It's Not About SiteBuilding
It's Not About Hosting
It's ONLY About Building a Profitable Business

Why Is This Page So Important?

This is the most important page of SiteSell.com. Here's why...

You're starting an online business to reach an important goal. That goal varies from person to person. Some examples of actual SBI! members (aka "SBIers")......

  • "quit the day job" (independence from a 9-to-5 job)
  • "contribute to the college fund while being at home for my children" (family)
  • "buy my first horse and learn important skill-set" (a teen's dream, with help from Mom)
  • "prepare for a no-drop-in-income retirement" (self-reliance)

Skip Straight to the Proof?

Few solopreneurs succeed (out of millions who try). Many companies, therefore, resort to trickery to show you some success. This first section makes you foolproof to fake claims of success. Bottom line...

If a company does not even try to show a few examples of business success or if it fails the tests below, you will likely end up as one of the 99% who fail.

If you have read this section already, or are not interested in learning to protect yourself from fake claims, skip straight to Solo Build It!'s proof.

Whatever your personal goal may be, we take it seriously because it's important to you. Once you know you want to build your own online business, your most important question is obvious...

"Who Is Most Likely to Help Me Succeed? Who's Best?"

That's what everyone wants to know. So there are loads of distractions and traps along the way to finding the right answer. This section give you the ability to figure it out.

Our competitors, large corporations with 1000s of times more clients than us, look mighty slick. Celebrity Super Bowl and other glitzy ads make a powerful impression.

Ironically, their "proof of success" is often proof of their success. For example, "we have 92,000,000 websites — we must be good." But how many succeed?

Web hosts like GoDaddy stress how they provide the best hosting, most secure, cheapest, etc. Site builders like Wix emphasize the quality of their sitebuilder, complete with "countless stunning designs."

But what about BUSINESS success? Isn't that the bottom line?

Claims of Success Are Easy to Make, and Fake

The cheesiest, hard-sell operators show photos of people in front of their Maseratis. Run, don't walk, away from those who use "I'm rich and you can be, too" claims. No matter how convincing it may sound, it's a fraud.

Beware of get rich quick schemes

Others use tons of testimonials from "Jim Smith, New York" or "Loretta Martin, London" — no way to check that! They don't supply domain names because it enables you to verify the truth...

Sometimes, when they do provide domain names, you'll find yet another "make money online" site — self-proclaimed gurus actually trade testimonials! "I'll love your product if you love mine."

Big companies are more subtle...

Wix uses the hashtag "#ItsThatEasy." Putting up a slick site actually is easy with any good sitebuilder — but building a profitable business is not. Wix implies that "site = business." That's not even close to the reality.

The sneakiest trick that we've ever seen?

One company's affiliates use fake reviews of Solo Build It!. They pretend to write a review about SBI!, but they always suggest this other product as their "#1 recommendation," implying it to be superior (with no proof, of course, not even sample sites)...

Those fake reviews always end up pushing the same product because those marketers are paid big commissions to hook you. It's immoral and illegal, but that doesn't stop them from making money by hurting you...

They earn by tricking you into buying a product with 3% of SBI!'s high-traffic track record! How do we know that?

Our response is how we work. We proved which product is better — MUCH better! This scientific study shows that SBI! is 33X better at delivering high traffic sites. The study can be performed by anyone, so it's un-fakeable.

Loads of companies, big and small, try to mislead you into believing that you'll succeed with them. They try to answer the only question that really matters to you...

"Who Is Most Likely to Help Me Succeed? Who's Best?"

Their problem? They don't deliver the actual success to generate the data to prove it's them. They would if they could.

That limits them to a small number of possible ways to convince you...

  1. Claim success without any proof (not even a story to tell). Avoid.
  2. Claim success, but testimonials or stories do not include domain names. Avoid.
  3. Claim success, with verifiable stories or data — they provide domain names. Verify the domain names and the quality/quantity of proof.

Here's how to evaluate attempts to answer your "Who's best" question...

Insist on Verifiable Proof of Success

You can play their games until the cows come home...🐮

  • Compare long lists of features until you're cross-eyed.
  • Get wowed by how "stunning" their sites are.
  • Be impressed by journalist write-ups in major media.
  • For the tech-oriented — detailed technical specs.

These are not answers. They're distractions away from that awkward (for them) but critical (for you) question... "Who's best at enabling success?"

All you need to do is go to the website of any company that you're considering. Look for verifiable success stories. If they have them, they'll show them.

What Does "Verifiable?" Mean?

Insist on a domain name with every success story. Domain names enable you to verify claims of success in two ways...

1) Verify Traffic 🕵
Enter the domain name into SimilarWeb and SEMrush to double-check for traffic success. Here are the two extremes of the failure-success spectrum...

  • Sites in the Top 1,000,000 (SimilarWeb) or greater than (">") 5,000 (SEMrush) are elite-level, high-traffic sites.
  • At the opposite end (failure), don't believe wonderful success stories with SimilarWeb at >20,000,000, SEMrush at 0. Those sites have undetectable traffic levels.

When a company calls its sites "success stories," it's reasonable to expect high traffic. It's certainly hard to make money with few visitors (e.g., SimilarWeb >10,000,000, SEMrush <100).

Bottom line? Ignore success stories that cannot be verified. Check out the rest and compare to all the documented and verifiable proof of SBI!.

2) Contact Owners 📞
Pick a few websites, randomly, and use their contact form. After a friendly hello with your fellow solopreneur, ask the hard questions...

  • Are they actual customers?
  • Is the story 100% true? Any unmentioned problems?
  • How much traffic do they get (same ballpark as SimilarWeb/SEMrush)?
  • Knowing what they know now, would they start with the same product?

P.S. More Information (Optional)
It's "Marketing 101" to include success stories. Unfortunately, few solopreneurs succeed, especially at high levels. Sadly, among many scammers who prey on you, it's "Marketing 102" to fake it by using convincing words and fake reviews

Don't be sucked in. If you verify carefully, a clear pattern emerges...

Only Solo Build It! has a high rate of success, and at high levels. That's why only SBI! provides genuine, verifiable-by-you, proof.

No one else does because no one else can. They would if they could.

Congratulations!

You're now "foolproof"...

  • Look for success stories to get a better feel of any product. If there are no stories, something is wrong.
  • Ignore stories without domain names — anyone can (and does) make stuff up.
  • Check traffic if domain names are provided. You'll be surprised by how many rank poorly — and those are the successes!

It's simple. It's important. Protect yourself!

"Where's the Beef?"

Your solid due diligence (which most don't do) will expose a hard, sad reality. The success rate of solopreneurs is depressingly poor. Solo Build It! (aka "SBI!") multiplies your chances by 100 fold. The reason is simple...

Figuring it all out sucks too much of your time. SBI! enables you, the time-limited solopreneur, to focus 100% of your time on building your business. You focus and follow a step-by-step, proven process that evolves with the times. We take care of everything else (e.g., "keeping up!").

👉 Go for the Steak, Not the Sizzle

This choice is too important to be swayed by "shock and awe" of Super Bowl ads, by "BigCo" glitz that has nothing to do with your success.

Recognize and run from fake reviews and other immoral cons of smaller operators. Most see you as a sucker to be drained.

It all boils down to one simple guideline...

Insist on the "meat and potatoes" of proof.

We Make You 3 Promises...

  1. Nothing succeeds like SBI!. You will never see so much proof, examined in so many ways, anywhere else. You give yourself the best chance of success when you use SBI!.
  2. We understand and respect you, admire the courage it takes to actually do something to reach a goal or dream that matters.
  3. Getting started now will be the best online business decision you ever make...

Two Ways to End All Doubt

Option #1 Get started and see with your own eyes. Our Guarantee makes that faster course of action can't-lose risk-free. All doubts end when new SBIers see the serious, unique and all-encompassing approach to online business-building.

Option #2 Since you're here for proof and since you now know how to evaluate it, let's review it...

Objective, Verifiable Proof

Nothing comes close to SBI!. Time to put our proof where our mouth is! Let's examine six types of proof...

Top 1% Results (500 Successes)

Here are 500 high-performing sites that cover the gamut of major niche categories. No matter what your niche may be, it's winnable with SBI!.

This level of success is exceedingly rare for solopreneurs. Much larger companies cannot show you this level of success, not at the rate of SBI! (which has fewer than 10,000 sites in all).

Compare it against the few sites on the "Success Stories" page of large companies that market sitebuilders (e.g., Wix, Weebly or Yola) and huge Web hosts (e.g., BlueHost, Hostgator, etc.).

You won't find another page like this, anywhere.

Long-term, Verifiable Case Studies

Results (above) went "wide." Now we go "deep"...

Let's examine the long-term progress of a representative sample of SBIers. Follow their periodic updates, both ups and downs (no business is ever free of a setback or two).

Some of these solo-businesses date back as far as 2002! A couple have sold and realized the equity in their businesses. A side note about equity...

Most solopreneurs don't get past the concept of "site makes money." Income is wonderful, of course. If you're not thinking of equity, though, it's "only" a good-paying job that you enjoy.

SBI!'s process also builds equity. You won't "exit" with billions (like the VC-funded superstars of business). But you can earn a nice balloon payment when it's time to sell.

These case studies are real-world, multiple-update "how I did it" material. Their stories say it all.

Current Solopreneur Successes

So far, you've seen thumbnails of 500 of SBI!'s high traffic businesses. And you've tracked a small number of folks, case studies, over many years — some visitors noted, "it's always the same people"....

That's the point, of course. How many solopreneur-built businesses do you know of that are 10-15 years old? Still, it was visitors who drove the next idea for proof...

What about emerging stories?
SBI!'s growing performance year after year seems steady on the surface. But our proof was missing new stories. This proof focuses on the human interest angle and has been a big hit, especially among SiteSellers.

The variety of niches, from sea glass to comic books to horses, is amazing. But it's what people do with them, how they monetize, what they've learned as they progressed (and fell back sometimes), that's most instructive....

Each current story, presented in interview format in our blog, comes with valuable, real-world "Takeaway Lessons." If you need a dose of "I can do this" inspiration every now and then, subscribe to the blog, just for this!

Prefer to watch rather than read? No problem. Here is one of our recent video interviews.

Click here to watch more real life stories about everyday people achieving extraordinary results.

52 Top Solo Build It! Solopreneurs Share
Must-Do "Non-Secrets" of Success

Now for something different. We surveyed 10% of the 500 top-performing SBIers, asking a single question...

What are the top 3 ways in which SBI! has contributed to your success?

These solopreneurs know SBI! better than we do. They have used it to build successful businesses, based on a wide variety of niches.

Who better to provide insider knowledge about SBI!'s secret sauce? We published their full answers, adding a summary of their most frequently repeated answers — some mighty important conclusions.

If you're hoping for secret SEO formulas or never-before-revealed mysteries, that's for suckers who buy Get Rich Quick products. There's no such thing — although there are lots of operators who are happy to separate you from your money.

Here's the summary of the "non-secret" ingredients in SBI!'s "secret sauce of success." You'll be reassured by the focus.

20 Years of 💖

The video below celebrates the 20th anniversary of our company (SiteSell). We started in 1997 by publishing best-of-breed e-books (before that was "a thing"). We sold 150,000 copies of the first book, Make Your Site Sell!, the "bible" of Internet marketing in the late 90s to 2001.

Despite the thriving (and frankly, easy) business, we switched directions in 2001 due to a single customer survey question....

People loved the books, but few "real" people could use them (as we had intended). We did accidentally "train" the second generation of Internet marketing gurus.

But our goal was, even then, to enable "everyday people" to succeed online.

And so, SBI! was born. 20 years equals centuries in real years. And SBI! does indeed enable real people to build real businesses about real niches — with joy and passion, building profits and equity.

This video combines "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue" to track our history to now. Enjoy...

Big Decisions Deserve Tough Due Diligence

Your life-changing goal is at stake.

Insist on hard proof. Insist on domain names.

SBI! provides that in spades.
Any marketer would do the same...
If they could!

Order SBI! Today & Try It Risk-Free!
The 90 Day "Confidence of Success" Guarantee makes it risk-free

Happy Community and Real Reviews

Solo Build It! has built a culture based on concepts such as "keep it real," integrity, "OVERdelivery," and BAM (Brain, Attitude, Motivation). It has attracted positive, motivated individuals with a focus on success who deepen the vibe. SBI! members come to "help and be helped" in the world's most useful, friendly/flame-free and comprehensive solopreneur forums.

We're obsessed with helping SBIers succeed, so you'll see many of us SiteSellers in there, too. Ken, the founder, has made over 10,000 posts (and he doesn't "do short" often).

People arrive with questions while others deliver help. Here's what SBIers have to say about the Solo Build It! forums...

Ruth Tan, www.benefits-of-honey.com

"There is so much to learn from the people in the SBI! forums. ... I can't imagine what it would be like building my business without this precious resource."


Richard Mitchell, www.dental-health-advice.com

"The SBI! forums. Such a wealth of knowledge, with friendly advice and insights. The friendliest forum I have ever been on, as well as the most informative!"


Doug Mann, www.rocksandminerals4u.com

"The SBI! forums helped me so much when I was starting out. I got all my questions answered there and the motivation to keep moving forward."

You can't fake forums like that.

And you can't fake real reviews from real SBIers. In fact, you can easily tell the phony SBI! reviews (the subject of this study) from real ones...

  • The fakes appear on "make money"-related sites (e.g., "MMO," internet marketing, affiliate, scam-busting, etc.).
  • The fakes have low-quality content, showing little in the way of experience using the product (because virtually none have used it).
  • The fakes link to a glowing review of a product from the company that pays them a juicy commission. Much more effort has been put into that review.

Real reviews?

You'll spot them easily, too...

  • They appear on non-"make money" sites, in niches such as table tennis and Victoria Falls.
  • They have high-quality content, clearly reflecting knowledge and usually passion for the niche.
  • And, of course, they link to SBI!. Contrary to the fake reviews, driven by money (that company even provides a commission calculator), we inform SBIers that there's little or no money to be made from a review. Most don't even use an affiliate link.

Given all that, who would you believe? 🙄

Here's a sampling of real reviews to give you an idea of what to watch for if and when you search for reviews. For SBIers, it's about passion and wanting to pay it forward...

They write those reviews because they love SBI!, period.

The choice is pretty simple — great product, people who truly love the product, and a company whose passion is your success...

Or affiliates who knowingly damage your chance of success, just to make a commission. 🤑

SBI! Did Not Earn Its Reputation
Through Marketing, Magic or Myth

It earned its way, one delighted SBIer at a time.

We spend our money to make SBI! better,
not on expensive advertising.

Unconventional? Absolutely...

But the proof speaks for itself.
Build a business that succeeds.

Click Here to Order and Start Today, Risk-Free

You Matter!

"BigCo" sitebuilders and web hosts impress solopreneurs with their size and ads, but their track records of success are dismal. There's little difference between these two...

Site builders like Wix provide sitebuilders that include hosting. Web hosts like GoDaddy provide hosting that includes a sitebuilder. Some throw in articles and "special tips" on subjects like SEO.

Either way you slice it, you end up with a website. But a site is not a business. It just sits there if you do not execute all the steps before and after "site" creation. That's what both fail to deliver.

The only difference between "sitebuilders" and "web hosts" is how they market themselves, not the results. How are they similar?

They both profit whether you succeed or fail.

And that raises the obvious question...

How Do Solopreneurs Really Do?
Overall? At GoDaddy? Using Wix? With WordPress?

We (accidentally) developed a research protocol to find out. We plan to shine a bright light on the state of solopreneurship, and what works vs. what fails. Why?

We hope that this stimulates the entire industry to focus on getting results for you. We did not set out to do this...

Our first research project was merely a necessary response. A "competitor's" affiliates create tons of fake reviews of SBI!. Those so-called "Solo Build It!" reviews were just an excuse to earn a big commission by recommending another product, calling it superior to SBI!.

Our response?

We designed and executed a rigorous study to compare results (summary here). Anyone can perform that study if they don't believe the results.

The Study showed that the affiliates' "#1 Recommended product" (over SBI!) was, when compared to Solo Build It!...

  • 97% less likely to achieve high traffic
  • 90% less likely to achieve medium levels of traffic
  • 87% "Invisible" (i.e., traffic to 87% of its sites was undetectably low to SimilarWeb and SEMrush).

(See the full results in the complete Study report.)

These results make a compelling case 👉 those affiliate "recommendations" (for which they receive huge commissions) hurt the prospects of people who were searching for SBI! reviews. They thought they were reading a bona fide review — they were actually in a sales funnel for a competitor.

Those results led us to something bigger, though, a secret that "the solopreneur industry" does not want you to know...

The Denominator of Failure

Based on our analysis of the materials of those affiliates' "#1 Recommended product," we had guess-timated that SBI! would emerge 3-5X better — a substantial advantage. We were surprised by the actual results, so we repeated the entire study one month later.

Same results. There was no doubt that SBI! had performed way better. Soon, though, we realized that we had stumbled onto something more important.

The "#1 Recommendation" had some bad advice in it, yes. It also lacked much of what accounts for SBI!'s track record. Still, we thought...

It may provide enough guidance to deliver a small benefit over those who try to figure it all out on their own. Now, though, given its dismal results, we started to wonder...

Just how badly does the "regular solopreneur" do? That led us back to an important reason why SBIers do so well..

The Numerator of Success

Most people try to figure it out...

  • They read books, articles, blog posts.
  • They wonder whether to use WordPress or do their own HTML/CSS.
  • Which Web host (GoDaddy, BlueHost, 1&1, HostGator, etc.)?
  • Or should they use a sitebuilder that includes hosting (Wix, Weebly, Yola, etc.).
  • They try to figure out what type of tools they need, then which of each are best.
  • And later, they try to keep up with it all, through a firehose of information.

The problem is obvious. A solopreneur's time is limited. It must be focused 100% on business-building activities.

Yes, a low percent of folks can and do figure it out. The small number who succeed makes others believe that they can do it too. That is classic "survivorship bias" — they don't see the 100+ who fail for every success.

Survivorship bias or survival bias is the logical error of concentrating on the people or things that made it past some selection process and overlooking those that did not, typically because of their lack of visibility.
  – Wikipedia

The Great Unspoken Secret (Numerator ÷ Denominator)

No one has ever published studies to show both the numerator (success) and the denominator (failure). "So what?" you ask.

All you see when you surf are varying levels of success. So you know it won't be easy (hopefully), but you figure that you can succeed, too.

You only discover how unlikely success is when you divide success numbers (numerator) by failure (denominator). The likelihood of success, especially high-traffic success, is low. Really low.

If many knew the truth, they would not even try.

And that, fellow solopreneur, is why it's important to publish The Great Unspoken Secret. The entire industry that caters to the solopreneur would suffer if the truth came out. Or maybe....

Just maybe... Sitebuilders and web hosts and others will feel obliged to do more than say, "Here are the keys, good luck." Maybe they'll work to do what we've been doing for 15 years!

It takes a combination of step-by-step process, integrated tools, community guidance, 24/7 help and automatic updating/filtering of the info-firehose. SBI!'s unique 15-year track record proves the validity of "Focus & Do" over "Figure It Out."

You, the individual, have a lot more power than you realize, power you can use once we publish these studies. After all...

They Want Your Business

It's easy to feel unimportant as a solopreneur — "one little person against the world." But you wield more power than you know...

They are the ones who want your business!

Why Not Make Them Accountable?

The first step in our quest to help all solopreneurs, SBIers or not, was to help you assess programs. If you insist on verifiable proof of success (see above), you become foolproof.

Take that a step further. Tell them why you're not buying (not enough verifiable proof!).

Spread that word until they realize that they'll have to do the hard work of really helping you. And trust us — it's hard to do what we do.

Some companies advertise how much they help. For example...

  • tons of articles (just more info to read!)
  • SEO help (there are loads already online)
  • other scattered tools.

That won't cut it. It only adds to your work and confusion.

And now, that's easy to measure, given the coming studies. These studies cut through all the marketing hype and promises. In short, we repeat...

Make Them Accountable!

The first step was protecting you by insisting on verifiable proof and spreading that word. The second, bigger step makes the industry accountable to you.

You deserve better — the goals that drive you to start a business deserve nothing less than commitment to helping you get there.

Solopreneurs matter as the individuals that they are, for the dreams that they have!

You should never be about "market share." Nor should you be subjected to tricks like "fake reviews."

You deserve truth in advertising and accurate data that...

  • force businesses to be accountable to your success, and
  • help you make the best choice, then fulfill their promise in spades.

If you insist on data instead of marketing, all companies will be forced to take your goals seriously, instead of just take your money.

They'll be forced to commit to your success!

Won't That Mean Competition for SBI!?

Our primary mission has always been to enable anyone who has the courage to achieve goals that matter by starting their own online business. If this focuses businesses to actually, truly help you succeed, we welcome the competition.

We have a profound belief in the opportunity that the Internet provides to the individual. You can achieve goals that matter by building a business based on something already in your head! What better calling and reward is there than to enable people to lead lives on their own terms?

This is a unique window of time, of opportunity for people to achieve "The Individual Dream" (the global/digital version of the eroding "American Dream")...

  • Websites have leveled off at 170 million.
  • SBI!'s search effectiveness continues to grow. Google's RankBrain will grow that edge.
  • Social media is a powerful brand-builder for the solopreneur (where the edge goes to the passionate individual).
  • The increased total activity due to mobile (both social and search) plays a growing role.

Many trends have emerged since SBI! launched in 2002. We've been there every step of the way, evolving the process to grow The SBI! Advantage ever larger.

Now we'd like to push the industry to not just do better, but to be better...

  • Stop fake reviews and other misleading tactics.
  • Publish your rates and levels of success. We're going to, in any event.
  • Above all, respect the solopreneur as a person, not an object.

So yes, this will mean competition for the first time. Bring it on! And on that note...

Our Goal? Be the Best, Not the Biggest

We believe...

  • in the solopreneur with BAM (Brain, Attitude, Motivation)💥
  • that we are all happiest when productive, free, self-reliant
  • that the Internet offers the best chance to reach that state
  • the most doable way to succeed online is through the C T P M process
  • in the joy of working at something you love
  • in our forums where kindred spirits meet to "help and be helped."

Our mission is to enable you to build a profitable business that also grows equity, to achieve the goals you set (the reasons for your business), and to do that to the very best of our abilities, to do it better than anyone else.

The SBI! Advantage will continue to grow. The more complex building a successful online business gets, the more value we add. It's what we've done for 15 years.

Now let's bring some competition into the mix!

The Studies

In July 2017, we began the same kind of studies (as our original study) for Wix, GoDaddy, WordPress and Squarespace.

We discovered the baseline solopreneur performance. Is it be better or worse than the company with the affiliate program that trains affiliates, resulting in hundreds of fake reviews?

Do more sophisticated users (e.g., WordPress) do better? By how much?

Just how badly do solopreneurs do?

It's much worse than anyone (except the BigCo's) knew.

Do only a fraction of 1% of solopreneurs achieve high-traffic success? Are 90% basically "invisible" to the world? Which services do best — WordPress? Wix? Squarespace?

We started something that could force an industry to care about your success. It will take your support to spread it and convince BigCo's and others to do more than provide a place for a site to sit.

How do you defend yourself against all the noise, nonsense and scams? You now know the answer! Ask...

"Where's the Beef?!"

There's a big difference between SBI! and all other products...

We show you "the beef" — proof of success!

Only SBI! answers that all-important question that started this discussion...

"Who Is Most Likely to Help Me Succeed? Who's Best?"

SBI!'s Proof of success speaks for itself.
Build a business that succeeds.

SBI! Explained

Start your successful business today. How?

Nothing to risk, so much to gain. Take SBI! for a 90-day test drive.