Making money online, passive income, affiliate marketing and working from home are concepts growing in popularity and curiosity, as people look for secure ongoing income in a world where certainty and job security are relative terms.
Trawling the Internet in search of income streams is very much in vogue. With the explosion of blogging, more people are getting their voices heard, but also making money through Adsense revenue, affiliate links and online advertising. A sub-section of this fad is niche blogging, which Wikepedia describes "is the act of creating a blog with the intent of using it to market to a particular niche market." There are few niche blogging concepts which divide the online community more than Ken Evoy's Site Build It! (SBI) business, also know as SiteSell.
As with any online research, a sensible approach for weeding out the scams is to enter the name of the life-changing business followed by the word 'scam' into the search engine of your choice. An enterprising blogger called Lis Sowerbutts is first up on the Google search term, 'SBI scam', a post which provoked so much debate, that she had to upload a subsequent update to the post.
Debate was fairly partisan, with the anti-SBI brigage's (of which Lis is one) main arguments being not so much that it was a scam but very expensive at $300 a year, as well as very cultish, where dissent was not allowed. Having weighed up the several hundred thousand words on both posts, this correspondent was convinced that the pro-SBI arguments far outweighed the cons (sic) and decided to take the plunge. While $300 is a significant sum to part with on an online experiment, the recent introduction of a monthly option of $29.99, with no other up front costs and permanent ownership of the domain name made it a less risky option.
Follow the Action Guide and embrace the tortoise
The SBI concept centres round the Action Guide, a ten day video learning tool covering everything from finding the write concept and choosing the best keywords, to how to build incoming links and approach social media and search engines, with a lot more besides. Resfreshingly for an online business, the myth of getting rich quick is dispelled at the outset, with the SBI mascot, the tortoise, symbolising the approach – slow, methodical, correct for a longterm passive income stream.
The Guide is a wealth of information (available online in different places for free, say its detractors) and takes much more than the ten days to actually digest, but the information is clear, logical and concise, which is pitched at the absolute internet beginner with the only assumed knowledge the ability to email and surf the net (it is also designed for sections to be bypassed by more experienced surfers).
The brainstorm tool and easy block builder
The slow, methodical approach takes the newbie into the brainstorming section, where the niche concept is analysed for competition both in search and revenue. Depending on the weekly commitment to the site, one can find a winnable niche with the time available. Analysis focuses on the supply and demand of certain keywords within the niche, pointing out keywords are sought after, but little written about them.
For those with no knowledge of web design, the building process is completely straightforward and well thought out. From choosing a template in the Look and Feel selector (now much enhanced with the recent introduction of the three-tier template) to adding links and graphics to the various libraries, the Action Guide explains all. Instant gratification comes with uploaded pages appearing live immediately.
The core concept of SiteSell is building a sustainable business by doing it properly from the outset and avoiding short-term fixes such as SEO optimisation. As search engines get smarter, quality content will always be sought after. Content, content, content, followed by content, is the message. Quality content focused on the niche, built around the correct keywords, is the initial phase. There are excellent tips on how to drive traffic and pre-sell (warm up) viewers before, some way down the line as the tortoise moves slowly, the Big M – monetisation.
The real power of SiteSell – the forums
There are a range of excellent services included,including Adsense It, (the ability to set the aggressiveness of Google Ads on submitted pages – 15 minutes work for automatically placing Google ads on each newly submitted page, placed by Mother Google herself), updated keyword ranking reports, automatically search engine pinging of new pages and much, much more, but the real depth of SBI is in its user forums.
With a total of eighty-three specialist forums, all active, on every step of the Action Guide and beyond, the forums are a phenomenal resource of tips and information. A culture of 'paying it forward' has been engendered, whereby members share whatever nuggets they find with other SBIers. Some of the best advice on the Internet is available and openly shared on these forums, including code to boost inbound links, dealing with affiliates and how to get the most out of Adsense. Support for beginners, in the form of the Introduce Yourself and Submit Your Site for Review forums, is plentiful, and one can spend hours picking up useful tips on all aspects of building a business online.
SiteSell points out that it is a combination of following a proven system AND application from the website builder. It is not a get rich quick scheme, but it works for sure. An expensive cultish scam? Perhaps SiteSell is not for all, but an investment of $29.95 three months ago has already paid multiple dividends to this correspondent, even in the chosen niche's low-season – with application and a tortoise approach, the passive income train is only going in one direction.