My Solo Build it! (previously Site Build it!) SBI Journey!
I started playing around with websites because I was having some minor health issues that made it so I could not work as much. (Thank you Vertigo). I was just doing it for fun and to fill my time at home working on recovering.
I started out with a site www.thebodyworker.com. I had been looking into creating an apprenticeship program for massage therapists and s
aw how much work it was so I decided to just start taking the information that I had been gathering for the curriculum and put it into a website. Back then, the web was just a novelty. I used free software – Mozilla Composer – and created the site. I never really thought about it making me money. I was just doing it as a hobby to keep me busy while I recovered. This is what it looked like – You can see it and the evolution of how it changed over the years here in the internet archives.
Don’t laugh!! I didn’t know what I was doing!
In about 2004, I heard about something called Google Adsense where you could put ads on your website and when people click on the ads, you would get paid. Yeah right I thought. So I finally put them on about 100 pages of my website and then I got my first check from them. It was about $140. If I could make that from the few pages I put the ads on – what would happen when I put them on all 1000 pages? Well you do the math. That website provided me with residual income for over 10 years. It finally got hit by all the Google Alogrithm changes in about 2008-2012. That site made me over $120k over 10 years in Adsense Income. I had about 2500 visitors a day.
But how did I learn how to create sites and figure out ways to make money?
Site Build it! or SBI! as it is now known. I found SBI! in about 2002 and created another site using their system. www.massagetherapycareers.com. That site made me money from Google Adsense too but I also started selling Ebooks. My first Ebook was “A Career in Massage – is it for You?” I started selling PDF copies of the book within about 3 months of creating the site – not that many but a few hundred extra dollars a month means a lot.
In 2008 I sold that site for enough to live on for a year! The only reason I sold it was because I knew I could create it all again because of everything I have learned from SBI.
Somewhere along the way in around 2003, I also started this website. I started it in blogging software which back then was a whole other story! It was first a membership site but back then there wasn’t any good membership software available so I did it all by hand. It was a good first effort! I kept writing and wrote a book on Insurance Billing and also on Creating Websites. I have plans for more books too. Little by little, it is really a big part of my retirement planning…writing and making more money.
Residual Income for your massage therapy business.
Being a massage therapist on your own will often mean that you will have ups and downs in your massage business no matter what you do. You don’t get paid when you get sick or take a vacation so that means you lose income on those times. Your income depends on the number of clients you can physically see each week – and you know how that goes sometimes. I would have never survived these 28 years as a massage therapist without the extra income. I make money while I am on vacation, when I sleep and when my massage business is slow.
Anyone can do it too. You just have to have the persistence and patience to learn. It is all laid out for you though when you choose SBI! (Site Build it!)
SBI! or how to turn a hobby/interest/passion into a full time income is what this is really about. Are you an expert on some topic like pain science, healthy living, massage research or some aspect of massage?
Do you enjoy hiking, traveling? Do you have hobbies such as gardening, home decoration, shopping, riding motorcycles, knitting/sewing… you name it.. You can turn just about anything into a website that makes you extra money while you do massage.
You can also do this with your main massage business website too! Be the expert on pain, stress and share what you know!
Get the training on how to do everything step by step. It is ALL included with your SBI package. Step by Step Action guide with video demos takes you through the whole process of brainstorming a profitable topic, planning your website and the ways you can make money to building a website that gets the traffic you need to make money.
SBI! is like a college level training program in making money online with your favorite hobby or interest. It won’t be easy and you will be overwhelmed right from the start as there is sooo much information it will make your head spin and you will swear that you will never be able to get it figured out. But stick with it. Join the forums where everyone is there to help and learn. Ask, ask, ask and read and re-read everything. It will take a few months or maybe even 6 months – so don’t be discouraged.
Here is what you will be doing:
- Brainstorm keywords and supply and demand for those keywords using SBI!’s proprietary keyword tool. The idea is to take your hobby/passion/interest and spin it into keywords that people are searching for but there are not many websites out there supplying the answers. Keyword research will help you choose your topic for starters but it can also give you more ideas.
- Once you find your sweet spot in the keyword battle, you can start looking for ways that you can make money with your topic. There are many different options:
Google Adsense is placing ads that you get from Google onto your site and when people click on the ads, you make money. Yes it works but it needs a really high traffic website and about 500 pages of content and the more the better.
Affiliate Marketing is selling other people’s products and getting a referral fee for doing so.
Create your own Ebook/Paperback/Kindle book to sell.
Create your own hard goods to sell.
Get sponsors to pay for ad space on your website.
Don’t worry – you won’t have to know all of this or how to do any of this – SBI ! will help you figure it all out! - After you do all of your research and plan your site – then you choose your domain and start your website
- Then learn how to build a website that gets the clicks – that means gets the traffic AND sales that you need to make the money. It is all explained – everything from Search engine optimization for your pages of content to using Social Media to drive people to your website.
- Once you get enough traffic and have built enough trust with your readers – then you start selling to them or setting up ads for them to click on.
- When you get things going, then it is just about analyzing what is working and what is not so that you can work more on what is working – and yup SBI! will help you with that too.
- Repeat and build another site…all in the comfort of your home…all on your own time…