How I Made A Website About Direct TV..

" ...and why you need a website, too "

This page is a continuation of my How Direct TV Advisor Born Page. I never thought that page would have such an impact. Many people write to thank me for the inspiration they get from it.

What can I say? Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know. It means a lot to me that I have been able to give someone the courage to finally do something they've been dreaming of for a long time :-). Good on you and all the best!

I also receive many emails asking me more questions about this website and about SBI. Obviously there is a lot of curiosity about the system, and obviously I didn't do a good enough job when I told you about it, because the questions are always the same.

It's been over a year since I last updated the About Us page, so I figured I let you know how things have been going since. I also want to answer the questions that I am asked again and again, in the hope that I will cut down on writing long emails in the future :-).

First up some hard numbers

A few people weren't shy and asked straight out: "How much are you making and how long did it take?"

It is December 2008 as I write this, and I have been with SBI for 4 years. I get about 1800 visitors a day on this Directtv-advisor.com

My income from Adsense (those "Ads by Goooogle") adds up to about $3000 - $4000 a month and I also have income from several other sources. There are other advertisers, and I make money from Satellite TV Products. I don't sell those myself. I just tell people where they can buy them, and if someone likes the product and buys it I get a small commission.(All figures are US dollars.)

It is 3X of my daily 9 to 6 job, I had submitted my resign letter and full time working on this website starting on 1st May 2009..A meaningful Labour Day for me :)

If I had spent all my time on this site my income would have grown faster and not just about 2 - 3 hours a day ( Do not forget that I am still having my daily 9am - 6pm job ).

A website is something that requires a lot of work up front and pays off big time later.

The most important point to take away here is that my income is steadily growing, day after day, whether I work on the websites or not. It grows faster when I do a lot of work, but it still grows while I go away on long holidays. I earn money while I travel, I earn money while I'm watching TV, I earn money while I sleep. It's pretty hard to beat.

What's also hard to beat is the feeling that you own your life and your time. There is no way I could ever go back to working for others in a permanent job.

Is this really as easy as it sounds?

That is probably the most common question. The answer is, yes and no. It depends how you define easy.

It certainly isn't a matter of pressing a few buttons and the money starts rolling in. If that's what you meant when you said easy then the answer is no.

The one point I stress in every email, whether people asked this question or not, is this: it takes time, hard work and commitment to build a successful website. Do not under-estimate the amount of time, the amount of hard work, and the amount of commitment involved!

But that's all it takes. It does not take exceptional writing skills, it does not take technical knowledge, it does not require that you know anything about computers or websites. Nothing.

You will initially have to learn a lot, but that learning is part of SBI. You will be guided through the whole process. Anybody with a brain who's willing to learn and work can do this, no matter what their background. So if that's what you wondered, then the answer is yes. It really is that easy. You can do it.

How much time do you spend working on your site?

When I started I still had my day job, so I could only work on the weekends and about 1 - 2 hours in the weekdays. I usually wrote a page or two per week for the first 6 months. After I quit my job I, um, went for a long holiday.

(All up I work six or even seven days a week if I'm home, but only for about six hours a day.

Since December 2008 I have done a lot less on that site, maybe five to ten hours a week, if that. But because of the work I did in the previous year, this was the period where I saw the biggest growth in income and visitors. And it keeps growing.

I've done hardly any work on it in 2008, but it just keeps growing.

It sounds good but I have no idea what I could make a website about..

That is absolutely not a problem.

Most people who already have an idea change their mind once they start with SBI. I had two ideas when I started and dumped them both. SBI came up with the topics for all my websites.

The first thing that SBI teaches you is how to select a profitable topic. There are no general rules. Everybody is different so this is an individual decision. SBI has brainstorming tools. You use them to generate ideas and to analyse them. You'll see if there is enough interest in a topic, how much competition there is, and if there is money to be made.

To choose a topic for a website is the most important step in the whole process, so you shouldn't do it without SBI anyway. Don't know what to make your site about? Good!

It says it costs $299 for the first year. What are the costs after that? Are there any financial catches?

No catches :-).

$299 is the yearly subscription fee. It works out $25 a month, but there is only the yearly payment option. And there is of course their rock solid money back guarantee. Don't like it? Just give it back.

There are no catches whatsoever. SBI includes everything you need. There are no hidden costs. You can't go wrong by trying it out. The way I see it you have everything to win and nothing to lose.

You can't write?

I just had two emails in a row expressing the same concern: "I can't write."

I thought the same thing when I started. But as I already mentioned above, SBI teaches you everything you need to know to build a successful website, including how to write compelling content.

Ken Evoy wrote a fabulous book called Make Your Content Pre-Sell. It teaches how to write for the web. The book has always been part of SBI, available for free for SBIers, but outsiders had to buy it. But since some time in 2006 it is totally free for non SBIers, too.

If someone tells me they worry about their writing I send them this link: you can download your free copy here

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I think that's it, those are the questions that I've been asked a million times. If I forgot something I'm sure you'll ask and then I'll add it here.

If you have broadband just click on the little picture and he will personally show you around SBI via the SBI TV. (Still on dial up? Go Here for the print version instead.)

Let me say it again: "What are you waiting for?"

"100% of the shots you don't take don't go in."

Wayne Gretzky

You only have one life.
Make the most of it.

Try SBI - because if I can do this, you can!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch thetrade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

P.S : Do you have any questions left about SBI? Want to know how exactly it could work for you? You can ask any questions here

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