BANS vs xSite Pro

Ease of use: Xsite Pro ... download the software...build ... publish
BANS ...download ftp, lots of instructions about your hosting company, create a new MySQL database....I am still not anywhere close to done. The instructions are excellent but don't mislead those nubes who aren't very technical. Xsite Pro is easy and fast and solid, BANS requires some knowledge of setting up all the hosting, ftp etc.

 

Xsitepro and BANS cater for different needs, it's funny to compare the two.

 

Well, one thing that could mislead newbies is that you're talking apples and oranges. Sure, with Xsite Pro you can easily put up a starter website with little difficulty. BANS has a very different purpose, namely to operate as a platform for running the eBay database.That's a much different kettle of fish, and, by definition, is going to require more steps technically to set it up correctly.

Some newcomers really do struggle with BANS, although to me it seems incredibly simple. I can get an installation completed and the basics of a site up and running in less than 15 minutes. That's just one hurdle. As with any site, the real work begins after getting it set up - content, seo, etc.

 

I would use weebly.com, a web based website builder and best of all it is free

 

XsitePro is not a good choice for any site you plan to scale in the future. I don't build anything with it anymore, but never bothered if the sites were bigger than 50 pages. The product is tied to the Operating System (Windows). You do a restore and your sites can become pretty messed up.

The installation and moving from one computer to another is highly annoying.

Product support is average; however developer PROMISES are very high.

The program sites created are very structured. I've seen very few good looking templates.

If you want to build good looking sites - pick a CMS or use WordPress and take advantage of the plug ins.

 

I agree, and personally would confine that selection to WordPress. Why pay for Xsite Pro when you can use WordPress, and google just adores it to boot?

 

potentmix is right.
It puzzles me why people is paying so much for Xsitepro when there are a lot of free CMS, eg wordpress.

 

I have both, but if I could have only one it would be XsitePro

 

Weighing in here with an alternative. Its new but it works. Looking for people to try it out. Its free. See my sig.

 

XSitePro 2 is coming, with some really neat features and additions. There's a preview of XSitePro 2 up on Squidoo that details some of the new offerings.

Just like BANS it's designed to be easy to use but it also appeals to the power user by simplifying some of the more mundane tasks. I use both, each for its particular strength. The new version of XSitePro (it'll be available on May 20th) will get more attention from me thanks to eBay's horrible payouts of late.

 

what I find interesting about Xsite Pro 2 is the "silo'ing" feature that it has now. You can set it to auto-silo your content into a very search engine friendly format.

Right now i'm considering paying the $300 for it for this feature alone. Unless someone knows another app that does this for you? wordpress?

 

I know this post is old, but I took it apart to ask questions and to comment about my XSitepro experience:

The restore thing scares me! I have 20 sites in XsitePro. I have downloaded Wordpress but with updating sites, SEO, etc I haven't taken the time to learn it. I will now.

Agreed, agreed. I am finally working off of one external and keeping track of which site I upgraded on what computer and in which file.

I don't think I am going to buy XSitePro 2, I am too busy working on my sites. It goes back to my 2 year observation of this business, if the content is good the site can look like crap and often does until you get really popular and you have time and money to invest in a really good look. (will spencer's fort liberty never looked wonderful until now) I don't think my sites look like crap but they do look like XsitePro. My buyers and info seekers don't care or know that it's XSitePro.

XSite Pro is very structured and I often have trouble adding pictures, text etc. HOWEVER, I don't think I would have stuck with all this without XSite Pro. That first tutorial you use is as easy as the developers say. "Do this...it takes 5 minutes...it will look like this.." and it did! I learned so much about SEO with their structure. So I get mad when people here bash it because for the newb it can't be beat. One of my Xsite pro sites does very well everyday, has 125 pages and I credit Xsite Pro for that success.

Yes, as I said, very structured, and I agree, I never use their templates and it's a little frustrating creating my own but it's not bad.

Okay, I promise to learn WordPress and not rely on XSite Pro for anymore sites, and I'm glad I read this post again and realized that.
However - since you mentioned CMS.... what CMS, where do I get it, which one should I trust? There are a number of CMS review sites and I don't know which one to read and I don't have time to experiment and fail.
I STILL DON'T HAVE MY BANS SITE UP!!! Since we're talking about it, here is my Bans site ... what am I doing wrong ...lol. http://www.potatogamer.com/

 

Dude, stop wasting your time. Give me 15 minutes and you will be off and running. I swear! Click below and try it.

Unless you want to become a php expert...