Solo Build It! (SBI) is an all-in-one platform to help you make money online by providing necessary tools, training and support. In this Solo Build It! review, I will explain how you can build your online business, whether it's worth investing money for, pros and cons.
What Is Solo Build It?
SBI's "all-in-one" includes mainly a website builder, keyword tool, training and support. So it allows anyone with no knowledge of internet marketing to start building a niche website and learn to become an online entrepreneur.
The URL is https://www.sitesell.com, which doesn't match against the name because the business has a long history. A Canadian company SiteSell Inc started as an e-book publisher in 1997 and started to provide this platform in 2001 by the name "Site Build It". A couple of years ago it was rebranded as "Solo" Build It.
The new name still confused me. Because the word "solo" often refers to solo ad traffic, and for a long time I thought Solo Build It! was just a traffic provider. It actually refers to "solopreneurs", means entrepreneurs who work alone.
"CTPM" Framework
Solo Build It! sets out a framework called "CTPM" which stands for;
- C for Content: The content you create will define your online presence - your website content and social media posts.
- T for Traffic: Your content needs to be found by people. Drive traffic via search engines and social media.
- P for PREsell: Means engage with your visitors. You need to "pre-sell yourself" by building a trust relationship.
- M for Monetize: Convert the visitors who are willing to buy ("pre-sold") into income.
2 x Website Building Options (WordPress or Not WordPress)
Solo Build It! now offers two options, whether to use its in-house website builder "BlockBuilder 2" (BB2), or WordPress. The same volume of tools, training and support are offered, except for the web hosting and domain registration fees.
If you choose to use BB2, they are included in the price whereas if you choose to use WordPress, you have to pay extra to use your own. The price comparison is as follows.
(a) BlockBuilder 2 Option
$29.99 per month, or $299 if you pay 12 months in advance (2 months free).
(b) WordPress Option
$17 per month, or $149 if you pay 12 months in advance (3+ months free), plus web hosting fee and domain registration fee.
As far as the price is concerned, WordPress option is more economical because the extra you pay will be;
- Cheap web hosting company such as Bluehost will only charge around $5 per month (or even cheaper around $3 per month if you pay 3 years in advance).
- Domain registration cost can be anywhere between $0.99 - $14 per year. Say, $10 per year.
WordPress option will cost you $149 + hosting $60 + domain $10 or so = $219 per year. Whereas the in-house BB2 will cost you $299.
Choose Solo Build It! for WP
Between the two options, not only because of the price but also for another reason I would strongly advise you to go for the WordPress option.
Using an in-house website builder is never a good idea because as soon as you cancel the membership, your site will be deleted. BB2 is meant to be a very user-friendly drag & drop website builder, but whatever the site building technique that you've learned will be wasted as soon as you leave.
Whereas WordPress is universal and versatile. It's the most popular website builder on a global scale. It's relatively easy to use and well worth learning. When you cancel SBI! membership, your site will remain, and you'll only be paying $60 web hosting + domain $10 = $70 per year. That's the absolute minimum charge that any website owners pay.
If you, for any reasons, decide to take a break from website building for a few months and resume at a later date, you can take a backup of your whole WordPress site and reuse it in the future.
Solo Build It! Training (Action Guide)
The 10-day course called Action Guide consists of text, video and audio. It does not mean you'll make money by Day 10, it will take you through from the very beginning stage to the point of making money using your website.
- Intro: The 10-DAY BIG Picture - Introduction to the CTPM concept.
- DAY 1: Master the ALL-Important Basics - Understand the importance of "PREselling" (to build trust with visitors). Also an introduction to the private members-only forum community.
- DAY 2: Develop Your Best Site Concept - Choose your niche, Learn the importance of the keywords - introduction to the keyword tool.
- DAY 3: Brainstorm More Profitable Page Topics - Create a list of in-demand keywords. Finish with your "Site Content Blueprint".
- DAY 4: Investigate and Plan Monetization Options - Find what your site visitors' needs and identify solutions.
- DAY 5: Refine Your Site Concept and Register Your Domain Name - Also understand the difference between building a serious online business and just a "make money" site.
- DAY 6: Build a Site That Gets the Click! - Create your site and verify site ownership with Google and Bing, submit your sitemap.
- DAY 7: Build Free Traffic From a Variety of Sources - Learn how to work with search engines and build free, targeted traffic.
- DAY 8: Develop Relationships - Build a mailing list, RSS feed, contact form, social buttons and learn to build up social presence.
- DAY 9: Know Your Visitors - How to analyze traffic, click-through rates, referrers, purchases, and subscriptions.
- DAY 10: Monetize — It's Time! - Implement the monetization plan.
Tools and Modules
Brainstorm It!
The main tools that come with Solo Build It! are as follows;
- Site Designer & Block Builder: SBI's own site building tool
- Brainstorm It!: Keyword search tool
- MailOut Manager: Email newsletter publishing tool
- Social Media Integration Tools such as Face It! (Faceook) Pin It! (Pinterest)
- Analytics Tools include search engine tracking, pinging, ranking reports, traffic stats and click analysis.
Except that if you choose to use WordPress, obviously the site designer/block builder will be replaced by WordPress. Then there are hundreds of other analytics plugins and social media integration plugins are available to download freely out there, so you won't really need to use SBI's.
90-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Solo Build It! offers you to "take the test drive" which is misleading, because it doesn't offer a free trial. You have to pay for at least one month to gain access to the modules. But the good news is it offers a 100% "no questions asked" refund if you claim within 90 days. If you pay 12 months in advance, you'll get your money back on a pro-rata basis.
Solo Build It! Pros and Cons
Pro's
Con's
Solo Build It! Review Summary
I would recommend Solo Build It! for WP (WordPress) to you if:
- You are new to internet marketing.
- You wish to build your first niche website and learn to monetize it.
- You are on a budget.
But as I mentioned earlier, the cheapest you'll be paying is Solo Build It! for WP $149 plus around $70 for web hosting and domain name = $219 in total.
And also as I've already mentioned, I don't recommend the all-in-one Block Builder option for $299 per year because it's too pricey and inflexible.
I'm a WA'er (Wealthy Affiliate member) and I know a lot of my fellow WA members compare these two services and give SBI the thumbs down. Unfortunately I have to agree with them on this one.
Free membership option, the premium membership is $359 per year (just $60 more than SBI), allowing you to create up to 50 WordPress websites, including secure web hosting with turbo speed, training, vast community plus free access to the keyword tool. WA is the obvious winner.
Hi there, Nigel here. Am both a SBI user (since 2009), WP user since 2008 and WA user since 2014 – so have fairly rounded experiences heh
SBI not closing down, can attest to it – it’s gonna be around for years and decades – it has a very strong system that I love (still using) and I am cognizant of WP – both have different systems and approaches, for different functions =)
Hi Nigel, thanks for sharing your experience. Great to hear a positive feedback from a current user! I wonder why you wish to keep them both, paying two web hosting fees though? I guess if your SBI site is already established and works well, you would want to keep it as it is and also use WA for WordPress site? Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it! I wish you all the best of continued success!
As an SBI user I get disappointed every time I read a negative review. I am very aware of Wealthy Affiliate, and I know it’s a good program (my daughter used to be a member for a while) but for me this is a perfect online business training platform, and also it’s equipped with everything that I’ve needed from day one. Experts have helped me build my ecommerce platform from scratch. I personally recommend SBI thoroughly to anybody who is new to online business.
Hi Joan, thanks for your experience with Solo Build It! and your thoughts, it’s very helpful. I too have seen many SBI reviews written by WA members, mostly negative but I find very few of them actually useful. A few that can be found close to the top of SERPs seem useful to me, because they have actually been SBI members for a while and speak from their experience. But I’m glad to hear a positive comment from you, thank you!
Good to see your honest opinion. Thanks. Great review.
Thanks John!
Thank you for the useful review, Ray. From what I can see there is a real good competition between Solo Build It and Wealthy Affiliate. But this is not as good judging by the features plus the community access. But the price is cheaper means it’s more accessible for many other people who cannot afford it.
One thing it’s good to know is that Solo Build It offers a WordPress version. If I was a member I would definitely use WordPress version other than to use the in-house system. Because it’s the world’s best used system and I want to learn more about it.
Hi Tomasz, thanks for your comment. Yes, using the WordPress version is much more beneficial for that exact reason. Your blog content is your asset, so you want to make sure you’re taking a backup that can be used under any hosting service.
Solo build it is a scam. I paid for it then I had a problem. Some people told me solutions but didn’t help me. In the end I ask for a refund but there was no reply then I have been waiting for more than a week.
Hi, thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear about your problem. I hope things will be sorted soon, good luck!
Hi Ray, I’ve never heard of Solo Build It before but someone has only recently told me about it and I was interested. From your review the default format doesn’t sound like the best option but I guess how you use it and what niche you promote counts.
I also noticed that the price is not too bad. If I was to use it, I would try the WordPress option then $17 per month is not bad. Afterwards I can leave whenever I want. This is definitely something to keep it in mind. Thanks for your awesome review.
Hi Sam, yes that’s the best plan. Pay $17 per month and learn the technique as much as you can, and when you’re ready, leave and join other training programs to see what others offer. Thrive University is also free to join, which you might want to consider. Thanks for your comment.
I sent my email because I wanted to ask a few questions but they didn’t reply to me. It shows solo build it is not good. I will forget about it. Thanks.
Hi Sandile, thanks for sharing your experience. Wow that’s not good then!
There is an amazing competition between Solo Build It and Wealthy Affiliate. Most of them understand the difference in system and agree to disagree, while sadly some of them bicker each other.
I prefer Solo Build It! because it’s simpler and cheaper. You mention losing your site when you leave, but there is a simple solution to that also. Never to leave. As long as you keep generating income and the income covers the membership fee, you don’t have to move elsewhere.
Hi Dave, thanks for your comment. If you’re happy with your web platform, no one should criticize, and like you say, you don’t have to go anywhere else. I’d still like to use WordPress myself and be able to take the full backup from time to time so that if anything happens, I can move to an alternative hosting service though.
Solo Build It is good to learn online marketing ABC’s for a while, but you don’t need it for a long time. You can eventually take off from it. My advice is to prepare yourself to find a cheap web hosting service. As soon as you are confident you move on from Solo Build It and go independent. This is how most of the SBI graduates make their success.
Hi Jarid, I see what you mean. There have to be a good number of members who can continuously give advice to others in a training community, and perhaps Solo Build It is ‘okay’ for newbies to stay for a while until they’ve established their website business… Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it.
Hi Ray, I only recently found out about Solo Build It, and like you say the packages they’re offering aren’t as attractive as other training/web builder platforms. The fact that they’ve had to change the name must be telling something. Thanks for the awesome review. Ben
Hi Ben, it seems to be the case, though I’m sure the existing users have their reasons to be happy, I’d like to interview them. Thanks for your comment!
Wealthy Affiliate (scam) members always try to bring down not just SBI but everyone else.
How can you check all the boxes for your scam business but you only give 9/10
Lol it doesn’t make sense..
Hi, I’m sorry to hear that you feel Wealthy Affiliate is a scam. I know it is not, but I wouldn’t rate 10/10 because it’s not perfect in my eyes. I believe my SBI review is honest and unbiased, and trust that this post will help the readers make their own decision.
Hi, it looks like Solo Build It doesn’t update its training platform as frequently as it should be, and for new online marketers this proves to be the biggest problem.
I agree with you on the point that the WordPress version is better because you can take your knowledge and files with you when you leave Solo Build It.
I doubt this is helpful unless it takes another major overhaul.
Thanks for your review.
Hi Anis, thanks for your comment, I appreciate it. I would choose Wealthy Affiliate over Solo Build It! as you’ll get more benefits from it for the monthly fee that you pay.
I’m glad to hear Solo Build It is shutting down because about 6 months ago I asked a few questions and received a very rude and abrupt answer from someone. I complained but the owner never responded. Some people told me that the owner was never involved then whats the point. I’m glad I left. If I had stayed and continued to struggle, now I wouldn’t have known where else to go.
Hi, thanks for your comment. But is it shutting down??? I can’t find the information anywhere that says Solo Build It! is ceasing its service. Sorry to hear about your bad experience though…!
Hi, I was a SBI user for about 10 months, was fairly happy to use this system. After 10 months I quit as my niche was rare, was not able to attract enough customers. In retrospect I do regret about choosing the wrong niche and also about quitting. I was left with nothing. Next time I intend to go for WP. I’m tempted to try Wealthy Affiliate as I hear good feedbacks.
Hi Vince, thanks for sharing your experience with SBI, it’s never too late to restart your site. I hope you’ll make a great success this time. I wish you all the best!
It was a few years ago when it was Site Sell It I joined then I knew about wealthy Affiliate. I soon quit Site Sell and moved to Wealthy Affiliate. I found it much more helpful, friendlier and better.
Thanks Alex for sharing your experience, all the best with continued success!
Solo Build It is going down. The method is old fashioned and the support is not efficient. You only get a limited amount of information. Not as good as it used to be.
Hi Drake, thanks for sharing the info with us, appreciate it!
Hi, I was a member when it was Site Build It and I actually learned a lot from the forum community. But since I switched to Wealthy Affiliate, I realize what I used to learn was a tiny fraction of internet marketing tips.
Now with Wealthy Affiliate, I learn a hundred times more volume of knowledge that I can gain. Based on my experience, I would say not to choose Solo Build It but join Wealthy Affiliate instead. Thank you.
Hi Mollie, thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts, I appreciate it!
Hi, I’ve never heard of any successful bloggers who are using Solo Build It. I assume that once you start using WordPress you don’t need it and you can easily move on to other web hosting companies.
Hi Duncan, whether you make your blog website a success or not is, not down to what platform you use but it’s all down to the content. Unless the platform is not SEO friendly (slow loading for example). The question is how responsive SBI’s own site builder is…I wouldn’t particularly take a chance but simply use WordPress. Thanks for your comment.
Hello, I have never heard about Solo Build It. But I’m very surprised the business has been around for so many years. If it’s been going for so long, I guess it’s doing well? It’s a shame there is no free trial because I would have tried it if there was. Thank you.
Hi Martin, yes it’s hard to decide whether it’s suitable for you when a free trial period is not offered. Thanks for your comment.
Hey, you get the point because I can tell from the home page that it’s old fashioned. I see why people compare SBI with Wealthy Affiliate and thumbs down SBI. It needs updating. no matter how the training is helpful, you don’t want to run a business using an outdated platform. That’s it.
Hi Kev, yes unfortunately it looks dated, doesn’t it… Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it!
Hi, Ray. It sounds like easy to join but I see your mixed opinion and I think this one is not for me. I will like to learn a lot about affiliate marketing. But I am completely new now. I don’t know which one I should start with. I have started Amazon.
Hi Dietro, it depends on how you want to start your online marketing and what niche you’re looking to develop. If you need help, don’t hesitate to contact me at any time, then I’ll be more than happy to give you a hand. Thanks for your comment!
Hi, don’t join Solo Build It, it’s overhyped and it’s too oldfashioned. There are many other training platforms, which may be smaller than SBI but have more success rates.
Hi Joey, if you ever propose “many other” options, I suggest that you always list up examples – I would say at least three. Thank you!
I don’t recommend this company. I was a member 2 years ago and they were very unhelpful. You don’t learn very much, the training material is poor. The forum is ok, web builder is not recommendable. It’s a waste of money.
Hi, thanks for sharing your experience, I appreciate your input!
Hey Ray, do you actually recommend Solo Build It because of WordPress, I thought you said it wasn’t good when I previously asked about it. I still haven’t made up my mind but this is an option again if something’s improved since. Thanks! for your advice AS ALWAYS! MP
Hi Martin, I still recommend WA much more for the volume of training, webinars and hands-on help by the owners. In my personal opinion it’s by miles better than SBI. But if you’re on a budget SBI for WP is still an option. Thanks for your comment, I appreciate it!
I think there’s a real hate relationship between Site BuildIt and Wealthy Affiliate. They say bad things about each other. Just go for what you believe in, ok. No point fighting against each other. Every system is different. What you believe is ok.
Hi Demeria, thanks for your comment. Yes, every system is different. I don’t know about the relationship you mentioned, but if you are wondering if you should join Solo Build It!, here’s my review. Any questions don’t hesitate to get back to me.
I tried it about 3 years ago, I didn’t like it. The site design was outdated. Most of the members were old. They were being helpful but I didn’t find their advice helpful, sorry guys. No vote from me.
Hi Terry, thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts. If it was 3 years ago perhaps it wasn’t offering WordPress option…? It may have changed a lot in the past 3 years, but it’s great to know your opinion, I appreciate it!