How to Build a Website and Make Money from the Internet
An SBI review
Is Sitesell the real deal? Here is my SBI review.
I often get asked how to build a website, and how it is possible to make money from the internet. On this page I will give you an outline of the way I did it, and my SBI review, so that maybe you can do it too!
- Paul Perro 2011
Before creating www.history-for-kids.com, my only experience of the internet was email, news, ebay, wikipedia, etc. Then I signed up with a Canadian company called Sitesell, creators of SBI (Site Build It).
As well as providing the software you need to physically create and host the site, SBI is a course that teaches you how to build a website, and how to make your site popular, and how to earn money from it.
Google, Yahoo, and the other search engines, are a mystery to most people, but the course teaches you how they work, and what they look for when deciding how highly to "rank" a site. High ranking sites appear at the top of the list when a user searches for a relevant topic, and it is important to have as high a ranking as possible. The course teaches about keywords, and the importance of repeating the keyword a certain number of times, but not too often. The keyword for this page is SBI review so you might notice that I use the phrase SBI review slightly more often than perhaps I should. This is because I am hoping to rank highly for SBI review in Google and Yahoo. I know that a lot of people search for the phrase SBI review because the software tells me.
SBI has split the course into ten steps (they refer to them as “ten days” but that is misleading) as follows:
The Ten Steps:
How to Build a Website - STEP 1 The Basics
An introduction to the overall philosophy, which is that you must not rush things – you must build the content first, then attract readers (“traffic”) before making money.
How to Build a Website - STEP 2 Come up with a Site Concept.
SBI provides advice on how to come up with an overall theme for your site, and software that will tell you how much demand there is for your idea (i.e. people looking for it using search engines like Google), and how much competition (existing sites on the subject).
How to Build a Website - STEP 3 Brainstorm
SBI’s software will suggest profitable subtopics that fit into your overall concept (i.e. high demand and low competition), and help you come up a blueprint for your site.
How to Build a Website - STEP 4 Investigate Monetization Options
Some ideas as to how the site can make money for you. These include adverts and selling e-goods. See the Q&A section below for more details on this.
How to Build a Website - STEP 5 Refine Site Concept and Register Domain Name
Advice on how to choose the name of the website. Once you have decided, SBI shows you how to register it, and create your first page.
How to Build a Website - STEP 6 Build the Site
SBI provides software and templates, not only to build the site, but to build it in such a way that the search engines will like it, and rank it highly. See the Q&A section later in this SBI review for more details on this.
How to Build a Website - STEP 7 Build Free Traffic
Submit your site to the search engines (e.g. Google and Yahoo) and directories, and exchange links with other sites. The more links there are to your site in other sites, the more popular the search engines think your site is, and the higher they rank it.
How to Build a Website - STEP 8 Build Relationships with the readers.
Advice on site blogs, e-zines, videos, etc
How to Build a Website - STEP 9 Know Your Visitors
How to use and interpret the traffic monitoring software that SBI provides.
How to Build a Website - STEP 10 Monetize
Once your site is established, you implement the ideas you came up with in step 4.
Q&A
How does a website make money?
The simplest method is by adding adverts to the site. There are two types of adverts I use. The first is the affiliate link, like this one from Amazon (USA):
If someone clicks on this link, and subsequently buys something from Amazon, I get a small percentage of what they spend.
The second type, which has been far more effective for me, is GoogleAds, which usually look like something like this:
With GoogleAds, every time someone clicks on the advert I get a small payment – multiply that by a few thousand clicks, or (hopefully one day) a few hundred thousand clicks, and it becomes a very big payment. The amount I have received per click varies from 1 cent up to about $2.
SBI also helps you with other possible income streams too, such as creating eBooks and mp3s that can be sold online. If you want to set up a shop selling physical goods, SBI can help you with that too, but I have not done this myself (yet).
Does history-for-kids.com make money?
Yes. Not very much at the moment, but I am optimistic.
A relative of mine who runs a few sites, and has done for a few years more than me, makes thousands of dollars in a good month. He has given up his day-job.
Regarding my SBI review, I think the best advert for Sitesell is the fact that after creating this site, I have actually set up a second one, about classic black and white movies. Please feel free to go and take a look at that one too. It is still a work in progress, but check out
King Kong 1933.
I intend to create a few more sites over the coming years. I do not think it likely I will ever be able to give up my day job, but I now have a hobby that I find really interesting, and one that makes money rather than costs money.
What are my outgoings?
SBI membership is about $300 per year. However, they do regularly run special offers where it is possible to get it cheaper, although usually in a "buy one get one free" deal - these tend to happen in the run up to Christmas, Halloween, Valentines Day, etc. Other expenses include optional paid-for directory listings (I paid for one, at $50) and licences for any pictures you use on the website (you can of course add them illegally if you want to, but the licences are surprisingly cheap, say a few dollars each) plus any extra software or research information you decide to buy. My total outgoings in the first year were about $400. By the second year though, the adverts on the site were covering these costs.
Does SBI give you everything you need?
In terms of software and training, yes. They also claim they can help you come up with the idea for the site theme. To be honest though I had the idea for the site theme and had written some poems before signing up to SBI. What is certainly true though, is that I would not have had the confidence to attempt setting up the site were it not for the fact that I knew I was going to have all the advice and support I needed.
How long does it take?
As I already had an idea, I whizzed through steps 1-5 in an hour or two each. Step 6 is quite a lot of hard work though, and took me a few weeks working 2 hours a day. Step 7 also took a while, but then steps 8-10 are quicker again. Once I finished step 10 though, I went back to some of the earlier steps and added/refined things. It becomes an ongoing process really. I got quite enthusiastic about it and ended up spending most of my free time on it for several months, but I enjoyed doing something creative that was different to anything I had ever done before - it did not feel like "work".
SBI review - what is good about SBI?
The training is very good – A mixture of online videos and written guides. Both are very well made and easy to follow.
There is very good technical support and "forums" to discuss ideas and issues with other SBI users. The sense of community between SBI members is nice.
The new site building software (launched February 2012) is very good.
The “Analyse it” software really helps you set up the pages right.
The central repository of all the software is very useful and makes it easy to do the things you want to do very quickly.
SBI review - What is bad about SBI?
The enthusiastic “you can do it” tone might not be to everyone’s taste, but you do find yourself getting swept along with it despite yourself.
It is not cheap. If your site fails and it takes you a few years to realise it has failed, you could be out of pocket. However, if you follow their instructions regarding keyword choice and link building, I cannot see how it would fail.
Do I need SBI to set up a website?
No. I am sure there are plenty books available that teach you how to do this. All the software that SBI provides is probably available elsewhere. One of my reasons for joining was partly that if I knew I had made a financial commitment, it would motivate me to follow the course and not give up. SBI do claim however, that they do a lot of boring technical stuff behind the scenes for you, so that you can concentrate on other things.
I have read your SBI review. Should I join?
As you will have spotted by now if you have read my SBI review, I have had a good experience with it. I realise though it is not for everyone. There is a lot of work involved, and despite what SBI say, not everyone will be able to cope with the technical side, or be creative enough to write an interesting website. I think most people will cope though, and I do recommend it as a decent second income for someone who wants to work from home, or wants a hobby that has the potential to make money rather than cost money.
How do I join?
If you click on the picture link below, it will take you through to SBI’s sales page, where you will find out more about it directly from them. If you sign up after clicking this link, I do receive a small commission, for which I thank you.
Thank you for reading this SBI review. I have been as honest as I can, and the truth is I really do recommend it - I have had great fun setting up my website, and I think that it will make me a fair bit of money one day. Good luck to you too.
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