My Web Building Journey

Just as I want to share what I know about antioxidants and natural health alternatives, I would like to reach out and share my experience on my web building journey... maybe my experience can help someone ...

My First Website

I built my first website in 2011. I closed the same site down 5 years later, without any of the pages ever reaching the first page on Google search.

Fair to say, I had little knowledge about building websites, and more importantly building websites that can be found by search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo. etc), and one that can bring the right type of visitors to my site! - that is, visitors who are interested in the topic my site was writing about.

I was just so excited about a product I was marketing ... I just built the site and wrote about 100 pages for the site - within a month or so. I couldn't get the traffic even after 5 years and with that many pages of information on my site! In my corporate life, I have implemented systems but I had no clue about the internet world - a different ball game for me!

"If I build it, they will come" - Field of Dreams, movie-

I built it and hardly anyone came!

I didn't know what I was doing wrong!

... and actually didn't understand much about how to get traffic, keywords, search engine optimization (SEO), or even getting the "right" name for my site to attract the "right" visitors for my site, ... until ...

Site Build It! showed me the way!!!

Site Build It! or, affectionately known as "SBI!", is a site hosting service provider and more!

How I Discovered SBI!

After leaving the corporate world, I was looking for something to do.

At that stage, I didn't even have a personal email account, and I didn't have time to surf the net when I was working! I was a total newbie to surfing the net. That was in 2005!

While exploring surfing, I chanced upon SBI!. I took an interest as I saw it as something I could do - build my own website. After all, I love sharing what I know with people! So, here was an avenue which presented itself!

But I was afraid ... the internet being such a new venture for me, and my concerns about internet scams.

That was in 2005!

Fast forward 6 years later, I was ready to build my first site! So, I decided to check out SBI! Lo and behold! ... it's still around! But I was still skeptical, after reading all the reviews! (... by 2011, I got clever at surfing and finding information on the web!)

And so, I decided to go with what I thought was a more "user-friendly" web hosting provider for newbies like myself. But, how wrong I was! I finally threw in the towel ... and looked for greener pastures ...

So, I decided to check out SBI! again!

And so, I started this website as a hobby on the side ... and also as a comparison for my experience with my on-going site at that time - so that I can share my experience with people in similar situations as I was. This was in 2013!

Still, it was a slow take-off ... not because of SBI! but because I got distracted.

Only in the last few months (2016), I built more pages, return to following the Action Guide, and using the tools provided; a few of my pages soon rank high with Google, and 80-90% of my pages has ranking (ranking is a dynamic measure - in simple terms, ranking moves with time, and with what's going on or not going on with one's site). I never did get these type of ranking with my old site.

Moving My First Site to SBI!

I have, since a few months ago (2016), closed down my first site with the other service provider, and moved the contents of that site to my second SBI! site I have started.

And in less than 6 months, my pages were already ranking with Googles, Bing and Yahoo. Same pages (a few I have not even published and left as draft pages), with than a few more images, and just with a different site name, plus using the right keywords! - obtained from using SBI! tools - made the difference in the performance of my site!

Kept An Eye on Existing SBI sites ...

On the side, I had been following a couple of SBI! sites since 2005 - off and on, to see how the sites are doing. The sites that I followed have developed through the years - I see them "matured" into nicer looking sites, and more and more information added - I suppose with technologies improving and the owners themselves getting more savvy with internet through the years. It's all a good sign ... that they are still around after 10 years!

Something must be working (!!!) for these sites to be still around 10 years later, and there are some SBI! sites which are more than 10 years old!

SBI! for the Not-So-Savvy, and the Savvy as well

From my experience, SBI! is a good tool for someone who is new to the internet, and perhaps not so savvy with the internet, or building a website. Having said that, it could also be good for someone who is more savvy, as there are a good number of tools available as part of the price, that would be extra add-ons cost charged by other service providers. (Some of these tools, I had to pay additional for, with the last website hosting provider ... with SBI! they are part of the deal!)

Only way to find out if SBI! works for you, is to give it a TRY!

P.S. - below is a summary of what SBI! or SiteSell offer. DO check it out!

Site Build It!

SBI! takes you by the hand to build your site, with a:

step-by-step Action Guide

SBI provides you with Tools!

Tools to find your niche and name your site:

brainstorming tool
keywords tool
niche choosing tool
market research tools
domain name registration

Tools to build your site:

site builder tools, with customizable templates
mobile-enable tools
form builder tools

And when you are ready to tackle social media, tools to help you get on:

social media tools

To track your traffic and ranking, there are:

traffic stats
search engine optimization tracking

And you can also add:

a blog to your site, if you wish,
or, have SBI! tool create a blog from your latest article! - with its BlogIt! tool - two things are created (a content page and a blog) with one task (writing a content page).

And then, there are libraries for:

images
links

And to manage your contacts with the world:

web mail
newsletter management
RSS feeds

Plus, a library of information, and a tool (Find It!) to search for information you need! These are just some of the things on offer with the one yearly fee.

All the above for one fixed yearly fee! - and in that fee, includes hosting for your site!

A Simple Comparison ...

From my experience, the comparison in using SBI! and another service provider, are simply this ...

Cost - by the time I added a couple of paid tools, the cost of running my first website was almost the same as the one in SBI! - BUT SBI! still had more tools that I can utilize without having to pay more!
Guidance - with SBI! I had a step-by-step guide to build my site - guidance each step of the way. It's a 10-days Action Guide, but do not take it literally. You can take 10-days or less, or weeks, or months, or years, to complete the "10-days Action Guide". In essence, it's truly up to you how fast (or slow) you take to complete it. In reality, you will likely take more than 10 days, if not weeks. I took 3 years ... but I had distractions. Working through the Action Guide can have your website up and running before Day 10, but likely not to it's full potential (yet), till you have completed Day 10's actions.
Tools - so many free tools! Some of which, you would have to pay for, with other web-hosting providers.
Forum and community support- where I can learn from others - I can learn from their experience and this is encouraged by SBI! This helps to smooth the learning curve. I get to ride on someone's coat-tail, so that my learning is smoother, and I don't have to do it alone (believe you me, for lesser web technical persons, learning by yourself can feel frustrating at times)
Literature and information - I have to say there are tons and tons of information and literature you can have access to - majority (if not all) are free. So much literature and information, I have not, till today, been able to go through all of them. It can get over-whelming, I have to say - so just stay grounded, focused and not get distracted - and read what you need for what you want to achieve, at whatever stage you are at ... is my advise ... otherwise, you mightn't get much else done!
Support - the many times I reached out - usually for technical support, the SBI! support team has been very helpful and professional, and knowledgeable.
Professional support - yes, there are also paid support provided by SiteSell and SBIers. You use these, only if you want to - and you don't need to go looking in the internet, and spend hours looking at reviews of other paid support out there in the internet world! Time you could spend building your site and writing contents to wow your visitors!

A Few Last Words ...

If you are looking for an All-In-One web hosting provider, which also provides you with all the tools you need to build your site, be if for:

a hobby site
a passion of sharing site (like this site!)
to build a online business

... look no further ... Solo Build It! is worth checking out.

Now, there is even Solo Build It! with WordPress.

My one word of advice is that, as it comes with a truckload of information to help you build your website ...

Stay focused on the Action Guide, and only retrieve those information relevant to whatever your are doing at the stage you are at ... read no further! - flag the other information (in your mind, on a piece of paper, a notebook, or whatever!) to know that they are there if and when you need them later, when you get to a particular stage ... otherwise, you might get overwhelmed with information and that could have a paralyzing effect!

If you forget to flag the information, no worries, there is FindIt! ... the search tool helper.