When I promote systems like Site Build It! or WordPress themes like Thesis, I’ve noticed it doesn’t sit well with some people.

A lot of the critics I’m referring to are programmers and designers.

Many of them believe that programs like SBI! and Thesis provide help and/or tools that you can get or learn for free (or cheap) by simply Googling the information or buying a couple of “how to” books.  Why buy Thesis when you can learn CSS from scratch?

Now, I have to admit this. Even if you set out to create your own site and use tools like Site Build It! or Thesis, you should still learn the fundamentals of HTML and CSS.

I have a basic understanding of both languages and I’m very glad I do because it has helped me greatly along the way.

However, what some people need to realize is not everyone wants to learn coding from scratch, and fortunately it’s not necessary to have success online.  Coding your site is definitely a part of it, but the other piece is marketing.

There are many 6-figure Bloggers and Webmasters out here who aren’t designers (I’m one of them).  We choose to outsource some or part of our work and use products like Thesis so we can focus on what we enjoy and do best.

I personally love writing and marketing much more than I love sitting and staring at code.  So tools like Thesis allow me to get things done faster so I can focus on what I truly enjoy.

I wouldn’t expect a product like Thesis to provide much value to a programmer or a designer who writes CSS from scratch.  But some people find great value with it.  I recommend it because I know there are people just like me.

Sometimes paying for tools is fine if they provide individual VALUE, and everyone values different things.

Below is my response to criticism often handed out by designers and programmers when they see people using or promoting web tools that make life easier for those of us who don’t care to become certified programmers…

UPDATE: For the record, I don’t let these people get to me.  I made this video to make the point that you don’t have to become a programmer to make a lot of money online.

So in a sense, these critical comments actually gave me inspiration to create this video so I can teach others.  It’s about turning negativity into opportunity and education. 

I have no regrets about my overall journey online because I believe any mistakes I’ve made have taught me great lessons.  However I want to discuss some things I would do differently if I had the opportunity to start over again.

Using Free Web Hosts

I told my “free web hosting story” in a recent YouTube video.  In a nutshell, I used free hosting some 11 years ago and the company decided to start charging. Anyone who did not want to pay their ridiculous monthly fees lost their site.

Fortunately it wasn’t a huge loss for me because I had already moved to paid hosting for my main site and those free sites were just sitting out there collecting Internet dust.   But it taught me a huge lesson about the price of free… especially when it comes to web hosting.

Of course, there are many more reasons not to use a free host, especially if you are starting a business. However, my story is quite common when it comes to free web hosting space.  Many of the companies simply cannot afford to remain free due to their own server costs.

Learn CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

When I was still at my 9 to 5 job some years ago, a coworker kept telling me about all the wonderful benefits of CSS. I remember it going in one ear and out the other.  After all, I was just getting the hang of HTML and didn’t need anything else confusing me at the moment.

Now that I understand what CSS can do and I see how much time it has saved me, I wish I would have learned it much sooner.  There is nothing more rewarding than being able to change your entire design in minutes by updating one file.

I recently completed a mini facelift of 2 Create a Website and it took me all of 15 minutes to update all 140+ pages.  Heck, it took me longer to decide on the colors I wanted to use than it did to actually update the entire site.

Being familiar with CSS will also help you greatly if you have a blog.  Blog templates are typically designed using CSS so having this knowledge will be a great benefit for you.  This is especially true for Blogger users.  There aren’t as many templates available for Blogger as there are WordPress so I find a lot of Blogger blogs with the same design.

The best way to learn CSS is to visit a site that teaches the basics like W3Schools or HTMLDog.com.  Knowing the fundamentals will help with syntax and will also help you troubleshoot should you run into problems.

You can also learn the lazy way (as some call it) and download a template that already has a stylesheet attached and study the stylesheet to see how the coding actually affects the page.  FreeCSSTemplates.org is one of my favorite free template sites.

This is the way I learned, but I frequently find myself going to sites like W3Schools if I need to troubleshoot something. Let’s face it. If you want to get the most out of CSS, you really should learn the fundamentals.

The Internet Marketing/How to Make Money Niche

I always tell people, “If you are not making money yourself, you should never create a site on how to make money or market online.”  Not to mention the “how-to-make-money” niche is so heavily saturated.

This advice often confuses people because 2 Create a Website focuses on Internet marketing and making money, yet it is successful.  But what a lot of people don’t know is I had a site before that which primarily focused on Internet Marketing and it failed.

The problem was I was not making much money at the time so my site was filled with paraphrased, common facts that you could find anywhere. My content was not fresh. Not to mention, I didn’t do any research and had no idea how competitive the niche was.

When you first start out trying to make money, it’s very tempting to build a site about how to make money and talk about what you’ve learned thus far. However, if you are not making much it’s very hard to build credibility and it’s equally as hard to put out fresh content because you cannot rely on your own experiences.

I believe 2 Create a Website has been able to compete in this saturated niche because I can now use my own success stories and personal experiences to inspire my content and people understand that I am actually walking the walk and not just talking the talk.

I Didn’t Own Most Products I Recommended

I either own or have owned/used most of the products/services I recommend on my sites, but I haven’t always done so.  I remember when Site Build It! first launched 9 years ago, I blasted ads and articles all over my site because I was so excited about the $75 residual affiliate commission.

As my site’s traffic grew,  I continued to get more and more questions about the product and most of them I couldn’t answer because I didn’t own it.  I started to feel a bit uncomfortable because I was raving about the product as if I really owned it.

If you want people to respect you and your recommendations, you really have to be familiar with what you’re promoting.  Not only will you feel more genuine, but you’ll find it will boost your affiliate commissions.  Anyone can say a product is “great”, but a solid review that contains your own personal experience with the product will get you more mileage.

Also, don’t be afraid to talk about the negative points of a product.  It actually adds to your credibility and shows you’re not afraid of giving people all the facts.   Will it turn away a few potential customers?  Maybe, but the credibility you’ll gain will improve your site’s overall earnings in the long-run.  I cannot say enough about the importance of credibility.

Multiple Websites/Blogs

When I first started out, I tried to maintain multiple websites when I hadn’t found success with any of them.  The problem with starting out with too many sites is that your energy is spread too thin and you cannot focus.

If you’re doing something wrong that is preventing you from succeeding with one site, you’re probably making that same mistake on the others. So if you haven’t figured out how to succeed with one site, no point in starting others until you discover how to build traffic and make money.

Yes, I have multiple sites now, but I have discovered what works for me so I use that same formula for my additional sites.  And if the sites are related, I use the existing site to promote the other (i.e. 2PlanAWebSite.com and 2CreateAWebSite.com).

Don’t overwhelm yourself.  Focus on one website or blog at a time if you’re just getting started.

What About You?

What have you learned since you started marketing online? I’d love to know what you would do differently if you had the chance to begin again. C’mon… don’t be shy.

That was the comment left on one of my YouTube videos a few days ago. And it’s not the first time I’ve heard the scam cries regarding SBI!.

Apparently this person heard about the $10,000 prize Ken Evoy, President of SiteSell.com, awarded to the customer who created the best “I Love SBI! video.”

So his comment warned others there was a prize out for videos like mine. I guess he thought my video was created for the sake of entering the contest.

Sorry, Mr. Anonymous-YouTube-commentor, some of us actually use the product and love it. And while I make it no secret I belong to SiteSell’s affiliate program, I still believe in the product and endorse it because I used it to create my site, Flat Stomach Exercises.

In fact, I didn’t even enter the $10,000 I Love SBI! contest.

I also want to point out that everyone who was eligible for the contest had to actually own SBI!. So these weren’t SiteSell employees or random people paid by SiteSell to create hype.

Let’s not fool ourselves. The $10,000 prize was a great incentive for many I’m sure. But these videos were made by happy customers who were proud to show the world how much Site Build It! changed their lives.

Many of these people were able to quit their jobs because of SBI!.

[Update August, 2009:  See updated traffic stats from my Site Build It! website.]

Why Site Build It! Cannot Be a Scam

Every now and then I’ll get a comment on my YouTube channel from someone saying Site Build It! is a scam because it didn’t work for them, or they believe it’s overpriced.

I guess I must have a different definition of scam than some of these people.  In my opinion, a scam is product or service that doesn’t deliver what is promised.  Or the company overcharges for the value provided.

Never does SiteSell promise you’ll make money if you use their product.  Nor do they guarantee it’s easy to make money online.  The only thing they DO promise is that you will get valuable tutorials and tools to build your site that will set you on the path of success.

You have to understand, however, that your success largely depends on YOU and your own efforts.  Building a successful website takes work, patience, learning, creativity and motivation.

Site Build It! provides you all the tools you need for $299/yr (a website builder, newsletter manager, autoresponder, search engine ranking help, traffic reports, tutorials, a topic brainstorming tool, etc.) but YOU still have to bring your own brains and motivation to complete the process.

And here’s a message for those of you who may be turned off by the price of $299/year…

First of all, almost everyone knows that you can easily get a web host for under $10/month.  But cheap web hosts are not in the business of actually helping you build traffic and make money.  They simply host your site and the rest is up to you to figure out.

Websites don’t just attract traffic when you launch them.  It requires effective pre-planning and an understanding for how Internet marketing works.  Cheap web hosts don’t teach you anything about this, but SBI! does. As a customer myself I can tell you THAT’s largely what you’re paying for.

If you were to purchase all the tools that SBI! provides separately you’d be paying much more than $299/year so I definitely wanted to clarify that for people who wonder why the price is so much higher.  Site Build It! is NOT just a regular web host.  It’s a system of tools and tutorials that teaches you how to build a heavily trafficked website.

And with the 30-day money back guarantee, the product is completely risk free.  If it’s not for you, just ask for your money back within the first 30 days.  I promise they’ll give it to you.

If they don’t, just let me know and I’ll get on the phone to SiteSell’s creator, Dr. Ken Evoy.  (Yes, I really do have his phone number.)  But I know that’s not going to be necessary because they have always honored their guarantee.

So before you write something off as a scam, just make sure you do your homework and ask the proper questions before making assumptions.

Is SBI! for Everyone?

No, it’s not. And I would never proclaim anyone that uses it is going to have automatic success.

There is work involved, lots of reading and definitely a good amount of patience and motivation required… just like any other business or money making venture.  I just felt the need to clarify the scam statements because it’s so easy to lump SBI! into all the other get-rich-quick programs on the net.

And I wouldn’t blame people for being skeptical because there are a lot of scams out here. Fortunately for me and the other video makers, SBI! is not one of them.

Watch a demo of me using my SBI! account

Thinking of buying Site Build It! but not exactly sure if it’s for you or how you can apply it? Take a sneak peek at some sample sites equipped with stories from the SBI! owners.

This site proves that SBI! will help you monetize (make money) with almost any topic you can come up with. All you have to do is follow your passion and let SBI!’s guide lead you to success.

View the sample sites here.

A lady asked me today why I created a site on fitness (flat-stomach-exercises.com) when a topic like that is so saturated.

I have to agree. Fitness is a very competitive niche. That’s why I narrowed my topic down a bit to just flattening the stomach.

Plus, it was a topic that interested me since I began to notice my mid section wasn’t nearly as toned as it was when I was in my 20’s. I figured it would be a fun topic to dive into since I had done so much reading on toning the stomach lately.

But the main reason I created that site was for an experiment. I had been recommending Ken Evoy’s products on my site for years because I was so impressed with his first book he first released in 1999 and then re-released in 2002 called Make Your Site Sell (It’s now free.)

And even though I never bought his latest product, Site Build It!, I knew it had to be a hit because his other products OVERdelivered beyond my expectations. So I began promoting Site Build It! like crazy.

But still a part of me felt a little hypocritical. After all, how could I be telling people to buy a $300 product that helps you create a high-trafficked, money making website, when I’ve never used it myself? That’s one of the big no-no’s in affiliate marketing.

So I decided to buy it to see if the product really does do all that Ken’s site says it does.

Well let me just say that Ken’s products never disappoint me. Not only did my SBI! site’s traffic start to take off after only 3 months, but in less than 2 years the total amount of daily visitors to my Site Build It! site surpassed my 5 year old website, 2CreateAWebSite.com.

Suddenly my guinea pig site has become one of my primary online income sources.

So if you’re thinking of trying Site Build It!, I can confidently recommend it now. Not because I’m assuming it’s good based on his other products. But because I use it and now have proof it really works.