Ed Howes writes:

This post appears to be a voice crying in the wilderness. I visited SBI and took home a truckload of info. I take it you are looking for info beyond that of the on site testimonials. Maybe someone on staff wants to sign up. I did not click to order and don’t recall seeing the price in my travels.

[Reply]

Dina writes:

Ed, it’s $299 per year.

[Reply]

Edward Weiss writes:

Dina, $300 per year you say? I just visited site build it and they pretty much correctly identify what you need to do to succeed on the web.

Now, I don’t think this applies to ALL businesses, i.e. porn.. but ranking high in the search engines by providing information people are searching for is the strategy suggested.

Having said that, why would I need a company to do this for me? Are they going to provide the original content or am I?

[Reply]

Julie writes:

Hi
I own 2 SBI sites, but have just started EzineArticles, but hope to have my first 10 up by next weekend to see if it can help improve traffic.

So far from what I see most of the articles here are really poorly written and don’t provide any real information. Being in SBI for awhile, I am all about creating my own great content.
It is dissapointing to see how people use this just to get people to go to their websites that are just big googleadsense ads waiting for unsuspecting clicks.

I would love to see that end…

[Reply]

Christopher Knight writes:

I really see SBI! as being a great solution for the a person who puts their first site on the net.

While some SBI! clients are more intermediate in their use of the platform, it’s really targeted towards someone who wants to get started with a basic website.

SBI! doesn’t provide any content. Think of them as a webhosting company that sells a success process instead of a basic helpless web hosting account.

[Reply]

Christopher M. Knight writes:

Julie,

While I don’t agree with you that “most of the articles here are really poorly written” — Because it’s not true… I can agree that some of the articles here are clearly not written by writing pro’s.

Perhaps you can show everyone how it’s (writing better quality articles) done with your articles. :-)

[Reply]

Paul Anderberg writes:

I subscribed to SBI! almost a year ago. Amazingly enough, I STILL think it was one of the smartest things I’ve ever done. I can’t imagine trying to create a website w/o it.

First of all, SBI! does all of your page-submitting for you. Second – it automates link-insertion for you. You onlyhave to type in a link address ONCE. Third – it allows you to insert good-looking graphics onto your pages.

Fourth – the support staff there actually answers you!

And probably the most useful feature – SBI! hosts the best Forums I have ever seen. If (well, WHEN!!) you have a problem, post it, and you WILL get help from similarly hard-working, intelligent, succcess-driven small business owners.

Since I made my initial purchase and spent the seemingly large sum of $299, I have not needed to spend any additional sum whatsoever.

Contact me, I’ll steer (oops, that’s a very bad word in the real estate business!) you to some very useful articles and even some FREE ebooks from Sitesell/SBI! (I don’t think we can post links like that here…)

Paul Anderberg
http://www.first-time-home-buying.net

[Reply]

Julie writes:

SBI is more than just a hosting company. They teach you to create and develop a niche and succeed in an online business. It is for beginners and professional website designers as it is more about making sure the sight gets seen by someone rather than creating flashy, fancy sites.
Their main focus is teaching you to write your own great content because that is the best way to get readers to trust you and get to the click that makes the money.

It is not so much the bad content here, but the bad sites that they refer to – link farms, repeatative content and no real content. I did finally find a few that were well written and did refer to legitimate sights where I could tell that there were real people creating them trying to make a difference in what they do.

Is there any rules or regulations on that?

I am writing and submitting.
How does one get to be an editor?

Julie

[Reply]

Edward Weiss writes:

Hi Julie. Funny you should mention Google ads and link farms. I just visited your site and it looks exactly like the kind of site you described.

[Reply]

Julie writes:

That’s kind funny because I have spent over 5 years in writing content for the site.

[Reply]

Ed Howes writes:

Hi Julie,

Are you volunteering to be a case study example? I hope so because my curiosity is getting to me about the report itself. I like your content and your writing. I have long been interested in your area of expertise. This may be my own personal problem/ peeve but it has been the subject of discussion on this blog before and I just experienced some personal revelations I feel compelled to share

Text embedded hyperlinks appear to be a stroke of of marketing genius. Most often they are a big mistake. Or contact us privately in the text of this blog post was a very appropriate use. Chris wanted to make sure a candidate did not miss this option, which might be preferred. When used in article text, it is a fraudulent headline, a distraction and an annoyance. Is that your intention? I don’t want to be annoyed and distracted. I want to focus on what you are telling me. If you don’t want that, just post links. I’ve done this a few times myself with no self serving purpose. I was a rookie and thought it a great tool to facilitate a visit elsewhere for my readers. I’ll NEVER do it again.

In the same vein is a text wrap around a centered Google ad. I’m here to sell for Google. I don’t care if you like or read my article. Now I don’t care either. I have only been on line 8 months. I see all the ads out the corner of my eye. Sometimes I read them, but seldom. In 8 months I have never clicked on one. Why? Because it was my intention to learn something I chose, not to buy something. You are bastardizing your work with commercials and doing it for the same reason as commercial TV and radio. But wait a minute. I was reading your article as a preferred alternative to commercial TV and radio. Would you get fewer click throughs if you invited me to learn more about this or that after you were done speaking to me? Hyperlinks should be placed at the end of an article. Ads can frame the whole thing. They do not belong in the middle where they play hell with text justification. I am no marketing expert. Far from it, but these advertising practices will be rare in a year.

[Reply]

Edward Weiss writes:

Julie, what I meant was, you were talking about Google ads and complaining about them being the first thing you see on a lot of sites. When I visited your site, the first thing I saw were Google ads. :0

[Reply]

Tom Juuls writes:

Nice to see an evaluation of the site built concept here.
I have followed the development of SBI and related products quite closely as an affiliate and have the impression that most people having a SBI site created their own products or market an affiliate product.
Due to the pre-selling they are very successful.
Adsense income is an add on and was only added later to the concept. Anyway, as the content of SBI sites is (what I have seen) well targeted and well researched, adsense ads are targeted as well and probably also convert well for the advertisers.

If you want to know more about SBI you can place your question in the form at
http://question.sitesell.com/
An actual SBI! owner/user will give you
real answers based upon direct first hand experience.

Hope this helps and having the link above is ok.
Have a good weekend
Tom

[BLOG EDITORS NOTE: Affiliate Link Removed]

[Reply]

Christopher M. Knight writes:

Luckily for Julie, 67% of people surved more than a year ago in a eMarketer survey said they didn’t know the contextual ads were ads at all and thought they were part of the content.

Julie, I surfed your site today and I think you did a great job on your content. :-)

[Reply]

Ed Howes writes:

I’d wager that 67% would be less than 30% in a new survey. It takes a while for a trend to be noticed.

[Reply]

Tracie writes:

I have been using SBI for about 4 months. I know next to nothing about computers and knew even less about building a website when I signed up with SBI.

I don’t know what the expectations are supposed to be for new websites to say if I’m getting good traffic yet. Most days I have more than 100 unique visitors. That is great in my opinion!

The best part about SBI is their forum. You rarely see complaints about SBI, mostly you have very helpful, knowledgeable people helping those who ask for help. Most of my questions, and I have had many, are answered in less than a day. And I usually have 2 to 5 different people trying to help me. :o)

If someone wants to use me as a case study, I would consider it. I would be perfect if you want to see how an old lady, that has a hard time reading the set-up manuals because she doesn’t speak the computer language, builds a website. LOL

My moto is, if I can do it, anyone can do it. A lot of people say that, but I really mean it.

Now if you checking out my website, just remember that I am still trying to find my way around. Don’t be too hard in your response.

[Reply]

Charlles Nunes writes:

Hi Buddies,

It’s wonderful to get in contact with so many smart people through the Web. Since I found EzineArticles.com, I’ve been constantly drinking of this fountain of wisdom.

Even better, I’ve just launched my article writing career here!

I want you to know ‚¬€ and everyone and his dog ‚¬€ that English is not my native language. So, please feel free to become my personal trainer.

Besides, I am an SBI author who’s been running a Web site between midnight and 2 in the morning.

I believe in it SO MUCH that I’m quitting my day job next Aug 31st to dedicate in full to building my Business.

Though my Web site has currently only 10% of what I’m planning for it, I am already receiving 1000 unique visitors a month. SBI is simply great!

(I would say something better, if just my English allowed me to!)

So, please count me in for a case-study example.

Let’s keep learning.

[Reply]

Ed Howes writes:

Hi Charlles,

Welcome to our little family within a family, within a family. Thank you for sharing. You no longer need explain your English writing. It is already better than the typical U.S. high school graduate. Since you have chosen to write English, your improvement will be rapid. I am delighted you have chosen independence. To be the captain of your own ship and to do what you love. This world needs more people like you. Please keep us posted of your progress now and then.

[Reply]