Building a serious business website that gets results

March 17, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 3 Comments
Filed under: Advertising and Marketing, Attracting Visitors, Sitesell and Site Build It, Web Services, Webhosting 

I have people asking me all the time how I get so many people to visit my websites every month, and I think most of them think I have some kind of magic trick up my sleeve. That’s not it at all.

The secret?

Hard work, lots of content that people want to read, pages optimized on particular keywords and phrases to help the search engines know what they are about, and continually updating the information as it ages and things change. That’s all it takes.

No tricks. No fancy SEO techniques. Just simple HTML pages (on my big static sites) that are each built around a particular topic that fits within the site’s main topic.

As you may know by now, if you read my blogs or sites regularly, I learned what I know about this (over a decade ago) by studying Ken Evoy’s Make Your Site Sell ebook and putting into practice what I learned.

In the interim, millions of people have visited my sites and many of those visitors have made purchases based on my recommendations for what I think were worthy products and services. That’s how I’ve earned my living for the last decade or so.

I have one website that attracts thousands of visitors per month and remains a profitable site, even though it hasn’t been updated in over a year. It remains my top-earning site for Adsense income and it is a basic HTML-only static site built on the principles I learned from Ken Evoy’s ebook way back in the 20th century.

Since then, I’ve built many websites, most of which failed, using a variety of content management systems (CMS) and blogging software.

There is a lure that’s hard to resist when it comes to blogging and using a CMS system. They are easy to install and start. You get a big rush from registering a domain name and putting up new information in a few hours or days.

The problem is that the rush you get from starting the site isn’t enough to keep up the enthusiasm for continuing to build the site, and there probably was not enough good planning and research put into the topic of the site to see if it was going to be profitable or not before starting it.

At least, that has been my experience.

I’m learning that the same thing can be true when hiring someone else to build a site for you.

I’ve talked to quite a few small business owners who have wasted thousands of dollars and years of their time because they hired someone to build their website who knew how to build it but had no clue about how to attract free traffic from the search engines.

A nice site with no visitors will never be successful. A large and growing number of visitors each month is the lifeblood of selling anything on the Internet.

So, what are you to do if you know nothing, or very little, about websites, but you need one that will help you generate income and not just be a constant money drain?

You could do what I did and spend ten or more years of your life reading and studying everything you could get your eyes on and building dozens of sites to test what you learned, or you could hire someone with the experience and tools to do the job right the first time — while you concentrate on running your business and satisfying your customers.

How much would you be willing to pay to have a website that attracts serious visitors — potential customers — every month for years to come?

As a serious business owner, you probably would not throw out a number at this point, because you’d want to know more. How many visitors? How much income? What are the initial costs? How much does it cost to maintain it? Who’s going to do the work? What are the monthly hosting fees? How much trouble will it be to modify the information on the site when things change?

There are a lot of things to consider and most of them have nothing to do with HTML, CSS, FTP, and all the other alphabet-soup of acronyms associated with the technical side of building a site.

(You might be surprised at the number of websites I’ve looked at in the last couple of years that did not immediately tell what the owner was offering and why you would be better off buying from him or her. People on the web have short attention spans and they are generally in skimming mode when they first visit a website. You only have a few seconds to state your case and give them a reason that will benefit them in order to get them to slow down and actually read what you have to say. Don’t waste your visitors’ time with non-essentials — give them a reason to consider buying from you so you’ll have time to persuade them. Of course, how you do this differs with the type of site you have — sales, informational, and so forth — and the type of business you run.)

One of the things I’ve learned about most of the small business owners I’ve talked to is that the most prosperous of them are not “do it yourselfers.” They don’t have the time, energy, or desire to take on more tasks and responsibilities, because they are already doing all they have time for just running their business.

Most of them depend on others who specialize in things they need.

If they want legal advice, they hire a lawyer, or have one on retainer — they don’t go to law school at night for several years just to learn how to write their own contracts or deal with litigation.

Most of them hire an accountant and/or bookkeeper to keep their business on track and help with financial issues and taxes — they don’t become a CPA just to do it themselves.

Most of the small business owners I know who have survived the recent economic downturn have learned the hard way that there are times when it just makes sense to hire someone with experience and expertise to get the job done quickly, efficiently, and right the first time.

Perhaps you’re one of those successful small business owners who knows how to prosper by running your own business, but who feels clueless when it comes to evaluating people who claim to be experts at building websites. After all, every town has people who claim to be able to build good business websites, and some of them really do know what they’re talking about.

Unfortunately, most of them don’t.

You don’t have the time and money to pay someone to learn what they’re doing at your expense.

How do you separate the experts from the want-to-be herd?

That’s the crux of the issue, isn’t it?

This can be especially difficult when you don’t have the experience to know whether what they tell you sounds reasonable, or not.

One way to separate the experts from the herd is that they tend to spend more time asking you questions about your business and the results you want from your website than they do telling you how good they are at building them.

Another way is to talk to someone who has already been vetted by others who do have the experience and expertise to know.

That’s why I’m personally recommending Sitesell Services to you.

Sitesell is the company that Ken Evoy founded and which has grown into a top-notch service over the years. The Services part of the business is for business owners like you who want to hire someone to build an effective business website that is custom-tailored to market your business around the clock.

The people at Sitesell hire only experts with demonstrated ability and experience, and they help you select the right person to build your site for you.

Here’s a short video about how they can help you…


Once one of these experts is working for you, they follow a time-tested system to build a custom site that will market your products and services to people who are looking for what you have to offer, and these are the hottest prospects.

Is Sitesell Services for everyone? Obviously, the answer is no.

Is it appropriate for every business? Again, no.

But, you’ll never know if it could be a good match for your business unless you learn more about it and contact them.

Of course, there is no obligation.

If you’re interested in hiring someone to help you build your business online, watch the video and see what they offer.

Act on your dream!

JD

PS. If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, you can download a free copy of Make Your Site Sell! and learn more about what I’m talking about, or you can learn about SBI version 2.0 and see if it offers the tools you want to build and host your own site. I use SBI to build and manage some of my sites and it is easily my tool of choice for any new business sites I may build.

Tags: , , , ,

SBI! Version 2.0 Now Available As Monthly Subscription!

November 22, 2009 by John Dilbeck · 1 Comment
Filed under: Sitesell and Site Build It, Webhosting 

Breaking news!

For years, SBI has been available only as an annual subscription.

For awhile, it has been possible to switch to monthly payments when it was time to renew after your initial first-year subscription of $299.

SBI! Monthly Billing Option

Now, you can subscribe to SBI starting with monthly payments of $29.99 instead of a lump-sum annual starting cost of $299.

Here’s what Ken Evoy, founder of Sitesell, had to say about this…

Times are tough. Money is tight. So demand for a monthly subscription format for SBI! has been high, according to the good folks who handle questions from the Web site.

I’ve always believed in an annual model, using the $299 as a reasonable way to make sure folks are COMMITTED. The Guarantee protects new SBIers…

… But the psychological impact of “$299″ and “1 year” sets the correct mindset. Now, though, I believe that we’re in a period where, with unemployment rates so high and cash so tight, more people are simply MOTIVATED. Period.

And more than ever, they want something real. So…

Starting now, your visitors have the option of paying $29.99 per MONTH for their SBI! 2.0 subscription instead of the usual $299 yearly price. Check it out at the Order Page.

This is a limited time “soft” launch, without the usual shout-it-from-the-rafters pomp.

Why?

We’re not sure about the level of commitment. So we’ll observe how they’re doing. Frankly (very frankly), we don’t market SBI! to collect cash like a cable company if people are not serious about really using it to build the kind of business that will change their lives.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be watching the commitment level of these new SBIers with great interest. If the monthly option results in less serious SBIers, the time limitation will expire.

Have you wanted to try SBI but couldn’t afford the initial annual fee?

If that’s true for you, now is the time to take advantage of this offer and start your SBI version 2.0 site with an initial investment of only $29.99.

Folks, that’s only a dollar a day starting from day one!

Now, I don’t know how this impacts the Thanksgiving holiday special offer, but I do know a good deal when I see one.

Let me caution you

However, before you jump on this, let me caution you that building a site with SBI version 2.0 is not like what you may have done in the past or what you may have observed others doing.

If you want immediate gratification, don’t subscribe to SBI. Go with a traditional webhosting package somewhere and throw up a blog. You can be publishing to your new blog in a few hours.

When you don’t get the success you expected, however, you may find that the initial instant gratification you felt is nullified by losing the one thing you can never replace – time.

Building an online business with SBI is different

You will not get instant gratification with SBI. This frustrates a lot of people.

Instead, if you take the time to read and follow the action guide, you’ll learn to use the tools that help you identify a niche with profit potential, plan the site, research keywords to help you get free traffic from the search engines, and then build an evergreen multi-tiered website according to the plan you developed while working within the SBI C-T-P-M system.

So, you’re going to have to invest some time up-front, reading the action guide and/or watching the action guide videos. Some people don’t like to do this, and they’re the ones who typically fail with an SBI site.

Sitesell contrasts the hare approach to the tortoise approach. Blogging and free websites, including sites like Squidoo and HubPages, are more for the hares among us.

SBI is for the tortoises. We like to research and plan something before we do it. We like the slow and steady approach. We like to learn from others how to build an online business using time-tested methods.

We don’t like to run hither and yon looking at every shiny red ball that happens to bounce by.

That’s why the tortoise is the mascot for SBI.

If you’re not going to follow the guidelines, don’t bother subscribing to SBI.

But, if you truly want to learn how to build an online business, I personally recommend SBI version 2.0 as the way to go about it – especially if you’re a beginner.

There are many advantages to SBI if you’re a grizzled old-timer like me who has built many websites using lots of different tools and platforms.

I have to admit that I have both tortoise and hare qualities and that I’ve done a lot of research using lots of toys. I think that I’ve been building expertise in learning all the different approaches, but, in truth, part of it may have been enjoying playing with the shiny red balls that bounced along the path in front of me.

Either way, I’ve learned my lessons and now I know effective ways to build websites that attract lots of visitors. While I admit that there are several ways to do this, I’m positive that the SBI method and the tools they provide are the best combination for the majority of people who want to build an online business.

All of my new sites will be built using SBI version 2.0. I’ve tried lots of others, but I recognize the best when I see and use it.

With the addition of Content 2.0 as a standard feature of SBI version 2.0, I don’t see any more advantages to blogging, unless you’re building a site based on news or other time-sensitive information.

Content 2.0 adds the interaction that we look for with blogs, such as comments, and also makes it easy for your readers to submit new pages to your site.

(I’ll be adding these features to both of my SBI-powered sites over the coming weeks.)

This interactivity ratchets up the effectiveness of SBI sites to a new level.

And, now, at least for a limited time, you don’t have to swallow hard and spend $299 up-front.

You can get started for only $29.99, payable as a monthly subscription.

If you can’t afford that, I really don’t see how you can afford to build an online business at all. Just give up one cup of coffee or a sandwich every day and that will cover the cost.

Of all the products and services I recommend, SBI version 2.0 stands at the top of the list. I’ve been a happy Sitesell customer for several years and don’t see any reason not to continue for a long time to come.

Try SBI version 2.0 for yourself. Get started today.

Act on your dream!

JD

Tags: , , ,

SBI version 2.0 $100 Thanksgiving Holiday Special

November 22, 2009 by John Dilbeck · Comments Off
Filed under: Sitesell and Site Build It, Webhosting 

Thanksgiving Day is coming up quickly and Sitesell wants to help you this year by offering their $100 Thanksgiving holiday special offer.

That’s right. From now until November 30, 2009, you can get a one year subscription to SBI version 2.0 for $299, or you can take advantage of the special and get two subscriptions for only $399.

Keep both for yourself if you want. (You have up to nine months from the purchase date to activate your second site – and renewals for that site start on that date.)

If you don’t want to develop two sites, you can go in with a friend and each of you save money by splitting the cost and effectively saving $100 for each of you for the first year.

Or, give one – or both – subscriptions to someone you care for. An SBI version 2.0 subscription will help them develop the skills necessary in the 21st century.

There are many reasons that you might want to take advantage of this special offer.

If you haven’t already done so, take some time and look into SBI version 2.0 today.

I have two SBI sites and I’m happy I do.

With all the new features that were added to SBI in the last year, you’re already getting a discount on what you would have paid this time last year.

For example, just from the value of Content 2.0, you’re already saving $100. Just a few months ago, there was an additional charge of $99 per year for adding the features of Content 2.0 to an SBI annual subscription.

In October, however, Sitesell announced that Content 2.0 is now available for all SBI subscribers, and the price is now included in the $299 annual subscription. That’s more features for your site and a DECREASE in price!

One of the beauties of SBI is that their technical staff of programmers, developers, analysts, and other propeller-heads are always finding ways to make the product better, and they implement these improvements behind the scenes. You wake up one morning and learn that you can now do more with your site, usually with very little effort on your part.

Another great feature is the members-only Sitesell Forum where SBI webmasters help each other succeed with their online businesses.

Did you know that some SBI webmasters get over a million unique visitors per month? It’s true. See for yourself. Go to the Sitesell case studies page and scroll down to read Elad Shippony’s case study.

Pay particular attention to his November 2009 update where he talks about getting 1.5 million unique visitors per month over his three main SBI sites.

Now, we all know that everyone won’t achieve these levels of success, and it certainly won’t come overnight. Elad has been building his sites for several years, but now it’s his full-time business.

Can you do this well, or better? I don’t know.

I do know that SBI offers the tools, training, support, and help from other subscribers so that you can succeed if you follow the time-tested action guide and build a site that sells.

Until you try it, I don’t think you’ll ever understand what makes SBI version 2.0 different from traditional webhosting.

If you already have experience building websites that have not succeeded for you, take a little time and compare SBI version 2.0 with traditional Windows or Linux hosting.

If you have no experience building websites, but you do have a strong desire to learn how to effectively earn money with an online business, then you owe it to yourself to start with SBI and not waste a year or more of your time learning all the things that you’ll need to learn when building a site using other techniques.

Still, as much as I love building sites with SBI, it is true that SBI version 2.0 is not suitable for everyone or every project.

The good news is that your investment in SBI is guaranteed. If you find it isn’t for you, you can get a refund.

Not sure if SBI will work for what you want? If you have a question about SBI you can call toll-free during normal business hours or fill out a form to ask your question. An experienced SBI webmaster will answer your question, at no cost to you.

Thousands of people, many with very little – or no – previous experienced have succeeded in building an online business with SBI. Now, version 2.0 offers even more tools to help you succeed.

Not everyone who tries will find the success they want, not even with SBI helping them, but I believe you have a much better chance of success by following the time-proven methods that you’ll learn when you subscribe to SBI version 2.0 and follow the action guide in building your business.

Even with SBI, there’s a lot to learn, or possibly un-learn, but I’ve been looking for years to find something better and I haven’t found anything yet.

See for yourself.

Give SBI version 2.0 a try. It is helping thousands of people around the world change their lives for the better.

Act on your dream!

JD

Tags: , ,

What is Site Build It?

February 11, 2009 by John Dilbeck · 21 Comments
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Sitesell and Site Build It, Webhosting 

This originally started out as a reply on my friend’s blog, but it was too long and it looks like the reply was not accepted. Hopefully, it won’t duplicate what may still appear on his blog.

Mitch Mitchell recently wrote an article called The Ads On This Blog and we got to talking about Site Build It.

He asked…

John, I have to admit that I kind of don’t get it then; we’re talking about Site Build It. I was under the impression that it was a program to help you build websites; that would seem to be inaccurate. I read this post of yours, I did watch the video, but I’m still missing it. Can you explain it better?

I wrote what I hoped would be a better explanation, but when I submitted the reply, the page reloaded and didn’t show the comment or state that it was awaiting moderation.

So, since it may be too long for a comment, here’s what I tried to say in reply to Mitch’s question…

Good morning, Mitch.

I’ll try to do a better job. Sometimes I over-complicate things. I’ve been told that I could describe a pencil and make it hard to use.

Here is what I think is the central concept of SBI: the C-T-P-M process.

The idea is that people don’t search for us on the Internet. They search for information about something, a solution to a problem, or something that will scratch their particular itch.

If they knew about us, they’d come right to our site, but they don’t.

So, they go to Google and type in something they want to learn more about.

If our site offers information about that topic, we want to be on page one so the person doing the searching will find us.

To do that, we offer quality information (C = content) that the search engines rank well.

When someone finds us on the SE, that leads to free traffic to our site (T = traffic).

While the visitor is on our site on a page that is targeted to what they are looking for, we want to provide information that will help persuade them that we have something that will satisfy what they were looking for. (P = PREsell).

Then, if they decide to click on one of the links or perform an action for which we get paid, we can earn an income and build our business (M = monetize).

That’s the C-T-P-M process in a nutshell.

This may sound like common sense if you’ve been marketing on the web for any time, but it was a rather remarkable idea a few years ago when Ken Evoy introduced it.

So, our goal is to place ourselves between the person searching and the merchant from whom they can buy.

To do that, we research the keywords and phrases that people are actually searching for and compare the number of searchers to the number of competing websites.

Ken coined a term for this comparison: profitability. He probably wishes now that he had chosen to call it something different, because some people think it is some kind of absolute measure of how much money they can make. It’s not. It’s a simple comparison of Supply (website pages) versus Demand (number of searches). Still, it make it easy to find the low-hanging-fruit so we can create pages targeted to those searches.

SBI offers a bunch of integrated tools to help us make pages that rank well and get free visitors.

Brainstorm It! is the keyword research tool and I can do more research in a couple of hours with it than I can do in days with other tools I use.

As a result of using Brainstorm It!, we build a master keyword list (MKL) that is stored on the SBI servers.

All of this is done from a browser. It is not a program we buy and use locally. It is a series of integrated tools on their servers.

As we complete the process of brainstorming, following the SBI action guide, we can identify a niche that matches our interests and looks like it will be profitable based on the keyword searches and competition.

In fact, the Action Guide recommends researching three different niches and comparing them to choose one that we’ll develop into a site.

This is a radically different approach than just posting a few pages about us that nobody will find. I’m talking about the typical “brochure” website that most small businesses put up.

Now, if someone doesn’t want to use all the tools that SBI offers for less than a dollar a day, they can go watch the video version of the Action Guide or read the text version and build a site following those principles. They would not have access to Brainstorm It, the MKL, the world submitter, the ezine management module, nor any of the other integrated tools that SBI offers.

I’ve used what I learned from following the SBI method to build other static sites and write blogs. I have found, however, that they are harder to manage and don’t get results as good as I can get from using SBI and all it offers.

Site Build It! does include a simple browser-based site building module that operates similarly to posting to a blog. For anyone who does not want to master the complexities of writing HTML, it takes what we enter into the sitebuilder, parses it through a format we can select for presentation, and produces the HTML page. It then hosts that page, submits it to the major search engines automatically, and adds it to the RSS feed for the site.

It does other things in the background, as well.

Over the years, some people have complained about the templates (themes) that are available for SBI customers. I think there are a couple of dozen basic designs.

So, a few years ago, the ability to customize the themes was added.

Later, the system was upgraded so that a customer could use any design tools they preferred to build a page and could then upload the HTML to the SBI database.

One of the major differences between Site Build It! and typical hosting is that SBI is a huge, integrated database that helps us analyze what we write, preview the pages, publish them, and then hosts and serves them to our visitors.

Some people get hung up on the lack of FTP, because they’re so tied to traditional webhosting.

Lately, a lot of SBI sites have gone to three columns. I think this is partly because of WordPress blogs, but don’t know it for sure.

I choose to continue to use a simple two-column design on my SBI site that has a navigation menu in the left column and the page’s main content in the larger right column.

Let’s go back to considering the beginning webmaster for a moment.

The included sitebuilder module makes it easy to use headlines, text, graphics, links, and even tracking links, even for someone who knows practically nothing about HTML tags.

Most will learn to use simple bolding, italics, and the like. Some will progress to unordered and ordered lists.

But, they don’t have to.

Anyone who wants to concentrate on writing quality content around their topic of choice can do so easily using the sitebuilder.

I did that for years with good results.

Eventually, instead of using many different modules per page, I started dumping all the content I wrote into a text module. I wrote my own HTML and used the sitebuilder in a way in which it wasn’t designed, but still worked.

When Mom went into the nursing home last year, I spent about six weeks reprogramming the Radio Userland database I use to build all my other large sites so that I could write HTML pages that would work properly with the SBI database.

The reason I did this is because I’ve spent years programming my system to make it particularly easy to include links, navigation bread crumbs, and other things that I’ve grown used to using.

Now, I have rewritten my SBI site and put it into my own database. This allows me to make major changes to an entire site, or section of a site, very easily.

It took a lot of work and a lot of time to make this an easy process, but I believe it was worth the effort. Most people would never approach building a site as I have.

So, with SBI, you have your choice of tools on how you’re going to create a page. You can fill in the blanks using the sitebuilder; write your code in a text editor; use a WYSIWYG HTML editor; or even do something like I did.

If you use the sitebuilder, it’s as easy as filling in the blanks and pressing a button.

If you upload your own HTML, it’s a simple matter of creating the page using the tools you prefer and then uploading the page to SBI. This is similar to uploading a photo to a blog or photo hosting site. Browse on your computer, select the file, click upload.

The difference is that, once your page is in the SBI database, you have access to the analyze it module that helps you optimize the page using common SEO techniques, coupled with advice from the system on how you can make it better.

Then, you click publish, and SBI does its behind-the-scenes work helping you promote the page.

The majority of people I talk to get hung up on one of two things: (1) the sitebuilder and its lack of the options they want, or (2) the lack of FTP.

The actual process of creating the page is not the important part of SBI. What is important is the process of planning, researching, and presenting a well-organized site related to a single theme, with each page being written and optimized to rank well in the search engines for a particular (usually long-tail) keyword phrase.

By creating quality content that people are searching for, and then following the steps to help the site rank well, the site starts getting visitors. Once that is accomplished, and relatively late in the process, we can start monetizing the site.

Most people want to start with monetizing as the first step, before they have created the information that leads to free traffic, and that doesn’t work nearly as well.

If you read the Action Guide, you can learn the SBI systematic approach to building a site – for free.

You won’t have access to all the tools, support, and forum, however.

There is no magic in Site Build It! It’s just a systematic process for building a tightly-focused site on a particular topic of your choice, coupled with a lot of tools that makes the process easier and/or more effective.

Does that explain it better?

Act on your dream!

JD

Tags: , , ,

Site Build It! or WordPress? Which is Best? Why?

January 16, 2009 by John Dilbeck · 82 Comments
Filed under: Blogging, Opinions, Sitesell and Site Build It, Squidoo Lenses, Twitter, Webhosting, WordPress 

This is a question that I have been asking myself for months.

Today, I created a new TwitterStorm (Twttrstrm.com) asking Which is better for building an online business? Site Build It! or WordPress? Why?

What’s a TwitterStorm? This is a new site powered by Squidoo. Now you can ask a question of your Twitter followers and easily gather all their answers in one spot.

I know that the majority of people who will see this post are probably happy WordPress users. I’m one, too.

Still, after years of building websites and blogging on a lot of platforms, I still keep coming back to thinking Site Build It! is a better choice for building a business website.

Is it better to blog or build?

When Ken Evoy first raised this question, I was leaning towards blogging and disagreed with some of the things he said about it. Now, however, after months of blogging, I’m not as in favor of WordPress as I once was, especially when building multiple blogs.

As part of my goals for 2009, I’ve decided to do more to promote local businesses in Murphy, NC. I already have several blogs and websites related to Murphy and Cherokee County, NC. I’m really not happy with any of them.

I’m considering mothballing all of them except for my Murphy, NC 28906 blog, which needs serious updating. First off, I have to upgrade to WordPress 2.7, change the theme, add plugins, add widgets, and then I’m faced with finding things to write about, in addition to updating the blog software whenever necessary.

I can probably get the blog to where I want it in a couple of days without too much of a problem, because I’ve been doing this a long time and know what I want to do. I’m going to change it and fashion that blog after this one.

One of the problems with blogs is always having to manage the software and that takes away time and energy from actually writing content.

My Act On Your Dream! site is powered by Site Build It! and has been sadly neglected over the last year or more. Now that I can devote full-time to building my business, I can put more effort into building it into the site I have planned. Still, even with little work on my part, it continues to attract visitors and makes a nice profit.

There are lots of things wrong with that site, however. I’ve only built a small fraction of what I have planned for it, and there are a couple of main reasons for that.

For over six years, I was my Mom’s full-time caretaker and the duties associated with that took precedence over everything else. I am happy that I was able to care for her so long when she needed it.

The second reason is that I wasted a lot of time and effort testing a lot of different ways to build websites. I’ve lost track of how many different blogging platforms and content management systems I’ve tested. What do I have to show for it? A lot of neglected or abandoned blogs in my wake. Of all the blogs I’ve started, there are only two or three that I’m going to continue updating.

What do I do with the others? Some of them get traffic and even earn a profit. Do I delete them and redirect the domain to a page on a site I’ll keep? Or, do I just throw them out with the rest of the clutter and delete them and then let the domain expire?

It’s hard enough to build traffic to a site. I really don’t like the idea of just deleting a site that actually gets visitors.

Is it better to keep the domain and put up a static page explaining that the blog has been taken down and link to one of my related sites, or is it best to just let the domain expire and forget about it?

Being a packrat, I tend to want to do the former, but I’m thinking this is a good time to declutter my online life as I unclutter my offline world.

I continue asking myself this question: Why do I have so many blogs?

I think the main answer is that the cost of entry is so low that it’s easy to throw up a blog on the spur of the moment and just as easy to lose interest in it somewhere down the line.

I already have a reseller account on HostGator, so I can add a new domain for basically no cost, except for registering the domain. So, there’s little to stop me from testing an idea.

But, I look at those blogs and consider that I am paying over $500 per year just for domain registrations. For that amount, I can get two subscriptions to Site Build It!

I’ve already decided that I’m going to buy a new subscription to SBI to build a new site promoting businesses in Murphy, NC, because only SBI provides all the tools I need to do it right. That means that I’m going to be deleting several sites that I started over the last few years. I hate to do it, because they’re ranked well in the search engines, but I’m sure I can get page one listings on the keywords I want with a new site powered by Site Build It. I know, because I’ve tested it.

So, all of this boils down to my dithering over deciding what to do this year. When it all boils down to the essentials, the only real sites I have that I should keep and maintain would be this blog, Act On Your Dream!, Murphy, NC 28906, and a new SBI site for Murphy.

I’ll probably keep JohnDilbeck.com, but it will be trimmed to a much, much smaller size.

Of course, I’ll continue to maintain my brother’s site, Georgia Drag Racing. There’s not as much to do on that site now that he’s unable to continue building it as he wants. Still, it gets a lot of visitors and there are a lot of people interested in the subject.

I’ll also keep a couple of communities I created on ning.com.

I have a couple of forums that I’ve been trying to build for a couple of years, but they aren’t gaining any traction, so now may be a good time to shut them down, too.

So, in looking at all my sites, blogs, forums, and communities, I can probably drop the number from over 60 to just a half-dozen or so and actually accomplish more with less effort. I don’t know this for sure, but that’s the direction I’m leaning.

When I build a site with Site Build It, I make a commitment to my own success by paying the $300 upfront for an annual subscription. I just don’t have that commitment when I create another free site somewhere.

I often wonder how many other people have gone through these same experiences. Have you?

I’ve read many messages on the members-only SiteSell forum where SBI webmasters tell their stories of floundering around until they find Site Build It and finally concentrate on building a successful business website.

On the other hand, I’ve read many posts on blogs and forums from people who feel that WordPress offers them the best set of features for the lowest cost.

All I know for sure is that I have gone through my testing and learning phase, and I’m ready to implement what I’ve learned.

One of the keys to success is to focus on what you want to do and then put all your effort into manifesting what you imagine. I just don’t believe that can be done when we try to do too much.

I’m really having a hard time making this decision. Part of me wants to simplify everything and focus on affiliate marketing and promoting local businesses. Part of me doesn’t want to lose all the other sites I’ve started. I have to make this decision and implement it, soon.

I welcome your comments, advice, and suggestions. I value the opinions of the people who read this blog.

Who knows? I may have a bunch of domains to sell or give away.

What do you think? Join the Site Build It! or WordPress? twitter storm and share your opinion.

Leave any other comments you’d care to share here.

Act on your dream!

JD

Tags: , , ,

Site Build It holiday special ends today

January 5, 2009 by John Dilbeck · 4 Comments
Filed under: Sitesell and Site Build It, Webhosting 

The annual Site Build It! holiday special ends today at midnight.

Originally scheduled to end at midnight on Christmas, it was extended until today, which is the first business day of the year for some people.

Until midnight, you can buy one SBI subscription and get one free. Give both as gifts. Give one to a friend, colleague, or relative, or keep both for yourself. It’s up to you.

If you’ve been meaning to take advantage of this special, don’t let it slip by.

Learn more about Site Build It!

Act on your dream!

JD

Tags:

Site Build It! Holiday Special Extended

December 28, 2008 by John Dilbeck · 4 Comments
Filed under: Sitesell and Site Build It, Web Services, Webhosting 

Recently, I told you about the Holiday Special for purchasing an annual subscription to Site Build It! Until midnight on December 25, 2008, you could buy one SBI subscription and get one free.

That offer has been extended until January 5, 2009. When it expires at midnight on January 5th, that will be it – no more extensions.

Do you know how many people want to work at home and create more options for increasing their family finances?

According to a recent Harris poll, 72% of American households are thinking about starting a home-based business. You are not alone.

But, how do you get started without wasting time, effort, and money?

There are a lot of people who say they know how to build a successful home business, but how many of them are really succeeding? Are they giving (or selling) you good advice? How can you be sure?

Thousands of people have learned how to build a business where they can work at home and increase their income by following the proven training that is included with Site Build It!

Now, I’ll be the first to agree that what works for one person may not work for another. I’ve read lots of websites, ebooks, and reports and I know for a fact that I’m not interested in doing what they advise. I want to build my home business and do the things that interest me, not necessarily what interests the authors of those books and reports.

I’m sure you feel the same way.

You want to build a real business that is all about something that interests you.

One of the great things about Site Build It! is that it includes a self-taught e-business building course that includes clear step-by-step video instruction and all the tools required not just to “learn,” but to actually build a profitable, evergrowing e-business.

Anyone can say build a website or start a blog, but how many of them offer a time-tested course that thousands have followed to build their online businesses – in many different countries and niches?

Still, even though many have followed the course and have achieved success, it doesn’t work for everyone. Nothing does.

What happens if you try it and it’s not for you?

Ask for a refund. It’s just that simple. Your success is guaranteed, or you get your money back. If you decide that this isn’t for you and you ask for a refund, you’ll get all your money back in the first 30 days and a pro rata refund after that for the remainder of your annual subscription.

Don’t miss the extended holiday special buy-one, get-one-free offer.

After midnight on January 5, 2009, this special offer will be gone.

Don’t you owe it to yourself to try and see if you have what it takes to build an online business of your own?

Site Build It! will not do the work for you. This isn’t magic. It’s a business. You’ll have to do the work, yourself, but SBI offers the education and tools that will give you the best chance that I know of to build your online business.

I’ve been doing this for years, and I owe a large part of my success to what I’ve learned as a very happy Site Build It! customer.

Why wait?

Isn’t 2009 a good year to start building your independence and diversifying your income?

Tags: , , , ,

Site Build It – the best time of year to buy

December 12, 2008 by John Dilbeck · 7 Comments
Filed under: Act On Your Dream!, Sitesell and Site Build It, Webhosting 

Are you familiar with Site Build It!?

If you’ve visited any of my sites, blogs, forums, and communities, you’ve most likely seen ads and articles about Site Build It! and why I like it so much. Still, you may not have taken the time to really learn about it and why it is like no other online business solution. Site Build It! is much more than just a webhosting company.

It’s an all-in-one hosting, site-building, and online-success-making system that can possibly change a life. SiteSell, the manufacturer, actually guarantees online success if you follow the proven system.

Here’s a short video that explains the product…

Take the video tour, now.

Over 100,000 customers, including me, have already used it to create real online businesses that let us work from home or wherever we want (it’s a Web based system). Sitesell has plenty of testimonials to prove it too. Take a look at their Case Studies page.

Or this page of videos that were actually done by their customers…

I Love SBI

But the best news of all is…

Now is the absolute best time of the year to buy Site Build It!. They have a Holiday Special going on where you can buy-one-site and get-one-free. It ends up being about $150 per site.

(Although Sitesell offers discounts on purchasing two sites at other major holidays, this is the only time of the year where you get the second site free. All the other holiday specials offer the second site for $100 when you purchase the first site at $299. This holiday special is a true buy-one-get-one-free discount. Don’t miss it.)

I know what you’re saying. Why do I need more than one site?

You don’t! You can always give the other one away as a New Year’s gift. Or sell it. Or find a friend who wants a great deal too.

But you might want to keep it. Did you know that the majority of people making a full-time living online have more than one site. You just might double your pleasure… and income.

When you get one site to where it is producing a reliable income stream, you’ll understand why you may want to create other niche-oriented, content-rich sites to increase your revenue with additional income streams. Not everyone wants to manage more than one site, but many Site Build It! subscribers do.

And did I mention that Sitesell guarantees your success. Yep! You can get your money-back if you don’t feel that it will help you build a successful online business. There’s really no risk involved. (If you ask for a refund in the first 30 days, you’ll get 100% of your money back. After that, Sitesell will refund your subscription price on a prorata basis at any time during your one-year subscription period. Their site offers all the details.)

Once you understand the Site Build It! process, you’ll be hooked.

Most people think that all you need is hosting and site-builder software to make a Web site. That’s technically true. But getting people to find that Web site is the key to building a long-term business that actually makes real money. Without traffic your site will be lost in the wilderness.

One reason webhosting is offered so cheaply by so many companies is because of the few resources most websites require. Since most sites get very few visitors, some other webhosting services, not Sitesell, put hundreds of domains on a single server (computer) and rake in the cash from domain owners whose websites sit there waiting for someone to visit.

On the other hand, the Site Build It! system helps you build a site that people are looking for. Their C-T-P-M system teaches you how to create a site that’s in demand. Once you have traffic, then you can choose many ways to turn that traffic into revenue. Here’s a page that explains their proven process…

Site Build It’s C-T-P-M system for online business success.

Doesn’t it just make sense?

But I don’t know anything about the Internet, you say. Or HTML. I’m no computer geek, you’re thinking.

Can you send email? Have you used a word processor? If you can do that, you can build a Site Build It! site. It’s really a simple process that is doable by anyone. All you need is the motivation and commitment to follow the process.

If you can’t do that then Site Build It! is not for you. It’s not “Get Rich Quick.” There’s really no such thing. But if you have the motivation and a little brains you CAN do it.

After all, your success is guaranteed. What have you got to lose.

Here’s where you can go to read about that guarantee…

Site Build It’s order page with a link to the guarantee.

And maybe use that Buy-One, Get-One-Free Special to start a whole new life.

But hurry. This holiday special offer ends at midnight on December 25, 2008.

(If past history is an indicator, there is a good chance that the offer may be extended until just after January 1, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Don’t procrastinate; you don’t want to miss this special.)

Who knows, perhaps you or someone you know will be able to change your, or their, life in 2009. Why give someone a gift that will be a flash-in-the-pan and will be forgotten or ignored in a few days or weeks. Give the gift of Site Build It! and help someone develop one of the most important skills of the 21st Century.

Do it for yourself or someone else you care about.

I’m happy that I am a Site Build It! subscriber and I’ll be adding a lot to my site in the coming months.

I hope you’ll be one of the new SBI success stories in 2009.

Act on your dream!

JD

Tags: , , , ,

Site Build It! $100 Harvest Special

November 1, 2008 by John Dilbeck · 2 Comments
Filed under: Sitesell and Site Build It, Success and Failure, Webhosting, Websites 

I was so busy the last couple of weeks that I didn’t even have time to promote the Site Build It! Halloween special, which ended yesterday at midnight.

I know you may be interested in building a successful online business using SBI, and I’m sorry I didn’t let you know about the special offer.

But, even if you missed the Halloween special, Sitesell is offering the $100 Harvest Special from now until midnight on November 9, 2008.

Yep, that’s right. For a little more than a week, you have the opportunity to purchase one SBI site for about $300 and you can get a second Site Build It! subscription for only $100 more.

Buy both for yourself, go in with a friend and each of you can get a subscription for $200 each, or buy one and give the other to a friend, relative, or colleague.

I’m not going to even address all the misconceptions about SBI this morning. I’ve had those conversations until I’m blue in the face.

Site Build It! may not be for everyone – I don’t use it for quite a few of my sites – but I know it is the absolute best way for someone to identify a niche for your online business, brainstorm topics, design the structure of your site, build it, host it, and promote it. SBI offers a variety of tools that cannot be found elsewhere – especially with the level of integration between the tools that SBI offers.

Then, you also get the step-by-step Action Guide, unlimited support, and a members-only forum that is extremely helpful and supportive.

Site Build It offers more than just a place to put up a website. There are many thousands of places and ways you can do that. SBI offers what I have come to think of as a success cooperative where people like Ken Evoy, founder of Sitesell, really believes in your capacity for success and helps you achieve it.

Don’t listen to the naysayers and the uninformed. Site Build It! offers a comprehensive set of tools, procedures, tutorials, and support that you won’t find anywhere else.

I am a very satisfied Site Build It! customer and I invite you to visit my Act On Your Dream! site, hosted by SBI. I’m working on a plan right now where I’ll be greatly expanding that site over the coming year.

Whether you take advantage of the $100 Harvest Special, or not, do yourself a favor and learn about what you can do with Site Build It!

Why just put up a website when you can build a successful online business?

Act on your dream!

JD

PS. You don’t have to take advantage of this special offer to buy two SBI sites. You can always choose to purchase just one SBI subscription, even when the specials are offered. If you don’t need two sites, there’s no reason to buy more than one.

Tags: , ,

Hi-Ho Back to Work Special Extended for Site Build It

August 30, 2008 by John Dilbeck · Comments Off
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Sitesell and Site Build It, Webhosting 

I previously wrote about the Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Back to Work We Go special that Ken Evoy is offering to anyone who subscribes to new Site Build It! sites.

The special was set to expire at midnight last night, August 29. However, it’s been extended until after Labor Day and will definitely expire at midnight on September 4, 2008.

This is your opportunity to buy one SBI site for the regular price of $299, or you can choose to purchase two for only $399 – that’s a $200 discount off the second subscription for the first year.

Keep and build both sites for yourself or give the second one to a friend, relative, or colleague.

If you’re interested in Site Build It!, don’t miss this opportunity to build an online business.

Act on your dream!

JD

Tags: , , , , ,

Next Page »