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A Site Build It ReviewWarts and All!When I first thought about building a website I looked for a Site Build It Review.Why? Because SBI! make so many wild claims about being the absolute best there is that I thought it must be just another scam or get rich quick scheme. If you are anything like me, you are just a bit suspicious of a company that makes claims like that.
The trouble is, when I went looking for a Site Build It Review I only found good ones. It seemed that the only thing people really moan about is the "unprofessional" look of an SBI site. That really was the only recurring complaint I found. So I have investigated further and here are my Site Build It Review conclusions. I hope they help you make the right choice FOR YOU. Site Build It is Bad At....Page BuildingLets start the Site Build It Review with the basic usability consideration. If you are not able to use HTML for page building, you will have to use the "blockbuilder" page construction system - and that can be a right royal pain in the behind! Anyone who has ever built a web page will immediately start looking for an alternative method of page building because the blockbuilder is cumbersome, slow and just generally annoying to use. If this were the only option for building web pages with SBI I don't see how anyone would ever choose to buy it. Except for people who have absolutely NO TECHNICAL ABILITY at all - and those people will be able to build sites that were previously miles out of their league. But what you should also be told in a fair Site Build It Review is that anyone who knows how to use an HTML or WYSIWYG editor can choose use it. You just build your page in your editor then cut and paste the code into the blockbuilder boxes and, Hey Presto! Your page will appear! If you prefer to do the whole thing in HTML or CSS you can do that too. The only complaint there is that SBI! is not FTP compatible, which some people find annoying. This has something to do with uploading pages to a database rather than just to a straightforward server system. But there seem to be numerous ways round that problem if you need to get around it. Mail Accounts It is true that you can have as many mail accounts as you want within reason with Site Build It, but their whole e-mail system is not exactly high-tech - in fact, it is a bit like a voyage into the stone age. SBI mail is low on features; you can't search posts, it is bad at handling HTML in posts, the organization of archives is not very intuitive and you can't do things like drag and drop posts into folders. However, if you have ever tried to fight your way through setting up and maintaining e-mail accounts with your domain name address, you will realize that a simple to use e-mail system is not to be despised! With SBI! you never have to set up Outlook (or re-set it a hundred times) and your e-mail address automatically accepts submissions from your contact form, newsletter sign up form and any other contact you choose to put in place on your site. So if you know all about Outlook or have another mail server somewhere, you can still use it. If you are a technophobe, SBI! provides a simple solution to the mail account problem. Even if it isn't perfect. Unprofessional Appearance Some people complain that the general style of Site Build It sites is unprofessional. Frankly, this confuses me since anyone who has the technical expertise to do it can create their own style to suit. Many people who use Site Build It! don't have that expertise so they use straightforward templates - and these are not so great sometimes. Take this Internet Business Detective site for instance. This is a plain, straightforward, right off the shelf SBI template. Personally, I don't think it looks too bad. But some sites have been given makeovers in the image of their creators. How about these ones:
Curry Safari uses a slightly adapted SBI template to create the feeling of a Bollywood movie. All three of these sites take different approaches - but all three are Site Build It sites. Pricing No Site Build It review would be complete without a look at pricing. At $299 (Canadian dollars) a year, some complain that SBI is a bit on the expensive side compared to regular web hosting. And they are right....compared to REGULAR web hosting! What you have to remember is that SBI is not just a web host. It is a full system for creating a website from the ground up. You never need to spend another cent on anything if you have an SBI subscription. I haver to say, I think it is amazing value myself but that's because I know what is included. What's so special about the SBI package? Compare it here. Just scroll down to "Now for the Nitty Gritty" and click on "SHOW" for a point by point comparison with other leading providers. I don't happen to think price is a negative factor with SBI, but some people do so I have included it here - make up your own mind. There are loads of free to try resources you can read or download so maybe I should just let you decide for yourself.
I promised you a Site Build It review "warts and all". So there you have them! But SBI does loads of things well too. Site Build It is Good At...Navigation BarsIf you have ever tried to create your own navigation system in Dreamweaver or FrontPage you will know how complex it can be to keep tabs on it throughout the whole site. With SBI! it is just a case of checking a couple of boxes and adding the label you want to the button. SBI automatically updates every page for you. EASY PEASY! Keyword Research and SEO A Site Build It Review that doesn't rave about the keyword research tools and SEO facilities that come as standard with SBI! is doing the company a great disservice. There is no other place on the internet that gives you all the SEO-related tools that this company offers. That is all there is to it. Finding keywords; using keywords; keyword statistics; keyword tracking; page ranking data; click in and click through data; and much more is all included as standard with SBI. Build your site with someone else by all means - but be ready to pay out a whole lot more for SEO services to try to get yourself some traffic after you have built it. If you follow SBI's methods, not only do all the tools come with it, but free keyword generated traffic comes as standard too! Submission to Search Engines You have to submit your site map to the search engines manually the first time - because the search engines require validation from human agents. But after that, SBI takes over. Every time you add a page, Site Build It auto-pings the search engines to let them know there is new content on your site. They automatically update your sitemap at the same time. Analyzer Ever used a keyword density tool? Pain isn't it? SBI's equivalent will tell you exactly what you need to know about your page content before you build it. It checks your keywords, your tags, your keyword density, your meta descriptions, links and anything else you have put on your page - and it tells you how to fix it to optimize for the search engines. PRICELESS! Support and Assistance Technical problems are dealt with within 4 to 12 hours via email support (from a real person!) - or you can opt to call if you are in a desperate hurry. And I have to say that this time limit has never been exceeded in my experience. A Site Build It Review ought to be honest if it is to be useful so I would tell you if the support claims were exaggerated! Other advice is available through forums populated by other SBI users. The forums are indispensable as a source of advice and experience. Posts average one every 3 or 4 minutes 24 hours a day from all over the world so it is a very active forum where you can tap into a tremendous resource. Other features How many providers regularly go through all your site links and check for broken links? SBI does. They will send you an email if they find any problems. Automatic Site Blogging is included as standard. You can opt in or out of it every time you build or modify a page or you can add individual 'bloglets'. A mail out manager is included with 5,000 posting credits every month for sending out group emails, e-zines or newsletters. Just as an added bonus, the Spam check makes sure your mail-outs will not land in junk folders. What more could you want? A Site Build It Review is all very well - I could go on with this all day - but really, the best thing to do is to have a good look for yourself.
Just Bear In Mind....1. A Site Build It Review can only scratch the surface of this HUGE resource so set aside a good hour or two and do some exploring for yourself.
2. A Site Build It Review will always only highlight one person's opinion - and it might not cover what you want to know so please
let me know if you have any specific questions.
I hope this Site Build It Review has helped you decide whether SBI is for you. It's not for everyone - but if it fits your needs, you'll never look back.
The Firefox browser is much faster than Internet Explorer (which is important for us impatient types who want to build a website NOW!), efficient, easy to navigate with its famous tab system and very, very secure. Best of all - it's free! Click on the box at the left to try it for yourself.
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