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Happy New Year and the BIG REVEAL!
By DaveM | January 1, 2007
First of all… Let me say HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! 2007 is going to be a wonderful year - I can feel it in my bones. I know I promised to reveal my new SBI website last night, but the evening was a bit of a blur and I didn’t get much done.
My 16 year old son had five friends over and they were up the entire night eating, drinking (soda), and playing HALO online (which involves a lot of yelling at the TV). A couple of their girlfriends were also at the house until around 1am. So I had to be vigilant and couldn’t go to sleep until they were safely home. 
Needless to say, I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep myself until early this morning.
So, I know you’re curious about this secret new website I’ve been working on for the last 24 days, and I am going to share it with you. But first I want to make a couple comments.
One of the things stressed in the SBI Action Guide is to NOT monetize your website too soon. In fact, they recommend waiting until some of the big search engines have already indexed your site, and until you get listed in at least a couple well-known directories. This is important for off-page incoming links which helps you rank better in the search engines.
If you don’t know what “monetize” means, it’s basically the process of adding income generating elements to your website. Monetization could involve many things such as Google AdSense ads, affiliate links, a shopping cart to sell products, a form to request your services, etc. Of course, this is all dependent on your business model and how you plan to make money.
Now, my new site isn’t yet indexed by the major search engines, and I’m not in any directories yet — but I started monetizing anyway. I know, I know… I’m probably going to regret it, or at the very least it might slow down the success of my new site. But I just didn’t see any other way.
See, one of the main reasons for creating my new website is to help people find online sources for something (you’ll find out what the something is in a minute). So it was kinda hard to write a bunch of great content and explain why this something is so wonderful, and then not provide links to go get it.
Ya’ know what I mean?
While I was creating most of my pages, I also decided to go ahead and throw Google AdSense code in there now rather than later. Google ads are everywhere nowadays, and I think people are so used to them that, for the most part, everyone accepts them. The ads are always targeted to the content of the page they appear on, so they often provide valuable additional content and a link to something a visitor might have been looking for.
Again, this goes against the SBI Action Guide rule to “monetize LAST”, but it’s really the only rule I’ve broken. My luck, it’s the most important rule and I’ve now totally flushed my new business right down the toilet. If it ends up backfiring on me, I’ll be sure to blog about here so you don’t make the same mistake (assuming you decide to build your own SBI site).
Anyway, enough of the small talk… You’ve been waiting patiently to see my new website/business/world-dominating empire, so here it comes!
Are you ready?
No, I mean are you REALLY ready? You’ll have to go to the next page to find out…
OK, here it is: (are you sure you’re ready?) 
(By the way, that link opens in a new window, so be sure to bypass your pop-up blocker if you have one running)
Ahh…. It feels so good to finally get that off my chest. I’ve been bursting at the seams wanting to tell you about it sooner, but it just wasn’t ready.
Actually, it’s still not ready but it’s far enough along to let people start checking it out. It will be an ongoing work in progress for a long time, probably forever.
I have tons of content left to write… Things like: dehydrator & smoker reviews and recommendations, more info on how to make your own beef jerky, info on using beef jerky as a great fund-raiser, info and sources for jerky spices and marinades, info and sources for vegetarian jerky and jerky for pets, and lots more free jerky recipes.
If you’re curious about why I decided to build a business about beef jerky, read my “About Author” page for a little background on how it came about.
After checking out my new site, please let me know what you think! I’d love to hear some opinions on the progress so far. Are there other things you think I should include? Things you think I should remove? Layout issues? Or, do you just flat out LOVE IT? Please, leave a comment here and let me know.
Well, I need to go eat something (maybe some jerky) and then get back to adding more free jerky recipes to the site!
Again, have a very Happy New Year!
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Well, who would have thunk it! LOL. Beef Jerky - that would definitely be quite the niche to get into especially if affiliate programs gave away free jerky…. yum!
Good luck - and you’ll have to keep us posted on how it performs.
January 2nd, 2007 at 1:45 pm
Hi Empress - and Happy New Year!
Yup, beef jerky! Quite a departure from my past ventures. I have a good feeling about this one.
In fact, I already received my first online order today!
I’m still looking for a company that gives away free jerky samples, but so far none are willing. Go figure!
However, my primary supplier has just come out with little sample packs that I can purchase by the case. That’s pretty cool!
January 15th, 2007 at 9:18 am
brother dave… my man!
site looks very good. i just did the quick run for ease of use, relevant links, homepage grammar, no broken links… the “first run” basics.
you have a winner. i feel it too.
now, what in the world could vegetarian jerky be made from? i guess i’ll have to go back to the site and find out!
nice job. your #1 FAN — joie.
January 15th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Hi Joie! Thanks for the comment and your blessing on my new website.
I don’t have the vegetarian jerky info up yet, but it’s basically a soy-based product. Of course, I won’t be selling any unless it passes the taste test first!