Why SBI Sucks

[girlsgostyle]

I too feel little creeped out cuz everyone praises SBI! and Ken like ever!! NO website would advertise for this software thing like this!! Everyone treats this guy like a god!!

But, to tell you, Lisa is NOT to be slandered, I dont CARE what happens to her but shes been quite nice to give away her secrets!!

If I were to start a biz, I'd rather use SBI! And see if it works for me. But until then no webbys like tht 4 me!!!

And dont call this spam, this is what i always feel!!

"Every SBI user seems to worship SBI as if it's the greatest thing since sliced bread and Ken Evoy is treated like a glorious leader who can never do wrong, it's actually kind of creepy."

[Rhys]

SBI is a web hosting business like any other, the only difference is that it teaches you about building an online BUSINESS and not just building a WEBSITE using HTML/Javascript etc. Ken is a businessman and he is very good at what he does. He is providing an extremely valuble service that no other web host in the world provides. Some people are pretty crazy wild about it sure. Good on them. But their reasons for signing up have nothing to do with me, and why I signed up.

If you are upset because you didnt learn HTML from an SBI tutorial, its a pretty weak reason to lable the system as horrible. I joined SBI with very good knowledge on HTML, Javascript, PHP, Perl,and Java and NOT having to use those to develop my website has been a breath of fresh air! I wanted to learn about running and building an online business and thats exactly what im getting. Building webpages is easy to learn, the information is everywhere for free. Name one place online with a guide to building an online business, as comprehensive as SBI's guides.

SBI is a great service, which I happily pay for. $300 for a year of full web hosting services with unlimited bandwidth/space and the support, resources, and guidance for successfully running an online BUSINESS is peanuts to pay.

The only reservation I have is that there is little/no support for server side functionality. No PHP/MySQL forums for example, or any kind of server side database applications. I can understand their reasons though. And again, it is still totally worth it.

But if you think learning HTML is the most important way to start building an online business, terrific! And good luck.

I've got to be fair I'm quite enjoying SBI, although I'm only on day 4 if gives the reassurance that I'm not rushing into things like I did last time, have hit a problem last night though, Google Ad Word have changed the front page which you need on day 4 to import into Google$ on SBI and you used to have a drop down list on your download button in traffic estimator to down load in XML to your your computer and import it to Google$, now there's no list and it automatically downloads in CSV which SBI Google$ doesn't accommodate, although I tried a file converter it still would happen but apparently their making it compatible as I type this.

The CSV file is just a text file. You have to import it into a spreadsheet.

[girlsgostyle]

Oh really, EVERY SBI user seems to worship SBI and Kev Evoy? going by your post 84, read post 79 made by myself where it say's that I prefer to use this forum rather than the much recommend SBI forum although I rarely post on either, and tbh I had to look at your post again to make sure I had his (Ken) second name correct, I use SBI and I do like it only because it has helped me correct the mistakes I made in my first attempt, if I'm not sure about something I will look on the forum to see where others went wrong so I don't, I certainly don't worship the place nor do I worship Ken Evoy, I don't even know the man but I do have respect for the way he set things up so that so many mistakes are not made the second time around, it's helping me so I if he make millions a day then good luck to him, I have my own path/life to lead to worry about how much others make that have nothing to do with me.

*sigh* I'm just downright NOT interested in arguing. So leave it, although, the reason why i'm saying this is because it just freaks me out when I see these sample sites having another blog about 'how great Ken Evoy is' and to make a website using SBI! and so on...

Sorry if i made some kind of insult

[Hikapo]

Good thread, I get to see both sides!!!I have not tried it yet, but I might in the future.

[Shane3]

Because you pay a premium for them to stick a great big banner at the bottom of your website; I have never used it as when I visit the website it looks outdated and some of the websites I have seen look like they were made from Microsoft Frontpage. You would be far better served buying a Wordpress theme.

[Doglover]

Because you pay a premium for them to stick a great big banner at the bottom of your website; I have never used it as when I visit the website it looks outdated and some of the websites I have seen look like they were made from Microsoft Frontpage. You would be far better served buying a Wordpress theme.

What banner?

[Rhys]

Because you pay a premium for them to stick a great big banner at the bottom of your website; I have never used it as when I visit the website it looks outdated and some of the websites I have seen look like they were made from Microsoft Frontpage. You would be far better served buying a Wordpress theme.

You're grossly misinformed. If there are any SBI banners at the bottom of pages, it is because the owner of that website CHOSE to become an SBI affiliate. Most of the old templates suck, you got that part nailed, they has been improved lately though. As far as the main page goes, its subjectize, but it works.

I dont know about you, but I dont choose a webhost based on wordpress themes and other peoples websites.

[Shane3]

Sorry, I was miss informed about the logo at the bottom of the page. From what I have seen/heard there is some useful tools for niche market research but I am certain you can achieve the results from other tools such as Google keyword tools.

Choosing a host, do you mean a Website host or CMS host? A website host is irrelevant if you have a dedicated server and if the company is reputable shared hosting will be of fairly good quality, personally used Hostgator in the US and EukHost in the UK and both have been great. Used the shared hosting on Hostgator and have our own dedicated server from Eukhost. In regards to the themes SBI! is the work of other people being used on your website, Wordpress gives the webmaster more control I believe.

I recently reviewed a website designed by SBI! and spent 15-20 minutes looking at it; http://www.websitebabble.com/showthr...763#post192763 I found some issues, some webmaster and others SBI.

[jdenver]

I left because of that ugly and clunky interface to create a page and the price - way too expensive for whats on offer. Although some ppl claimed to have made money which I think is true.

[Shane3]

I think it will be increasingly difficult now so, Google is really clamping down on any automatic income from search including EMD which has really hit the affiliate industry hard. When Google flawed the EMD industry it also caused issues for domain brokers as domains usually worth £10,000-£100,000 would of dropped dramatically.

[Michael Chuah]

I left because of that ugly and clunky interface to create a page and the price - way too expensive for whats on offer. Although some ppl claimed to have made money which I think is true.

a close examination of those sites that did not renew their SBI! subscription after their first year
The #1 factor
no commitment to build a business.
So many folks just don't put in the work. Of those who do not renew after 1 year with SBI!,
43% do not have a domain.
They do not reach DAY 5.
It can't happen without work. SBI! is not GetRichQuick.

Mistake #1
Poor Keyword Research
Many SBIers frequently use very GENERAL keywords for their pages.

Mistake # 2
Not Enough Quality Content

Mistake #3
Not Using Analyze It!

Mistake #4
no OOMPH in the home page.

Mistake #5
No Or Sub-optimal Internal Linking

Mistake #6
Little or No Snowball Momentum From Inbound Links and Social Signals

Successful people do two things especially well...

Persevere.
Fix mistakes.

[RetroSMS]

I used SBI for quite some time and I enjoyed the simplicity of it. Think of it as training wheels for that webmaster just starting out. Where to begin! I would say this is a perfect program for that. However, once you get rolling, it's time to lose the training wheels hold your balance. It's not easy by any means, but it also depends on the type of website you are creating. Are you selling content on your website? Are you creating a small business? Or perhaps you just want to start a blog! In any case, I would recommend SBI for the beginner user.

[daveM]

I started with SBI! so I can not discuss alternatives, however I have a few small sites on Blogger and Posterous etc.... For me it has been great. I get a lot of answers from the forums and the help. Sure, there could be a little more information available about SEO and perhaps the templates are not the newest, but the thing does the job for me. I can not ask Ken Evoy to write my pages for me, that is my job. I can not ask him to find good keywords for me..... BUT I can depend on him to have the thing available to my visitors 24/7, to be constantly looking for ways to improve the pages, to be supplying a support department that helps me fix my mistakes rapidly. Those are things that I need. I might add a word press blog to my site when I am ready, I might add a store. all are easily done.
I am not about to discredit Lisa for the screwups I have made or the misunderstandings of the help section or my inability to get page rank. That is preposterous to discredit her. She is a generous person and well meaning.
I have read the columns by Al Gardyne, the famous affiliate master, and the stories on his site about successful SBI! ers and their income...... obviously the thing works for the people that take their time to make it work. Al has only been at this business for a few years..... long enough to make a great income from his SBI! site. Jeff Mulligan of Clickbank promotes SBI!. there must be a reason... they make money with it and that is the precise reason that I will make my SBI! site viable one day soon.

Problems that people have with SBI! have nothing to do with Lisa, their problems with SBI! come from not taking the time to make the good things happen the right way.

[lisa]

You're too kind, Dave. Thanks but I don't let the negative comments get to me. I understand why people are skeptical and SBI! is not perfect but there are people who still love it today. I just did a case study on a lady who just started her site this year. http://www.2createawebsite.com/money...ess-story.html

She is an ex WordPress user and didn't like WordPress at all. So the point is, yes there are less expensive options but you have to find what's best for you. Now, I just wish they'd outsource some help with template designs. That's really what hurts their rep in my opinion.

[joejitzu]

Hey, I've fallen prey to some of those scammers. Those were lessons learned the hard way, but lessons none-the-less. Honestly, however, I don't believe SBI falls into the scam category.

As far as teaching commercial intent of keywords, keywords in domains, anchor text, etc., I may be wrong (it's been a while since I referenced the AG), but I think they do teach this stuff.