A SBI Review with a Twist

When I recently learned that an unscrupulous web development company, Wealthy Affiliate (WA) was paying their affiliates to write fake bad SBI reviews about the great company I've used since 2013, I was incensed enough to write my own SBI Review, and let me tell you why.

My website, living-smarter-with-fibromyalgia.com addresses a special health population of fibromyalgia victims. I am a member of that group who put in years of pain and fatique to learn the hard way how to deal with the multitude of fibro symptoms. Due to my success with the protocol I developed, I decided in 2013 to share my experience and training (Body Ecology Diet Instructor, Advanced Level Colon Therapist, & Certified Personal Trainer) with other fibromyalgia victims of this still incurable syndrome. I created my first Facebook business page, www.facebook.com/FibroFitPeople. In a moment I will come back to how SBI was critical for my success from that point, but right now I'm addressing why I was so upset to learn about the WA activity of fake reviews. 

 Question:Why Am I Doing this SBI Review?
Answer:Unethical Behavior Is Rampant on the Web

My facebook page grew rather rapidly, I think since I was personally dealing with severe fibro, my facebook "friends" could tell that since "I got it" then "I get it". In other words I "walked the walk" and therefore my "talk the talk" words of advice were valuable to them.

I soon saw a need for a website and established one with SBI (again, I'll come back to this). Practically every word in my 100+ pages of my website came out of my head...MY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. And, it was aquired with much pain on my part. Yet, I started having problems with other websites copying and pasting my content into their blogs or websites without my permission; they also copied my original images, yuk! Many of these people were well meaning, at least towards their readers; in every case when I contacted them, they took down the offending page or image. But I still have to remain vigilant because of people who have fibro (or think they have fibro) decide to make money from a website but they don't have the background to provide the kind of content this niche needs. Their sites usually end up as "pity parties" where symptoms are endlessly discussed, but no solutions are offered. Or, if the site belongs to someone who was misdiagnosed (usually by themselves), they'll affiliate with some company whose product helped their "muscle pull" and try to sell the latest "silver bullet" cure for this incurable syndrome. There are many, many quacks out there willing to take advantage of the vulnerable fibromyalgia population.

There are also a group of not-so well-meaning folks out there on the www,  actual scammers, content thieves, and hackers. They don't respond to requests to take down stolen content; then, I must rely on Google who seems to be uninterested in such small potatoes. A hacker actually took over my facebook page until Facebook rescued me; I wish Google was as helpful.

My point is this, unethical behavior is rampant on the web, at least in the health field, and it's time consuming and extremely stressful to deal with. So, all it took to "get my panties in a wad" enough to write my SBI Review was finding out about Wealthy Affiliate's fake reviews and unethical practices. That's why I'm doing this SBI Review. Just to be clear: 1) I'm NOT a SBI affiliate and 2) I'm NOT being paid one dime for this SBI Review.

Don't be fooled by these "fake" reviews. If you want the truth, checkout this comparative study that compares SBI with Wealthy Affiliate. The results show the real truth and provide how the numbers were developed so you can verify them for yourself 

 I Chose SBI After Substantial Research

Now, back to why I originally chose to use Site Build It! or SBI as I refer to it and why I appreciate it so much. 

SBI is not only a website development set of tools. When I decided I wanted a website, I asked a friend (retired) who was formerly the Chief Engineer of Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems Company if he would recommend a company for me to use; I wasn't then, nor am I now very "techie".  I don't know if any of you know an engineer, but it can be quite an experience. He left no stone unturned, and in a months time came back to me with a single recommendation. However, he  discussed several options he had investigated and rejected. Then, his face lit up as he revealed the company of his choice: Site Build It!  or the SBI of this SBI Review. He took me to their website which detailed their process, tools, Action Guide, professional 24/7 support, and their amazing forums.  The site provided proof (not hocus pokus) that satisfied his analytical engineering mind. He kept saying to me SBI not only supplies the non-techie, templates and drag & drop tools to design & build a website, they go far beyond; they show you how to evaluate the niche passions and knowledge you have in terms of the adequacy of projected traffic and even monetization. The SBI ten unit Action Guide leads you thru a logical sequence of building blocks of knowledge that you absorb at your own pace. And here's the thing my friend liked best: it's not just  website building, it's a through business model as well, including rules of thumb on timing of monetizing with respect to traffic levels, amount of income you should be making as a function of traffic levels, what to do if traffic levels drop, and many other items that form a knowledge base for a web business.

I accepted my friend's advice and joined SBI in March 2013 and started down the the road that has led to today. I want to add a few significant points, at least to me. SBI has a vast knowledge base available to every member; it is primarily contained in a section titled, the Info Center.  It contains:

• Tips & Techniques - articles on building your site and using all the various social media
• Monetization - the "how to" of all types of monetization from passive and egoods thru making your own products
• Resources - 3rd Party resources that SBI recommends and often includes discounts where fees apply
• Professionals Support - support to fix techie glitches, coaching step by step thru a task or have them do it for you
•  various other wonderful tidbits 

SBI Is Ethical and They Over-Deliver to their Clients

Now here's a very important item from my point of view.  Ken Evoy is the owner and prime mover of SBI as its CEO.  His hand and voice show up in almost all of the written material and in the important issues that show up in the forums. His guidance is consistently about over-delivering content and  to stay away from scammy approaches such as buying links or traffic or building a "scammy" website similar to the WA one.  That advice goes back to at least 2013 when I joined SBI. The other thing I like about Ken is if there's some big Google directed change on the horizon, he pulls together his pros and the next thing you know there's a new article about the change and new tools to implement the change.

An example is the Google decision to rank websites higher that were "mobile friendly".  My mobile traffic was already a substantial part of my traffic so I had my webmaster (my engineer friend) implement Ken's recommendations. My site's pages jumped in the Google Webmaster Tools rankings so much that collectivly my site's pages averaged being in the top ten for mobile and tablets two years ago.

SBI's Algorithm for Success: C > T > P > M

I guess that brings me to why I titled this article a SBI Review with a Twist. SBI basically has an algorithm for success; it is captured in this term: C  > T > P > M  or in words: good Content will be found by search engines and Traffic will follow. Presell by gaining the trust of your readers and your products will make Money. And there's no doubt that money equals success for for most, if not all, websites.  There's nothing wrong with that model for a solopreneur; but although I am a solopreneur, I've intentionally focused on building traffic well past the point I could have been making a good deal of money. That's the twist.

I am intentionally only half way thru this process for new website visitors that are not on my facebook pages (I have two pages now) and 75%  for my facebook friends (they trust me). Also, my readers are pretty much desperate with chronic pain, fatigue, and non-restorative sleep.  So, I wanted to do nothing that might steer them away and my passion is to deliver my message to as many fibromyalgia patients as possible. In this goal I have succeeded beyond my most optimistic dreams. 

Historically My Website Traffic Nos. Per Mo. and Pages Read Per Mo. Are Approx.:

• Mar 2013 - 41 unique visitors & 116 Pages read
• Mar 2015 - 80,000 unique visitors & 172,000 pages read
• Mar 2017 - 187,000 unique visitors & 433,000 pages read

Additionally, my two Facebook pages (facebook.com/FibroFitPeople and FibroFitPeople1 now constitute a community of over 300,000 Likes. The website and the Social Media sites form a symbionic relationship that explains some of the growth for both. I post website page links on facebook and I have links to my facebook pages on the website.

The bottom line of my focus on traffic, and with the help of SBI, is that as this SBI Review is being written, my site is in the top 1% of all active websites. Maybe I'll be able to write my success story for "sensitive" niches next year

SBI Has Already Committed to Help Me Complete
that Final "M" of C>T>P>M

Finally, I'm in the process of developing  a detailed product plan that includes a PDF (very soon), several ebooks, videos, CDs, and at least one "make it" product. that my readers need and will like. And, I'm already wading thru the great "how to" articles SBI provides for novices like me. Maybe by this time next year, I'll be seeing some M.  Hey, maybe I'll be able to write my success story for "sensitive" niches next year.

None of this would have happened if not for Site Build It! (SBI for short) or the recently rebranded name, Solo Build It!,  which conveys more than just website building tools. Thank you Ken Evoy; Thank you Debs; Thank You Sheri; Thank You Catherine; Thank You Matt, Thank You Bonnie, and Thank You to all the Pros who have been so patient with me. Debs of Sitesell has already looked at my plans and assured me her Pros will be right there to help.

Lisa (aka fibro-girl)

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