Have you owned a SBI site? I'd love to see it
Just to address a few things:
"....you *must* choose a remote niche that not too many people are going to bother with, whether you're interested in it or not...."
I'm not sure where you got that. My site is about the Oregon Coast, which isn't obscure in the least. I'm presently getting about 430 guests a day and they seem to love it, based on the emails I get. SBI stresses that you love what your niche is. If you don't love it, how can you passionately write about it? That makes no sense.
Some of your negatives are unfounded. The price is dirt cheap for all a person gets. It's not a typical host. Everything is imported into databases, allowing it to do what it does. You can pay for space to host your site on, but you're not getting much more than that. SBI is an investment, not an expense to me.
I had my year paid off in 4 months and was making profit from there and it's much sooner than that now. There are reasons that it's a year up front, rather than month to month. People who pay month to month are less likely to take it as seriously as someone paying for a full year. It's a mindset. The many tools that work together are continually being expanded and upgraded with new ones added on a regular basis. All at no additional cost. Their newest tool, Content 2.0, was a couple years in the making and does cost a bit additional. The tons of extra bandwidth and server power it takes to run that single module is extraordinary, so I can understand the extra cost. Plus, Content 2.0 is totally optional. Not needed. Just a great tool.
Can you tell me that all of the sites here look like a template site?
http://samples.sitesell.com
I've been a professional webmaster for many years and, after finding SBI, I will never do another site without it. Why waste all that time and energy on the tech stuff (which I'm very familiar with) when I just need to concentrate on content and then go outside and play?
I enjoy the creative freedom I get, rather than the monotony of dotting all my "I"'s, technically. I suppose if you want to be tied to your computer....
SBI has provided a real future for me, as corny as that may sound. You don't quickly turn up your nose to something like that.
I would rather have a site with traffic rather than a pretty, dazzling one that no one sees. Unlike a brick and mortar business, it's all about information, not location. That's the SBI difference. You supply your content, they do all the work behind the scenes.
Another proof of the quality of SBI is that it is now being taught in 19 accredited colleges throughout the US, Canada and Australia, with more jumping on board.
http://conted.sitesell.com/
Their affiliate program is top-notch, too (I just got a $323 check yesterday). Just one more nice income stream for me.
Here's the latest video to show why I love SBI:
http://www.livevideo.com/video/MillionD ... e-sbi.aspx
In my book, it's the cat's meow!