Hi everyone from Tony in the land of OZ .

I am doing some research as I am semi retiring at the end of the year and would like to put a lot of my work (and life ) experiences and the skills learnt over the years into a Help website.

I have read a number of articles from SiteBuildIt users and I am on the verge of being sold on the product and the useful tools behind it.

I do have a few questions :-

(1) Can I use my own DOT COM name , and does it stay mine ?

(2) Can anyone give me an idea on average of how much research (time)
went in to the site they finally selected, before creating the content.
And also how much time you now spend maintaining your sites.

(3) Also although I believe as do new starters that I have some good ideas
on subjects and content.
Did any of you start out the same way, and change your ideas after
your researching tools showed the subjects may not be viable and
provoke enough interest from searchers and seekers?

Thanks for some great success stories and I wish you all good luck with your enterprises.

Tony A.

Hey Tony,

Welcome to the forums! I moved your post to the SBI! forum since it was directly related to questions about Site Build It!

1) You can use your own domain name, but I would not recommend it because after using the brainstorming/research tools you may discover that there is a better name out there for your site.

Your domain name plays a decent role in search engine traffic so you really should choose one that is optimized for your main topic.

However, if you want to keep your name you can and you can transfer it into the SBI! system. It's up to you.

2) I spent about 2-3 days researching my topic, although some people spend much more time others spend less. It really depends and varies from person to person.

3) I sort of had an idea on my topic and was fortunate enough to discover that it was still considered "profitable" according to the SBI! brainstorming tools... so I didn't change my topic. Although, I'm sure other people switched after they used the tools. Maybe they can comment on that.

__________________
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Hey Lisa ,
thanks for the reply to my queries.

I went back to your 2createawebsite.com and reviewed the processes and your write up.

That is quite a cool site and I compliment you on it's presentation and content.

Well my own curiousity, some dreams of creating my own success story, the inspirational stories of people who have succeeded and my own personal goal to get my own website up and running (well before my December retirement date) has finally driven me to take a chance and 'give it a go'.

I am heading to to join the Site Build It 'club' ..

Cheers and thanks again.

Tony A .

Tony, that's great! Let us know how you like it. I'm still deciding myself.

Dear JackO,
I have purchased Site Build It and have started the process and education

I will keep you up to date on my progress.

Cheers for now .

Tony- a person of action you are! Congratulations on starting with SBI!!
I wanted to address your questions here:

1- Yes - you will own your domain. Now that you've started with SBI I'm sure you've seen the Action Guide. Like the book says - it's not a manual! Live in the Action Guide and you will achieve success. You'll register your domain at the right time - not to start. You'll learn the very good reasons for this in the AG.

2- Time is funny. It may not be the best indicator of tracking your pace in developing your site/project. One SBIer, Elad Shippony (find the case studies to read about Elad) took three months (!) to decide on his niche - and he went straight to the moon from there! In my case, I don't remember the exact amount of time I took to finally land on my niche (because it was staring me down so closely - I write about ideas that bang around in my head all the time!). The AG is broken down into "days" (steps) that you'll follow. A day can last a day, a month, a year. You can research until you're certain (and over analyze!) or you can research until you're reasonably sure you're on track - then plow ahead to success. SBI supplies many, many tools along each step of the way to help with research, making your site look good, helping to get the word out... You just supply the ideas and the content! (Ken Evoy calls this BAM!- brains and motivation.)

3- Yes! I thought I had a good topic to start with and ultimately ended up changing my mind. Sometimes I go off half-cocked and plow ahead on projects that aren't quite fully formulated. So I'd registered a domain that wasn't right for me after all - and I ended up having to pay the fee to change my site over. No problem - just an annoyance. I believe you can do that one time. Focus on succeeding. Focus on following the AG. Focus on getting each step (day) right and you can avoid the mistake I made.

Tony, you ask great questions - you seem like a person who'll do very well! Enjoy this forum, enjoy the forums at SBI - use the tools. You'll succeed!

__________________
Amy
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Real life marketing solutions for your small business!
SiteSOHO.com

Hey, that's really neat. Remember to post the URL when you get it started.

Hey Amy and Shaun ,
thanks for the replies and the encouragement from all of you in the forum.

Well just a point for anyone contemplating taking the first step..

Just wanted to update you with my first feelings at getting the 10000 mile view of SBI and looking into some details in the 10 day steps.

The guide (manual) is very comprehensive but not too undaunting..well it hasn't scared me off yet ..

I have begun the process of reviewing the video presentations and I am impressed at the professional way that it is delivered and the content thus far..

I also selected the female voice for the presentation ...it's a matter of choice here .. (horses for courses as the saying goes).

I hope I don't hurt the male presenter's feelings here, but I found the female voice is very clear in comparison to the male presenter and also I get more of a sense of enthusiasm from her ..so to speak - whichs maintains my interest.

For those balancing up the cost of SBI versus what is and will be delivered , I can only say I have been surprised and delighted with what I have seen so far.

I say this with over 33 years of experience in regards to skills, motivation and self improvement courses I have been through over my working life.

The picture I get so far is that it compares very highly with most of the better ones I have undertaken.

I have only seen one negative so far (a little disappointment) and that is there is potentially some added costs in regard to the work tools -
I.E. key word searches , if you go over a prescribed limit.

Now I am not at that stage yet, so I cannot comment on whether the alloted amount of searches is sufficient for most average users going through this phase of the 10 steps (days) ...perhaps some of you experienced gurus may wish to comment on your own personal experiences with this phase.

cheers for now..


Tony A .

Hey Tony-
Sure - re: keyword research and extra expense. I had that concern too. Here's what happened for me:

I did my keyword research (using WordTracker (WT) too - even though it appeared to cost - but the first 25 searches are included in your initial SBI subscription).

25 searches is actually a lot - and I got enough really good keywords to last about 2 years (!!) doing my initial research.

Here's the other thing about using WT- you're only spending about $1 US per use (AFTER you use your initial 25 searches!)

So I asked myself this: is it worth $1 to get more good keywords after I go through my first 500 or so.

By the time I had to use more searches, the expense was a no-brainer and the site was paying for them.

__________________
Amy
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Real life marketing solutions for your small business!
SiteSOHO.com