A Ton of Work

November 5th, 2010

I’ve said this many times before, online business creation and promotion is a ton of work. This explains why only some people actually build useful web businesses, only some people are willing to work.

So while I’m finding the Site Build It tools are outdated, the simple version doesn’t make available best practices, that it’s not easy for sophisticated users, that it’s probably not easy for unsophisticated users, the bottom line seems to be that the blueprint for communication is there.

Take a shovel for example. It’s a tool. How the tool is used is up to the operator. A shovel and a human can dig just as big a hole as an excavator and operator, it just takes more time and effort. So the tools aren’t really the limiting factor.

Having said that, SBI is getting new tools at long last to make the sites more Web 2.0 compliant and user friendly, including a third column option and css based layouts.

Join the Fray

I’m Back

October 16th, 2010

Well, I’m actually back before renewal arrives. What can I say?

This software subscription is not easy for sophisticated users, ironically, but would be cake for beginners, which is the point.

I’m making myself slog through the beginners’ standard tools to prove a point, anyone can do it, no matter how much or how little you know.

Things like image buttons in the sidebar irritate me, and the themes all look the same, and they all use image buttons in the sidebar and virtually all the power users are correctly using css and text links, but…again, I’m trying to demonstrate that the average person can build an effective site using this tool.

How long will I be gone next time? Hey, I’m hoping to be back sooner or I will have dumped $1200 bucks down the toilet. I do think the subscription seems high, but in reality, all the powerful research tools make it a bargain!

Renewed Site Build It Once Again

March 2nd, 2009

So I couldn’t allow myself to have given this a somewhat lackluster effort, but an effort, for two years and then say, hey, I don’t want these site build it scam tools! It’s a joke! Site Build It! is a Scam! No, that wouldn’t be true, and I will not put forth a review of this nature without first…reviewing the darn thing. So $900 bucks and a few steps later here I am.

This is work, plain and simple. Head down…

I’m all in!

Site Build It! Day 6 – The Home Page

January 19th, 2009

I decided to stick with the complete set of tools provided by Site Build It! as I began building my first SBI! site.

Despite doing web design and marketing for a living I wanted to check out all the tools from a novice or non-html expert point of view.

So far I find the tools to be excellent, or let’s just say that if I imagine being a Site Build It! user who came to the application without any html expertise the set up is great. The help pages are excellent and the stuff about Title tags, meta keywords and description will really give a beginner the edge over other beginners. Follow the instructions and you are set. Don’t be afraid to click buttons, and keep on clicking!

As for the content or writing dilemma the same applies here. In the end you always wind up staring at a blank editor or page of some sort forced to write. Just speak, don’t worry about “copy”, just be you and speak.

You cannot create a web site that works without writing, and writing, and did I mention writing? Yeah, you could hire it done but that is likely not as efficient or cost effective a way of getting the expertise our of your head and onto pages on the internet.

Site Build It! is about work, and lot’s of it. If you don’t want to work, then go back to your job, or stay at your job and forget about an entrepreneurial online business that will set you free.

On the other hand…jump in and start building your dream!

Site Build It! Domain Clutch Time

November 11th, 2008

Kind of funny how tough registering my domain was.

You’d think with as many funky domains out there, that do just fine, one wouldn’t freak out so much. But I did.

Hesitation, Anticipation, Obfuscation.

This is also telling about decision making. Reminds me of the Nike slogan Just Do It that is so wonderfully motivational and critical at the same time depending on the context. Or Frank Zappa’s Shut Up and Play Yer Guitar.

Well I took the plunge and finally registered a domain. The one I wanted was taken, but I think the one I chose is even better. I think it’s perfect really but I was very surprised how I hesitated.

Which brings me to clutch time.

As powerful as Site Build It! is, and it just gets better and better – (lose the freaking resizing windows!!! drives us tabbed browsers crazy!!) in the end it’s the human being who makes the decision. No software, no one else can tell you what to do. You have to decide.

I make a living doing internet marketing – web development, email marketing. I have a good amount of domain names but certainly don’t mess with hundreds and the not so ethical practice of making automated mini-portal gateway pages with them.

I’m a stickler for total control, nameservers, dns, ftp, backend hosting server access, code access and on. So embracing Site Build It! was a real challenge at first.

I couldn’t stand the idea of not having these controls. I was so let down by my initial purchase I almost refunded!

But I didn’t. And I’m still working. And now I’ll finally build the site.

So I continue to be impressed with the scope of the tools, the tools, did I say the tools?, that make everything so much simpler, or at least congregated in one place. I still build my own blogs and site using all those technical skills, or shall we say need to know based technical skills, but I’m really seeing the power of an all in one, set and forget, online business builder.

Come along for the ride by purchasing Site Build It! so you can free yourself with a genuine online business of your own!

Back in the Site Build It Saddle

July 3rd, 2008

Yeah. Been a while. And I can tell you why. I’m floundering. Work gets in the way of the work that will free me, and you.

You are not the only one floundering, so take heart. Building business is a lot of work. Ever wonder why we aren’t all a Nike, Exxon, Starbucks or REI? Drive. Ambition. Values. Bloomberg is after all but one man.

That isn’t to say that valuing a simple life with lots of time on our hands is not as good as massive Western Society success. But to get even that, here in the States, or pretty much anywhere, we have to play the economic game enough to reach that point. Our globe is facing a host of challenges not the least of which is sustaining sound economies. Maybe the internet and World Wide Web can help to level that playing field for me and you as well, or actually is.

So come and flounder along with me…

Summer Sandals Special Offer

Renewed Site Build It

February 25th, 2008

The diary will continue, good news for all of you out there waiting with baited breath. I did renew Site Build It. Reason being, how can I throw away last year’s investment and work?

Onwards then.

Join me and work along…компютри

Subscription Expires 2/26/08

February 24th, 2008

So will I renew? I think so. I have found that despite the fact that I haven’t made it past chapter three, the suite of tools and the online collection of all of your assets, notes, keywords, and etc. makes SBI a useful and very reasonably priced subscription based business building tool.

So, I will have to say that Site Build It is encouraging but I cannot attest to the success like these Site Build It users.

And one really remarkable thing about Site Build It and Site Sell in general is the proof. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and serious Site Build It users are out to lunch, figuratively speaking.

I’ll give myself one more quarter to take this seriously enough to have a built site by then. If not, back to building my own sites without the powerful Site Build It tools.

Thanks and I hope you join the ride,

Mark

Discipline – REQUIRED for Site Build It to Work

February 4th, 2008

Today I reflect on nearing my subscription renewal and how, though I promised myself that I wouldn’t, I managed to yet again let life, work, business, play and other things stop me from having a web site up and running before my Site Build It subscription ran out.

This is about discipline and lacking discipline. One of the things that Ken Evoy talks about when defending the $300 per year subscription is commitment, if you pay, you are more likely to be committed. You do get 30 days to try and then back out if you don’t like it, but ultimately plunking down three hundred dollars should serve to weed out the tire kickers, or the cheap tire kickers.

In my case, well, I just don’t seem to value $300 that much, even though I know that this can set me free of all the things that are keeping me from building the site, so to speak. I know that we are our own worst enemies, and that in the end we do what we truly desire and I really love hanging out not working, and this is work. A lot of work.

Not hard work, make no mistake, but work no matter how you slice it. So, I will renew my subscription and I will commit again to completing this site in a month or so. One trick is to actually set a schedule, or substitute SBI for time you would be watching TV or reading or whatever.

Make the time and free your future >>>

Save on SBI and Join the Ride

February 2nd, 2008

I Love SBI! Special