A review of Site Build It.
Let's start this review of Site Build It by placing all the cards on the table.
I will be wearing three hats in this review and, to help you identify where I am coming from, will identify each with a different name. "Uzi" is the User who actually purchased the program, "Testy" is a Tester who started using the product before it was released to the public, and "Affy" is the Affiliate who stands to earn a commission on every new customer for Site Build It.
UPDATE: This review was written when Site Built It was just newly available to the public (in late 2000, I think) Many things have changed (almost all for the better) and I've attempted to correct anything which might be affected by these changes.
UZI: I have mixed feelings about this product which was used to build and host this very site: Affiliate-Master.com™ (a link is provided below if you want to view the entire site from its main page).
AFFY: Perhaps after reading this review Ken Evoy might want to refund our money and kick us off his server.
TESTY: Let's see ...
What is Site Build It?
UZI: Site Build It (SBI) is a package of software, web site hosting, catch-all e-mail account, on-line page builder, search engine registration, pay-per-click directory account manager, traffic measurement and analysis service, domain name registration, brainstorming and site development tool and affiliate business course and counseling rolled into one.
TESTY: Even though that seems like quite a long list, we have probably missed a few.
UZI: The package represents an incredible bargain especially if you can use and take advantage of everything included.
I don't know how much you would have to pay if you were to purchase everything separately ... it could easily be over $100 perhaps even over $200 per month!
AFFY: But the Site Build It package costs only $299 per year.
Make Your Price Sell
AFFY: What makes me less than enthusiastic about the package is the fact that few people are likely to use everything.
Perhaps, it would make sense to have a basic minimal package, with optional add-ons with a higher total cost for those who wanted to use everything. We affiliates could stand to earn greater commissions from those who wanted it all, and maybe sell more to people who were happy with a less powerful package.
UZI: The web site hosting and domain name registration services are a snap to set up and get in operation.
I think Affiliate-Master.com™ was registered, up and running, including the catch-all e-mail within 24 hours of my signing on. What took the longest was for me to decide on the domain name I wanted. SBI did the rest.
The online page builder is great for setting up a consistent look and feel for your web site and you don't need to know a single thing about HTML in order to use it.
TESTY: Since I do know some HTML and feel comfortable using it, I found myself somewhat limited by the constraints set up by SBI's fill-in-the-blanks approach to making a page where all I had to do was plug in the words I wanted to publish and choose how they were to be displayed. Many of these limitations have been removed in some of the improvements incorporated since the start.
AFFY: I'm sure anyone who hasn't mastered HTML will be delighted with this approach to getting started.
TESTY: Personally, I'd like to see an option for more advanced users to take more control of their pages into their own hands. (This, has happened and there seems to be more on the way.)
UZI: The links library is a tool which allows you to store frequently used links to other sites (i.e. affiliate partners) and set up a tracking mechanism for each link so that you can record and measure how much use each link gets. This keeps tabs on what kind of traffic you're sending to your partner's sites.
The graphics library is a nice feature and allows you to up-load a batch of your favorite images and use them by simply choosing them from the list.
TESTY: You cannot control the size or any of the attributes of these images which are in the library without resorting to some sneaky work-arounds, and there are no stock images available.
UZI: The individual page building function is extremely simple to use and every page built retains the same look and feel established when you set up the main page. (This look and feel can be changed automatically and will apply to all pages)
TESTY: A short-coming of the page builder is that it does not include or allow for the inclusion of a navigation bar on each page. Navbars might have been left out because they could be a weakness in the development of focused narrow-theme sites and web pages, or there might be more technical reasons to not allow this feature, but it is one I feel is missing.
UZI: A super feature of the page builder is the fact that each page is automatically submitted to the top search engines as soon as it is published.
For me, I feel that this one feature alone is almost worth the price of the entire package because there is absolutely NO LIMIT on the number of pages you can publish and run on the site once you have set it up. SBI does not allow you the choice of holding a page from submission if you wish to publish it in a preliminary form.
The Analyze It function allows you to optimize your pages content for Search Engines before you have them registered.
TESTY: I started using SBI in its pre-launch stage and this automatic search engine submission was not fully functional. It seemed to take forever to get it working the way it was supposed to, but happily this stage was finally put into complete operation.
UZI: The SBI Manager tool is a 10 mega-byte monster program which you download into your own computer to use in brainstorming site concepts, developing a domain name, finding and researching potential affiliate partners, discovering and measuring high-profit keyword concepts, and managing your accounts with Pay-per-Click search engines.
The build up given to this tool in Ken Evoy's free [
Affiliate Masters Course
] sets it up as the piece-de-resistance and it certainly is a fantastic workhorse that can save you literally 3 or 4 weeks intensive work.
TESTY: During the early stages I used to say that if Manager were a workhorse I would want to use terms like smelly, clumsy, and ornery.
Now the version you get now is almost bug-free. I'm still not completely tickled by it's user interface but it sure works and had saved me lots of toil.
Manager does a lot of its work on-line and while it is operating you cannot use your computer for anything else without running the risk of corrupting its processing (so we're told). I hope this will be addressed in a new version which is in the works, but with faster computers and internet connections, it's not the drawback it use to be.
UZI: The amount of material collected in these sessions was really incredible and would have taken me perhaps 3 or 4 weeks work.
TESTY: I realize that from that point of view my complaints seem a bit silly, but I think that there is still room for improving Manager's performance.
First, in order to complete 4 brainstorming sessions, in which around 300 keywords were researched and several possible links to each of these 300 words (at least 1500!) were generated the process failed several times and had to start over from the beginning.
UZI: Imagine having to do that manually!
In the course of keyword generation quite a few irrelevant concepts were turned up. This is no fault of the Manager ... it is natural in any brainstorming session, but some of these keywords, together with the links researched by the Manager, could have been useful as starting points or even concepts in OTHER projects. Manager does not have any capability of storing this material in a location where it could be used at another time. If you erase it, it is gone.
UZI: Manager does allow you to copy and paste in any of its notepads but there is no capability to export or import data from other files, databases or spreadsheets.
I've yet to put the Pay-per-Click bidding and accounts functions to the test. It sounds like these, too, could be a tremendous help in saving time and effort.
AFFY: As the Manager's guide points out, if you have 100 keywords on your list ... NORMALLY, you'd have to go to GoTo.com, do a search for a keyword, and then enter the bids for the Top 20 positions... And you'd have to do that for all 100 words ... that means 2,000 entries. And then you'd have to do that for ALL the other engines.
UZI: This sounds as if this feature alone would be worth the full price of the SBI package. As I've said, I can't yet confirm that it fully functions as claimed, but I have no reason to believe that it won't. Right now my only disappointment is that the Manager seems to be limited to 8 pay-per-click engines and does not give the user any option to add additional ones of their own choice. Maybe in practice I'll find that even 8 is quite enough.
Customer support at SiteSell is un-matched by any other organization I've had occasion to deal with on-line. Their personal interest in the concerns of each customer has been written about in various publications, and my own experience reflect those reports. While I've never wanted to ask for my money back for any SiteSell product, I have every reason to expect that my request would be handled promptly and cheerfully if it were ever made.
I was even amazed at the humble and understanding response which was displayed when I first published this review. It was more critical at first than it is now because of improvements which have been made. I give Ken Evoy and his team top marks for being responsive and trying to improve their product. I hope I can keep up with those improvements in updates to this review.
To sum up my reaction to Site Build It, it is a package with a tremendous value that probably no one will ever fully utilize.
Several of the features are so useful and time-saving that any one of them could easily justify the full price of the package.
TESTY: In spite of its imperfections, and things I "wish" had been included, I don't think there is anything like it available anywhere.
UZI: I do not regret having purchased it: if you can use even two or three of the package's features I think you would find it worth while to check the product out.
AFFY: You can find it at
buildit.sitesell.com
and remember that it has a money-back guarantee in case you later decide you don't like it.
P.S. There are some super enhancements which have been announced for the package but I'll refrain from commenting on them until they have been put into effect. In fact, the package just keeps on getting better and better.
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