'Easy' site building and promotional packages

Are they too good to be true?

[Delerium]

Hi,

I'm new to website development but long in the horn with computers. I have a couple of sites that I'd like to concentrate on and develope good niche content, in my subject area.

I'm wondering if Site Build It is any good as for my purpose. What attracted me to it is the seo assitance their app provides and their testimonials make a purchase very tempting.

Any thoughts?

Del

[tedster]

First, there are too many programs around like this for us to allow specific recommendations or ciriticsms of any one product. So I'm going to share some more generic thoughts.

Programs like this are aimed essentially at non-technical people. If you are serious about developing a website of some depth, then you will almost definitely bang right into limitations with even the best of these programs. And yes, some are pretty respecable for what they offer and people do have some success using them.

But with your computer background especially, I can't imagine that you would be satisfied for very long. Imagine a watercolor artist who wants to try oil painting and begins with a paint by number kit.

For someone who has a technical background, building and promoting a website (especially for a niche) is not a mind bending challenge. Although it may seem there is a lot to learn, you will almost definitely be able to pick up enough website building and search engine promotion around here to take you where you want to go.

I recently tried to help a friend who was building her site through a "total package" program from a well-known company. It quickly became clear that she wanted to do something that the package was not set up to accomodate.

I can't see how any program can be any different. And I also can't see how an inexpensive and automated "SEO" package can possibly stay up to date with the rapid changes at search engines the way the membershiop here does.

[Delerium]

Thanks Tedster,

Last night I subscribed. My decision was influenced by a suprising bit of info that surfaced yesterday. A technical writer in my company has a website created using SBI. Her sight is #42 on Google. I agree that there are limitations, but I consider it a 12 month experiment.

Best Regards,
Brian Peasey

[edited by: mack at 5:44 am (utc) on Aug. 2, 2005]
[edit reason] Url removed. See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[kamakaze]

Maybe I am too much of a nerd but I am one to just learn the code. You can do so much more than those interfaces allow you to do with a lot less overhead.
But again maybe its just me. ;-)