Why
is it special?
What set's SBI apart from other hosting packages is its integrated
traffic-building functionality. Amazingly 62% of all Site
Build It owners have sites in the top 3% of Internet traffic.
No other Web hosting company can boast anywhere near that!
The
Action Guide
After purchasing the product you receive a 10-day action guide
to brainstorm and build your site that sports great content
and drives traffic.
Brainstorming
The first five days of the action guide lead you through the
Brainstorm It module, a members-only Web page with tools to
research the most effective keywords to drive traffic. You'll
search for good search words and look up supply and demand
information on each of them. Demand is the number of times
the term is searched in search engines and supply is the number
of Web pages that deliver that term.
The
results are posted in the form of profitability ratio (demand/supply).
High profitability words will become your best trigger words
to drive traffic, and which you'll put into key places in
your web pages.
Site
Building
From day six on, you begin building your site using the Site
Build It module.
There
will be two ways to build your site, using the SBI editor
and uploader or using your own HTML editor such as Dreamweaver
of Front page, and uploading each page.
This
is where some frustration may set in. If you're used to the
traditional way of building a site, where you can FTP back
and forth to a server, and build a complicated tree structure
to your site, you will have to get used to doing it differently.
Using
your HTML Editor
You must build in a flat system - no folders except for special
ones for images and supporting files. Then you must upload
them through the sitesell Web page, not through your editor's
FTP function. It's slower, and harder to navigate.
Built-in
Search Engine Optimization
Why must you put up with this system, and is it worth it?
You put up with it because of the special functionality built
in. As each page is built, it is automatically submitted to
an array of search engines and indexes. You don't have to
worry about that aspect of promotion. Is it worth it? Yes,
in my view it is, but it's certainly not as easy as the traditional
way of building.
No
CGI?And Workaround
You may also not like the fact that you don't have the power
tools you normally have. For example, you cannot use CGI!
Actually there is a workaround, if you maintain another site
elsewhere. You can link to your CGI script on another site,
so that it's running from another host. But you can't install
a script here.
Javascript
You can use javascript in your HTML page.
Built-in
forms, mailing list and autoresponders
On the flip side of the CGI limitation, there are modules
for most of the kinds of things you usually do with CGI. There
is a built-in autoresponder system, a newsletter or mini-email
course system. There is also a module for form building, and
a double opt-in function for email subscriptions.
Mailing
List limitations
There are some other frustrating limitations to these as well.
The autoresponder cannot be used as a double opt-in email
list because it doesn't have the double opt-in functionality.
On the other hand, the email subscription system is limited
to 5000 emails / day (cumulative to 50,000) and the follow-ups
are limited to 7. The autoresponder follow-ups are unlimited,
but the subscription format isn't as robust as the email system
Speaking
of email, you do have the ability to read your email either
on a Web page or in a POP email reader.
Make
Your Content PREsell, Built in
There is a Make Your Content PreSell included in the SBI package
so don't buy it separately if you're buying SBI.
Forums
With SBI you have access to large number of forums that are
exclusive to SBI owners. They are kept very friendly. Successful
owners soon learn that you must go into the forums with a
positive attitude or get blasted. To go in swinging will get
you nowhere except the recommendation that if you're not satisfied
then you should return your product. There is a special forum
for complaints and praises.
But
if you go in to the forums deciding to make your SBI work
for you, and realizing that you aren't entitled to make SBI
do something it's not designed to do, you'll receive all the
help you need. Sometimes the answer will be, "you can't
do that."
There
is a SBI staff member whose job is simply to keep up with
all the technical help in the forums. You can also reach Ken
Evoy himself, but be warned, you should be sure you really
need to before you go to that level. His time is limited.
Store
Build It!
Recently
introduced is a module called Store Build It. It is a store/shopping
cart module that you purchase separately from Site Build It.
It
is possible to integrate other shopping cart software and
get along without purchasing Store Build It! The cost of Store
Build It! comes in three levels ($99, $299, $699) depending
on how big a company you need to run.
Store
Build It! is not available to non-SBI owners. It is only usable
as an add-on to the SBI package.
It
is my feeling that Store Build It! should have been included
in the SBI package. After all, SBI is designed primarily to
run sales sites and shopping cart software ought to be part
of that package. However, once you get your sales site running
and prove that you can make money with it, then purchasing
Store Build It! won't really be a big budgetary strain. Still,
I was a bit dissappointed about the idea of not having at
least the low-end functionality included.
The
ultimate win with Site Build It!
So again, why put up with all the straightjacket limitations
in how you can build your site? Because you want to build
a simple site that gets you a lot of traffic and makes you
a lot of money, rather than one where you can plug in every
toy you want.
Those
who learn that lesson will survive and will run ahead of the
pack, laughing all the way to the bank, while those who complain
about everything it can't do will go back to their regular
Web hosts and get the same dribble of traffic they've always
gotten.
I
like it and I use it, but I had to go through the stages of
separation from my old FTP habits before I got to acceptance.
Once I got past disbelief and anger, I have now learned there
is a beautiful product here that I need to embrace for all
it can do for me.
