Blog Resources

I am entering dangerous territory here with my Site Build It review.

A couple days ago Lissie wrote a post called Site Build It Scam Review - which questioned whether paying $300 for an “outdated” website building service was worth it.

One of my favorite make money online gurus - Griz, called on his readers to post their opinions as well.

You can go ahead and read through both posts but I think it would be fair to say that the overall opinion of the SBI service was unfavorable.

Now, before I go on. It is only fair to say that I am both an SBI affiliate and an SBI owner. I know, many of you will call me a sucker. But before passing judgment on others, you must keep in mind that everyone’s situation is different.

I began blogging using sites like wordpress and Blogger - this site was built on wordpress. I have been following Griz and Court (at The Keyword Academy) for a long time and the information that they pass on is solid and free.

But my time is severely limited.

And I don’t want to hear about prioritizing and how many of “you” also don’t really have time but somehow manage to make time to build your internet businesses. It is all about making choices and the choices that I make keep me offline more than I would like - but it is what works for me right now.

I looked into SBI because I was looking for a way to make the most of the time that I had. The thing that attracted me the most to SBI was the keyword research tools that are included. I found them to be easy to use and they help me stay organized. I have found this aspect of the program to be very useful because I get both supply and demand numbers.

I know that Griz talks about Keyword Elite and SEO Elite, and that you can pay for the regular Wordtracker tool as well. But I haven’t had the time to figure these out and honestly, they may be as simple as the SBI tool.

I know that one of the negative comments about SBI’ers is that they don’t understand SEO and their sites don’t rank. To this my reply is that SBI alone is not an answer - it is a website building package. But it is up to the webmaster to learn SEO on their own. A good starting point is the materials put out by Site Build It. But you need to read other sites like Griz and Court’s sites as well to really understand how it all works. And trial and error is a big part of it as well.

Sure, you can do it all for free using Blogger or for less money using WordPress. But if time is a huge issue like it is for me then SBI is a viable alternative. Whenever WordPress comes out with a new version I cringe - updating several sites takes time as well. And the plugins need constant updating as well. SBI and Blogger don’t have this issue.

How is my SBI site doing? Well, it is new but it is doing better than several other sites that I have around for longer. I can accredit that success not only to SBI  - but also to the knowledge and experience - trial and (many) errors of the webmaster.

The bottom line is that I like Site Build It - it is a good package. And without giving it a try, I think the SBI bashing is a bit unfair.

People like Griz - who truly understand SEO and have a formula that works will have no use for it. But not all of us have the Midas touch.

People want to know how to make money blogging.

The economy has gone south and there are so many home and out of work. Turning to the internet is a logical step. It’s there. Start up costs are low, non-existant even. But how? How does someone with little or no web experience turn a site into an income machine?

Let’s just say - it ain’t easy.

Writing about what you had for lunch and posting cute pictures of your dog won’t cut it. You can write posts all day long and the traffic just won’t show up.

You see, blogging for money involves 4 key components:

1. Writing about a topic that people are searching for. And here I don’t mean just one post - the entire site should be built around a particular topic. Even the big sites do it. A recipe site will be all about cooking and food preparation, not shoes and clothing.
2. A good, solid understanding of how to make money with Adsense. That is the ad program that is the easiest to get started with and will give the best returns on sites that are built around one topic.
3. Backlinks. Getting other sites to link to yours is more important than you can ever imagine.
4. Traffic. If people don’t visit your site then you won’t earn money from blogging, no matter how great the site is.

And all of the above take time, diligence, understanding and hard work.

But what about content? I believe the jury is out on that one. The niche bloggers (those that focus on one topic) may tell you that good content doesn’t really matter. But is far easier to get others to link to your site if it is even halfway decent. And a little pride in my work is important to me too, it makes creating a blog or website fun. If I strive for decent, credible content then I am happy.

But should you create a blog or build a website?

A blog is a journal of sorts - the latest post is a the top and everything you wrote previously filters on down. Well Ken Evoy at Site Build It would argue that learning how to make money blogging is not for everyone. In his article on whether to Blog or Build he outlines why a creating a website may be a better path to success.

My Site Build It reviews are always glowing because I really like the package, the educational materials, and the keyword tools. It is a great system for those that are just starting out with their make money online ventures. Everything is spelled out and easy to understand.

But once you get it - how online marketing really works, then you can make either a blog or a website work for you. The concepts and strategies are the same - lots of patience required!

What is a blog?

On a site called Blog Resources, it would be wrong to not start at the beginning. The word blog is such a common term these days, that many people just assume that everyone knows what that is. And those that don’t feel stupid asking.

But not here. Ask any question you like. And let’s start at square one.

The term blog is short for weblog. It is basically an online journal. And it can be about anything.

Common types of blogs are as follows:

• personal blogs
• family blogs
• business blogs
• company blogs
• niche blogs
• team blogs
• club/group blogs

Think of a blog like a diary. In a diary, everyday, or so people write an entry. They start at the beginning of the book and continue writing until they reach the end. On a blog it is the other way around. Everytime an entry is added (these entries are called posts) the newest one is displayed first and the oldest last.

A blog can have one author or many authors.

A blog can be public or private.

It can be updated as often as the author chooses - anywhere from several times a day to once in a blue moon.

The blog type of website is popular for many reasons. The number one reason being that it is easy to set up. Anybody can start a blog for free from any one of a ton of free hosting sites. This takes a matter of minutes.

And it is kind of exciting to have an instantaneous presence on the web.

But days pass and the steam runs out. That is the inherent problem with blogging - they need to updated to keep readers coming back. Or do they?

Now that we know the answer to “What is a Blog?” (this site is one!), we can look into the different types of blogs and the reasons that people begin their online journey.

What have you been up to lately? I haven’t been posting here in a long while. Do you know why?

Call it Blog Confusion. Maybe I should upgrade this to a syndrome.

You see, I have spent the last few months reading, absorbing, and following information about niche blogging. A site should be about one niche and should not stray too far from that keyword and that topic, etc, etc, etc.

The total effect of all this advice on me was paralysis. A lack of focus on what to write about. If I write about this then the search engines will think my site is about such and such. How should I structure my titles, my keywords, and everything in between.

By the time I finished absorbing, I was too tired to write about it.

So here I am back at square one. With lots of information to share.

Hopefully this time I will be able to keep writing!

Regular readers will recall that at the beginning of the summer I signed up for SBI when they ran the summer Site Build It sale.

I even began detailing my progress through the days of the action guide.

Then a funny thing happened - summer vacation began. And with four kids home for few months, all of my web endeavors were shelved until the fall. That is why things have been silent here for awhile.

Ironically, the folks at SBI seem to understand my predicament because they are now running the Back to Work SBI Sale, just about the time that I am ready to go back to work.

From now until August 28, 2008 (yes - that is only three days away), the deal is that you can buy one SBI site package for $299 and get another for only $100.

For those not familiar with SBI, this is complete website building package that includes web hosting, domain name registration, and the key part is the awesome web tools.

After all, a successful site relies on traffic. And traffic comes from search engines. To harness this traffic, the right blend of keywords and content is absolutely necessary. If not done correctly, the traffic just won’t come.

SBI holds your hand through the entire process of building your site. Their Brainstorm It tool helps you choose a profitable yet interesting topic. Their block by block page builder helps the novice as well as the experienced webmaster develop a site that gets the click.

Personally, although I have experience building sites, I have found the block by block builder to be a breath of fresh air. It is so easy to use. And the Analyze It tool is a comfort since it reviews my final page for all SEO elements before it goes live.

My SBI site still has a far way to go. After the initial push in the beginning of July, it has sat dormant for the remainder of the summer. But surprisingly it is already indexed by the major search engines and is getting search traffic. Not too shabby. Imagine the results that I will get with a little more effort!

Anyhow, the Site Build It Back to Work Sale ends soon. Click over to SBI to check it out.

If you are an SBI owner already, I would love to hear your opinions and advice on the program.