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> SBI Diary 2008
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| My SBI Diary in 2008"How I built my second Site Build It! website | ||||||||
Summary
of my SBI! journey:
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| <<< Summary of Feb 2008 | Summary of 2009>>> |
Mar 4th, 2008
Finally, I got past Day 2 of the SBI Action Guide. And I more or less know what my site concept is going to be in the 'self help' website genre.
Actually, I've not spend the last week on my SBI! site as I was working on putting together my ten year plan. And I thought this plan, or at least starting on it, was more important than ploughing ahead with the site build it website. (It might have influenced my choice of site concept after all - I want this site to be around in ten years, make no mistakes!)
Can I just say, whilst I've got your attention, that I'm slowly starting to warm up to the potential of the keyword research tool that is Brainstorm It! It's a combination of Wordtracker and Sitesell proprietary data, and it really is a fantastic way to go about doing keyword research. I can literally feel my site coming alive, as I mine away at the keywords I've unearthed.
Now all I have to do is find the right spin on my site concept, then I can crack on. I hope. Best get back to reading Day 3 of the SBI Action Guide...*
Mar 5th, 2008
I know what my site is going to be called! (More or less.) And that is very exciting news indeed. I've got over 600 'profitable' keywords that I just need to structure into tier 2 (main topics) and tier 3 (sub-topics), and then I can get going on creating the site content (well, I should probably go through the rest of the SBI Action Guide, first - ahem!)
So not only do I have keywords for possible pages that will be on my site, but I'm getting a really good idea about how my site will be structured. It's like my website is coming alive before my very eyes (again - I used that expression yesterday, it seems - d'oh!)
I nearly used up all of my WTB credits, too.
(WTB credits? Yes, Brainstorm It! combines data from Wordtracker's full database with proprietary data from Sitesell. But Wordtracker costs a few hundred dollars per year, though, so Site Build It! comes with 25 credits - 25 interrogations of Wordtracker's database - already. (And you can buy more credits should you need to.) Right now, I've still got about 7 credits left...)
As part of this process I checked out some of the SBI forums - looking for answers to my own questions (like what is a minimum demand for a potential page?). And I also answered some questions too, when I could - "pay it forward", as they say!
Mar 10th, 2008
Slow start to the week. Thought I would read the newsletters I've subscribed to as part of my site research first. All of these newsletters (from 'competitor' or related sites) are useful but none say what I want to say. This is good to know. I will stay subscribed because I may get ideas for content and or affiliate programs for my own site.
I'm also wondering whether this is a strategy that other SBIers use - if not, I might suggest it in the SBI forum. (Visiting the forum is good because it alerts you to issues (and solutions) you may not have been aware of, AND you can also provide help for others.)
So I guess I'll spend 30 minutes there too before getting going with today's activities.
(Yes, this does smack of procrastination - but I know I will be quicker getting going tomorrow.)
Note: as a result of checking out emails I've now downloaded over 20 ebooks or MP3s to do with self-help today (part of a bonus being run by Eldon Taylor promoting his new book Choices & Illusions). I'm sure I will get some ideas for content and for affiliate partnerships from these 'freebies' and I might even learn something too. Lol
Mar 12th, 2008
I've decided on my site name! Yes, it's done. And I feel good about it. (These were some ideas that did not make the grade... self-help-wisdom, self-help-conversations, self-help-guide etc.) I'll reveal the winner all in good time! (I have to register the domain name, through SBI, and that isn't for another few "SBI days" lol
Now? Now I have to look at the main subjects of my site (so-called tier2 pages) - and work out what subjects deserve to be main subjects, and what deserve to be minor ones.
Actually, I'm still procrastinating today, or not going forward, but some of this activity is making contact with other site owners who have similar sites and who may want to provide content or links for my site (or vice versa).
So, even though progress is slow, I'm happy with that. :-)
(Actually spent the afternoon really 'going for it' with my keywords, trying to more or less create a full list of tier 2 keywords using Brainstorm It!, starting with the keyword "addictions"... )
Ps Spent a little time 'paying it forward' as they say in the SBI forums (or helping and being helped) - I spent some time reviewing other people's SBI sites. Some good, some not so good, but all 'making progress'... And I'm glad to help. (Again, my second SBI site is more or less suitable to anyone, so these people I help may well contribute content (or opinions/wisdom) on my site later on. 'Pay it forward' is a good philosophy, and one that embraces Site Build It! I believe.
Mar 13th, 2008
More work on my main keywords for the site today and less distracting (is it ever anything else) procrastination! Onwards...
Mar 17th, 2008
I should be putting the final touches on my site blueprint (identifying the tier 2 pages, and thus the tier 3 pages) but I've 'busied myself' instead with visiting competing/complimentary sites, reading newsletters and looking at sources of content. This is not wasted time but I do feel frustrated by the fact that my blueprint is still not available.
I MUST focus on this tomorrow.
Mar 18th, 2008
The blueprint is more-or-less done now (phew!) and now I have to think of sources of content (I don't want to be responsible for creating all of the content - the nature of my site makes this 'okay', too) as well as looking at ways to monetize. Let's get going then...
Mar 26th, 2008
More work on determining what pages, exactly, shall go on my website. I more or less have decided on the main (tier 2) pages - about ten of them - and now I'm working out what subpages (tier 3 pages) to build. Coming up with angles for content, keywords to focus on, monetization ideas and other such things so when I actually start writing the content it won't be from a blank page so to speak.
Interesting way to build a website, actually. Lots of planning first, and then - wham! - out come the pages. Should have a 50 or 60 page website, eventually (few months time).
Mar 28th, 2008
Finished determining all of my tier3 pages (sub-pages) to my main (tier2) pages (the pages that will be linked to in my main navigation). I now more or less know how I am going to build each of the 40 or 50 pages that my site will begin with. (I also have an idea about monetizing those pages too - Day 4 of the Action Guide discusses the 'monetization mix'.)
So back to the Action Guide, and day 5 - registering my domain name (but, before that, I have to read the excellent Make Your Content PREsell, and consider one last time what my site is about, etc. Thankfully, I've already read MYCPS! ;-) )
And so, after nearly two months, my new website is going to be called...
And domain names I rejected include...
- self help opinions
- sellf help
wisdom
- self help collection
- self help fun
- self help stories
Phew! Feels good. Now all I have to do is re-read MYCPS! (might as well, as it really is an outstanding guide to how to write words on your website) and then Days 6 to 10 of the SBI! Action Guide. Ah, it's all go... :-)
(And then the site building will begin.)
Mar 31st, 2008
I still can't build my website. I need to reread Make Your Content PREsell (all about how to write readable 'non-fiction' with personality (your personality) as well as the rest of the Action Guide.
I've decided to read parts of MYCPS! and the Action Guide so as to not get too bogged down with reading about one particular item.
Action Guide Day 6 is all about how to build a site that gets the click, for both beginners (who use the SBI block builder) and experienced users who know how to build web pages but must still build their site with a pyramid structure (one tier1 page, several tier 2 pages, many tier 3 pages)
It's all good, clean fun. (I'll read the Action Guide then, listen to the Action Guide videos, I think.)
Managed to read all of Make Your Content PREsell (MYCPS!) and days 6 to 10 of the SBI! Action Guide -- both of which have given me some good ideas for the content that I will soon begin to write. (The Acion Guide covers building and monetizing from the website. All good stuff, indeed.)
APR 22nd, 2008
Took time off from SBI last week (and work, altogether - I guess that's called a holiday! lol) and, previously, I did a lot of research for content. (I intend to use other people's content on my website. This is not ideal for SBI sites, or more traditional sites actually, but it fits for my site -- a collection of other people's thoughts.)
Anyway, yesterday I did some research for images as it's time to start thinking about site design. (I've created a few lightboxes on Dreamstime.) And today I've listened to Day 6 of the Action Guide* (and read relevant materials and SBI forum posts -- as I said, it's time I started thinking about designing my second SBI site! :-)
APR 30th, 2008
I'm about to write the articles that will make up the site, but before I start this I want to know exactly what pages I am responsible for creating - and come up with at least some content ideas - and what pages I have already got articles for.
Starting to write my first pages today. Feel a bit overwhelmed as I have about 90 to 100 pages to create and have set myself a deadline to do this - a deadline that may not be helpful to me. I'd like to enjoy creating this site, after all.
I think I'll ease myself in by looking at the many inspirational quotations I've accumulated and I'll edit them creating individual quotes pages and a main list of quotes that I can use throughout the site.
May 15th, 2008
Created my first tier 3 page yesterday - self improvement ideas (still not available online at time of writing) - which was very exciting indeed! It's taken me quite a long time to produce one web page (and it's not finished, as there are core elements to the page like my newsletter signup form that still need to be built) but it's still a mighty fine feeling.
As soon as I'm happy with how this tier 3 page looks I shall today set about creating a tier2 page and maybe even my homepage. And then, the floodgates will open..
Note: Site Build It! uses the tier1, tier2 and tier3 terminology to identify different types of pages. A tier1 page is the home page, a tier2 page is any page that is linked to from the home page and a tier3 page is a page linked to from one of the tier2 pages - these pages should NOT be linked to from the home page, but from within the content of a tier2 page. (The SBI! Action Guide goes into great detail about this site structure - a structure that works for search engines like Google.)
I've been very, very busy writing pages for the new website. It's been great fun, and has meant me visiting lots of self help websites and watching loads of self-help videos too - you can see a collection of my favourites here!
I should be uploading the pages as I build them, but I've decided to deep link to relevant pages (even if I haven't created them, yet). This means I have to upload the whole site at the same time, otherwise I'll have a 404 page not found issue every time I upload a page that deeplinks to a page I haven't built.
Anyway, it's fun. I'm working in the mornings still, and am more or less managing to create 3 to 4 pages in that time (I only managed to build 2 pages today - loads of videos.)
I'll be back in a few weeks I'm sure.
Jun 30th, 2008
According to Statcounter^, the Self Help Collective website is already being found on page #1 of Google for keywords like, 'self-help communication' and 'positive self-help websites'.
Bearing in mind that there are only 3 pages on SelfHelpCollective.com (none of which are optimised for those keywords) and that I've done little or no site promotion (there's a link from this site, and I've answered a few questions on Yahoo! Answers), I think this is impressive - hence this diary entry!
I can't wait to upload the 50-or-so pages I've already created... :-)
(^) Note: there's no need for me to use Statcounter for my website as the Site Build It! software provides stats (and more). I guess old (webmaster) habits die hard! ;-)
Boy am I frazzled! I've been creating pages for Self Help Collective for what seems like weeks. And I've not uploaded any of the pages so far. (This is not how you are meant to do it, according to the SBI Action Guide.)
So, today, and with only the category of success to create pages for, I decided to upload the main pages of my site:
None of the above pages are finished, and they will all need reformatting so they read better and optimising according to SBI's Analyse It function, but still - it's a beginning! :-)
So I intend to upload all the pages per each category one day at a time and hope to have a final (phase 1) of my site by the end of July.
I've already had some good feedback too! It's great. (Creating Self Help Collective has also helped me in my own personal life, as you will discover when you read the copy. Yes, this is personal self-help website created by someone who has successes and failures every day - probably a bit like you, eh!)
Anyway, I feel very proud to have started uploading my site! :-)
Jul 14th, 2008
Started to upload all of the pages today. Started with the tier2 subject of anger management and all the related tier3 pages.
I used SBI's Analyze It function first to make sure that the on-page SEO factors (e.g. title, meta description and no. of keywords inside body copy were present and correct) and made the necessary changes. (Actually, some pages I've decided to do as Analyze It! says and some I've decided to upload as-is, to see what difference it makes in terms of getting found on Google.)
I'm not following the SBI! Action Guide exactly, but fairly closely I think. (I hope. Lol.)
Jul 24th, 2008
I'm still uploading my site a few pages at a time. (Yes, it's not a matter of uploading all of them via FTP - SBI! doesn't do FTP, by the way (there are good reasons for this, but they're too complicated for me to explain, even if I knew them) - search engines like websites to build little by little, after all.)
Anyway, I noticed a few differences about the site-uploading procedure compared to FTP. And I thought I'd list them here:
One other thing that I'm doing that I'm not sure is in the Action Guide or not is that I'm actively contacting the owners of websites that Self Help Collective is linking to; e.g. like on this self help websites page. I tell the site owners that they have a one-way inbound link and they check out my site and leave me (usually positive) feedback. AND I sometimes get a link back too. Marvellous! :-)
Jul 30th, 2008
O-kay, most of the pages for Self Help Collective have been uploaded. :-) I've even started to receive positive words of feedback (from those site owners I've contacted telling them SHC is linking to their site). And, so far, it's all very satisfying indeed.
Especially as the site is already getting found on Google!
Anyway, I decided to check the Action Guide* to see what I should be doing. Lol. Officially, I'm on Day 7 - Build Your Own Free Traffic. Now I know quite a bit about this free website promotion topic and have a website dedicated to the topic called How I Promote My Website (also an SBI! site) as well as this Squidoo lens called How To Promote Your Site.
Still, it's good to be reminded of the important steps to take re getting free traffic to your website.
So Day 7 is about creating a regular traffic building plan, and I'll write this up after making this diary entry! It's also about understanding what SBI! automatically does for you in terms of the search engines, namely:
And, of course, the SBI! forums are the source of much help and information regarding getting free traffic to your site.
And, thankfully, the emphasis is never on learning the latest SEO techniques but concentrating on the basics. Which sounds sensible to me. (Unless you happen to be an SEO expert of course. Lol.)
So, as I say, all is well with me and the Self Help Collective. :-) It's taken a while but my new website is starting to succeed... :-)
Ps Oh, I whizzed through Day 8 of the Action Guide too - about building relationships, via ezines, blogs and videos etc.
Jul 31st, 2008
Uploaded the full sequence of messages to the Self Help Collective newsletter, called The Weekly Wonder. Now I'm using Aweber to send out these emails as I've decided to more or less let this newsletter work automatically. (I'll send out broadcasts - newsletters - every month, maybe, and Aweber lets me do that.)
Alas SBI! only currently allows a sequence of 7 messages in its included autoresponder service, so I wasn't able to use their autoresponder service (which is included in the SBI! price).
Yes, I could have used the SBI! Mailout module to send my newsletters but as I said I wanted to queue up the messages via an autoresponder.
So I guess this is a 'weakness' of SBI!. However, when you think that Aweber itself costs a few hundred US dollars per year and SBI! - a site building, hosting and traffic monitoring tool (and so much more) - costs only $299 per year, I'm not really complaining. :-) (Would I do that? lol.)
Just fixing pages and building links to the site, via Value Exchange*. Also finished the success group of pages
Will check all of the pages uploaded, one at a time, and then focus on getting more people to the site. Right now the site gets between 20 and 40 unique visitors per day. First target is 100+ visitors, then 500, then 1000, then 5000 and then 10,000 unique visitors per day.
I want to get to at least 1000 unique visitors per day by Sept 2009.
This may be ambitious, but if you're going to make plans they may as well be ambitious ones. (Will start to monetize the website - make money from it - when the site gets between 100 and 500 unique visitors per day.)
STATS: 63 unique visitors per day, 9793 page views per month
Create new pages, get inbound links to my site (which includes answering questions on the SBI! private forum). Repeat.
STATS: 136 unique visitors per day, 20098 page views per month
Note: I'm only spending 2 afternoons per week on the site, and have been doing so since September 2008.
Create new pages, get inbound links to my site. Repeat. Oh, and read the SBI! Action Guide* (Day 7), just to make sure I'm doing everything I should be doing now. Ahem!
STATS: 212 unique visitors per day, 31181 page views per month
I'm building about two pages a week, and intend to carry on until Jan or Feb in 2009. A summary of the new pages appear automatically (via a module called RSS/Blog It!) on this self help blog page.
STATS: 239 unique visitors per day, 34334 page views per month
Read more of my SBI Diary: Feb 2008 (1st Month) | Rest of 2008 | All 2009
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On this site - Site-Buildit.com - you'll find my understanding of how SBI! works (and who it works for) as well as a look at the tools that come wtih SBI!. Plus you can also ask any questions you might have about SBI! via this questions link - a team of SBI owners await, apparently!
Or, you can visit Sitesell's Site Buildit right now and learn more...
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