Dream to Reality: My Very Own Website 

Hi there!  Alison here, again, creator of The-Gift-Wizard.com.  If you've found this page, then you're likely interested in how I created this website.  I'm glad to tell, because it's the best decision I've made.  In the About Us page, I described my knack for choosing the right gift and how it evolved into The-Gift-Wizard.com.  But creating a website was never my intention.  

For years now I've been looking to start my own business, but my highest priority has always been to spend less time working, and more time with my family, while still giving them everything they need (and most of what they want).  It's a common dream, right?  No boss to answer to, less stress, more vacation, more quality family time...  I wanted to get away from the 9 to 5 and the traffic.  (I bet you do, too.)

So, I started to research various business opportunities.  I looked into franchises of all sorts, but the money I had to invest upfront was way too much (thousands of dollars, at a minimum), which made the idea too risky - I couldn't risk my family's financial well-being on a dream of mine.  I was even close to falling for various MLM schemes.  Luckily I never made it that far.  When the Internet became more and more prominent in, well, society in general, it just became something I couldn't ignore anymore.  So I did some more research, this time on creating a website.  I began to like the idea, for many reasons:

1. I could start it with little $ invested (so, hardly any risk)
2. I could start it while I was still in my 9 to 5 job (again, no burden on my family financially)
3. I could choose the subject of the website (and focus on something that I enjoyed)

It was then that I decided to use choosing gifts (something I enjoy) as the basis for my site.  But then I had to figure out exactly HOW to create it.  There's a lot involved (much that I didn't know at the start): domain registration, hosting, page creation, search engine submission, keywords, titles, descriptions, site promotion... whew!  At first it seemed like way too much to handle, and with the massive number of websites out there (60 million and counting) I feared my site would just get lost in the crowd (so what's the point).  I almost gave up the idea altogether.

Then I found SBI (Site Build It!).  I don't actually remember how I found it, but once I did, I never forgot it.  With SBI, I discovered one more thing that I liked about this whole website idea:

4. I didn't have to know anything about building a website to do it.

So I joined SBI.  I say "joined" rather than "purchased" because that's how I feel:  like I have become a part of the SBI community.  If you decide to research SBI, you'll find that there are a lot of features included.  But of all the features and tools you get, the one I find the most valuable is belonging to the "SBI Family".  I get help from seasoned "SBI-ers", and lately I've even been able to offer help to others, as well.  We're all striving for success - it's really something special - invaluable, really.  And it has all contributed to the success of THIS website.

Just what do I mean by "success"?  Take a look at the following:

This is a snapshot of our traffic ranking one week after we went online with this site (December 2, 2004):
This is our traffic ranking today:

It's statistics like this one that have me really excited about the future - we're in the top 1% of all websites!  What is really encouraging is that I have made my share of mistakes along the way.  If I hadn't, I may have been more successful earlier.  But what's cool is that I didn't have to be perfect to be successful!

Have I quit my day job?  No, not yet... I want to pay off my debt first.  You know... the "American Way" of falling into debt with credit cards and loans - even though I live in Canada.  :)  My family and I will have our debt paid off by Christmas 2005 - then I can consider quitting the 9 to 5 routine.

If you are like me and you want to start a website... no,... start a business... and change your future, I encourage you to get out there and do it.  Whether you choose to do it with SBI or any other way you can find to suit your needs, you owe it to yourself to at least check it out.  

To check out Site Build It!, click here.

All the best and good luck!