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What I have learned from my Site Build It web site so far.
It’s about a year ago now since I took the plunge and purchased a Site Build It license. I had known of the SBI service for many years, but had been too comfortable with Dreamweaver and my own web expertise to “bother” with a set of tools which, on the face of it, simply duplicated my own knowledge.
Here’s a quick summary of what happened, followed by a more detailed description of what I learned.
1. I purchased a single license for Site Build It.
2. I used the brainstorming tools to select a topic for my site.
3. I started writing the pages and building the site. I could have created my own design and code with Dreamweaver, and that’s always an option, but as this was a voyage of discovery, I decided to use the SBI design templates and page creation interface.
4. I wrote fifty or so pages and started generating over a hundred visitors a day before thinking about making money from the site.
5. Now, a year later, the site is far from perfect, already needs cleaning up, and it is definitely not finished...but it’s generating over $2,000 a month in income.
That amount of money may not match the hyped up promises we read about in “get rich quick” emails each day, but I think it qualifies as a success.
Particularly as it is very much a part-time project and I have plenty more to do with the site.
Best of all, I now know what is working, and simply need to do more of the same.
In more detail...
(I’m not going to go into a long description of what SiteBuildIt is. You can find out more about the details of the product in my review here.)
First, how did I choose my topic for a site?
I used the SBI brainstorming tools and followed the advice in the accompanying instructions.
I was looking for a topic about which I had a definite interest. Also, I needed a topic that was of interest to a large enough group of potential readers.
Finally, I wanted a topic that could lead to the sale of products or services which cost more that the price of, say, a book.
If you are going to be considering affiliate programs as part of your revenue mix, be aware that not all programs offer the same commissions. Not only do the percentages differ, but so do the prices of the products or services being sold. Also, not all sites convert the same.
In other words, even at the brainstorming stage, it does no harm to think about the products and services you might end up mentioning...and the quality of the affiliate programs available.
More about this later...
After using the brainstorming tool I very nearly chose to create a site about decorative garden bridges and related products. The keywords were very good and it was tempting.
But at the last moment I put that thought aside. Why? Because I simply couldn’t imagine writing a hundred, or even fifty pages on this topic. I could probably write fifty rubbish pages on garden bridges, faux ponds and streams etc. but I didn’t want to write rubbish pages.
The topic I finally chose...
I finally chose to create a site about coffee.
In hindsight, or if someone suggested that topic to me today, I think I would say that it was too broad, with far too much competition. But as you’ll see, it has worked out OK.
I then had to select a domain name and opted for CoffeeDetective.com
It’s not a perfect domain name, but has its advantages.
One key weakness if that it is a poor “keyword”. Nobody opens a browser and searches for “coffee detective”.
But I didn’t want a domain like best-home-coffee-makers.com.
I wanted a domain that was more memorable and easy to remember. I also wanted a domain that implied something...that promised, even implicitly, that this site would deliver new and useful information.
And that’s how I set out to write the pages. I wrote dozens of pages, aiming to inform and educate people who love coffee and want a source of reliable information they can trust.
But it was only when my original plans went awry that things started to work.
While I’m sure that many people appreciated being able to find reliable information on coffee, coffee makers, coffee grinders and more, I soon found that my approach was not pointing people to where the money was.
That is to say, if I wanted to make money from the site, I had to adjust my thinking to point readers towards what was “hot” in the world of gourmet coffee.
This required a slight shift in tone, although not a departure from the original principles I had set out with.
In particular, I found that if I wanted to make money from the site, and I did, then I needed to pay attention to the growing popularity of single-serve coffee makers.
These one-cup coffee makers are great. I have one myself. But they do limit your coffee choices, and each cup of coffee costs you a great deal more than if you just bought whole beans, ground them and used a regular drip brewer.
So that’s what I told people. I told the pros and the cons.
But I also made sure I wrote plenty of pages relating to this “sub-topic”.
In fact, a significant proportion of the site’s income is derived from the half dozen or so pages that talk about these machines.
Does this mean I should I have started out with a whole site devoted to this topic? I don’t think so. Again, in hindsight, I am happy with the broad scope of the site. All the information pages about coffee add credibility to the site as a whole, and attract plenty of traffic.
If, in the end, just a handful of pages turn out to be the top “money pages”, why should that concern me?
Also, with a broad scope for the site, I am in a good position to spot and take advantage of the next “hot topic” in coffee. One cup coffee makers may be the talk of the day right now, but that might not be the case in a year or two.
The lesson I learned? Start fairly broad, keep an eye out for emerging trends...and take full advantage of them when you see them.
About affiliate programs...
I make a few hundred dollars a month with Google AdSense, but the bulk of the revenue from the site comes through affiliate programs.
I have about six different programs represented on the site, but 95% of the revenue comes from just one of them.
I have found this to be the case with two of my other sites, on quite unrelated topics.
Of course, you probably don’t know which of the six is going to be your star performer on day one. But once you do begin to see where the money is coming from, it’s time to change some links and make sure your top program is represented across more and more pages.
In other words, evolve your site
This has been key to the success of this site so far. I don’t know what the future holds, but so far I found that the key has been to build a genuine, useful information site with plenty of topics represented...and then to do some “trendwatching”...and move quickly to take advantage of what becomes “hot”. I have remained flexible, have tested a number of different trends and then rushed my money-making affiliate programs to the pages which are hot right now.
Concluding thoughts
These have been some of my own experiences with a Site Build It site. You’ll find a huge amount more information, from people with far more SBI experience, in the SBI Forums.
You can also go through a lot of valuable SBI case histories here.
I offer my own observations simply because I know that they will stimulate an “ah ha” moment in at least one reader, and help him or her improve on what they are doing right now.
As for me, I’m still learning. I’m always learning.
Finally, just for the pleasure of it...
Take a few moments to watch this video, made by an SBI owner, all about "the way of the totoise" It's really good...
Learn more about Site Build It...
Actual case histories
Want to find out how others have succeeded with their SBI sites?
Read through actual SBI case histories here.
For webmasters
If you are a designer or webmaster creating sites for a living, go here.