One more reason to use SBI to build my sites

September 6, 2010 by John Dilbeck · 8 Comments
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Sitesell and Site Build It 

A couple of days ago, I came across another reason to like SBI so much.

I received an email from the security department at HostGator that one of my oldest websites had been compromised and several phishing scripts had been installed. They found and deleted them and then I had to take several hours and look through the whole site, delete several sections, update scripts, remove some I was no longer using, change passwords, and generally wasted half a day because of someone messing with my site.

At one time, that site was my biggest money-maker, but life intervened, North Carolina passed their new tax nexus laws, I was dropped by several large affiliate programs, and now the site earns practically nothing.

Still, it’s one of my oldest and favorite sites, so I keep it around.

I used to be one of those people who didn’t really like it that SBI didn’t allow us to use PHP, PERL, and other scripts on our sites. Now, I’m one of those who is happy that they don’t. It makes it much harder for someone to compromise our sites.

Over the last 13 years, I’ve built dozens of websites, blogs, communities, and forums, most using publicly available scripts. I’m one of those people who has to test everything and come to my own conclusions based on my experience and not what someone tells me.

I’ve wasted several of those years, as a result.

In almost every case, when one of my sites became popular and started producing some real income, it was hacked and destroyed. I would fix the problem, rebuild the site, and go on. Eventually, each of them became more trouble than they were worth and I let them die.

Now, I’m down to a few sites and the only ones that have NEVER given me even a minute of trouble are my sites powered by SBI. Not once.

Because of the changes in my affiliate status with several companies, I’ve been earning only a fraction of what I used to earn, but most of my attention has been focused on surviving and conquering this cancer that tried to kill me earlier this year. I’m making progress and we’re kicking that cancer’s butt. I’m getting stronger every week.

In the future, I’ll be deleting most of my sites that no longer perform as they once did. My brother is also having health problems and I’ll be taking down a large site I built for him, too.

I’m no longer enamored with blogs, forums, and communities built with commonly available scripts.

So, now I’m rethinking everything I learned and I’m going to apply what does work to reorganizing and building my SBI sites and planning new niche sites for the future.

I’ve always been a huge fan of SBI and all my big sites worked well for about ten years because I applied what I learned from Make Your Site Sell! to them.

Times have changed, though, and I’m tired of experimenting with everything to see for myself what works and what doesn’t.

I’ll be redoubling my efforts to use SBI the way it is intended.

I’ve started going through the new video action guide and it’s helping me relearn how to use SBI effectively.

I’m tired of hackers, malicious scripts, rebuilding sites, upgrading scripts, and all the other tasks that I don’t have to deal with on SBI-powered sites.

Yes, I’m a propeller-headed geek and I love programming and learning new things. I’ve enjoyed all my experiments. I’ve learned lots of things that don’t work and some that do.

Now, it’s time to focus on doing more of what really works and leaving all the red shiny balls that keep bouncing across my path for someone else to play with.

Or you can just do what I’m doing now — switch to SBI and not have to deal with all the headaches.

Compare SBI with traditional hosting. Decide for yourself.

I know what works for me.

What do you think?

Act on your dream!

JD

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Top 15 things I have learned about affiliate marketing

November 25, 2009 by John Dilbeck · 7 Comments
Filed under: Affiliate Marketing, Network Marketing, Opinions 

I originally wrote this in July, 2007 on another of my blogs. That was back when my affiliate marketing business was growing and I was happy with the direction I was going.

Some of these points are just as valid today as they were then.

I have learned several lessons that I think may be valuable to anyone who reads this. You may agree or disagree, but at least give it some thought.

1. Anything that is a good value today will be a good value a year from now.

2. The more the hype, the less the value or longevity.

3. If it has a deadline, run away, don’t walk, run – in a zig-zag pattern.

4. Don’t send your valuable prospect away on first contact. Try to get their contact information so you can follow-up – yes, build your list. (I wish I’d done more of this.)

5. If you can’t understand the compensation plan after reading it twice, you may never understand it, so maybe it is best to avoid it.

6. Always try to get residual income rather than one-off commissions.

7. Try to get life-time customers.

8. If more than five people email you about something the same day, avoid it.

9. Spillover is a myth. It may happen now and then, but don’t depend upon it.

10. Earning money – no matter how you do it – is work. It takes longer than you think and it takes more creativity and effort. Nobody will do your work for you.

11. Don’t spend more than you can afford. Define your budget and stick with it. If your outgo exceeds your income, your upkeep will be your downfall.

12. Don’t go into debt to try to make more money. Pour a percentage of your revenue back into tools and marketing. As a result of this, I’m spending more on marketing every month than I made the first two years of online marketing. But, it’s all a percentage of income. I have no debt and I intend to keep it that way.

13. It takes a long time to start earning money with online marketing (unless you are very lucky or very good at what you do). It took months for me to earn my first commission check, and several more months before I got my second one. Now, I get checks from several companies every month. It did not happen overnight, but it can be done with perseverance, even if you make a lot of mistakes along the way.

14. Don’t pay attention to how much money someone is claiming to earn. There is a huge difference between gross and net.

15. Help others grow and advance, don’t take advantage of them just to get their money.

When I originally wrote this, I was doing a lot of testing with traffic exchanges and downline builders. I was actively promoting two MLM companies. Today, I’m doing none of those things.

So, the comments about spillover really have nothing to do with affiliate marketing, because they’re more appropriate to anyone involved in network marketing. I got so tired of getting emails telling me that some “big-hitter” was going to start promoting to his “massive” list and there was only so much time to get involved in his program if we wanted any spillover. To the best of my recollection, from testing several different programs, I think I received half a dozen people in my downline from spillover and never made a penny from it.

In every case, I lost money in the process. That’s why I no longer do any of that.

In regards to #14, it’s not just a difference between gross and net. Some people will actually lie to you! (Surprise!) Anyone with a graphics program can dummy an income statement.

I’m not saying that all of them are dummies or lies, but I know that some of them are. Don’t believe everything you read or see. Caveat emptor.

What do you think?

Agree? Disagree? Let’s talk.

Act on your dream!

JD

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