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About ME

...and how I built a website that turned a passion into income while working from home!

Andrew Ghigo

Do you ever dream of turning a passion into a great source of income stream? Well, this is a detailed account of how I transformed my interest in home theater into www.practical-home-theater-guide.com, and that came into existence in Nov 2003.  This website has grown far beyond all my expectations - exceeding 350,000 page-views a month. This came about despite my total lack of prior knowledge in online business and web design. This web site is proving to be a great source of income, but most important it is helping me earn a living while working from home in a most enjoyable way - doing what I like most - talking home theater!

Last Updated on:
10^th June 2009

More content on SBI! and my website experience

About Me (2)
Answering your most FAQ on how I turned a passion into an income stream

About SBI
More information on the tool that turned out to be my best partner in my online business adventure.

About Me

My name is Andrew Ghigo. I live in Malta, a small island in the center of the Mediterranean blessed by superb sunny weather, expansive beaches, a thriving nightlife, and over 7000 years of intriguing history. By profession, I am a professional engineer with specialization in digital switching and telecoms fraud management systems.

You may say that’s as far from home theater as it can possibly be.  But, since my early days at university, I developed a keen interest in multi-channel audio systems; this eventually shifted towards home theater design.

There was only one problem... My interest in home theater was turning out to be too expensive to support for my lifestyle. You see, I have a lovely family to look after. And well, home theater is not my only expensive pastime! I needed a solution that would work for me. Something to fit into my already busy schedule, and I wanted something I could control myself while working from home. That way, I would be available for my family when they needed me.

- Relaxing during one of our holiday trips - here with my daughter Michaela

I also wanted something that would not feel like a burden after a full day's work... I wanted something that would make it easy to jump out of bed at three in the morning if need be!

I knew what I wanted, but at the time I didn’t know how real this would eventually turn out to be.

I cannot remember how many times I woke up very early to work on what eventually turned out to be the solution for me: my home theater website. But when you do something you enjoy, it does not feel like work!

An Idea, a Challenge, a Solution!

I have to admit that at first, it did not sound easy. It took me a few months till I managed to think of something doable. Looking back, I cannot understand why it took me so long when it did turn out to be so simply - build an income by doing what I enjoy most in my free time!

My first thought was to start doing some consultancy work on home theater room design and equipment integration - but the local market is too small. Besides, consultancy would require too much running around. While researching online for ideas, I came across numerous sites on home theater. Some were of an exceptional standard. Others were not so good - with information that was not always totally correct.

This triggered the idea to build a website about home theater. I was not after an ordinary website to share with family and friends but one that would reach a wider audience – an authority site that would deliver free content while still making it possible for me to earn income through adverts and sales commissions.

What I am doing now is something that you can do as well - irrespective of the area of interest, passion, skill, or expertise. Maybe you have never thought about it but in reality, any topic can turn out to be a good source of income with a good website.

You may say... Me build a website? Yes, and a good one too!

This is exactly the solution that did prove to be a major turning point in my life. The idea came in early 2003. At the time, I did not have the slightest idea of what it takes to build a website, yet I still managed to succeed. You see, with the necessary effort and the right tools, anyone can succeed.

In my case, the tool I use to help me build and manage this site is Site Build It! (SBI!). SBI! is a tool designed to help one transform an interest into a feasible online business solution. More information on SBI! as well as why I chose SBI! can be found in my About SBI! page. I took the plunge with SBI! in September 2003. Since then, SBI! did prove to be an important partner in my online business experience.

Initially, I did not opt for SBI! even though I came across SBI! before starting my first home theater website. Despite that SBI is not expensive – it costs less than a dollar a day and comes totally risk-free thanks to a full refund guarantee - yet I was reluctant to invest money on this website project as I was not sure if the whole concept would ever work. Instead, I went for one of the many free web hosting services, found the first application to write my web pages, and started posting the first articles.

This turned out to be my biggest mistake… a total waste of time. I did not make any money; instead, within a few months I spent more than an SBI! subscription in search engine submission services, domain registration, and paid web hosting to get rid of annoying adverts common with the so-called ‘free’ web hosting services. Not to mention the effort I had to invest in integrating the different services from the different sources to suit my needs.

Anyone can upload a few pages and call those a website, but…

You see, when it comes to build a website as part of an online business to create a solid income stream, a whole new game comes into play. You need to know how to research and identify profitable topics that make sense writing about.

And you do not just write. You need to write to please the search engines to get your share of the most valuable source on the internet - free traffic. Equally important, you need to write to please your target audience.

Besides, getting the traffic is not enough; you need to know how to monetize on that flow of eager visitors looking for information, products, services, etc.

Eventually, it was through SBI! I discovered all this and more - a foolproof process designed to help ordinary but enthusiastic individuals move on in simple steps towards achieving online business success.

SBI! – A key partner in my online business success!

As I have indicated earlier on, I turned to SBI! in September 2003. Getting the feel of SBI! was easy. I scrapped my first home theater site and in November 2003, the first webpage of www.practical-home-theater-guide.com went online. I began running this website on a part-time basis. Initially, progress was slow due to lack of time. But this is one of the benefits of running your own online business – you can work at your own pace and still continue to build on your previous efforts.

Nevertheless, within the first year, I made more than enough income to cover my site expenses a couple of times.

Since then, a lot has changed and the results have by far exceeded all my expectations. Today, I have around 440 web pages. A significant number of these pages rank within the very top positions despite the fierce competition in the area of home theater. Average traffic figures during the last year reached 350,000 page-views a month – peaking to almost half-a-million page-views during the December/January sales period.

Income from the site soared to several thousand US dollars a month. All this from a site run part-time. During the last twelve months, despite the difficult economic times, my earnings from www.practical-home-theater-guide.com have by far exceeded those from my good-paying full-time engineering job.

And all I am doing is just writing about something I love - in my own free time. This is proving to be an extremely motivating and enjoyable experience. It is also equally fulfilling - knowing that I am genuinely helping others realize their home theater dream - both through my articles as well as through free personal advice I give to the many who keep posting their queries via the site feedback form.

Of course, once you start a website, do not expect that it would immediately yield the desired return.

In the beginning especially, there is a lot of work. It will be a time when you would hardly see any returns for your efforts. But those initial months form the basis of your future returns. And the returns will eventually come and come in abundance.

In the meantime, all you will be doing is writing about something you love in your own free time – so it never feels like work but… starting a website gives you the potential to change your life!

I hear you say… But how do you make money with a website?

Personally, most of my income comes through advertising via Google Adsense and commissions on sales via affiliate product links.

I mentioned affiliate links. My personal advice is to never let these influence an expressed opinion about a product with the hope to make more money by trying to drive more sales. Many newcomers to online business often fail here. I do my best to remain honest and only express professional and unbiased views. I know that I owe this to my site visitors - they are the ones driving my online success; without them, my partnership links would not render any money!

Yet apart from Adsense and affiliate links, there are numerous ways to make money with a website; in this respect, SBI proved to be a great source of ideas – apart from the tools within SBI that help me identify where the money is.

In the process, I realized that a website has a far reaching implication in an online business activity. In my case, it is giving me the possibility to reach a bigger, faraway market that is at least a few thousand miles away, while still working from the comfort of my home!

Yes... my website is giving me the possibility to reach my market in a most efficient and comfortable way.

Most Frequently Asked Questions

Since I first published my story of how - thanks to SBI! - I managed to transform a passion into an income stream, I ended receiving many e-mails asking for more information. Typical questions vary from how hard it is to start an online business, to how much time I spent, and how much money I earn from my website activity. I therefore thought to collate the answers to your most common questions here.

A Final Thought...

Often, people tell me how much they wish they could do something similar... doing what they love most for a living while working from home at their pace and in their free time. Unfortunately, many stay short of taking the next step to make their dream come true.

With the right tools, this is not difficult, but you have to stop dreaming. In my case, SBI! is the tool that is making it possible for me to realize my dream. But above all, SBI! is has helped me change my life.

You too have a skill, passion, or expertise that others are interested in. So why not help others by sharing it for free while doing it in a most profitable way?

It is not difficult, but you have to stop dreaming and take the plunge. Try SBI! and build a website to transform your passion into an income stream.

Surely, you need to invest the necessary effort and commitment to succeed, but... if I have succeeded, so you can!

10^th June 2009

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