Hello Akiko,

I just wanted to thank you for your thoughts and detailed questions. I to am a very new person. Your questions have helped me refine and focus my approach to IM. I tend to get distracted by all the information available on the net. I find myself getting "hyperlinked" into never never land on a regular basis.

As you have probably noticed, this is an excellent forum. The frequent responders (Kathy, Angie and Davin) have set the standard for forum participation. Others make excellent contributions (not including the spammers), but these three offer the most consistent and timely support. Thanks you guys.

Cheers to all.

Pete

Hi Pete,
Thanks for your input. I'm happy to hear that my questions and posts were helpful to you. At times I just feel like such a baby unable to do anything for myself and crying for someone to help me.

I am so grateful to the three musketeers! I think I would have lost a lot of enthusiasm if it weren't for them...so thanks again Angie, Kathy and Davin.

Akiko

Akiko and all,

I just finished reading this entire thread. It was good for me too!

I took Hollys free site. I had to pay up front for a period of time thru bluehost. If I recall correctly, I did get my first domain name included for no extra charge. My memory is a bit foggy on the domain thing but I definitely had to pay up front for a period of time thru Bluehost.

I have not tried SBI but the more I read about it and hear the testimonies the more I am persuaded to perhaps try it some day. For quite a bit more you can pay SBI to do everything for you. Just tell them what you want done whenever you want it done and they will do it...for quite a bit more money.

Another option not mentioned above (not that I saw) is you can pay an individual to help you. You can get a freelance web site builder to help you. I had a lady named Corinne Collins from Jacksonville, Florida help me. You will find her if you google her...if you can't let me know and I'll connect you if interested. She is nice, capable, efficient, etc. I've been impressed.

This thread, though long, was quite helpful to me. Thanks everybody!!!

You are always welcome, of course.

The spirit of Holly's forum is to give genuine help to those who are seeking. It is similar to the SBI forum motto of "Help and be helped."

We are all marketers, including Holly, so, of course we benefit when we help others if they decide to take up some of our recommendations. That's how marketing should work.

The difference in the spirit here is that we are trying to point you in a direction that will REALLY help YOU and not just US.

Too often you can get advice that will benefit the person giving the advice, but still leave the searcher unsatisfied and floundering. That was very frustrating to me when I was searching (it still is when I'm looking for new things).

I determined early on that I wasn't going to recommend things to people (whether relating to work from home or a niche product or service) that I didn't genuinely believe would benefit them.

If you take that attitude and action, I think you will find that you reap the benefits naturally, one way or another.

I am always happy to be able to help someone out along the way. There have been so many people who have helped me that I want to pass it on. I hope each of you will do the same.

Link,

Just to clarify. You are right about SBI, but there is also a third option.

1. You can purchase SBI and do it yourself using their tools and tutorials.

2. You can pay SBI to do it for you (much more expensive as you noted but still cheaper than the average deal).

3. You can purchase SBI to do it yourself and then just purchase some help/time (hourly) if you get stuck and can't seem to get over the hurdle.

I have been blessed in that I have purchased the basic SBI packages and have been able to follow the instructions and use the tools to build my sites (three so far). Yes, I have gotten stuck now and then, but I've been able to get the help I needed in the forums without having to pay for any extra - 'Help and be helped' strikes again!

The freelance website builder is a good idea, too. Just a word of warning. Be sure that they know what they are doing. It's important to build a site based on particular rules/principles if you want to rank well in the search engines. That really is the biggest secret. The foundation has to be right or the rest is not going to work as you hope.

Blessings,
Angie