually, I’ll start filing DMCA notices against those site owners, too.

I always send a notice that they are infringing, telling them to remove all the material I created. I also inform them that I’ll file the DMCA notices in two weeks, if they don’t.

It’s a hassle. But some people just don’t believe the law applies to them.

Use the force, dear readers!

Be a creator, not a plagiarist.

Act on your dream!

JD

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Typestyler – how I start my designs for CafePress and Zazzle

August 15, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 12 Comments
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, CafePress, Macintosh, Zazzle 

Selling my designs on CafePress and Zazzle

In addition to affiliate marketing, I also enjoy creating designs and selling them in my Cafepress and Zazzle shops.

If you visit either of those shops, and I hope you will, you’ll notice that most of my designs are styled text. I’m not much of an artist, but I know how to use computer programs to help me express my visions for new products.

Windows

Please note: Windows users, I don’t have any advice for graphics processing software, because I’m strictly a Mac user and haven’t touched a PC in nearly 20 years. I’m sorry I can’t offer any advice or recommendations for you.

As you already know, most people use Windows computers and there is a wide variety of graphics editing programs that are used to create designs for selling on Cafepress and Zazzle. And, of course, you can open your own shop on either site and/or join their affiliate programs.

I just don’t have any experience I can share about the process using Windows.

Macintosh

Now, back to how I do this on a Mac…

Create the design

If you are an artist and/or photographer, you’d start by creating the artwork or photo, but I use styled text on almost all of my designs, so that’s where I start. Below this section on TypeStyler, I offer some advice about several graphics editing applications in which you may have some interest.

TypeStyler

Almost always, I start the process with TypeStyler, a program that is designed specifically to, well, style text on a Macintosh. (You can download a fully functional version that you can use for 60 days, for free. If it suits your needs, you can purchase it for $180.) (I wish they had an affiliate program!)

Edit the JPEG file

Once I get the design how I want it, I export it as a 300 dpi JPEG file for further editing in a graphics editing application.

One of the things I can quibble about is how TypeStyler doesn’t do an excellent job of exact sizes when exporting to JPEG files. It gets it close, but I still find it necessary to tweak the file in a dedicated photo-type bitmapped image editor.

I used to use Photoshop and GIMP for that, but both of those programs are too complicated and offer much more than I need. So, last year, I went searching and found three graphics programs that offer the tools I want, and the prices are good, too.

I should mention that a lot of people, who don’t need all the features of Photoshop, like to use Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 Editor, by Adobe Systems Incorporated. I’ve never used it, but I’ve heard from people I trust that it is a good application, especially for home users who are not graphics pros. Since I’ve never used it, I can’t recommend it to you, but it should be mentioned, for completeness.

Instead of using Photoshop, I’ve switched mainly to Pixelmator, by Pixelmator Team and like it much better. It offers all of the tools I used in Photoshop and the interface is similar enough that I didn’t have a lot of relearning to do, yet it seems more responsive and the cost is much better.

(The Pixelmator team is working hard to finish and release version 2, which will have a lot of new features and will improve the existing tools. They’ve promised that anyone who buys version 1 through the Mac App Store will receive a free upgrade to version 2 when it is released. I think that’s a great deal, especially when you consider that the software sells for only $30.)

Sometimes, I’ll edit graphics using Acorn – The Image Editor for Humans, by Flying Meat and I almost always create new coupons using Sketch, by Bohemian Coding.

Vector graphics

I do very little work with vector drawing, other than coupons. Sketch works perfectly well for that. It does take a little getting used to. It works similarly to Illustrator, but certain tasks are very different.

If you want something that will do what Illustrator does, this is not the application for you. A step up from Sketch would be Artboard, by Mapdiva, LLC, but it is still not a complete substitute for Adobe’s Illustrator. I have not used Artboard, yet, but it’s on my wish list and I expect to buy it this year and put it to the test, so I’m not qualified to recommend it to you.

Just as Pixelmator does most of what I used Photoshop for, Sketch does what I used to use Illustrator for, and it costs much, much less.

Years ago, I spent a lot of money buying PageMaker, Photoshop, Illustrator, and the full version of Acrobat. I spent hundreds of dollars for each of those programs. Now, for around $100 total, I can replace them with Pages, by Apple®, Pixelmator, and Sketch. I don’t have a need for Acrobat, since any application on a Mac can produce a PDF file.

Pixelmator and Acorn are very similar. I just happen to like the feel of Pixelmator better. Both are good apps.

For the most part, however, Typestyler and Pixelmator are the graphics programs I use over 90% of the time.

I’m not going to get into a review of these products, except to say that I really love using them. Each of them offers some things not available in the others, so they make a good toolset for modifying graphics and photos.

And, this is very important to me, they are specifically designed for a Mac and make very good use of the underlying graphics tools that are built into Mac OS X.

Want to put a frame on your image?

I recently found another application that will be part of my photo editing toolset, but it won’t be used for designs I sell on CafePress or Zazzle — I don’t think. It’s called ImageFramer3, by Apparent Software and it does just what its name suggests. It adds frames to photos, and I’ll be using this a lot on my websites where I show photos. I think they look better when they’re framed.

I recently learned that you can add relatively simple frames to images on Picnik, for free.

But, let’s get back to preparing a design for CafePress and Zazzle.

As I already said, I start with TypeStyler and use it to create the text. It is a very versatile application and it lets me create all kinds of text using all the fonts on my system and then I can stretch and shape the text in a variety of ways. I can add texture, bumps, highlights, gloss, and much more so that the text on each design can have an unique appearance, or I can save a particular type style and use it on similar designs without having to design everything from scratch each time.

The text is created in a raster format that allows for easy manipulation and it can be exported in a variety of formats, both raster and bitmapped. It takes a little time to really master all that TypeStyler can do.

As I said, I usually export it as a JPEG file for further customization.

When I’ve completed the design and exported it as a JPEG file, I open it in Pixelmator, and that’s where I do the precise sizing of the image so that it fits within an 10″ by 8″ rectangle at 300 dpi.

(Yes, I can make larger designs for Zazzle and I might do that in the future, but, generally, I like to use the same design for both sites. Pixelmator does an excellent job of tweaking the image and/or canvas sizes and creates very clean graphics when it resamples and resizes.

If I’m going to add a bitmapped image, this is when I’d do it. Usually, I skip this step.

I have a custom brush in Pixelmator that I use to put a watermark copyright notice on each design, before uploading it. I try to make it small and use a color similar to the design to make it less noticeable.

Upload the design and add it to products for sale

Then, it’s a simple matter to upload the design to either sales site (Cafepress and/or Zazzle) and add it to the products I choose.

I have to admit that I’ve been rather lazy the last few years, and put the designs on the products that take the least work. That was acceptable while I was so sick, but now that I’m feeling better, I’ll be adding the designs to more products in an effort to increase the sales.

The better you promote your designs, the more you sell

I’m talking about this now, because it won’t be long before people all over the world will be looking for gifts for their friends, family, neighbors, associates, and themselves. I want to have as many products available as I can.

Fortunately, each year I can add to the number of designs, so I’m still selling items I created years ago. Now, I need to step up my marketing of those designs so people learn about them and can find them easily. That’s something I seriously neglected over the last three years, or so.

Still, I make regular sales without much promotion, so I expect a lot more sales with more widespread promotions.

Open your store on Zazzle

Later this week, I’m going to write a post about selling products on Zazzle, and even if you don’t want to sell in your own shop, I’m going to suggest that you sign up for one, anyway. They’re free.

Why?

Zazzle Affiliate Program

Because, as soon as you have a shop, you also become an affiliate, and you can promote any of the millions of products you want to on your own sites and blogs and earn an affiliate commission for each sale you generate, even if you never sell any designs in your own store.

In fact, you can sign up as an affiliate for Zazzle — if you’re not already one — and promote my designs. Any that sell based on your referral will earn both of us a commission.

So, the more the merrier!

Of course, you’re also free to promote the items in any Zazzle store, so you can find products that fit with the theme of your blog or website. It’s a pretty easy way to earn some extra cash.

Get started on Zazzle, today

Additionally, if you’d like to create and sell your own designs on Zazzle, go here and get started by creating your first product. It’s free.

Later in the week, I’ll talk more about selling the products in your Zazzle shop, and I’ll write another post about promoting products, designs, and stores in the Zazzle affiliate program.

Extra money is nice

I’m nowhere near to getting rich with my Cafepress and Zazzle shops, but I enjoy spending the few hundred dollars I earn each year.

In this case, I’m creating and selling these products mostly for the fun of it and to earn a little extra spending money. I’m not doing it as a major part of my business. It’s just a little side-line that I do when I feel like it.

What about you?

Do you have any experiences or opinions you’d like to share on the topic of creating and selling your designs on Cafepress and Zazzle?

Act on your dream!

JD

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New 21st Century Affiliate Marketing page on Facebook

August 15, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 4 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, Facebook, RSS Syndication, Social Media Marketing, Social Networking 

Good morning,

Last week, I finally got around to creating a new 21st Century Affiliate Marketing page on Facebook and I hope you’ll visit it. At the moment, about all that is there is a copy of the articles I post on this blog, but I intend to add additional information on the Facebook page in the coming months.

If you’re like me and spend a lot of time on Facebook, you can follow new posts in your newsfeed on Facebook, if you go to the page and like it.

I’ll be continuing to tie my various websites in to their own Facebook pages in the coming weeks.

Thanks for visiting and reading! I really appreciate it.

All the best,

JD

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Brainstorming and mind mapping

August 8, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 24 Comments
Filed under: Business, Mac OS X, Macintosh, Mind Mapping, NovaMind, Opinions, iOS, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch 

Gideon King, founder of NovaMind, has uploaded a number of videos about mind mapping and using his NovaMind mind mapping software (available for Macs and Windows).

Here is his video about brainstorming. The principles he describes are applicable whether you are doing this manually (on paper) or using a computer program, and is not specific to using NovaMind.

He also wrote about Brainstorming on the NovaMind website.

In this movie, he mentions another of his videos, Solving Problems Using Mind Maps, that is also very helpful and informative. Also, he wrote about Solving Problems on their site.

Still loving NovaMind

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote Mind mapping is an incredible way to brainstorm and organize and I was raving about mind mapping and NovaMind.

Since then, I have been using mind mapping every day, sometimes several hours per day, to organize all the facets of my Dilbeck Marketing business, as well as personal topics. For the first time in months, I’m really starting to see how all the pieces fit together — and some that don’t fit at all (and which will be eliminated, as soon as possible).

So far, about 60% of my time involving mind mapping has gone to organizing and documenting my business, and about 40% has involved brainstorming ideas for what I’ll be doing in the coming months.

I downloaded and tried a couple more mind mapping applications on my Mac and knew within an hour or two that neither of them came anywhere close to what I want to do, so I’m going to stop looking. NovaMind works exactly how I want, so I bought the $49 Express version and I’ll be using it until I need to add project management capabilities later this year. At that time, I’ll pay the $200 to update to the top-of-the-line Platinum NovaMind 5 version.

I start out with lots of enthusiasm…

…but often lose interest over a short period of time, when testing new approaches to management and idea generation.

I believe that it is important to put all I can into a new approach when I start it. I want it to succeed and I try to make it happen.

However, with most things, my enthusiasm wanes over a period of a week or two, as I learn that what I’m doing is not making my life any better. In many cases, new tools just overly complicate what I want to do and actually result in less productivity. That is not a good thing.

So, I jumped into mind mapping with all the enthusiasm I could muster, which is quite a lot, and I’ve been mind mapping everything. I’ve been reading articles about it and watching videos, too.

To my surprise, I’m even more enthusiastic about it than I was when I discovered it a couple of weeks ago.

This is a tool that already has made an impact in how I plan, organize, and document what I do and it has far-reaching potential for planning new projects.

I still don’t know how I missed this, but I’m happy I finally stumbled over it. Perhaps it just wasn’t the right time for me to learn it sooner.

Some things haven’t lived up to my expectations…

…and that includes the MindNode software I was using on my iPod. Not that it isn’t good for simple mind mapping and capturing thoughts while I’m away from my main computers. It is good, but not as good as I want.

Gideon King mentioned iBlueSky (mindmapping), by Tenero Software Limited for iOS devices in the video at the top of this post and I went and did some research on it. I would love to have an iOS version of mind mapping software that easily interchanges with NovaMind on my desktop. I thought iBluesky might be a good approach.

I’m working on other projects for the next few days, so I won’t buy it and start testing it, yet, because I don’t want to be distracted from current projects with a higher priority. In a couple of weeks, however, I’ll buy it ($9.99) and give it a try.

In the meantime, I wanted something that was quick and easy to use on my iPod and which worked better than MindNode. Not that I don’t like MindNode, mind you. It does a good job, but just doesn’t quite work the way I do.

So, I went searching, read a few reviews here and there (in the space of a half-hour or so) and found SimpleMind.

I downloaded the free version of SimpleMind+ (mind mapping), by xpt Software & Consulting B.V. and gave it a try.

Right from the start, I liked the feel of it more than MindNode. I can’t really explain it. It just feels more finished and polished and more like a serious business tool.

After using it for a few minutes, I used the in-app purchase option to upgrade to the full version ($2.99) and played with it for another half-hour or so, while I was sipping my first cup of coffee this morning before the sun came up.

I like it. I’ll use it.

I have not tested the importing and exporting features, yet, and can’t say how well they work with other software I use, including NovaMind.

There is a free desktop version of SimpleMind Free, by ModelMaker Tools BV for Mac OS X in the Mac App Store. They also have a paid version, SimpleMind – ModelMaker Tools BV, that sells for $30.99.

In my opinion, and, again, I’m no expert, I think NovaMind offers much more for an extra $20, so I won’t be trying the desktop version of SimpleMind. I listed them in case you’d like to try them.

I will definitely continue using NovaMind

Although there are a number of good mind mapping applications for mobile users, desktop users, and web-based applications, and I linked to a few of them in my previous article, I’ll be sticking with NovaMind. It offers the features I need and use at a price ($49.00) that I consider inexpensive for serious business software.

You may reach other conclusions. If so, I’d enjoy hearing them, if you’re inclined to share.

Mind mapping may not be the best thing since sliced bread, but it has been a very unexpectedly useful tool for me. As I learn more about the technique and how it is implemented in NovaMind, I have no doubt that it will be even more useful in the future.

NovaMind 5 is still considered to be a beta release and is undergoing active development. Three updated versions have been released in the last two weeks. They were free. Installation was easy and I encountered no problems. It does not feel like beta software, at all.

I have encountered no problems, crashes, loss of data, or any other symptoms of unfinished software.

So, what do you think?

Act on your dream!

JD

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Is free information really free?

August 2, 2011 by John Dilbeck · 21 Comments
Filed under: Business, Marketing, Sitesell and Site Build It 

Over the last 15 years, I have bought and studied lots of things related to marketing on the Internet. Some of those products purported to help me sell real physical products. Some said they’d teach me how to be a better affiliate marketer. Some taught the “secrets” to “massive results” and “exploding my downline.”

Some were worth the read, a few were worth a month or two of studying and implementing the ideas, and the others were mostly a waste of time, effort, and money — and served as a distraction to pull me off course and proved to be obstacles in my path to reaching my goals.

It is amazing to me how many people read a website or a book or take a “course” and then proclaim that they are an expert or a consultant. I am dismayed sometimes when I see the quality of the information many of them foist off on an unsuspecting public — especially when they are deliberately targeting people who are new to online marketing and who have a sincere desire to learn the ropes and promote quality goods and services.

So many times, they are sucked into a whirlpool of endless introductions and launches and the latest, greatest, must-have-right-now, secrets of the universe. Sigh.

But, that’s just one viewpoint.

There is some outstandingly good free information on the Web that will help you become a successful webmaster and marketer. Without a doubt, some of it is terrifically good.

The trouble is this.

When you don’t know your way around the wild and mostly-untamed Internet, how do you know what is good information and what is going to waste your time, effort, and money.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t mind wasting a little money here and there. I can recoup those losses in the future.

I absolutely loathe wasting time. Once it is gone, it’s gone forever. I don’t know of any way to recoup lost time.

Life is short enough, as it is.

I’ve subscribed to lots of mailing lists and newsletters. I’ve bought ebooks and courses. I’ve paid my dues and found a few nuggets in the wasteland.

As I’ve said many times, Sitesell and SBI are not for everyone, and they are not the only high-quality products that are available. Ken Evoy is not the only reputable marketer.

There are others. Feel free to go out and find them. You may find someone or a service that fits you better. Seriously. There are many ways to build a successful online business and even more ways to earn some extra income in your spare time.

I’ll never say that isn’t true.

For me, and hundreds of people I know, SBI is the best set of tools and training that is available, at any price. They have thousands of happy customers, most of whom are busily following the action guide and getting more visitors to their sites every month, and watching their income as it climbs.

Some, however, aren’t doing as well as they want to do.

And some, a small minority, don’t like the company or the service, at all.

One thing that is true about Sitesell and SBI, and which is generally not true about others, is the level of transparency and communications we — the customers — get. They talk to us regularly in newsletters, in the subscribers-only forum, and on their Facebook page.

I get a lot of communications from other companies, and some of it is really helpful, but much of it is mainly sales pitches so they can upsell me to other backend products that earn their real profits.

Sitesell isn’t like that. SBI is their primary product. They offer some additional services for people who want specific help in specific parts of their business, but it isn’t required nor are we constantly bombarded with sales pitches. (SBI is mainly for people who want to learn to build an online business ourselves. On the other hand, there are people who already have a business and they don’t have the time or interest in doing it themselves. They want to hire someone who already knows the SBI methodology for building a website that attracts paying customers. Sitesell offers that as a service for those who want someone to do it for them.)

How many ebooks and courses have you downloaded? How much of it has been useful? How much of it has offered conflicting opinions and untested suggestions? How much of it has helped you grow your business? How much has left you confused? How much is sitting on your computer — unread? Who do you listen to? Who do you trust?

Those are a few questions we should all consider periodically in our quest to build our businesses.

Free information may not cost you money — and it may help you make money.

Most free information, including what I’m writing in this blog and on my other sites, has at least two purposes.

1. To be helpful and to share what we’ve learned with you. Thanks for reading!

2. To sell you something and/or to get your contact information so we can sell you something, later.

Yes, it’s true.

I want you to subscribe to SBI.

I have two reasons for wanting you to do that.

1. I honestly believe it is the best value for your money and time, if you sincerely want to build a niche-focused online business that earns real income. (I’m not talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars with no effort. I’m talking about a few hundred dollars a month for part-time effort and maybe a few thousand dollars a month for full-time effort after you’ve spent a few months or years building the site and attracting readers.)

2. I am an affiliate for Sitesell, and I earn a commission if you purchase and don’t cancel your subscription. I put a lot of work into telling you about SBI, and I put a lot of work into building my websites that are powered by SBI. Frankly, I earn more from the websites than I do as a Sitesell affiliate.

Most of the free information you’ll find on the Internet is not free at all. It costs you a lot in terms of distracting you from your goals and in time and effort wasted.

Agree or disagree? I’m listening.

Here’s a quick video on this topic…


I think the free ticket for a test drive is a bit of hyperbole. I don’t know of any such thing.

However, I do know that you can get started for only $30. Try it for a month. Read the action guide. Watch the videos, learn as much as you can — and there is a lot to learn. Visit the forums, read what interests you. Ask questions — or answer some, if you really know what they are.

You will find that there is no pressure for upsells or buying expensive add-ons or any of the things you may have experienced elsewhere.

You’ll find that all the people in the forums are using the same tools and “speaking a common language.” No affiliate links are permitted in the forums. Nobody is there to pitch their products. (Well, it does happen now and then, but they are quickly discovered, fired as customers, and banned from the forums.)

The forums are the friendliest and most helpful I’ve found anywhere, and I’d pay the full price of SBI just to get access to the forum and the brainstorming and keyword research tools. All the rest, in my opinion, is a huge free bonus.

So, have you heard bad things about SBI? Do you think $30 is too much to spend to see for yourself?

What’s the risk?

Invest a month and learn as much as you can. Read the entire action guide and watch the videos. Read the subscriber-only articles and tips. Scan the subscriber-only forums.

If you don’t agree that it is what you want to use to build your e-business, just send a ticket to support and ask for your money back.

You have up to 90 days for a complete 100% refund.

You may find it really isn’t for you. Maybe you need or want to do some things that Sitesell doesn’t offer with SBI. Ask for your money back. No questions asked.

There is no risk in trying it.

On the other hand, there is a risk in not trying it…

Have you just heard opportunity knocking at your door and decided to ignore it?

Remember SBI.

Click the link and bookmark that page. Write it in your journal. Put it on your calendar to look into a few months from now.

If you don’t like what you see, go elsewhere and try other approaches.

When you decide to come back and try it, again, you’ll find that it has gotten better in the interim.

Act on your dream!

JD

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