Xsitepro, Wordpress or Site Build It Which One Should I Use?

A fellow named Craig asked the following Question:

Hi there XSITEPRO Folks:

I hope all is well. I'm hoping you can please give me some impartial advice. Recently I've gone into business marketing the rock and roll photos of 40 years with photographer Don Aters.

Besides out existing sites and blogs we were considering one devoted to the sale/auction/wholesaling of the photos. We've talked with and emailed Site Build It.

My question please is you good people here obviously found XSitePRO the best way to go and I'm curious as to what attributes made you become a customer? Without badmouthing Site Build It, if you could be kind enough to tell me why they came up short it would be appreciated.

I want to make the right decision obviously and it isn't only about the investment. There is an incredible amount of time and devotion that I give any project I'm affiliated with.

May all of you have the best results possible! Thanks for your time.

All the best,
Craig
Author Jefferson Airplane Take Me To A Circus Tent
Jefferson Starship Have You Seen The Stars Tonite

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I found a post in the Desktop-Wealth.com blog about Xsitepro, Wordpress or Site Build It and copied the post below....an interesting discussion!

Hey Craig....had to check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xhYk9PEmXA brings back some memories! Amazing how music let's you transfer through time to relive an old chapter of your life :)

First I wonder what your experience is with building websites?

I think I can share some unbiased thoughts about website design and building.

First I wonder what your experience is with building websites?

Let's assume you have little to no experience building websites.

Secondly, I learned to build websites and web design with Dreamweaver and today it is still my primary method of building websites, it took a long time to learn but you can do anything with it....but with the advent of XsitePro Version 2 is coming in a close second.

To be clear, I would not recommend Dreamweaver to anyone with little to no experience with building websites, unless you really want to commit and spend the time necessary to learn a little html and the Dreamweaver program.

When I first started out I purchased books.....bookstore type books on html and desperately wanted to learn how to build a webpage. This was almost 8 years ago. Sometime after that I looked into Sitebuild and almost invested in their system. It looked very good and still looks good. They were ahead of times with the approach they take.

However, as someone mentioned above, Sitebuild can be quite complicated and there is a pretty steep learning curve. Once you're into their system you won't be able to jump out of it.....I didn't really understand that at the time I was looking into it, but based on what I've heard others say....this fact is true. They do seem to have a happy following though.

One thing you need to understand, if you are an inexperienced website designer or webmaster, you will experience some type of learning curve. Initially the program will seem strange and awkward to work with....doesn't matter which one you're looking at. The issue should be, which one will allow me to create a website with ease and quickly. Which program can I learn to use with the least amount of effort.

Of course, if you're into being a geek like some of us, then you'll want to know...how and why everything works. But I can tell you with XsitePro Version 2 this isn't necessary.

With Xsitepro you can get a website up and running by using their "Recipe" type instruction. Do A, B, C, and D and you're good to go. Want to add a page....do F and G and follow that process. Need to add images then follow steps H and I, now upload.

Of course that sounds easy, and in reality it is. However, as I said, there is a learning curve....get a handle on the basics and you can get a site up and running in no time. Because Xsite allows for easy editing, you can totally transform your website in the furture when your talents and creativity are increased.

There is one big downfall. If you need help after you get your site uploaded, there is no way for someone to log into your account and edit the site and make the changes you need. You have the forum that has a bunch of very helpful people and xsite support, which I've not had to use....so I can't comment on their support capabilities.

In a word, out of all the programs available for building websites, I would wholeheartedly recommend Xsitepro for building and maintaining websites. It is by far the easiest I have used in 8 years. And perhaps one of the most important aspects of XsitePro Version 2 is the ease of maintaining your website once it's up and running.

By maintenance I mean, adding pages, adding images, changing the structure of your website. Instantly changing the entire look of a website with a few mouse clicks in no time. Or just keeping the entire image, look and feel of your website the same in all your pages.

If I remember correctly sitebuild was very helpful in assisting the internet marketer pick a niche and focus on developing that particular market through proper seo techniques. At the time, when first developed, they (sitebuild) were one of the only groups using an organized approach for accomplishing niche targeting and proper seo techniques. Today it's been the approach copied by every successful marketer.

Since you've already chosen your niche, this isn't an issue. One of Xsitepro's claim to fame is the way it builds and links pages. The importance of this relates to creating properly built webpages or websites with current search engine optimization techniques (SEO). While using Xsite I was really impressed with tools and the automatic creation of webpages that fit seo guidelines most expert webmasters and seo experts would be proud of. For you this means you'll get your pages indexed by the search engines faster and which means you'll be getting organic search engine traffic and by practicing some of the other seo techniques you could find yourself on the first page of google. This may not sound like a big deal now, but only a couple years ago, one had to pay big bucks to get a seo expert in to optimize your website and webpages....it could literally cost you thousands of dollars....with Xsitepro, the seo is just part of the automatic process of building a webpage and website.

I imagine you're looked at Wordpress. Wordpress blogs have evolved into full Content Management Systems (CMS) and it creates webpages that are food for the search engine spiders. Satisfying search engine spiders is the first aspect of creating website traffic. The hardest thing about using a wordpress blog is creating the blog. There are tons of tutorials that will tell you how to install a wordpress blog, if you're not comfortable with this you can always pay someone to install a blog.....wouldn't cost you any more than $50. Installing a wordpress blog with on your website is more intimidating that it sounds....it really is very easy. Also the selection of themes (templates) is beyond comprehension, you can change themes and therefore the look of your blog with a click of your mouse. If you want a blog with a different look you can purchase one of the wordpress themes available or you can have a custom theme created.

Using wordpress as a platform for your website gives you many options, it doesn't have to look like a blog....in fact you can create a static website with xsitepro and merge it with a wordpress blog. XsiteprotoWordpress is a comprehensive tutorial that teaches you how to seamlessly merge your xsitepro website with your wordpress blog. This is one of the best tutorials I've seen on the subject, complete with a written tutorial and video tutorials!

I've already gone too far with this post, however, let me say that the combination of wordpress and xsitepro is a powerful solution to your website building and development. Xsitepro might provide the static pages you need while a Wordpress Blog will allow you to post or add pages and content on a consistant basis making your website a search engine magnet! For instance you might post an image a day, week or month and have the link on your blog go back to the xsitepro portion where they would make a purchase. At the same time, you can post daily with snippets of text that are keyword specific for anyone interested in purchasing the images or material that is related to Jefferson Airplane. The blog posts are important because they keep those spiders coming back and you'll eventually get ranked for keywords people would use to purchase your products....all free traffic! While it's true that you could do both operations in either an all xsitepro website or wordpress blog....the combination of xsitepro and wordpress allows you to capitalize on the expertise and superior aspects of both platforms, giving you a superior website.

In any case, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of XsitePro Version 2 even if you do sitebuild. Start learning how to use xsitepro and I guarantee you'll build more than one website :)

Hope this helps a little

Scott