How I Built this Site: Revealing the secret behind
Practical-Home-Theater-Guide.com success

Turning Passion into an Income Stream

How I Built this Site: Have you ever wanted to turn a hobby into a business?

If yes, then this article is for you. What follows is an account of how Practical-Home-Theater-Guide.com came to existence. In the process, I explain how I managed to build a successful online business activity without ever having prior knowledge of search engines and website design. And if I succeeded, so you can!

About Me

Hi, my name is Andrew Ghigo. By profession, I am a Telecoms Engineer with specialization in digital switching and Telecoms fraud management systems.

You may say that's as far from home theater as one can get. Yet, since my early days at the university, I developed a special interest in audio system design, and which gradually shifted towards Hi-Fi, multi-channel audio, and home theater.

Over the years, what started as a simple interest, eventually turned into a passion.

Surely, my electronics engineering background is a primary asset but my home theater knowledge came by immersing myself into a never ending list of specialized books, magazines, and online research.

An Idea, a Challenge, a Website!

Towards September 2003, I began seriously think of publishing a website about home theater to start sharing some of the knowledge I have in this area.

You may say that there are millions of websites about 'home theater', yet I wanted to take a different approach. My idea was to put on a 'hobby' site that discusses the various aspects of home theater from a practical perspective.

At the same time, I did not want to build a site for the sake of having one to show to family and friends, but one that would possibly enable me to monetize on this knowledge and passion. You see, the idea was to hopefully transform my passion into a profitable part-time business activity that I can run from home.

Little did I know at the time that what was starting as a simple yet challenging idea, would end up in a site that at present is attracting close to 4,500 unique visitors a day and generating around 250,000 page views a month.

But there is more. That idea has eventually turned up into a website that is certified by Alexa among the top 0.5% of more than 56 million active websites on the web!

Thanks to this success, Practical-Home-Theater-Guide.COM is succeeding to generate a significant second income stream that is increasing month after month - a continuous income source that is not only making up for all my yearly site expenses - within just a few days, but that is making it possibility for me and my family to enjoy those little extra pleasures in life - like a short holiday abroad, or adding some new home theater gear.

My Site Build It!  journey to online success

I had only one problem - I did not know what starting an online business activity would entail! I did not have any experience with website building, search engine submissions, SE optimization techniques, keyword density, etc.

I started researching online to see what is available. Soon it became clear that building a successful online activity is more than just building a website. For someone with no prior knowledge in website design, search engines and internet marketing, this represented a serious challenge.

Available solutions varied from cheap to very expensive. Some $100/month solutions did not even cater for some of the basic features I was looking for - like keyword brainstorming tools, web page analysis software for general SE compatibility, auto SE submission, etc.

But there was even a major drawback with these solutions - once the site is built, I would be left on my own for everything else necessary to get things up and running.

...all I wanted was to write about Home Theater!

My real problem was that I could not find a solution that really provided a simple 'affordable' all-in-one approach. I wanted something that would possibly lead me through an easy to follow step-by-step process in building a successful online activity. After all, my only interest was to write about home theater and possibly monetize on the knowledge I had gained through the years.

Site Build It! - The Solution that worked for Me

It was right about that time that I discovered Site Build It! - by SiteSell. Referred to as SBI, Site Build It! is more than just a web hosting service. It is an all-in-one package designed to build an online business by providing the user with all the necessary tools from brainstorming and keyword research to web site building, website analysis, search engine submission, tracking, site statistics, etc. The list of features would be too long to list here - for this, it is best to visit the SiteSell site (click here for an overview and additional info).

What really set Site Build it! apart from competition is:

• The whole SBI concept is designed to lead the user - through an easy-to-follow approach - towards building a successful online activity. Just follow through each and every step as instructed and literally, anyone can succeed online.

• SBI leaves you totally free to develop your web site content - after all that's your area of expertise - without every having to worry about all the technicalities associated with running a web site.

• SBI comes with a great support team; Site Build It! support staff are efficient and timely in their response. And the Users Forum is also another great source of support. With SBI, you are never left on your own at time of need!

With SBI, you do not need to learn HTML though a few basics help. And if you decide to build your pages offline - say using FrontPage, etc., instead of using the online webpage building module, SBI will check your uploaded file for possible HTML errors. Things like web page analysis for search engine compatibility, keyword density, broken links, search engine submission, SE tracking and re-submission, site statistics, link tracing, etc., are all taken care for you automatically by the system.

And all this is available at less than a dollar a day - all you have to do is focus on building content, and the rest is done for you!

When I came across SBI, the whole SBI solution appeared too good to be true. I started checking around - looking at all sort of available information - in particular, I started looking at a number of websites using SBI. I wanted some sort of proof.

Websites using SBI rank well - very well in fact. I remember I researched over a dozen websites under the 'Electronics' category - that were built using SBI. All websites had a high Alexa ranking - all within the top 1% of active sites on the web!

Still, I wasn't yet ready to let $300 out of my pocket for a one year SBI subscription ...partly because of the uncertainty I had about this whole project and in particular, the possibility to really transform the knowledge I had about my passion, into a solid income stream.

The Free E-Book that transformed my Future

While researching the SiteSell website, I came across a particular interesting free course that promised to enhance my online writing skills as a first step towards building a successful online business. This free course is now available as a PDF file which you can download from here: Netwriting Masters Course
(You need ACROBAT Reader to view this e-book)

My first reaction as a skeptic was to think that this would probably be nothing more than sales pitch. But it was free - so I decided to sign up.

To my big surprise, the more I delved into the course content, the more I felt that there was something worth thinking about - something there struck my inner grey matter! And eventually it did trigger my hope that one day, I too may transform my passion into a successful online money-earning activity.

It helped me understood that the key to a successful online activity is not by going out to learn SE techniques, HTML, or by designing a flashy website, rather, the whole key issue is the ability to develop effective netwriting skills.

In essence, this all boils down to four simple steps...

• Content (C): Deliver unbiased information.

• Traffic (T): Write also to win the Search Engine game.

• Presell (P): Build confidence in your prospective customers.

• Monetize (M): Convert traffic to dollars - SELL.

Progress achieved so far

I have been using SBI now since November 2003 - that's when my first webpage went online.

Since then, I have been running this activity on a part-time basis. Initial progress was slow due to my limited available time in view of commitments. But I kept building content - slowly but steadily. At that initial pace, it took a few months till I managed to reach a significant level of content for the search engines to take notice of my site; but once they did, they started to deliver traffic - free targeted traffic that kept increasing month after month. 

By end-December 2007, I had put together over 300 WebPages. A significant number of these pages rank within the top-30 for the selected keywords, with a good portion ranking even within the top-10 on all major search engines - including several number 1 positions. Average traffic figures during the last twelve months went up to around 100,000 unique visitors a month, generating some 3 million page-views a year.

...and what about the money-earning potential of the site?

This is the most important aspect as in reality, it is the ongoing income stream generated by the site that is providing the motivation to keep moving on.

This whole website project has now started to come together into a nice and reliable second income. Results so far have been extremely encouraging; the income generated through the use of Google Adsense and Affiliate Marketing⁽¹⁾ partnerships have so far reached a level that compares favorably with that from my main job as a professional engineer. This second income stream has also made it possible for my wife to quit her job to be in a better position to take care of the kids. On my part, I still run this website activity on a part-time basis, but the income level is such that I am starting to seriously consider moving full time ahead with this online business activity.

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(1) Affiliate Marketing:

If you would like to discover what affiliate marketing is all about, I suggest to go through the Affiliate Masters Course. This is a free e-book - written by Dr. Ken Evoy - CEO and founder of SiteSell.COM, and that was instrumental in helping me understand the process of a successful affiliate marketing business activity.

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If I Can, anyone can transform a passion into a successful online business activity.

I have to admit that I owe my present online success to Site Build It! All I am doing is just follow through the SBI process.

Of course, I am putting in the necessary effort and commitment. But SBI is giving me the tools to succeed online. More important, SBI is making  it possible for me to transform a passion into an enjoyable and profitable online activity that is giving me and my family, the possibility to better enjoy life.

And if someone like me, with no previous knowledge of SE's, website building and online marketing, has succeed in this respect, then I am sure that with SBI, anyone can.

If you would like to know more about Site Build It!, here are a few links worth taking a look at:

• Detailed step-by-step demo of how SBI works

• SBI Basics 
  (Content, Traffic, Pre-sell, Monetize principle)

• Site Build It! summary site

• SiteSell Corporate Home Page

• Or try SiteSell products risk FREE
  (A great way to enjoy a number of SiteSell free downloads).

Questions?

Go ahead... feel free to submit any question you might have on the way I am using SBI. Just fill in the site feedback form accessible through the site NavBar.

Better still, contact a certified SBI webmaster; s/he would surely be in a better position to assist you in whatever info you may need in this respect.

 

Practical-home-theater-guide.com is a living proof that the SBI process works. I hope that this detailed personal account of how I managed to transform a passion into a business, will serve as an inspiration and encouragement to those who are looking for some means to help them transform an interest into an enjoyable business activity.

Wishing you the same,

16th January 2008

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