Should I Stay or Should I Go? (XSite Pro)
Sigh…I’ve been thinking about what Rich was talking about in his video. Rich preaches what I preach and I USUALLY practice…especially in regards to outsourcing.
In recent months, I started using the XSite Pro website builder. It’s a great tool and makes it way easier to build medium-sized content sites. The problem is that using XSite Pro basically makes it a nightmare to outsource website updates to someone else. Every time you want to update the site, you have to have the latest version of the complete site. That means that my VAs and I would have to swap files each and every time before we did any work or we’d overwrite any work done previously. That’s way to cumbersome. If XSitePro allowed you to load your site with a regular FTP program, it would be much easier…but for some reason it doesn’t.
So, here I am with my “to-do” list today and it’s things that I REALLY shouldn’t be doing in my business. These are tasks that should always be delegated to assistants including:
- adding content
- adding graphics for my affiliates to use
- making corrections to pages
…but instead I’m doing the little tasks that keep me away from managing my business.
Sure, I could give my assistants the responsibility of maintaining the sites and they could keep the latest XSP files, but that isn’t the greatest solution. I want to be able to access and conduct tests on my own sites at any time. And even if I did give them the full responsibility, what happens when they get sick, have to go out of town with no notice or just plain old disappear? Even though my gals are reliable, these things happen. If I don’t have that stupid XSP file that, in effect, holds the key to that site, I’m screwed.
So, here I am deciding if I should stay or if I should put my sites into FrontPage (which would initially be a whole lot of work)…so I can continue on the path of managing my business and using my time wisely. I’ve mentioned this problem to the kind support people at XSite Pro and I sure hope they listen soon…because a tool that is supposed to make things easier for me is making me go backward.
If you’re using XSite Pro and working with others to update your sites, let me know how you’re managing it. If you’re having the same problem as I am, please take a moment to contact the folks at XSite Pro and suggest they find a solution. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, you know!
About: Alice Seba
Alice Seba earns a full-time online income as an entrepreneur and loves to help others achieve the same. With a focus on using content to create relationships, loyalty and results from the written word, she co-owns both a ghostwriting service and a private label content business. To get more tips for your content marketing, visit Contentrix.com - your free resource with plenty of tips and strategies.Freebies
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zedbiz
Thanks Alice,
I have not bought XsitePro yet, but have heard so many glowing reports about it, how fast you can whip up sites, how great it automates things, how easy it is to use, etc. Nobody really mentions the bad points, and if they do, they just gloss over them.
Well this is one major point, that I am sure, if you could go back in time, and have never used Xsp, you wouldn’t – as it would save you the work of now recreating your sites for Frontpage or whatever tool you choose (by the way – I can’t see why you don’t use DreamWeaver, but that is for another discussion).
So now that I have heard your reasoning, that is firmly in line with great busines methodologies that have always been in my biz plan, I now know that Xsp is not for me, and I can cross that off my wish list.
Thanks
Jack
Carrie
I’ve been thinking about this a lot too. I’ve come to the conclusion that, like every product, XSitePro has a target market. XSitePro is ideal when you are building a lot of little to medium-ish sites for AdSense and affiliates (i.e. VRE sites). It’s not the best route for large sites, but I love it for whipping up a quick VRE site.
I enjoy adding content, so I still do that for my XSP sites. But I outsource other stuff like graphic/site design, autoresponder messages and other tasks.
Martin Avis
Hi Alice,
The answer to your problem may be a neat program called BeInSync.
http://www.beinsync.com/
(Not an aff link!)
It syncronizes files between several remote computers so that you and whoever else you synchronize with will always be working on the same version.
It would be a real shame to dump XSitePro when there are ways a round the problem.
Best wishes,
Martin
Alice
Thanks Martin and I can choose which files they would have access too?
Annette
I’m a new XSP user but I can see what you’re describing as an issue. I hope they listen and make some changes so you can keep using them!
Mila
That’s the only issue I have with XSitePro as well and as Carrie mentioned it’s not ideal for larger sites, I can’t figure out how to upload just a few pages so for my larger site it takes ages to make a small change.
Nicole
You can whip up the sites in XSP and then export them easily to Front Page if that saves you time and energy.
The outsourcing portion is a nightmare. As much as I love XSP, this is definitely a downside.
Jennifer Knox
One other thing is that you could use a program like GoToMyPC that allows people to have remote access to your files. In fact, you can even be at a different computer and use all of the applications just as though you were sitting in front of the remote computer. I’m thinking of signing up with them so that I can give my (future) virtual assistant access to my files and programs without having to FTP files back and forth and import and export all over the place. I have never actually used GoToMyPC, so this is a suggestion with a disclaimer, but it might be worth looking into.
Jen
Angela
Wow thanks for the post… I am using XSite Pro too and I love it. I think it is definitly great for small sites that only one person is working on.
I will keep that in mind though for when my sites get too big for me to handle alone (wink wink). I do hope they change it so it’s easier to outsource.
Martin Avis
Hi Alice,
With BeInSync you set up a folder where you store your files to be synchronized and you outworker only get to see the stuff in there.
Alice
Thank you Martin! I’m going to try it out. That might just be the solution I need.
Jen – can GoToMyPC limit access to certain files? You’ll probably want to check that.
Nicole, I personally wouldn’t use XSP to make FrontPage sites because FrontPage has great “included content” features that I always use on FP sites…which is awesome for us non-techys. It’s good for testing and tracking different things on pages too.
Jack – because I found FrontPage easier (I tried both when I started online) and have never seen a need to use Dreamweaver. I love FrontPage’s publishing and live editing features, which Dreamweaver didn’t have at the time…not sure if they do now.
SharonTucci
Hi Alice, We use Xsite Pro quite well with outsourcing. Here’s what we are doing:
We have an account with box.net that gives you tons of space for a small monthly fee. You can easily assign access to specific folders.
When we have someone that will be working on a site, we use the export site feature on Xsitepro and then just drag it into the appropriate folder at box.net.
When they complete the work, they will then replace the old version with the new one.
Truly, it’s not any more time-consuming than any other method of getting work done on a site. The only issue is making sure the person on the other end has XSP.
Anonymous
Alice,
Take a look at www.webex.com
This was also recommended by Rich Schefren. It has a lot of great features, but I think you’ll find that the “Web Folders” tool is exactly what you need.
Anonymous
Here’s a more direct link:
http://www.webex.com/solutions/weboffice-capabilities.html
Microbusinessmedia
I have xsite pro as well,and overall I find it to be useful for making small sites as well, but for larger sites the content is harder to manage.
If you have a site that is going to be frequetly updated and has a lot of content, I think the wordpress script or the Mambo script is better for this.
Mambo actually shows when amother user has checked out a file so you dont overwrite each others work.
They both require some modifications, but once its setup, they can both handle a lot of searh engine friendly content.
Plus they both come free if you have a cpanel account with fantistico. Fantastico allows you to install the software simply by filling in blanks.