Is Site Build It! a Scam?

You may be wondering whether Site Build It! is a scam. You'd certainly be forgiven for thinking that it might be, because there's an extremely visible but rather misleading article out there on the web that suggests that it is. You may have read that article yourself, because it's not been difficult to find.

So what's the truth? Is Site Build It! a scam?

Does it deliver all that it promises, and at a fair price?

We believe that it's an amazing one-stop system for building both your website and your business, and very easy to use, but you should form your own conclusions. Let's look at the claims that are made in that article...

You don't own your domain."

This statement appears to have been made following the discovery that the example website featured in much of the SiteSell literature was owned by the company's founder, Ken Evoy. From this the author of the article seems to have reached the extraordinary conclusion that all Site Build It! sites were owned by him.

In fact, the highly successful Anguilla-Beaches.com was built, with his help, by Evoy's daughter, then only fourteen years old - surely an excellent testament to his methods.

The truth is that SiteSell's customers all own their own domains. It's recommended that you don't rush to register a domain until you are sure of your site's theme, but even if you do so and then take advantage of the money-back guarantee the domain is yours to keep.

You can't move your website to a cheaper host."

It's difficult to see where this comes from. The only reason that I can see for this statement is that the author believed that SiteSell customers didn't own their domains, and therefore had no control over where they were hosted.

In fact, the transfer process is quick and easy. Once you've secured your content, all you need to do is to make a request to SiteSell's support team for your domain to be unlocked.

After a few security checks, they'll unlock your domain, and explain how to transfer it to another host, and another registrar. That won't take you long, but it may take a while for the changes to take effect. This is all clearly explained to you.

Of course, you do have to find your own replacements for the many facilities that SiteSell's customers take for granted. This may be a good reason to stay with SiteSell, but it doesn't make Site Build It! a scam.

They spend a lot of time quoting the Alexa rank of SBI! sites... Alexa rank just proves that you have a lot of internet marketers visiting your site ... they are the only people who use the Alexa toolbar."

It's true that SiteSell's sales literature made a number of claims based on the Alexa traffic rank of a sample of 1,000 randomly chosen Site Build It! sites. It stated that 35% of SBI! sites could be found in the top 1% of all websites worldwide by traffic volume.

The company now claims that an even higher percentage of those sites makes it into that magical top 1%.

Alexa traffic rankings are calculated using data collected only from users who have the Alexa toolbar installed (although there are millions of them, and not just internet marketers), and who may or may not be a representative sample of all those who use the internet.

As a result the number of visitors to each website may not be estimated accurately, especially where it's relatively small. However, where the number of visitors is relatively large the estimate, and thus the ranking, is likely to be much more accurate.

It would be difficult to check SiteSell's figures independently. That said, as a customer of Ken Evoy and his company since 2005 I have found him to be a man who is wary of drawing false conclusions, and who would not make unsubstantiated statements. I am therefore prepared to accept his claims as substantially correct.

The search engine help according to Site Build It's own sales promotion video involves submitting your site to the search engines... this just proves to Google that your site is not worth visiting because no one is linking to it."

Even if this were bad advice, it wouldn't make Site Build It! a scam.

There's nothing wrong with 'submitting' your pages to the search engines per se, but there used to be a right way and a wrong way to do this. It would certainly have been a mistake to do it too frequently.

That's why SiteSell used a sophisticated automated mechanism to ensure that new and updated pages were 'submitted' to the search engines in the right way, and at the right time.

These days it's a lot simpler.

The major search engines now encourage webmasters to submit a list of all their pages using a special file known as an XML site map. SiteSell were the first to create and maintain such a file automatically, and once you've submitted it to the search engines you can relax, knowing that all changes and additions will be notified to them without any further effort on your part.

They suggest that you use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising..."

I'm not sure why the author of that article believes that this makes Site Build It! a scam. If it were true, it would most certainly be bad advice, but that's not the same thing as a scam. Perhaps she feels that to claim that the SBI! method brings in plenty of targetted free traffic, and then to suggest the use of pay-per-click advertising, is deceptive.

Of course, it's not true. There's no need. By following the SBI! method, SiteSell's customers may receive hundreds, thousands, perhaps even tens of thousands of visitors per day without the need to pay anything at all for advertising.

You don't need a newsletter or an autoresponder unless you're selling affiliate products to visitors. If your site is just for attracting niche buying search traffic, you don't need these products."

I'm not sure that I understand the phrase 'niche buying search traffic'. Maybe it's internet marketer's jargon for visitors who arrive at your site looking to buy something specific. Either way, it's not important that you or I understand what it means.

Whatever your 'business model' - the way that you hope to make money from your website - it's important that you establish a relationship with your visitors. Newsletters and autoresponders (automated responses to messages sent to the site) are valuable tools to help you do this.

The SiteSell method and the Site Build It! package aren't geared towards any particular business model. Indeed, customers are encouraged to seek a variety of different ways to generate an income.

This is just the author's opinion. Many people would disagree, but even if you don't it's very difficult to see how its providing the tools to help you to communicate with your visitors (and potential customers) makes Site Build It! a scam.

Is Site Build It! a scam? Even the author of that article says

So no, SBI! is not a traditional scam. They no doubt deliver on what is promised..."

As far as I'm concerned, that's not a scam, 'traditional' or otherwise.

What's the truth about the Site Build It! scam?

So is there a scam here? There appears to be evidence that there is, but it's not Site Build It! that's the scam.

Whilst I've tried to remain neutral, I hope that as a satisfied customer since 2005 I may be forgiven if I have taken a slightly pro-SiteSell stance.

However, it seems that the author of the original article either didn't do her research properly, or decided to write it in a way that was deliberately misleading. She then persuaded many people, most of whom probably had no experience of Site Build It! themselves, to link to her article using the anchor text 'site build it scam' in a successful attempt to bring it to the top of the search results for that phrase.

What's the official SiteSell response?

The simple truth is that Site Build It! isn't for everyone.

If you're an experienced internet marketer with access to all the tools that you'll need, then it's probably not for you. It may be difficult, though, to assemble your own set of tools for anything like the price of a Site Build It! subscription.

If you're looking for some sort of 'get rich quick' scheme, or you're afraid of a bit of hard work, then again it's not for you. Bear in mind, though, that building a successful business does take time and effort, and that there are no short cuts to success.

It may not be for everyone, but is Site Build It! a scam? No, it's not.