Welcome to our definitive Solo Build It review.
Solo Build It is “a complete web business building system” by Ken Evoy. My team and I signed up for the training and researched it thoroughly.
(Have you taken this course? Add your rating!)
If you’d like to know…
- How exactly Solo Build It works
- The pros and cons
- If the whole thing is legit or a scam
- The different pricing options
Then definitely keep reading.
Jump to…
About the Author
Hey, I’m Niall Doherty.
I quit my last 9-to-5 job back in 2010.
Since then, I’ve earned my living online in various ways. Revenue for my latest business is at $1+ million and counting.
I’m on a mission to accurately rate and review all the best “make money online” courses. My team and I have spent 1000’s of hours investigating these courses and getting feedback from real students.
All that to say: we know a thing or two about such courses and making money online.
How does Solo Build It help you make money?
SBI teaches you how to start an online business by building a website and monetizing it with affiliate marketing or display ads.
Solo Build It has two options. You can use their own website builder, or use their action guide and WordPress as your preferred site builder.
You then learn about creating content to attract visitors to your website.
As stated on the sales page…
You’ll be guided every step of the way and encouraged to “stay the course” as you progress from researching and choosing an exciting topic to start a business about, through all the steps of growing and earning income.
Affiliate marketing is when you promote other people’s products or services, and collect a commission for every successful referral.
Display Advertising is when you place ads on your website and you earn money every time someone views your webpage.
Who is Solo Build It for?
Solo Build It sells itself as a platform for people from all walks of life.
The official word…
It doesn’t matter what age you are, or how much or little experience you have with technology.
What does matter is an “I can do this” attitude, a willingness to learn, and to be guided every step of the way […]
Having seen inside the training, I tend to agree for the most part, but I’d say it’s most suitable for people new to website building and/or online marketing.
IMO, the Solo Build It website builder is nowhere near as powerful as WordPress, and I’ve also seen people stating they outgrew SBI and eventually made the change to WP.
- 70+ ways how to make money online (including easy options)
Does Ken Evoy have a good reputation?
For the most part, yes.
During my research of Ken Evoy and Solo Build It, I didn’t find a single bad word about the platform or its creator.
Ken’s company, SiteSell, has apparently been in business since 1999, and has helped many people build and grow their online businesses. (SiteSell is the parent company of Solo Build It.)
Ken also apparently had some notable entrepreneurial success before he started SiteSell…
Ken Evoy (born September 25, 1953) […] was one of Canada’s most productive toy makers in the 1990s. Evoy’s game design company (named Isovoy Inc. – a mix of his and his wife’s surnames) went on to create and license more than 20 toy creations between 1985 and 1998.
Solo Build It still receives regular updates to this day, which I found impressive. I’d even say it gets updated more often than some similar courses that have been released in recent years.
The only thing that’s giving me pause is the fact that Ken himself hasn’t appeared online in quite a while. My guess is that he’s transferred everything on to his team.
An update from the SBi customer support team after reading this review…
Ken is still involved at a high level, giving directions to the teams and attending weekly team meetings. He’s just not doing 100 hour work weeks anymore, which also meant reducing his appearances in the forums. Whenever an exciting new development happens (the most recent one being the integration of ChatGPT / GPT-3 functionality into SBI!), he becomes more visible in the forums.
Here’s a video from the Solo Build It YouTube channel so you can get a feel for their style…
Are Solo Build It students getting results?
Browse through the official Solo Build It websites and you’ll find no shortage of student testimonials.
For example…
The Solo Build It website has a dedicated customers page where you can find many more success stories like these two. I liked how they dug into specifics, such as exactly how SBI students make money and, in some cases, how much they made.
SBI also has a results page that lists many customer websites with impressive traffic rankings.
Unfortunately, it seems like most of these testimonials and websites are rather old, or at least the students first took the training a long time ago. Also, I didn’t manage to find any notable testimonials on other websites.
So while it’s clear that SBI has produced many successful students throughout its history, I’m not so sure it has done so in recent years 😕
An update from the SBi customer support team after reading this review…
Our approach is based on aiming for long-term success. The Content-Traffic-PreSell-Monetize approach we teach focuses on producing evergreen content. It enables our customers to attract a lot of organic search traffic — but it takes time.
If someone wants fast success, they may be better off with either becoming very active (and good!) on social media or pay for traffic.
How much does Solo Build It cost?
Solo Build it has two pricing options:
- The standard SBI costs $34.99 per month or $329.99 per year
- SBI for WordPress costs $19.99 per month or $169.99 per year.
Keep in mind that you’ll probably need a little extra money to spend on hosting, themes, and plugins for WordPress whereas there shouldn’t be any additional costs with the standard SBI course.
If you plan to do extensive keyword research with SBI’s kw research tool (Brainstorm It!), you will also have to spend a bit more money, as detailed here.
However, I’ve searched the SBI forums to see if any students complained about having to spend more money on their sites. I didn’t find much there, so it looks like the core cost of SBI is the main expense here.
Solo Build It Discount?
I’ve checked every likely place for a discount or coupon code, but have come back empty.
It looks like there’s no option but to pay the full price for access.
Refund Policy
The refund policy page for Solo Build It specifies a 90-day “no questions asked” money-back guarantee for the annual subscription. However, they will also give you a refund AFTER the initial 90 days, depending on the time of your refund request.
The official word…
Ask for your money back anytime… SiteSell will refund you 100% within the first 90 days of purchase of your annual subscription, and on a pro-rata basis after that
You can also request a refund for the first 3 months if you had a monthly subscription…
Ask for your money back within the first 90 days of your initial monthly purchase… SiteSell will refund you 100% (up to 3 months!).
I haven’t seen any reported issues with obtaining a refund during my research, so you can feel confident in this guarantee.
How is Solo Build It structured?
Here’s what the training looks like once you’re logged in…
The core training is broken up into 10 days, each of which seems to cover one aspect of running an online business. However, you should expect to take more than 10 days to work through all the lessons.
Each of these “days” has at least one video and a lot of text. Most videos tend to last over an hour, but I was delighted to see screencasts rather than PowerPoint-style slides.
Sadly, the training materials, just like the rest of Solo Build It, seem extremely disorganized. I got lost many times due to the long lessons, tools flying around, and the search function not always being readily available. I liked SBI’s search function, but it’s not always easy to find or access.
Solo Build It doesn’t just include training materials, though. Many people consider it a collection of tools, and for good reason. It has its own site builder, keyword research tool, a forum, and much more.
Despite it not being very tidy, the forum looks quite useful. There are lots of people in there, many of whom seem to regularly chime in to help their colleagues. What I found especially encouraging here is how many active members also happen to be long-time SBI users, having registered years ago.
Green Lights 🟢
A few things to like about Solo Build It…
- Most students seem to rate the course highly.
- Active and supportive private community.
- 90-day no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.
- The training is regularly updated.
- No shady marketing tactics.
Red Flags 🚩
A few things to be wary of regarding Solo Build It…
- Mostly intended for beginners.
- Core training is poorly organized
- Outdated, chaotic interface.
- Unclear if the platform still delivers results for newer members.
Other things you should know
- Solo Build It starts off with some fairly basic lessons on online business and site building, so I’d say it’s best suited for people new to both fronts.
- SiteSell’s course comes with plenty of bonus tools, as well as a good forum, but the interface makes them somewhat hard to find.
- I’ve often heard SBI spoken about as an alternative to Wealthy Affiliate. There are even rumors that the two companies had some legal battles in the past. Personally, I consider SBI to be a more realistic and down-to-earth platform that is more likely to help you build a successful website.
Should you join Solo Build It?
Solo Build It seems to be a solid investment if you’re specifically looking to start an online business by creating a website. However, you may not find much value here if you already have experience with site building and/or online business.
IMO, Solo Build It would be great if it was easier to navigate. Unfortunately, its interface looks like it hasn’t been updated in years.
Nevertheless, I generally recommend SBI for people who are new to online business and want to create a simple website that has a fair chance of earning good money.
Remember that it has that 90-day refund policy, so you can give it a good try before committing fully.
Solo Build It Alternatives
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Here’s our top 5…
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Your Thoughts on Solo Build It
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