What's Your Passion?Could you use another stream of income? Build a website around your passion!If you are interested in knowing how a person who has always been frustrated by computers came to build a website BY HERSELF that not only functions well but actually brings money in, then you will want to know more about SBI -- Site Build It! This website-building company is about more than just creating a working site. It is about how to build a business online. I first stumbled across a mention of SBI while visiting another musician's website. She called SBI "My Secret." I was intrigued, so I clicked the link and began reading about this company that provides all the tools to build your own website from the ground up, even for non-tech-savvy types! I was pleased to read that customers who choose SBI as the host for their website not only include sophisticated programmers who bring their own design skills and fancy software into play in their websites, but also include total NEWBIES like me, who could use a very easy approach called "blockbuilder." Using a headline block, text blocks, graphic blocks, blocks for PDF files such as my sheetmusic scores, I could build real pages online. Cool! That was all I needed. But I was by no means sold on SBI. The cute little video testimonials seemed too good to be true. I watched video after video. Some testimonials involved professionals who were expanding their field of practice to a wider audience via the internet. Some were stay-at-home-moms who had their own angle on organic food, or homeschooling, or the best Italian recipes. Some stories told of retirees who were sharing their vast accumulated knowledge of roses, or RVs, and some were hobbyists looking to augment their regular take-home pay. They all claimed to be making money: ...I didn't know if I could really believe in these "businesses".So for months I kept going back to the SBI site (also known as "Sitesell"), re-reading testimonials, checking out different SBI-hosted sites. Some looked very cool, others, extremely bare bones. I could tell many of these sites were designed by regular people. But they were making money? I read about a brother-and-sister team who have a number of related sites about parties: "Tamar and I did lots and lots of research on kid birthday parties and started experimenting with our ideas on kids and during parties whenever the opportunity arose. We wrote up lots of content for the site and I was in charge of strategy and building the site from a technical aspect (although, with Site Build It!, you really don't need any technical knowledge because you can build a site through simple building blocks and monitor every aspect of traffic through a consolidated control center.). In no time, both of us became kid birthday junkies." An artist talked about how pleased she has been with SBI's visual capabilities: "I was skeptical that I could get the visual feel that I wanted with a template-based builder. Little did I realize that SBI does not limit you to templates -- I had the option to "start from scratch" to create my own Web page elements for a truly one-of-a-kind look. I took the plunge -- "jumped in with both feet", as you say -- and as you can see, I used the SBI builder to make a beautiful site. I was surprisingly impressed with the flexibility of the builder... "But even though I now generate my own HTML files to upload some of my sub-site pages, my main site maintains the original look and feel that I created with SBI's builder -- yes, your customizable templates really are that good. And the flexibility of being able to do both my own HTML and/or template is AMAZING." A former government worker spoke of the fulfillment of working for himself: "For twenty-five years, the spirit of a small time entrepreneur was trapped inside the mind and body of a government administrator. Me. Unlike my many years as a paycheck-to-paycheck civil servant; every moment that I'm working now I'm creating additional value for me and my family as I build my business and add to my portfolio of products... "Because my online business runs virtually on automatic pilot these days, I will have the freedom to travel to Japan this December to visit my daughter who is teaching high school there. Since my products are downloadable, maintaining my business and dealing with any customer service issues from Japan will be a simple matter of checking my e-mail accounts via the Net once a day. So, impressed by these (and many other) stories, I went to the Better Business Bureau... I googled "SBI + scam." No problems either place. The more I read, the more I realized the whole business website scenario was going to require commitment, determination, hard work, and lots of time. The folks at SBI don't try to fool you that a successful business website will be easy. In fact, SBI's mascot is the TORTOISE. But I knew this was something I wanted to do, and I began to believe from reading the testimonials that SBI would be behind me the whole way. Once I made the decision to start a website and take the plunge with SBI, I was off and running. Well... okay... maybe I was off the ground and crawling. There was so much for me to learn! But the answers to all my questions were there on my Sitebuilding "headquarters," or in the Tips and Techniques pages, or in the E-books, or on the interactive Forums where fellow SBIers help each other out. My website has a pretty simple appearance and structure, less sophisticated than many of you reading this page would likely desire, but for me at this stage it has been just right, given my current work load in "regular" life. Sitesell also has website-building services for those who want help with their site. For me, though, doing it on my own has enabled me to take full control of the process as I gained in understanding and comfort level. I even use a little bit of HTML now (don't ask me to explain that). So if you've ever had a desire to have your own site, or even a blog that can make you money over time, Site Build It! is the perfect solution whether you are a a local business, an amateur,a retiree, a mom or dad, or even a kid*... *(Nori, the daughter of Ken, the founder, built herself a website, Anguilla-Beaches.com, at the age of fourteen using the same SBI tools available to all customers. She is now funding her college education with the proceeds from her on-going site.) |
