Create your own profitable website, with SBI

Read the story of how love-of-roses.com all began, how it is doing now, and how YOU can turn your passion into an online web business as well.

I have always had a strong passion for roses. There is nothing more relaxing than going out into the garden to see how the latest additions are doing. Pruning, tending, breeding them, discussing with fellow rose enthusiasts the merits of this years new varieties.

Amateur photography is also something I enjoy. A good picture brings back memories of the day it was taken. And I enjoy sharing those photographs with others, so it was almost inevitable that I would consider a website about roses sooner or later!

I also have another passion - building and designing websites. Some of these have been failures (well, at least if traffic numbers are what defines failure or success). So the love-of-roses.com site wasn't started with any great expectations. I felt if I got any traffic at all, I would be happy with that. The aim of the site was never to make money, it was to share with fellow rose enthusiasts my images, information, and chat about roses.

Fast Forward Three Years

So how is love-of-roses.com doing, just after it's third birthday?

Visitor numbers are going much better than I anticipated. My pages are getting found for hundreds of search terms every day, my site is ranked with Alexa in the top .5% of ALL websites (that is a daily traffic measurement, and no, that wasn't a mistake. In the top half of one percent), and every day sees more visitors, more incoming links, and better Search Engine positioning. Check for yourself: do a search with either of the top two search engines (Google and Yahoo)for the competitive keyword phrase, pictures of roses . Take note of the number of results returned, and look to see where THIS site is placed. It will generally be near the top of the first page.

But the big surprise is income. I decided early on, that I would monetize the site mainly with Google Adsense. Everytime somebody clicks an advert, I get paid a small amount. It's only cents per click, but I reasoned it would all add up, and I might possibly earn enough per year to pay for most of my annual $299 subscription to SBI. But of course, to earn any REAL money, I needed traffic. So that meant I had to build a site that would attract those visitors.

It pays for itself, AND much more!

In fact I'm now getting thousands of dollars per year on top of my subscription fee. This site, and others that I own, not only paid for themselves last year, they allowed the family to have a vacation at a tropical island resort, have numerous weekends away, paid bills, and gave us the lifestyle we couldn't have when I worked 50hrs a week at a "normal" job. I know of many other SBI websites that earn far more than I do with Adsense.

So can a beginner build a profitable website?

Ninety nine percent of websites fail miserably. So the chance of creating a website that attracts high traffic numbers each day seems pretty slim, doesn't it? Especially if you don't know anything about building a site.

• How do I get started? (you have already started: reading this, is the first step)
• But Im not an expert in anything (I bet you are, even if you don't know it yet)
• I can't compete with some of these big fancy sites, that have a huge promotional budget (want to bet on that? You have something they don't. Passion, drive, and your own unique "voice")

The formula is simple: to make money with a website, you need traffic. Not just any traffic mind you, but targeted traffic. And to get that, you must be well ranked in the Search Engines. And to get well ranked, you need to have selected a niche that you can compete in, and have your pages well optimized.

The biggest drawcard (for me) with building websites, is the return of passive, residual income. Anyone who works for an hourly wage can never have this.... you get paid for the hours you work, and there are only a limited number of hours in a day. So your income is capped, and of course if you don't work, then you don't earn.

But residual income is different. You get paid whether you are working, lying on a beach somewhere, or out in the garden. But don't confuse a desire for passive residual income, with laziness. I work harder than most people who go off each morning to spend 8 hours in an office somewhere.

But somehow, it just doesn't seem like work! I'm doing what I love to do, working my own hours, and answer to nobody but myself. Why not take a little time from your day, and watch the video below?

Wishing you all the very best in your future endeavours - whether or not SBI is included in that future.

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