Instead, I’m going to focus on whether or not Article Builder is worth the money. I was one of the first 500 people who got in when the price was $197 per year. The current price is now $297 per year. That still works out to less than $1 per day. Not really that much if you plan on using the tool over the next 12 months.

I should also mention, based on my observations, that many people focus too much on price when it comes to building and promoting web based businesses. The key is not how much you spend, but whether or not it is good value. If I sold you a $100 bill for $90, that’s a good deal. $90 is a lot of money for many people, but the value of the $100 bill is greater.

With the idea of value in mind, let’s look at the good and bad of Article Builder. We’ll start with the bad as there are some limitations with the software, then look and the good and finally look at how I use it personally.

The Bad:

First of all ArticleBuilder.net is not perfect. I’m guessing the number one concern of most people reading this is, how original are the articles?

Originality
The biggest weakness of the program, in my opinion, is that of article originality. Each article is original, in the sense that paragraphs are arranged in a unique order. However, the paragraphs themselves are created using a database of snippets. The database is huge, but finite, so you will eventually be using paragraphs that can be found on other websites.

Update October, 27: Jon has now added the ability to create versions of the article with synonyms from The Best Spinner. This significantly reduces originality issues and is something I was doing anyway. Please keep that in mind for the rest of this review.

One way Jon has attempted to solve the problem is through an ‘encode output’ option. Basically, it turns some of the text into encoded HTML characters to make the article seem more unique. I think this works well if you’re not trying to SEO the content itself, as this may make it more difficult for Google to read (I may be wrong on this point).

I think a better method (and the one which I use), is to take the article itself and pass it through a spinner. I personally use The Best Spinner, as I think it lives up to it’s name. Note you can now get a spin ready version of your article using The Best Spinner synonymys for free inside of Article Builder.

I still recommend having a look at The Best Spinner, but it is no longer required. Buying it does add somewhat to the cost. Still it makes the articles unique, and drastically reduces the issue of article originality. I explain below in greater detail exactly what I do.

Number of Topics and Niches Listed
The other major concern people are likely to have with Article Builder is that their website topic or niche is not on the list of ones that are covered. Jon has done a good job of including a wide basket of topics, but it can’t include everything. Since joining Article Builder, it seems as though there has been about a 50% increase in the number of topics included.

More importantly, there is a ‘Request Topics’ button where you can submit which topics you’d like included. Jon himself has said that he is trying to include more topics, but obviously there is no guarantee yours will be included if it is not already there. If it is a major niche, chances are it will eventually be added, but really small or local ones probably won’t.

Number of Users
A service like ArticleBuilder.net is more useful the fewer users there are. However because Jon is trying to constantly grow the database of snippets, he needs a significant number of paying users to do so. Currently membership is capped at 500 people, but sometime around November 1, another 500 will be let in.

More users, will mean more content snippets being produced and a wider number of topics included. Yet it will also mean more people using those same snippets. Overall, I think the technique I use (explained below) works well to balance these two competing factors. Still, I hope there will be hard cap at some time.

The Good:

Alright now that I’ve addressed some of the problems with the program and what Jon’s done to address them, let’s look at the things I like about Article Builder.

Article Quality
I have outsourced a lot of writing over the years to both Indian and Philippines based workers. I would say that 95% of the articles I get back from ArticleBuilder.net, exceed the quality of those done by outsourced workers. I know a major concern many people have is article quality, but from what I’ve seen I’ve been very impressed.

New Snippets constantly being added
The second thing I really like about Article Builder is that there are always new pieces of content being added for each of the existing niches. You can also request more get included easily from the site. This explains why ArticleBuilder.net costs what it does. Adding new content is expensive, especially when it is of relatively high quality.

New Topics constantly being added
Related to the point above, I also really like how new topics are added on a regular basis. I have websites in many niches and already I have seen many of them being added, without me even requesting them (I assume other users are in the same niches).

So overall, there are many good points to Article Builder. But I’m sure you’d really like to know is how I use it, and whether or not it represents good value.

How I Use It

Before I begin, I should just note that there are many ways to use ArticleBuilder.net, this is just the way I choose to use it. I have not even mentioned the ‘inject content’ feature that is available, but I can see how it would be extremely valuable.

My process is very simple really, just 1-2-3.

1. First I go to ArticleBuilder.net and create ten new articles for the niche I want to promote. Article length can be between 300 and 1000 words minimum. I usually mix it up to have articles of varying length.

2. I go to The Best Spinner and put each of the 10 articles into it. I then use the ‘Everyone’s Favorites’ option and spin on good quality mode. I’ll do a quick manual check to make sure there are no glaring errors and to make sure all words that can be spun, have been. – Now Optional

Step 2 is really important if you are worried about originality and duplicate content issues. However, it can now be done automatically from within Article Builder itself

3. I copy each spun formatted article into Article Marketing Automation (AMA). This is a service that distributes a new unique spun version of your article to various sites in their network. You can include up to 3 links per article and they can point wherever you want. You can also submit as many articles as you want and have them distributed an unlimited number of times. Generally speaking the average number of times an article gets distributed is between 25 and 100, depending on your niche. It’s a good way to get more one way links to your website.

Jon Ledger has a somewhat similar service called 1WayLinks.net. It is cheaper, but limits you to distributing your articles to 750 sites per month. I have not used the service myself, but if the claims from both AMA and 1WayLinks.net are to be believed, his network is several times larger.

Overall Verdict

Remember at the start how I talked about value, and how a $100 bill sold for $90 is good value? I’m sure you do, so how does Article Builder stack up in terms of value. Well to answer that question we have to do some basic math (it’s simple don’t worry).

Let’s look at how much it costs per month to use ArticleBuilder.net the way I do:

1 month ArticleBuilder.net = $24.75 ($297/12)
1 month The Best Spinner = $6.41 ($77/12) (Now Optional, since the basic features are now included in ArticleBuilder.net)
1 month Article Marketing Automation = $67

Total monthly cost = $98.16

Now what do I get for my $98.16? Well if I were to create 10 articles a day (you can of course use ArticleBuilder.net, The Best Spinner, and AMA to create and distribute as many as you want), I would create and distribute 300 articles in a month. These 300 articles would likely be published on average to at least 30 websites each. So:

300 articles X 30 websites = 9,000 articles distributed
9,000 articles distributed X 3 links per article = 27,000 links
$98.16/27,000 links = 0.36 cents per link ($0.0036)

So personally, I think being able to get links at 0.36 cents each is a pretty good deal. However, others may feel different. All I can say is that ArticleBuilder.net provides good value for me, because I have found a good way to use it. I do use other tools to increase it’s value to me.

I would not would recommend using ArticleBuilder.net without The Best Spinner, as you can now use the basic functions of The Best Spinner in Article Builder without paying for it. I still think The Spinner is worth the price, but you now no longer need it to get a fully functioning, very powerful way to create unique articles. The only limit to how you use them is your own creativity.

Disclaimer: I am making no income claims whatsoever. Your mileage with any of the programs listed above may vary. I have purchased and use all the tools mentioned above. I have not been paid for this review. However, be aware that all links above are affiliate links and will generate a commission for me if you purchase any of the products. I honestly believe in all three products, but this remains my opinion take it or leave it.

I have been a full time web entrepreneur for just over 4 years now. In that time I have I had to deal with dozens of separate companies. Some good and some not so good. However, the really frustrating thing is dealing with companies that have previously provided exceptional service and then fall far short. So, today I am going to talk about a bad experience I had with GetResponse (They provide e-mail newsletter and autoresponder services) and what fellow entrepreneurs can learn from it.

When I first got into internet marketing, I was told e-mail marketing was a good way to make money. So, I signed-up with GetResponse (over 5 years ago) both because they were cheap and all the reviews I read had good things to say about them. Lesson #1 Reputation and price matter for attracting new customers.

Over the next year or so, I found that e-mail marketing just wasn’t for me. I couldn’t make it work in a way I enjoyed. I had built a few somewhat profitable lists but wasn’t really sure what to do with them. I hated sending regular updates, which is what is required to get the most out of a list. Lesson #2 Make your business work around your strengths (at least at the start). You can always outsource/hire people to do the things you don’t like later.

Yet, since GetResponse was pretty cheap I decided to keep paying my annual subscription fees. I thought I may want to use them later and it wasn’t costing me a whole bunch. The lists I had built made just enough money to cover the cost anyway. This was good for GetResponse because I kept paying my annual subscription fees each year. Lesson #3 Recurring subscription based businesses can be a goldmine if you are the one selling them.

What follows next really impressed me. At some point (I am not sure when exactly) GetResponse significantly raised their prices, but kept all existing customers on the old pricing plan. What was even better was that my subscription lapsed for 4 months around this time. This was due to me not paying attention to a credit card’s expiration date. When I contacted them and told them I wanted to renew, they not only allowed me to do so at the old rate, they still had all my data. I was very impressed by this and recommended them to people looking for a newsletter and/or auto responder service. Lesson #4 Treat existing customers well and not only are they more likely to stay loyal, they will tell others about you as well.

Now we come to my recent problems with them. My account was renewed at the start of December. Like most years I didn’t really think too much about it and probably would have let it slide. However, a the end of December I got charged for my renewal again, plus the cost of the more expensive package. They did quickly send and e-mail to apologize for the mistake, but instead of refunding the money they said it would be used for future purchases (about 2.5 years worth of renewals in my case). There was no offer of a refund. Lesson #5 When you make a mistake it is not always good enough to admit it. You should make sure you do what you can to make it right. For example, if you bill someone accidentally, make sure to offer a refund.

At this point I realized that dealing with GetResponse was not worth the trouble anymore. I was irked that they did not immediately offer a refund when they changed my card for 2.5 years worth of service. So, I decided I was going to cancel my account. I sent them an e-mail asking to do just that and for a refund for the extra money they charged. I did immediately get a refund for the accidental charge and they did apologize. However, I wanted them to cancel my account and refund the unused balance (the 11 months worth of service I still have left). Lesson #6 Pay attention to angry or dissatisfied customers. If happy customers will tell a few people about a good experience, angry ones will tell everyone about a bad one.

Now, if they had refunded the last bit of money you would not be reading this. When GetResponse refunded the extra charge they forgot that I had already paid for another full year of service at the start of December. So my account went into suspension mode. I didn’t really care too much at the time, just as long as I got the rest of my money back. So I e-mailed them yet again and asked for the last of my money back and told them my account was not working. They fixed my account and then told me they were not going to refund my money because the terms of service state you can only cancel an account no less than 2 days before the renewal date. This is different from most online services which will give you a refund up to 30 days after renewal (which I was still just within when I started the whole refund/cancellation process) Lesson #7 Have an easy and clear refund/cancellation process. It sucks giving refunds, but you are never going to please all your customers all the time. How you deal with the unhappy ones will determine the impact they have.

Thus, GetResponse is technically in the right for not canceling my account. I did agree to the terms of service when I signed up 5 years ago. Therefore, I will not attempt a chargeback with my credit card company. However, by not simply canceling my account and refunding the 11 remaining months of service they have encouraged me to tell as many people I know not to use them. If I convince even one person not to use them, then it will cost the company money. And keep in mind with subscription based businesses you can easily keep customers for years. For example, I have been a customer at one webhostng company for 6 years and just renewed for my 7th. Lesson #8 If you are going to lose a customer anyway, don’t make it worse for them and drag it or by hiding behind terms of service agreements. It will just make the soon to be ex-customer frustrated. Any additional money your business gains is likely to be offset against the potential loss of future business.

TL;DR – Had a previously good relationship with GetResponse, but because of their recent actions I would advise other people to stay away from them. There are better and cheaper alternatives out there. The good news is that the way they conducted themselves provides some good lessons in what one should and should not do in business.

I would love to heard what other entrepreneurs think about this.

I have now owned and operated my own internet business for a little over 4 and a half years. During that time I have tried almost every make money online system you can imagine. From pay-per-click to social media to e-mail marketing and lots more. And the truth is while I did make money with a lot of these systems, I had to monitor them constantly.

They were not helping me create the lifestyle I wanted. My thinking was: “What’s the point in making money if you can never take time off to enjoy it?” I wanted a way to create what is known as passive income. Basically, this is just a fancy of saying I wanted to earn money while I slept or went on vacation.

Fortunately, one the early systems I tried was Ken Evoy’s Site Build It. Although he doesn’t market it directly as being a way to create passive income, I think SBI is a great way to do so. The simple reason why is because he teaches you how to create a viable, long-term web business.

However, his process does take time. If you want to make money fast other systems are probably better for quick cash. Site Build It is really designed for people who want to put the work in and see results for years to come.

So at this point you may be wondering how many Site Build It websites do I own? The surprising answer is that at the current time I continue to own only one SBI site. It was my first among my many dozens of other web properties.

Yet, as of right now my SBI website is still my number one income earner. In the first half of 2010 it has been averaging about a little over $600 a month, all on autopilot, all on its own. Now this may not sound like a huge amount on its own; but I have taken what I have learned with SBI to my other web properties and multiplied my results.

So, why do I only own one SBI site among so many others, if I think it is so great? The answer is that the value of Site Build It is in what it teaches you in terms of how to build a profitable web business. This is the key to long term success online.

If you have read any other Site Build It reviews you may have heard claims that Site Build It is too expensive or that the sites are ugly, etc. For some this may be true, for others not. If Site Build It was only a web host, its $299 annual fee would be high. You can get shared hosting accounts where you can host unlimited domains for less than $100 a year.

With these same web hosts you can create sites using any number of advanced content management solutions like WordPress or Joomla. They gives you a huge degree of flexibility, but require at least some technical knowledge. Moreover, these sites can look great or horrible depending on the designer.

Yet, all this misses the point. Site Build It’s value doesn’t come from being a fancy designer web hosting company. Its value comes from the complete process it offers people to create a profitable internet business. The web hosting and design tools are really just bonuses to make the whole process even easier.

Today, I use other web hosts with unlimited hosting plans to build websites in addition to my SBI site. I took what I learned from the Site Build It process and applied it to my other websites. I was willing to learn the technical side of things so I could do more on my own.

Yet, I was only able to do this after finding a system that worked for long run success. Again ,Site Build It is not a get rich quick scheme. You will have to put in some work to see results. The good news is that if you follow the system and put in the work you are almost guaranteed to succeed.

If you are new to building a web business you need to remember that you can’t run before you can walk. So please look at the following links to find out more about how you can create a profitable web business using SBI:

Site Build It Case Studies – Real stories of real people who have used SBI to succeed.

Sample SBI Sites – Real examples of sites created using the SBI process.

I Love SBI – Videos of people explaining why they love Site Build It.

SBI Order Page – If you want to try Site Build It Right Now!

Before I begin listing off a bunch of new features I will just briefly recap what Site Build It is and isn’t. As I have stated before SBI is NOT a get rich quick scheme. In fact, I can’t even guarantee that you will make money using it.

You will get out of it exactly what you put into it. If you are looking for empty promises of fast money then you will be sorely disappointed with SBI. However, if you are willing to work towards your own success then I think Site Build It is probably the best tool out there for you.

To put it more simply Site Build It can help you to build a long term successful online business. BUT only if you are willing to commit the time and effort to make it one.

Site Build It is a tried and true way of making quality niche sites that the search engines love. It includes everything you need to be successful right out of the box. Not only do you get web hosting for your web site but you also get a step by step action guide explaining exactly what you should be doing to start and then grow your own internet business.

I have built two successful sites using the Site Build It process. However, I recently sold one of them and agreed that I wouldn’t disclose what topic either site were on. I did this because the new owners don’t want lots of new people competing with them. But, I can tell you that both sites together were earning me as much as $500 a month with little effort beyond creating the sites in the first place.

And while I can’t show you my sites I can show you lots of other great sample SBI sites here. I can tell you first hand that these sites a good example of what you can accomplish with Site Build It. Without the Site Build It action guide I am sure I would not be where I am today.

The reason I haven’t build more websites with SBI is because at the time when I first started using it there were certain technical limitations to their platform that wouldn’t allow me to create blogs. However, this has been one of the first major improvements to SBI for 2009 is that now you can now easily create a blog for your site.

A second important new service offered by Ken Evoy is SiteSell Services. This is for people who have an existing business and need a web presence. Not only does it offer the complete Site Build It package but also includes a complete content writing service for you. You can find out more about this option here.

The third great feature added for 2009 is that Ken is now offering all his ebooks free of charge. These are great guides that used to cost up to $49.99 each. Each one deals with a different aspect of starting a business online. The fact that he is now giving them away free shows me how confident he is in his product. Click here to see all the great free ebooks he is offering.

Now all of these great new features are on top of the already existing ones. You can use Site Build It to start almost any sort of internet based business. For example you can create a website that takes advantage of Google’s Adsense program as outlined here. Or, you could use it to grow an online auction business as outlined here. Or, you can even use Site Build It to expand your local business: either on your own as outlined here or through SiteSell services as outlined here.

So there you have it. If you want to start an internet or online business in 2009, Site Build It is the platform to do it with. But, don’t take my word for it click here for proof that Site Build It works. Or, click here to watch videos of people who love SBI. Or thirdly you can take a video tour of all that SBI has to offer by clicking here.

Remember, that you can try Site Build It totally risk free. The only person who can make you a success is you. Take the first step today by seeing how you can try Site Build It risk free only by clicking here now.

Many varieties of services are available to the entrepreneur. These services can help the business owner in appearing to be a much larger company to their customers. They can assist employees be more productive and efficient. Or they allow an entrepreneur to operate a multi-million dollar operation from anywhere they want to be.

What allows these services to succeed is simply technology. Technology permits entrepreneurs access to services that, until fairly recently, were only available to large corporations.

An example of small business service technology is a hosted virtual phone service. This business service gives any business, regardless of size, the capability to have a business phone system that acts just like a large corporation’s. With just a single phone number for anyone to call gives an entrepreneur total control over the call routing, ensuring the correct employee talks to the customer.

Another good example of a small business service is virtual meeting services. Gone are the days of having to spend a small fortune to have a way to meet, in essence face-to-face, with a customer or colleague who is actually physically at a different location. All that is required to hold a virtual meeting with anyone, located anywhere, is a computer and a high-speed Internet service.

Pricing of today’s small business services is very attractive. These business services don’t cost a lot of money. The price to make your business act like a large company is just a few cents a day. The technology today gives you the ability to compete with larger companies.

To grow your company to its full potential, start using the available small business services. No longer will you be held back when you are doing your best to compete with larger companies.