Do I NEED to Have SBI! to Take Your Course?

Happy New Year Everybody!

I know I shouldn't be working on New Year's Day, but I just received an email that just tore my heart out.   A Handmade Results Premium subscriber was distraught about SBI! and I think maybe I've been pushing SBI! just a little too much.   I certainly don't want people to think it's a necessity!

To be clear-it is NOT!   The guidelines I'm giving you can be applied in a dozen different ways.   Whether you have an SBI! site, a Blogspot Blog, A Typedpad Blog, even an Etsy shop or Artfire shop.   This course is really about marketing, not about a specific format.   I'm sorry if that wasn't clear.   I was trying to meet people where they were at - from the surveys, it seemed people were caring mostly about technical detail, that's why I suggested SBI!.

You CAN always decide later.   There is no reason to not learn because you can't swing SBI! at first.

Here's what I received:

I really hate to do this, there are tears in my eyes as I do it. I'm going
to drop out of your classes. It's not that they aren't everything that
you've promised but I just can't afford the SBI site on my own and it
doesn't look like I'm going to find a partner to go in with. Glad my idea
worked out for some, I wasn't on the computer enough to be fast enough to
respond I guess. I just don't feel I can do it right with out the site and I
want to give it my all. I'm so sorry I know I committed myself to this but I
really didn't realize the costs involved. I'm hoping that I will have the
money later and will be able to start again when I'm able to be able to do
it and do it right.again I'm so sorry
Member:xxxxx

Answer

Hi xxxx, Don't do it!

You really don't need SBI to be successful. It's definitely not a requirement. The lessons I'm teaching are just as viable for a non-sbier. The lessons will actually be geared more towards people who are NOT using SBI simply because I want everyone to be able to learn how to do this stuff, and since SBI does such a good job of teaching it to the SBIers, I'm spending more time on the non-SBI crowd.

So don't pull out yet. I'm even going to show you how to use a free blogspot blog instead of an SBI site. If you don't have an SBI site, it's still definitely doable!

I'm excited by your enthusiasm and passion. You CAN do this!

I hope I've eased concerns from others as well.   As I move forward and create lessons, I'm realizing that I can show people how to use a free Blogspot Blog to do this as well - and probably it will be a lot easier to do than a WordPress blog if you are afraid technically of hosting your own.

Let me know what you think by commenting below.

Thanks so much!

Best,

Christine Gierer (yes, my real signature.)

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Kathleen Petrides

Question about registering with Google etc. You didn't mention DMOZ. I know that's an old search engine, but I still find that some people say it's a must. Curious to hear what you think. By the by, Fantabulous job!

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Christine

DMOZ isn't really a search engine, its a directory. (http://dmoz.org) It's a human edited directory that is edited by volunteers. I guess I skipped over it a bit quickly, but I did mention it during the SEO for Firefox video.

DMOZ doesn't find you (search engines will eventually index you whether you submit to them or not). You have to submit to it, and you typically wait months (or even years) before they even take a look at your submission and see if it's worthy. I'm still waiting to hear back on the how-to-make-jewelry.com site from 2 years ago. By all means submit your site to it, but don't hold your breath about getting listed.

The search engines do give it weight though in terms of ranking so if you can get on it, that's awesome!

And watch the SEO for Firefox video (the 2nd one) again - I'm sure I say stay away if your keywords bring up Google results with DMOZ listings and Yahoo directory listings.

(The rumor is that the DMOZ volunteers are mainly affiliate marketers so if you have any affiliate links they'll bypass you so you don't compete with them. Another rumor is that many will sell their children for 12 extra website visitors a day. That one makes me laugh).

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Paulette Demko

Hi! Since I am very very new to your site, newsletters, help, etc. I must have missed the discussions on SBI and similiar "sites"? Can you tell me what SBI is? I have made a few things and sold them, but on a very small scale as I am relatively new to beading. I do need some ideas as to how to market my jewelry which do not incurr lots of cash outlay. Do I need a license, or anything else I may not have thought about?
Thanks for any help,
Paulette

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Christine

Hi Paulette,
I keep forgetting that not everyone is following my thread of reasoning :) SBI stands for SiteBuildit, and it's the platform I built my how-to-make-jewelry website on. Here's my story.

You might also want to read the newsletters that started all this jewelry marketing and website business: The Etsy is Stealing Your Money newsletter article part 1
and part2

Regarding a license, that depends on where you are and what you want to do exactly. Selling online, you don't need a "license" but you should register your business and here in Ontario Canada I need to register as a vendor to get wholesale pricing and not pay provincial sales tax on supplies. The rules will be different depending on where you live, so you should contact your local government office that handles small business registration and information.

If you do shows and booth vending, you should also get insurance coverage for sure. If you sell only online, your house insurance may cover you in case of theft from your home or fire, etc.

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Wendy Gibson

I am looking forward to the Blogspot tutorial very much! Please don't think that just because I am a free member, I don't care about my business! Everytime you say that, I feel kind of bad. I just don't have the money. Thank you very much for offering a free version. I have already learned a lot of helpful information!

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Christine

Thanks Wendy, glad to hear it!

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Ingrid Schloemer

What a relief that the SBI is not pre-requisite for the course. I was worried that I won't be able to do it. The first weeks are still being worked on, though I can't commit as much time to do all the computer work as anticipated. Internet use is taking the focus off my artwork, it is freezing my imagination and I feel after the holidays that I almost can't get back to into the creative space.

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Melody

I was feeling a bit the same way (although I am a freebie subscriber) because when I went through the SBI Days 1 & 2, I really couldn't do much to research my key words because you had to be a member to use a couple of their tools. I'm a bit behind the 8-ball to begin with because I broke my ankle a week before Christmas, but now that I can sit and work at the computer, I'm finding I can't really do much. The Blogspot Blog sounds great, but I do want to know how I can research my key words better.
Hope I'm not asking too much :)

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Virginia Simpson-Magruder

Hi Christine -- Just saw this and I emailed Tammy and let her know that I would do the SBI partnership with her if she still wants to do it. (I'm just now able to start on this!). Since I have a blog on blogspot already, I like that you are going to incorporate using it as well. However, I still want the big guns :), so I want to do SBI too. Virginia

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Christine

Cool Virginia! I hope it works out for both of you. :)

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