When my colleague hit the send button on December 13th, 2017 (no, it was not a Friday!), an unexpected series of events was set in motion.
The intention was to send a reminder email to the same sample of about 200 SBI! members from our Results Page whom we had invited to a survey a couple of days earlier.
Due to a wrong filter setting, the email went to all our customers instead. We quickly followed up to clarify the error. But the replies to this unintentional mail-out kept coming in.
What started as an error, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. It brought us more insights, from an even wider pool of people, into the key ways in which SBI! helps solopreneurs succeed online.
Here’s the question we had asked:
What are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to your success?
The first set of answers, which we published here, came from SBI! members (“SBIers”) who have already made it to the top. Their SimilarWeb rankings, supported by actual traffic numbers, place them into the top 1% of all active websites.
The second set of answers, which we are about to reveal now, come from SBIers who are diligently working their way to the top. Their traffic numbers are below the strict requirements for our “Results Page.” However, “success” can mean different things to different people. Financial success is but one aspect (although an important one).
Would their key factors for success be vastly different from the first group of people, we wondered? That’s what we are about to find out.
First though, let’s meet our 54 “accidental” survey respondents.
As a matter of fact, you can replace most of the tools with plugins if you use WordPress. SBI! for WP enables WordPress users to follow the exact same process, and have access to the same great community. You do exactly the same thing — the only difference is that we help you master the WordPress ecosystem, too.
Harriet Adams
I am so grateful for the day I decided to try SBI!. Someone living a few miles from me had been using it and had great results so I decided to try it. I read every bit of information on the website and have been using it continuously with great success.
To answer your question:
- The amount of content was wonderful and easy to understand, especially the videos. I was familiar with the computer but not website building.
- The support I have requested and have been given has always been outstanding.
- The knowledge that your company keeps up with the latest information, for example http vs. https, and always informs me through emails and forums is so comforting. All I have to do is continue to add content.
I did fine with BlockBuilder 1 and was able to change all my pages to BlockBuilder 2 on our business website. I had to put my other website on hold but I have plans to get back to it and revise it.
All in all, my experience with you and your company has been A+ and I deeply appreciate all the work that goes into doing what you all do.
Saqib Ali Ateel
www.personality-and-aptitude-career-tests.com
This is a difficult question because success can be different for different people. However, I have no doubt that SBI! has done a lot for me.
In 2004, I had started looking at different website building methods, but I was just wasting money on various projects. My offline job, which I still love dearly, was not paying me enough. I needed a permanent source of income to add to my salary.
I was lucky to stumble upon SBI!. I didn’t have enough money to purchase the package. I asked my friends for a loan which they gave me; so I was able to pay the subscription for the first year.
I had several problems which were hampering my efforts to make money online, which SBI! helped me overcome:
1. I had started to learn about computers a bit, yet HTML, Javascript, etc. were alien words for me. SBI! helped me to jump over technical hurdles easily. Now, having owned a website for 13 years, I have forgotten all the technical stuff forever.
2. I had a full time, highly demanding job, so free time to work on my site was scarce. SBI! provided me an environment where I could work at my own pace. It wasn’t surprising that I published only 30 pages during my first year.
Periods came when I completely gave up working on my site, but it continued to generate me money like a loyal cow. I didn’t write a single page during 2010-11 when I was studying for my second Masters Degree at Harvard.
3. It was impossible for me to go through all latest developments on the internet. SBI! provided me not only with the latest tools but also ‘the ONLY’ information that was essential for me to grow my online business.
I am very grateful for the regular income that I have been making during all these years from my site. I didn’t have to compete for success and still performed better than sites of many big players. It would not have been possible without SBI!.
Kenth Bender
I found SiteSell in the beginning of 2000, but at that time I had no need for a website. Over the years, however, I kept up to date with developments (of SiteSell and SBI!) and when the need eventually arose, the choice was quite easy thanks to the following:
- ValidityJust read the Action Guide, or if you prefer the “wizard’s actions,” and you understand the level and the adequate quality you will meet.
- ReliabilitySolo Build It! is the program that works to build, develop, apply and enjoy. Outstanding support if needed but it’s rare, very rare, everything just works.
- CredibilityAll kinds of updating take place continuously. This applies to tools, features and educational material.
- DevelopmentI am impressed by the ongoing development of the whole idea of Solo Build It!, an idea in itself that never seems to end.
- The PriceDespite the constant development of the details and the whole, the price is kept at the same low level. Hurray!
Sandy Bergstrom Mesmer
- SBI! helped me set up my website so that it matched exactly what I wanted to accomplish. The 10 day system (Action Guide) allowed me to do everything in proper order. I didn’t even pick a website name until Day 5.
- Using the keyword tool Brainstorm It! I was able to find the right keywords to write about and adjust the content of my pages so that they matched what most people were asking for on that subject.
- By doing a quality check on each page before publishing I was able to optimize for best SEO impact. This is done with a tool called Analyze It!.
- Having an SBI! subscription is like having the library of Alexandria — at least in relation to growing and maintaining a website — at my fingertips. I feel like I’ve had a college education on the subject!
Albrecht Bracher
www.psoriasis-causes-and-treatment.com
- The Action Guide, which I am still using to this day.
- The great and very helpful people in the SBI! forums.
- Motivation to keep going all the time and never give up, even if some days it’s not easy to do.
Building my website and online business for me is to keep contact with the “outside” world because once you’re retired, most people don’t ask you anymore for your experience of life in general or in a particular subject.
My site is my “baby.” It’s still growing and I do my best that it turns into a “great adult.”
John Burch
As you know, I am a lifelong fan of SiteSell and SBI!. My biggest hits are LoveShift.com and DrBurch.com, but I have several others. The top 3 ways in which SBI! contributed to my success are:
- Ease of use
- Automatic SEO and submission to the search engines
- Reliability
By ease of use, I mean how using SBI! is like a filling in a database. The templates make everything easy, and there is no “cPanel” to wrestle with.
By automatic SEO and submission to the search engines, I mean the fabulous way SBI! keeps everything moving forward, with proper amounts of attention to the visitor and the web spiders. This translates to free, organic traffic, which has been very helpful to me.
By reliability, I mean the complete quality of the company, the platform, the support and the system as a whole. No down time, never a mistake, everything done at a state-of-the-art level.
While I make a living as a dentist, my first love is the world, humanity and the earth. We are a single, multi-form community of beings, with a common destiny, which, unfortunately, is not guaranteed.
SBI! has allowed me to reach MILLIONS of people through the pages I have built, videos I have made and posted, other content I have curated — and my YouTube channel, which has over 850,000 views and 700+ subscribers.
All of this would have been impossible for me without SBI!. I am very grateful to Ken, the entire SiteSell company, and all the wonderful programmers and staff who have made this possible.
P.S. One out of every 4000 humans on earth has seen content, in one form or another, from my small LoveShift team, via SBI!, YouTube or my Pinterest, Facebook or Twitter profiles, where I always share new content.
And, as one last note, I am a regular commenter to the New York Times. Probably have over 200 comments approved so far, AND have included links in my posts sometimes which (drumroll…) are generally never allowed, and which often direct a reader to one of my SBI! sites or pages.
For example, during the escalation of rhetoric with North Korea, articles or posts would appear that we have no choice but to bomb them, or go to war with them, or whatever.
Wait a tic — I would write — please visit https://alternatives2war.com/list.html. “There you will find over 60 alternatives to the use of force and violence to resolve conflict, with videos, articles, links and other resources that number is over one hundred.” After such a post, my SBI! traffic would soar, for the site or particular page I have referenced.
Talk about leverage! Maybe that should be my fourth value I have gotten from SBI! LEVERAGE!!!
P.P.S. Just a final note, regarding functionality. I made a little site called Flag of the World. On it, I posted an image map of the flags of over 200 nations. I hand-coded this, and then used my nifty little javascript to make the flags, upon hover, describe themselves. And, (still unfinished) I made some of the flags a click-through to a separate SBI page showing off the people from that country, with some of their values and other information.
Want to see it in action? At the site, find the flag for Canada, hover, then click. Voila! I showed the Flag of the World map on a computer to my 5-year-old granddaughter and she was mesmerized. A kindergarten teacher I know suggested a physical flag of the world should be hanging in every elementary classroom in every country, with the electronic version up and ready to guide young minds to becoming global citizens first.
I used this same technique at https://loveshift.com/sixteen.html to make a Thinking GRID, which gives hover information and click-through functionality.
With SBI!, anything is possible!!
Elvira
- SBI! has definitely been my one and only source of intellectual challenge. As a stay-at-home mom, that challenge means the world to me.
- The SBI! team keeps being creative which inspires me to new heights all the time (even though I haven’t earned a dime on my site yet).
- Thanks to SBI! I can stay on top of things in the infopreneurial world and be sure I can perform without worrying about the technical side of building the website. With a background in management and low technical proficiency, it’s a relief that tricky technical questions are being taken care of by SBI!.
George Christ
www.engine-transmission-additives.com
Thank you – for the ingenious way you figured out how to meet the needs of those who want a website that pays – in many ways, not costs!
That would be my high level opinion of SBI! and SiteSell. In more concrete terms, these are the ways SBI! helped me:
1. The Action Guide
This 10 day figurative walk gives you more than an edge. It is parenting in the form of literally grabbing you by the hand, pulling you away from dangers to the left and right, on this tough – don’t exactly know where you’re taking me – walk.
Your instructions and thoughts right from the beginning keep me confident that I’ll get there with each lesson, as you keep the big picture always in view.
2. The SBI! Tools
There are so many, and each is shown and explained. I tell others that these tools, when mastered, are like strokes, like a pedal, moving you up river to clicks. Few believe, but I do. And that belief you give us is a powerful competitive advantage. It’s more than an edge!
In 10 years no competitor has figured out the secret to traffic you teach us to employ.
3. The whole SBI! system is really like an amazing human body-like organization. So efficient you forget how complex.
Gail Coleman
Editor’s Note: Gail builds SBI! sites for others.
What are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to your success?
- Built-in framework that does all the heavy lifting with the search engines.
- Amazing tutorials on EVERYTHING ever needed to build an online business (NOT just a website) … and under one umbrella.
- Staying current and preparing us for potential changes with Google, etc., ways to mitigate the damages … the list goes on!
William Collins
As an owner of 6 different SBI! sites, one of which dates back to 2006 (I think) I am thankful that you guys are always asking the right questions in order to continue to make this the best SoloPreneur platform on earth.
Here are my three main reasons for using SBI!:
- Because I can design, build and modify the websites myself, I am able to rapidly change our message. This is critical because I run a spray technology company, and our products, services and markets are constantly changing.
- I love the keyword feature when building my pages with BlockBuilder. It’s stunning to me how effective that can be to drive my keywords to some of the top pages in our industry and also the ability to stay there.
- Finally, the ability to really run my own online website and not have to hire or use a 3rd party to do that work is worth a heck of a lot more than $300/year.
Simon Davies
What are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to your success?
- Showing in a convincing way how to build a site properly, e.g. with high quality content.
- Ken Evoy’s example of a strong work ethic.
- Authenticity, like seeing Ken on the forums telling some that they need to change their ways if they are to succeed. This is the real world; SBI! does not sugar coat or lie to you about how success really happens.
Kate Davies
www.weddinginvitationdesigner.com
So, in answer to your question, it’s very difficult to narrow it down to three things as I feel I wouldn’t even have my own business if it wasn’t for SBI.
Firstly the Action Guide; without it I wouldn’t have even known where to start. Although I have a background in Graphic Design I had never come across any website building terminology before starting on my web building experience.
The fact it’s written so clearly, with such easy to follow steps meant I didn’t feel overwhelmed at any stage. I still refer back to it when I make changes to my website but could probably do with watching it through again to keep track of the changes/updates you’ve implemented over the years.
Secondly, the Forums have also proved themselves invaluable to me and my business. I’d say I’ve used them most to get help on particular things (usually website design focussed) but I also find, when I do delve in, there is a wealth of knowledge about the wider aspects of running a business.
I can spend hours reading through posts and following topics, and it’s all relevant in some way. And the people are so helpful. It’s simply an amazing resource.
Thirdly, I want to just say that the skills I learnt through following the Action Guide, asking questions and reading answers in the forums have together resulted in me being able to build a website which gets organic traffic.
Learning the correct way to building pages, writing content, correctly tagging images, keywords, long tail keywords, etc. have all contributed to my business being where it is currently.
I actually dabbled with the idea of switching to a full WordPress website last year. I went so far as starting to build a new site with a view to redirecting my SBI! site to it. After about 6 months, with 100’s of pounds spent getting help it still looked crap and didn’t work in the way I wanted it to.
The learning curve was completely different to what I’d experienced when I started using SBI!. I felt lost and most of all nervous that what I was doing wasn’t correct. Google wouldn’t find my new site, I’d lose the traffic which was reaching me organically and it was all a bit of a mess.
I pulled the plug, revamped my SBI! and felt instantly happier with my decision. I didn’t want to have to worry about plugins causing my site to be slow or updates which might cause everything to disappear. SBI! takes all that hassle and worries away. If I do need help with something, the forums or support are there quickly and efficiently.
I feel like I haven’t really answered your question but it’s difficult to pinpoint three things when really it’s the whole package of SBI! which I love and which I feel has enabled me to run my own business.
I also feel I’ve only just scratched the surface of what my website and business can be. 2018 is going to be my year of growth and I’m excited to have the support of SBI! along for the ride.
Thanks again Ken and the wonderful SBI! team for creating and continually improving such a life changing product!
Michael Day
The top 3 ways SBI! has contributed to my success are:
1. It’s affordable. Less than the price of a cup of coffee per day.
2. No need for special training. I’m a retired trucker. If I can do it anyone can.
3. The Action Guide takes me step by step through the process of building my website. Brainstorm It! was incredibly helpful.
Tina Dean
What are the top 4 ways (sorry, couldn’t keep it to 3) in which SBI! has contributed to my success?
1. SBI!’s ‘Keep it simple attitude’ to learn ‘step by step’ and build a website with your own knowledge of a subject to achieve what many don’t.
2. SBI! Pros experience has certainly helped me out several times to get a clear understanding or answer of what I have asked about.
3. Before starting my first website with SBI! I had several websites with other companies who just supplied the site and gave no help whatsoever. Finding information about SBI! in 2010 was amazing but of course I was still unsure about it.
I kept going back to the information about SBI! and SiteSell many times and kept reading the pages. Eventually Ken Evoy convinced me that it all made sense, and that it was for real. Now I have 3 SBI! websites!
4. The Action Guide is what sets SBI! apart from any other website building or hosting company. The Action Guide steers, assists and makes you believe you can succeed even though the competition may be strong. Many SBIers have proven that SBI! works and have done extremely well.
Michael Dougherty
Here are my top 3 ways that SBI! has contributed to my online and offline success – plus extra thoughts.
First, I’ve been a proud SBI! website owner since 2005. When I first started with SBI!, I knew nothing about building an online business. I appreciate SBI!’s continued focus on improving what they offer to their customers. SBI! is a total “win win.”
Second, the SBI! Action Guide is an unrivaled way for SBI! owners to learn the how and why of creating an online business. The SBI! Forums provide a fast way to find help as you continue to build your online business.
Third, once you join SBI!, you receive regular ongoing encouragement and vital information to help you achieve online success in the form of the Solo Build It! newsletter. All of this is worth its weight in gold.
Extra thoughts:
I’ve been with SBI! since 2005. It’s not “get rich quick.” Instead, it’s slow and steady wins the race through online ups and downs. Fortunately, SBI! is right there with you 100% of the way. That’s a powerful online partner to have in your corner.
Steven Gary
What are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to my success?
1. The SBI! dashboard and platform tools are awesome. I can fine tune every part of my website in minutes. When time is critical, and there are important other jobs I need to do, I can prioritise these tasks to get the website admin jobs done daily very quickly.
2. The Action Guide helped me get straight into the nuts and bolts of what is needed to get my site focused. It’s all well laid out. There are handy checklists within the SBI! Action Guide to keep me moving forward. The brainstorming tool helps me to build pages that my visitors are interested in, so they keep coming back for more information everyday.
3. I hope my website inspires people with an entrepreneurial spirit and every day businesses to use SBI!. They are not alone in building their business. For example, the forums are great for getting answers quickly.
I also like my visitors to see how I run my own online real life business using the SBI! platform as an example. This shows them that to think big but start local works. We can all achieve great things from our very own neighbourhood.
Scott Gese
I have 5 top ways how SBI! has contributed to my success for you:
1. Ease of use
From the day I first heard of SBI!, I knew this was for me. My website was originally built on a platform that became obsolete. At an expense I really couldn’t afford, I had someone move the site for me. I was told the new Content Management System it was now running on would be easy to learn.
Unfortunately I’m not a rocket scientist or extremely tech savvy. The new “easy to learn” CMS turned out to be difficult and problematic. It quickly turned into a dismal failure. I was ready to throw in the towel when I happened upon SBI!. The more I researched it, the more it looked like something I might be able to do on my own, so I went for it.
Not only did I discover my site was easy to build using SBI!, I also came to realize how easy it is to maintain. That’s a big issue with me.
2. Help when you need it.
Transferring my site to SBI! wasn’t all sunshine and roses for me. I had questions along the way. No matter how simple or complex, if I couldn’t find my answer in the SBI! forums, I emailed support for help.
They have always been on the spot and spot on with their answers. They walked me through a couple of tough areas as I transferred my site and made sure I was 100% satisfied with the results before they signed off.
3. The Forums
I always check the forums first when I’m looking for insight or answers. I can usually find what I’m looking for as most of my issues and questions aren’t unique to me. Most have been asked before. If I can’t find my answer, I’ll ask a question.
Rarely will I get less than a couple of excellent and in depth replies. The forums rock!
4. The Action Guide
Talk about in depth and easy to follow instructions! From finding your niche, setting up your site, monetizing and everything in between, the Action Guide is the SBI! bible. Even now, I refer to it constantly.
5. Brainstorm It!
Already having a business set up, I didn’t use Brainstorm It! to do my initial search for niche ideas. But I have consistently used it for researching keywords to help me improve my site.
Due to Brainstorm It!, the Action Guide’s SEO training and the page analyzer, several pages and sections on my site have held top positions on several search engines including Google and Bing.
On a personal note, everything I’ve mentioned here has helped me move my site and business forward. I’m not where I want to be yet, but I have faith I’ll get there soon. My site has been growing steadily over the past six months with new records in visits, visitors and page views set each month.
I had my highest daily visitor count on Dec. 10th with 961. It’s only a matter of time before I break the 1000 mark for daily visitors.
Birgir Gislason
It’s been a while since I started my SBI! website and it’s now in kind of a “maintenance” mode. So I’m not fully up to date with all the latest SBI! changes. However, I believe the points that I found most helpful when I was starting are still valid, so here we go:
1. Passion
It is obvious that Ken Evoy and the whole SiteSell team are in this business with great passion. I believe it is important to be passionate about the topic of your website. Or at least like it. It is obvious when people are writing with their heart or just doing their work (for money).
2.The SBI! Ethics
One of the things I like most about SBI! is the emphasis on ethical practice. It is about being transparent (say who you are, do all the formal extra pages like disclaimers, etc.), about honesty (like linking to sources) and last, but not least, about not misleading people, not promising something that is not true, not mis-sell, etc.
Ethics like this is what builds trust with your audience. Trust is the most important asset in online marketing (because it’s so rare).
3. Original Content
The emphasis on creating quality, original, evergreen content is and will always be valid.
4. Customers Care
If you have customers (not only affiliate income) then you must treat your customers with respect and offer great customer service. Never forget who “puts the bread on the table”. In this SBI! leads by example.
5. Advice and Support
As my website is quite established in its field now I’m not up to date with the latest SBI! advice and support but I know it is there if needed. And I know Ken Evoy has his customers’ backs.
I had just started my website when Google’s Penguin and Panda algorithm changes took place. Ken and his team put in lot of time and effort trying to understand the changes in order to help and advise us SBIers. This is linked to point 2 and the result is trust.
This is the main reason why I have not moved my website to cheaper hosting. Because even though I’m not needing the advice and support at the moment, I know it’s there if and when I need it.
In addition, I very much like the ethics SBI! stands for. I find it rare in the online marketing world. It’s refreshing and inspiring, and I like to “support” that “voice” if I can.
Don Heggen
www.dynamic-stock-market-strategies.com
Here are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to my success:
1. I’m not “techy.” I rely on SBI! to do the heavy lifting in the technical department, which allows me to focus my ‘BAM’ (Brain, Attitude and Motivation) on growing my website and business.
I especially appreciate the ability to own other domains with similar names (e.g. DynamicMarketStrategies.com, among others), which redirect back to my site, to keep away ‘poachers’ from stealing my traffic. Excellent!
2. The ability to publish a regular newsletter or “ezine” to my readers (included in the SBI! subscription). Sending a regular newsletter allows me to deliver more useful content to my readers.
3. I am an “Associate” (or affiliate) for other business related ventures which provide additional income opportunities for me.
If I ever have to cut back on my “budget,” SBI! is the last thing that’s going!
Diane Hoffmann
I like to work with SBI! (and have been for many years) because of:
- the impeccable consistency of the system platform,
- the high quality of tech service / support, and
- the meticulous operation and communication with your clients.
Mauricio Jaimes
In terms of money making or my expectations about a constant income, I don’t consider myself a success, but I will give my top 3 reasons why my site is well ranked in SimilarWeb.
- Site MaturityI think one of my important assets is the time my site has been online. I started my site in 2007 (this is my 10th anniversary). The first 5 years I created all the content it has now. Since then, I have not created content as often as the Action Guide says I should.
In fact, I have not created new content for the past 3 years. However, here comes the second reason…
- Constant New Content from Third Parties I created a directory with SBI!’s “Content 2.0” module. The regular submissions I get to this directory keep my site content fresh, which gets noticed by the search engines.
- Patience and Faith in SBI! In these 10 years, despite my frustration in not having a steady income or find better ways to monetize, I keep believing in the system.
Kathleen Kirsan
The top 3 ways SBI! has helped me succeed are:
- That I can edit and update material myself.
- That I can easily view my traffic stats.
- That it taught me how to write good copy.
Sheila Koester
The top three ways in which SBI! has contributed to my success are…
1. Excellent documentation, which helped me to create and establish my money making website.
2. The Brainstorm It! tool that helped me find keywords to attract the most organic traffic to my website. Also the help with the SEO component.
3. Other tools such as Content 2.0, Analyze It!, libraries, BlockBuilder, site navigation, site designer, traffic analytics and statistics, etc.
Kathy Landolt
www.small-business-accounting-info.com
Even though I’m not in the top 500 sites anymore, here’s my top ways SBI! has helped me…
1. Action Guide – the roadmap.
You have a map to follow to get you from a website to a small business. I had no idea what I was doing when I started this, about 8 years ago. I’m the ultimate tortoise — a polite way of saying I’ve been very very slow. LOL.
I’ll work at my site for a while; then, when life happens and I don’t have the time or energy I let it go for a while, then come back to it. I’ll go back and reread the Action Guide to refresh my memory, and start again.
2. Brainstorm It! – this helps me write content that reflects what is being searched.
I can target what I’m writing, and get more traffic. I’ve never paid for traffic. I’m not into social media either. All my traffic comes from organic searches.
3. Forums
I’m not on the forums much to post, but when I get stuck I search the forums for that topic and read what others have done in similar situations. There’s a lot of info in there.
4. I’m not sure what to call this one…maybe structure?
I know very little about HTML or CSS but with SBI! I don’t have to. I can build a nice looking page, add pictures, headings, links, etc. all on my own. This saves a lot of time and confusion.
5. The Solo Build It! Blog
I love reading how others have made their site a success. It’s very encouraging. This spurs me on to keep working and maybe try different things.
I really don’t see my site as a success, because it’s still in process and it’s not earning me anything at the moment. But my goal for 2018 is to get my traffic back up, and to earn a steady paycheck from selling digital products like ebooks and ecourses.
Some background to my story (in case your readers are interested):
My traffic has plummeted this year, due to some changes I had made. I wanted to change my site from an informational site only with ads to selling my accounting services.
I hired a firm to help me set up a WordPress blog. They took a lot of my info pages down from my SBI! site. I went from 12,000 visitors a month to around 3,000 (mostly from my RSS Blog It pages). They told me it was more targeted traffic. The new blog was getting about 3 hits a day. This was crazy. So I shut down the WordPress blog and am putting all the information back onto my SBI! site.
My goal is to get my SBI! site back to where it was traffic-wise, and sell training manuals for small business owners who want to do their own bookkeeping (my own product). I may do a few affiliate ads, but no more Google ads. No money there.
Lesson learned: non-SBIers don’t understand how it works. And it works well. I didn’t get rich off my site, but I was earning a nice side income (before the big Google changes).
I was also asked to ghost write a book on small business accounting. I would never have had that opportunity without SBI!.
Victor Leppky
1. The best thing about SBI! is the all-in-one aspect.
2. The next best thing is that the tools are easy to use and when there is a little confusion, a little more looking or maybe asking SBI! support clears it up. Support is also first class.
No matter what others say about all-in-one, and I’ve looked at a few, none of them are nearly as complete or as easy to use as SBI!.
3. Also, it’s rare to see the little popups with recommendations for more resources when you are going through the SBI! Action Guide or in Blockbuilder. Strange that others can’t figure that out.
Carletta Lino
The top 3 ways SBI! has contributed to my success are as follows:
1.After stumbling across SiteSell’s Solo Build It!, purchasing the annual membership subscription and reviewing the detailed Action Guide on web business building, I realized that I did not have the complete skill set to build my website on my own.
What I read and saw in the Action Guide was pure genius. This motivated me to investigate SBI!’s custom work offered by the SiteSell’s Professionals (“Pros” for short). This is paying off big time!
2. The initial consulting/training questionnaire I submitted assisted me in revealing the passion I had for my website project which is on a topic I am the least fond of, taxes. I developed it out of my own personal success story.
But what was the best way for me to make my online presence? Consulting with a Pro helped in evaluating my project to see if it was a fit for a website, ebook, blog, WordPress, or some other online format.
The consulting/training questionnaire also assisted me with identifying the goals I wanted to accomplish for my website.
3. My initial concern was getting started right with the CTPM process (no shortcuts). I wanted to build my website foundation properly from site concept research to site concept blueprint and working from there.
Working with the SiteSell Professionals further confirmed the niche topic of my website project on tax refunds for seniors in my state of Arizona. Since I wanted to be matched perfectly from the start with the right Pro, I may have done something a little unusual and off the norm: I requested to see a copy of my Pro’s bio.
When I received it I was convinced the Pro assigned to me was the right person for me to work with and so it has proved to be. This gave me the full confidence I needed to move forward with my website project because I knew my Pro and I were on the same page and that we spoke the same language.
I have to give Sheri Frey all the credit for the successful development of my website, together with Mike Fulson, who provided the professional design and images. I also have to give credit to the behind the scene professional writers.
What a pleasure it is to work with all of these Pros. It was so unexpected. Everything, from start to finish has been handled in a very professional manner and I’m just so proud of the outcome! The only thing that has slowed me down is that I am in the middle of reorganizing after a difficult move. I hope to be able to continue the progress on my website soon.
Christine Loff
www.sew-fashion-doll-clothes.com
Three ways SBI! has helped me be successful with my website:
1. I have learnt how to research and construct a really good website that gets traffic. By following “the system,” you are practically guaranteed to achieve success. I say “practically” because my first website with SBI! wasn’t very successful.
However, I think I learned a great deal, and it stood me in good stead when I built my second site. Sometimes you need a little experience with doing the wrong things to be successful!
For my present SBI! website, I not only followed the instructions to the letter, but I took a class offered over the web by SBI! – that was really helpful in understanding the finer points of the instructions and helped me a great deal. I wish you still offered these online classes.
2. I get website visits from all over the world – it is really amazing. I am able to provide advice on sewing doll clothes to people as far away as remote islands in the Pacific Ocean and Asia, as well as Europe and North America. It never fails to amaze me!
3. The support system for SBI! is awesome! If you have a problem or question, you can post in the forums and get an answer from someone in very good time. You are never left hanging and scratching you head about what to do.
If things get really gnarly, the SBI! Support team is there for you and they answer your questions very promptly. You are never left alone when you use SBI!.
Mike Lyons
- WYSIWYG format of building pages makes it easy to build pages (albeit with a learning curve).
- You have access to a limitless knowledge base.
- SBI! teaches you limitless ways to build and promote your online business.
Lakshmi Menon
When I wanted to start an online home business, I was looking for two specific things. Firstly, I wanted to learn building a website on my own and enjoy doing it at every stage. Secondly, I wanted to get all the necessary help from one single place. After a lot of searches, I finally found SBI! for this purpose.
Here are the top ways SBI! contributed to achieve my goal:
- SBI! Action GuideThis most useful guide, explained in an uncomplicated way, taught me how to go about building my site and business, like a mother teaching her child step by step.
- SBI! Support TeamWhen I am in any trouble with a technical problem of my site, the amazing support team comes to my rescue, until I feel comfortable, like a father protects his child with his strong hands.
- SBI! ForumsThe most informative and useful forums help me like a loving brother where I can get answers to any of my doubts and guide me in the right path in building and running my website.
- SBI! NewsletterAll the important day-to-day news and changes taking place in the website building world, that are relevant to an online home business, are passed on to me in a very useful manner, like a loving sister, instead of me having to waste time in searching the web.
- Content 2.0I have hundreds of content rich pages submitted by the visitors and many with comments. They serve me like trusted friends because they drive a lot of traffic.
In brief, I feel most protected and safe in the trustworthy SBI! family.
Michael Monaghan
www.woodstove-fireplaceglass.com
For myself, not being a very techy person, Solo Build It! helped me to understand the steps involved to be successful.
The “Day by Day” process of the Action Guide helped to keep me from being overwhelmed. It also helped me understand why I was doing the steps and the importance of content! LOL.
Understanding the process, watching the videos, reading the articles etc. really helped me a lot. For example, I learned why to build links and what kind of links. I learned why and how to build really good content, not just gibberish.
This is why I picked SBI! after studying the different options out there at the time. I think it may be a harder process, that takes more time, but the results are well worth it.
Charles Moorehead
- The introductory information was a great help in initially getting organized and knowing how to get started.
- The Brainstorm It! tool helped me determine what keywords appeared to fit my knowledge and satisfy the needs of my audience. This was another great feature that helped me get started in the right direction.
- After getting started, the traffic stats have helped me determine what topics are of most interest to my readers. This was another great way to know how to satisfy my readers.
Larry Morton
SBI! simply provides Knowledge, Direction, Sharing, and Support at a consistently affordable price… year after year (10 years for me).
Jon Mumford
www.drawing-pencil-sketches.com
SBI! is a hosting and website building company for solopreneurs, entrepreneurs and eCommerce sites. It is very easy to use for the beginner to advanced users who can create professional websites that get results. Following the guidelines, it is almost impossible to fail!
The support staff is superb and fast to answer any problem within 24 hours or less.
SBI! is a delight for all outright beginners to create their site following the proven steps in the tutorials. To date I have created over 260 pages, also built a subscriber list of more than 2400 artists and designers.
Pastor Hesbon Nyambane Kerongo
I’m really glad to be associated with Solo Built It!, which is out to change the lives of many solopreneurs around the world.
I have come to appreciate SBI! as a great company that anyone who wants to succeed in growing a business or wants to add value needs to adopt or join.
Here are some of the reasons why I prefer SBI! to any other company out there:
SBI! is honest and transparent in its operations.
Some us who operate from developing worlds like mine, would not have the same opportunities as the people living in the developed worlds were it not for the SBI! tools.
SBI! is an idea whose time is now.
Currently I reside and operate from Kenya, East Africa. To me, SBI! has really contributed much to my journey simply because of the tools that are simple and easy to use.
When I joined SBI! years ago, at first I never understood what to do because my motivating factor then was to make money. I had read several testimonies on how people are making money and decided to give it a go.
There is a downside when you approach something wrongly. I didn’t know that to make money you HAVE to provide VALUE.
I spent time in the SBI! forums, learning from other successful SBIers. Over time my mind got renewed; I came to understand that the secret to any success is to provide value.
As a Christian I believe the source of inspiration comes from God. God inspired me to discover a niche in my area that has helped me serve others by providing value to them.
Instead of me worrying about new technologies that are coming up, nowadays I just concentrate on providing value and the rest is taken care of by SBI!. Through that I have managed to keep on adding value and helping many not to have heartaches.
Walter Orlowski
- Easy website-building system
- Don’t have to bother with SEO
- Great support
Jennifer Orpen
www.anxiety-disorder-depression-help.com
- SBI!’s approach of explaining each step (written and video) of any process in building an online business, in straightforward and easy to understand language. I feel they have my back and really do want me to do well online.
- SBI! goes way above and beyond in taking care of the background technical aspects of hosting websites with little, if any, worry about downtimes or security which is important to me. Oddly I don’t find the security aspect of SBI! talked about all that much in its sales messages.
- SBI!’s accessibility to troubleshoot problems – through Support – is so heartening. It is comforting to know you are not left holding the bag, alone, and have no idea what to do. Explanations are complete, well-written and the message is ALWAYS warm and courteous.
- SBI!’s resources about, for example, creating a sales page or writing attention-grabbing content has been the greatest help of all.
- Whatever you need to run an online business as a solopreneur, is all there, all in one place. I just don’t have the savviness or time to hunt down and mix’n’match technical ‘stuff’ for a website to run without a hitch. SBI! takes care of this for me. Otherwise, I would not have ventured into the online business world.
Paul Pavao
This is an easy question.
- Pick a good niche using the advice in the Action Guide.
- Choose good keywords in your niche using Brainstorm It! (still guided by the Action Guide).
- Write excellent articles on your best keywords. This means: pour your heart into it, EDIT IT, and use Analyze It!.
This has worked for me on four web sites. The people I have known who have failed at this simply did not follow the Action Guide.
I could have written my three points as:
- Follow the Action Guide
- Follow the Action Guide
- Follow the Action Guide
Qing Petras
There are many ways how SBI! has helped me. Narrowing it down to the top 3:
- SBI!’s Brainstorm It! is one of the best tools out there. It helped me to explore many good keywords that I could create content pages about.
- The Action Guide helped me stay focused, organized on task.
- In the forums I learned from SBIers with high traffic websites. There are countless subjects that you can search for answers, and you also ask and always get an answer.
Feily
What are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to my success?
- Very useful online guides and tools.
- Great forums, where I can learn from many fellow solopreneurs and never feel alone anymore!
- Affordable price for web hosting plus all the education!! A friend of mine has paid almost ten times more for only a one time online creating website guide!
Mashubi Rochell
As a long term SBI! member, (since 2001, wow!) I can unquestionably say that the single most helpful tool for me has been Brainstorm It!. Without that, I would never have been able to gain any visibility in the search engines. I feel that this is an absolutely brilliant tool, and I am amazed that not more people know about it!
It makes so much sense to me to do “market research” before starting any business. The Brainstorm It! tool allows us to do this so that we have a reasonable chance of gaining some visibility in the search engines if we follow the Action Guide and do a good careful analysis.
I cannot tell you how helpful it is to be given this glimpse into the supply and demand for Internet keywords, which makes it so much more likely that our investment of time and energy into our business will actually bear fruit. I even found version one of the Brainstorm It! to be amazing, and now it is absolutely phenomenal.
I have been having some health challenges, which have prevented me from working much these days, however first on my list when I can work, is to work with this the newest version of Brainstorm It!.
I would say the second most helpful feature of SBI! for me is the integrated functionality, so that most everything I need for the business is in one place. (Actually, these are all my top number one features!)
And, you ask your customers what they would find helpful, and add new features! It is so helpful to be able to do most everything in one place. Nowadays there’s too much information overload, and even though it does take time to learn SBI!, the Action Guide allows us to stay focused and learn the essentials.
Number three, which is also number one in my book, is the incredible support that you provide to educate people on what it takes to build a business. You have a great training program, the Action Guide, and you keep abreast of the changes in the search engine and Internet world, and inform us about those things that are most important. I would never be able to keep up with all of that on my own!
You also build tools to help us deal with some of these changes, such as the most recent HTTPS conversion tool. I can’t tell you how much that helps. I haven’t even had the opportunity yet to transition my sites, but I feel hopeful that when I can, it will go smoothly because of all of the work of your team.
You also provided absolutely brilliant support during the Panda and Penguin search engine algorithm updates. That was so helpful so that we could adapt and grow and help our sites to become even more stable for the long term.
Another one of my number one most important features, is that your team actually cares about the people you serve. You have great support, and very skilled business coaches to help with those challenges that come up. This is really important to me!
Even though the world of business is filled with people who are greedy and who lack integrity, SBI! has always been, and I believe always will be, a company that is run by people with hearts who care about doing good and helping others, and making a positive contribution to the world.
That is the reason I took a chance early on in 2001 to try out SBI!, because I could tell that you folks are trustworthy. I am so grateful that SBI! is still around through all of the changes that have happened on the Internet.
I have not yet begun to tap the full potential of my websites, because of other challenges which have required my full attention. However, my sites were able to maintain themselves due to the solid foundation I was given through the Action Guide and the brilliant functionality of SBI!.
I look forward to when I am able to work more so I can fully utilize SBI! and the great foundation I have built with your help. Thank you all again, from the bottom of my heart.
Denise Rodgers
My traffic has dropped dramatically in the past few years, but I will expand on that in my four (not three) reasons for “success” below. I also need to work on monetizing, as AdSense used to be impressive (not a living; but pretty darn good for passive income), but not anymore. I have ideas that I will put to use once I’ve done the work on revitalizing my site.
So, to answer your question:
The Top 3 (or 4) Ways SBI! has contributed to my success:
- MKL!!! The Master Keyword List is my personal treasure. I love searching for high demand keywords that don’t yet enjoy a sufficient supply. It’s not exactly shooting fish in a barrel, but it’s fun. It’s more like mining for gold (better metaphor).
- Analyze it! Because I don’t post often or regularly, it’s nice to have the training wheels provided by Analyze It! This catches mistakes before they’re published. It reminds me of important components necessary for a search engine-friendly page.
- The Action Guide and Forums. I suppose these should be two separate answers. The reason I blend them together is that they are both there to provide all the information I need to succeed. Sometimes, IMHO, the Action Guide gives perhaps too much information and additional links, making it a bit overwhelming.That’s where the forums help out, when I have specific questions. I’ve often found answers others have already posted. I’ve also posted new questions. It is a great community. I’ve not felt confident enough to supply answers. But now that I’ve been proclaimed a “success,” perhaps I will.
- Bonus Answer: The SBI! Email Newsletters, which I’ve ignored to my peril. I’ve let the site coast for many years as I pursued other projects, and Google kept dancing even after I left the dance floor. Now I’m working on getting up to speed.
Reading other solopreneurs’ stories is helpful, as is all the information SBI! provides on ways to keep up in the cyber marketplace. HTTPS comes to mind as a recent example.
I’m very excited about my funny-poems-for-free.com plans, and grateful for all the services SBI! provides.
José Luis Romero
- The keyword research tool.
- The education I received through the Solo Build It Action Guide.
- The simplicity of the SBI! system.
Don Schwerzler
www.family-business-experts.com
- The premise/concept of “why build a website when you can build a web business” really set the wheels turning for me. It dramatically changed the vision that I originally had about just putting up a website that was basically an electronic business card. The tutorials enabled me to understand the importance of content. Content that was keyword researched and then optimizing/writing the content for maximum effect.
- The concept of providing copious “free” information that was comprehensive & germane to my audience of family-owned businesses and professional service providers to family businesses such as lawyers, accountants, estate planners and management consultants. This strategy drove the number of pages and topics that were then posted to our site.
- Support staff that responds quickly to any questions I may have. I am an older guy (pushing 80) without any previous computer training. When we first started with SBI! (2001), it was simple enough for even someone like myself to undertake.
But through the years SBI! has become ever more sophisticated and staying on top of all of the opportunities offered by SBI! is daunting to me. But when I do have a question, support staff has been excellent (and very patient!).
Joe Servello
Here are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to my success:
1. I like the drop and drag ease of Blockbuilder. Not having to write code has saved me untold hours developing new pages and adding to old ones. Site wide dots make adding something to all my pages at once a breeze.
I can’t think of anything that you haven’t already thought of when it comes to making what could be a daunting task into a smooth and easy pleasure. You’ve made owning a website more fun and less work.
2. Being able to search keywords has made it simple to name my pages and get to the top of the search engines and get found. This simple fact has quickly made me the top deer hunting website in New York State.
3. What I like most of all is that SBI! stays on top of every aspect of creating, owning, and monetizing my site. It’s like having an employee doing all the background work for me. And, if I have a question SBI! is right there to help me find the answer.
Bill
SBI! Tools are invaluable to me. They have helped me achieve everything I have so far, and they give me confidence that I can build on my success in the future. The SBI! technology was and is a powerful game-changer for me.
Could I have become a success without SBI!? Maybe, but I doubt it, and I’m glad I found them when I did.
The most notable three ways that SBI! has led to my success are as follows:
1. More value for the money (block building simplicity, Brainstorm It! and Action Guide).
2. SBI! provides more efficiency, higher yields, i.e. precisely the results that great technology produces.
3. I also love the SBI! Forums. It’s a place to get help.
Back in early times, soon after people learned that oxen and horses could exponentially increase the labor of humankind, there had been almost certainly a large number of early day solopreneurs who created success participating in that animal value.
However, the real success was developed by individuals who applied that innovative ‘technology’ to more significant challenges and fundamentally transformed the way their civilizations did business. This is how SBI! contributes today.
I’m aware that I’ve selected a very competitive niche and to compete with the big boys/girls is a blast. The big boys and girls all of whom have the staff to do things that solopreneurs cannot. I believe SBI! gives me a way to be competitive as a solopreneur, and do pretty much what they can.
Those solopreneurs who don’t adapt the SBI! concept and instead acquire every gadget that marketers offer, will be left behind.
Johanna Soliday
www.make-and-build-dog-stuff.com
What are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to my success? Limiting it to 3 is really tough but I’ll try:
- Gave me the confidence to build web pages using Blockbuilder templates, at a price that made me work hard to succeed to justify the expense to my spouse.
- Provided a guide that works for building a profitable web business along with awesome tools such as Brainstorm It!, Content 2.0, etc.
- Has kept me abreast of important developments for how to keep my business viable, while at the same time developing SBI! technology to match current trends (such as making SBI! websites mobile friendly).
Here are a few more:
Forum support: knowing that others are having the same online business challenges and how they’re overcoming them, is invaluable.
Unbelievable price at $299 a year for all the tools along with superior hosting where (rare) down times are announced in advance. SBI! is the only product or service I’ve ever bought where the price has remained the same for 11 years.
Reckon the list could go on… thanks again for all you have done and are doing!
Courtney VandenRidge
- Ease of using the BlockBuilder to create a professional site.
- SBI! Action Guide. It’s so nice to have my hand held rather than struggle through what needs to be done next.
- Help getting through changes like the Google Chrome requirements of switching to https. SBI! truly made it easy.
Theresa Vernon
I’ll be happy to say why I have been with SBI! since 2008.
First of all, I probably would not have even attempted to set up any website, let alone one I built myself, without SBI!. The training in how to identify my niche and keywords was absolutely invaluable as I would not have even known about such things at the time.
It really changed how I saw the services I provide. The BlockBuilder made it really easy to get started and made me believe I could do it. WordPress for example, is a major hassle by comparison.
The new BlockBuilder is excellent. I had gone to uploading my own HTML after having my original block builder site up for a while. Teaching myself HTML was not something I had ever planned to do, so I am proud that I did. But keeping my site updated was way too much work so I was falling behind on that and not really adding much new material. I made the switch to the new BlockBuilder and have been very happy with it.
The regular information and notices of changes in the internet along with solutions to these issues like the recent conversion to a more secure site is essential. I would not have the first idea about how to deal with that on my own.
I built the website as a labor saver for me. I had lots of written material including a cookbook that I was copying and mailing out or handing out to my patients. There were also subjects I was explaining over and over again from scratch. New material has been based on that need. When I am repeatedly explaining or discussing certain health issues, then I put an article up on the website to simplify the process.
I have not really gone out of my way to do anything to build traffic or even to get anyone to link to my site. It has truly been organic growth all the way, and it seems that is hard to beat in terms of the search engines being happy with you. The SBI! philosophy of building good content, slow and steady, has worked very well for me.
Neville Walker
www.better-golf-by-putting-better.com
SBI! is well-structured and organized making it easy to use. It has a lot of excellent features that take the difficulty out of doing things.
Herman Wall Jr.
Fascinating Question and here are my answers:
- SBI! has the most comprehensive ‘toolkit’ for building an online business – via a website that gets noticed – compared to any of its competitors.
- The Support Department is extraordinary and although, at first, I was a little ‘anxious’ about not being able to talk to someone like I do with Norton and Carbonite, I have found the SBI! Support Department to be far superior to both of the previously mentioned organizations, added together!
- The multi-diversified forums are one of the most comprehensive forums and tools that SBI! has devised; ‘SBIers helping SBIers and encouraging SBIers to help someone else when they get helped!’
- A customized coding service that helps SBIers to get creative with their sites at an affordable rate. Via the SiteSell Pros we have access to a resource that won’t ‘break the piggy bank’ yet understands the scaffolding and framework of the SBI! product.
- Inspiration through Nori Evoy’s anguilla-beaches.com site showing us that an untrained 14-year-old daughter can start a great site which motivated all of us, especially me. Additionally this showed that if a 14-year-old can do this business, so can a 73-year-old!
- Recognizing the need for special market tools like the recent https conversion tool.
- Being able to pay for the service via monthly installments rather than only a yearly ‘lump sum’ payment.
- Providing banner and video advertisements so that SBI! Affiliates can become part of the marketing effort.
- Providing a simple and “non-technical” way to build a website so that even non-technicals can use it.
Stephen Walton
www.the-positive-parenting-centre.com
I can’t say enough about the benefits of SBI!. Here are just a few of my personal views:
It is reassuring that my domain name is automatically renewed.
It was seamless in protecting my domain name with other similar ones along with an annual reminder to renew them as well. Your warnings about other companies sending me notices of domain renewals has saved me from major issues and costs.
I always feel that I am protected in all aspects of security.
Your ease of page setup and building are absolutely wonderful and make the process enjoyable and stressless.
Your constant upgrades are in keeping with the times.
It is helpful to get an email periodically advising me of a broken link. Otherwise it would go unnoticed for sure.
The forums are wonderful. It’s reassuring to read other SBIer’s issues and find remedies and ideas. Ken Evoy’s personal forum feed is awesome and extremely informative and educational.
The 24/7 help on any issue is also excellent and reassuring.
The Action Guide is out of this world and I cannot imagine attempting to build and promote a website without it. Period. Your ingenuity and design of the guide cannot be matched anywhere.
I have not applied all aspects of the SBI! program as of yet but can honestly say to anyone interested in SBI! not to hesitate to get on board. You will be absolutely grateful for doing so.
The cost of the program is minimal compared to the quality and benefit received.
I have some aggressive goals for 2018 with the website and plan on jumping deeper into the program. I can honestly say it has been SBI! that has kept me motivated and encouraged to fulfill my aspirations.
Curtis Williams
3 reasons why I love SBI!:
- Great tutorials. If i don’t understand something I can watch a video and learn.
- Great technical guidance. I never have to think about how to set up my pages, the Analyze It! tool is awesome!
- Great site and business builder. Everything you need is in one place: Site Designer, Site Navigation, Socialize It!, Face It!, Mobilize It!, EU Cookie Widget, HTTPS Conversion tool, etc.
Allison Williams Hill
- SBI! was the best means that I could use to create what I wanted after paying three men (three different businesses) who, after explaining what I wanted, essentially told me what I should have.
SBI! provides the platform that enables me to realize my vision independently. I have complete control of my content and images, their organization, and display. I actually do feel smarter as I’m using this and seeing the results, LOL.
SBI! is not difficult to learn and it gets easier with time. Using the outline template saves time and serves as a record.
- To me, SBI! stands for “Support Built In” (may sound corny) because there are all the other services “behind” my business. I have deep appreciation for the articles, the ebooks, the blog, web page analysis, etc., for everything I can use and read to learn how to create quality for those my work attracts.
- There is a wonderful team of people who respond to problems and help when I need assistance. The forums are phenomenal; not only do they contain SBIers’ questions, responses, and ideas, but I see what other people are working on. It’s amazing!
- I’ve gotten into the habit of checking my own links to make sure they work. Sometimes it slips my mind when revising pages and I appreciate the broken links follow-up. After my multi-year absence, some of the links do break, connections and content “disappears.” Thank you for providing this service.
- The Action Guide is thorough and now downloadable so I can read it offline. I don’t think that I could when I initially signed on.
Summary: Key Success Factors and Takeaway Lessons From 54 Solo Build It! Members
In the introduction, we had wondered if there’s a significant difference in replies from this group of SBIers as compared to the initial sample.
Do people who are still building their success see the key factors differently from those who’ve already made it to the top?
Overall, no. The key factors were very similar, but with some notable differences.
First, there’s a bigger variety in the contributing factors listed by the participants (41 factors vs 21). Of course, we also had more respondents than in the first group (54 respondents vs 37), so this wasn’t too surprising.
Second, while the Action Guide ranks in first place again, a different factor came in second: SBI!’s general ease of use and how it takes care of all the technical stuff in the background.
This “ease of use,” of not having to worry about technical stuff or about complying with new requirements in the online business world, weaves itself like a red thread through the answers.
It applies not only to the tools, but also to the education and training. In short, it applies to the “whole SBI! package,” as this sample of comments illustrates:
Not only did I discover my site was easy to build using SBI!, I also came to realize how easy it is to maintain. That’s a big issue with me.
No matter what others say about all-in-one, and I’ve looked at a few, none of them are nearly as complete or as easy to use as SBI!.
SBI! helped me to jump over technical hurdles easily.
Thanks to SBI! I can stay on top of things in the infopreneurial world and be sure I can perform without worrying about the technical side of building the website.
Instead of me worrying about new technologies that are coming up, nowadays I just concentrate on providing value and the rest is taken care of by SBI!.
I just don’t have the savviness or time to hunt down and mix’n’match technical ‘stuff’ for a website to run without a hitch. SBI! takes care of this for me.
SBI!’s approach of explaining each step (written and video) of any process in building an online business, in straightforward and easy to understand language.
The BlockBuilder made it really easy to get started and made me believe I could do it. WordPress for example, is a major hassle by comparison.
Apart from this “ease of use / no need to worry” factor, the most important elements for winning online were identical between the first and second group of respondents, with just small differences in their rankings. The table below shows the top factors from the first group on the left versus the top factors from the second group on the right.
In our previous round-up article, we took a deep dive into why these factors are so important for being successful online, and how they can help you in your solopreneur career.
No need to repeat those conclusions here. If you’d like to re-read them, this link takes you directly to the summary of the first round-up.
Instead, let’s look at a few more of the differences in the answers from the two groups. I’ve highlighted the ones that stood out for me in the table below.
Same Low Price for Years
6 people out of 54 mentioned Solo Build It!’s affordability and / or the fact that the price hasn’t increased in years as being important to them.
(In fact, the price for SBI! is less now than it was when we launched back in 2001; that includes all the new tools, regular updates and new articles and tutorials.)
Unbelievable price at $299 a year for all the tools along with superior hosting where (rare) down times are announced in advance. SBI! is the only product or service I’ve ever bought where the price has remained the same for 11 years.Johanna Soliday
It makes sense that the low subscription price was higher on the priority list for this second group of survey participants. After all, they are still in the build-up phase of their business, with lower financial returns than the first group. Some respondents even admitted frankly that they have yet to earn their first income from their web business.
Which brings up a good question: how long does it take to earn an income from your online business?
That depends on several factors, like your niche and its competitiveness, your monetization models and how much time you can put into building your business. One thing’s for sure though: it does not happen overnight.
To learn more about the four main ways to monetize your website, and how long it takes (on average) to start making money from them, check out the article “How Long Does It Take to Make Money With an Online Business?“.
Integrity of the Company and Its founder, Ken Evoy
This is the real world; SBI! does not sugar coat or lie to you about how success really happens.Simon Davies
Even though the world of business is filled with people who are greedy and who lack integrity, SBI! has always been, and I believe always will be, a company that is run by people with hearts who care about doing good and helping others, and making a positive contribution to the world.Mashubi Rochell
And I know Ken Evoy has his customers’ backs.”Birgir Gislason
As you can imagine, this survey finding made us particularly proud.
In an industry where “Get Rich Quick” schemes, marketing hype and downright malicious fake reviews are rampant, it’s hard to tell right from wrong, good from bad. How are you supposed to know which product or service really delivers on its promises? How can you tell if a product review is real or fake?
We’ve written a whole series about fake reviews to help you spot them and protect yourself from being ripped off. The series looks into all kinds of fake reviews, on platforms like Amazon or TripAdvisor, on individual blogs, by affiliate marketers, etc.
For our own industry, i.e. internet marketing and “making money online,” our advice boils down to this: insist on verifiable proof!
Whether it’s on the company’s sales page, or in an affiliate review, if you cannot verify the success claims, stay away from the product or service! What do we mean by “verifiable” proof?
An income check from AdSense or PayPal? Nope. Nothing easier than photoshopping an image.
A glowing testimonial from Susan B., Texas? Only if Susan B. from Texas also tells you her domain name. With the domain name (i.e. the link to her website) you can verify her traffic levels with tools like SEMrush or SimilarWeb.
If her site doesn’t get any or very low traffic, her claims about “success” can only be fake. No matter how you monetize your website / web business, you need traffic first.
That’s why all our proof comes from real people and includes their domain names:
- Long term case studies
- Solopreneur Stories on the SBI! Blog
- SBI! reviews from real users
- 500 SBI! sites with top SimilarWeb rankings
SBI! Enables Me to Build and Maintain My Site Myself
This one’s closely related to success factor #2 – SBI!’s ease of use and how it removes major technical hurdles.
The ability to build and maintain your website yourself is particularly important in two cases:
Case 1: You are already a small business owner, and want to promote your offline store or services online.
Case 2: You have a wonderful idea for an online business, or comprehensive niche knowledge that you’d love to share with the world, but are a complete novice when it comes to website building.
In both scenarios, you might feel tempted to hand over the website building to someone else because you have no time and / or no inclination to learn the necessary skills. But even if you find a provider who builds your site for a reasonable price, what happens later, when you need to make changes to your site?
Or if the person or company simply doesn’t understand what you are trying to do? No one knows your existing business, let alone your vision of a future business, as well as you do.
With SBI!, you don’t have to hand over control to someone else…
SBI! provides the platform that enables me to realize my vision independently. I have complete control of my content and images, their organization, and display. I actually do feel smarter as I’m using this and seeing the results, LOL.Allison Williams Hill
You can change your content and your messaging the moment your business requires it…
Because I can design, build and modify the websites myself, I am able to rapidly change our message. This is critical because I run a spray technology company, and our products, services and markets are constantly changing.William Collins
With SBI!, you can be confident that you can do this! No need to throw in the towel…
I was ready to throw in the towel when I happened upon SBI!. The more I researched it, the more it looked like something I might be able to do on my own, so I went for it.Scott Gese
No matter whether you are a complete beginner, or have attempted to build an online business before, but failed – SBI! gives you the highest chances to succeed. In data based comparisons with major competitors, Solo Build It! members were up to 115X more likely to build high traffic websites than users of other platforms like Wix, GoDaddy or Wealthy Affiliate.
Ready to build your online business success? Get started here, or talk to an Advisor about your goals and how SBI! can help you realize them.
Latest posts by Margit Streifeneder (see all)
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Try it. Simply follow the Video Action Guide. 
No strings. Better, actually...
