Actually most plugins are free at least the ones I use. I have purchased a few premium plugins along the way that have paid back several times or more.

Not to mention the variety of free templates there must be thousands.

Wordpress is easier to work with in my opinion.

Switch domain names with the sites but I would avoid that.

I would probably try a backlink campaign on each with same number of backlinks.

As the sites sit I would personally stay a bit longer at the wordpress site due to the aesthetics/color and the look of WP is familiar. What would be more interesting long term is the CTR!

My 2 cents:

- 14 days is too early for any comparisons because of the phenomenon
known as Google dance
- wordpress's main advantage is it has so many free addons/pugins
available and some of the paid ones really kick ass SEO-wise.

Best

Interesting ... you have never used it but call it second best. I would not call it silly to use it some people enjoy the support of paid products.

I have never built a site. Can I use wordpress today and have a site live tomorrow?

Colin,

You mentioned this plugin way back in the thread (I'm a latecomer) and I'm just curious to have a look at it. Is the actual name of the plugin Wordpress Tweaks?

I am for WP by the way, having used both platforms, to me there is no contest. Personally I'd probably prefer to use WP even if it wasn't free, which it is.

So considering that both work, is the pricetag on Xsite justifiable though?

I mean, you can get Wordpress plus even spend like $200 on a dev license for a professional theme like Thesis, that you can use over and over, and it's still cheaper than Xsite pro.

My opinion would be different if it wasn't so expensive, and also, they didn't distort so much in their marketing info to make it look better than Wordpress when it's really not.

As it stands right now, it's definitely, obviously overpriced for what it is and what it does. It's far from a good buy. Would anyone disagree? Anyone who is experienced in both?

I don't know anyone that's used wordpress who had then used Xsite and gone on to say "I'm not going back". I know a lot of people who say the opposite. My view may be skewed though, so I ask:

As someone who has used both, which are you most likely to use again?

The problem with these experiments is that you could get very different results based on the theme of each site that you use.

Some could be better for SEO while others are horrible for it even using the exact same content management systems.

The code on the page and the content on the page has more to do with on page SEO than what system is putting together the code for you.

Crew Chief,

Your posts are always.... informative and authoritative. Thanks for being a voice of reason.... most of all though... Thanks for your service!

I like both.

Wordpress is great, but not so long ago my webhost was messing around with php, and changed something in the .htaccess file, making all my pages 404.

What I don't like about wordpress is the continuing updates.
I like to make sites handsfree, not having to nanny them all the time.

So with wordpress you're depending on third parties.

A great advantage of xsp is that you can easily upload your site to another host, or another url. In case of emergency it's quick. Being versatile is important, as is being independent.

I love XSitePro and haven't used WP enough to have an opinion on it yet, although I know tons of people swear by it and use it heavily. I DO know though if someone is going to complain about a product only because it costs $200 must not be making enough money doing internet marketing. I am not suggesting someone not watch out for their money, just don't be cheap in doing this business if at all possible.

To quote Zig Ziglar: "Why settle for the get-by when in the long run, the good always costs less"...

If you're going to do a lot of updating and blogging, XSP is probably not the way to go... I like XSP because it's pretty much ready to go right out of the virtual the box and I don't have to do a add a lot of plugins and the like. My time is worth more than any cost of a product.

I'm sure WP is the bomb... and I'm sure if you hired a coder you could get it to whistle a tune too... I just prefer it to making sales copy websites and I would have paid $1,000 for it. It's really not a realistic comparison between the two of them. I am POSITIVE that WP is superior to XSP in certain aspects. They both would be torture to use if you wanted to try and create a site like an eBay or Amazon. Having done my first site sixteen years ago on NotePad, I like a program that will tell me my site sucks when I finish it and tell me what to do to it not to make it suck. I personally want to learn to be proficient with WP also, just not on sales copy sites where there will be little changes done to the site, other than off site optimizing

What tool?

I don't think that I would use wordpress to build sites for clients, because of the 'nanny' aspect.

That is my main objection against wordpress: the perpetual updates, plugins that change over time, the handling of comments, the hacking.

Wordpress is absolutely not set and forget, and that's a serious problem if you have a ton of sites, or build sites for clients.

Then I have checked the search engine love and my results show that wordpress is showing faster results but only for the short term. In time of say two years blogs don't hold their ranking as good as xsite pro, unless you do continuous updates and backlinking.

That is exactly that I don't want.

Wordpress is a job. It never stops.

My conclusion knowing both platforms real well: for a while I've been listening to all the wp yes men, but now I'm going back to static for most of my sites.

I only use wordpress [have a look at the theme by the way!] when I really want to set up a blog for the social aspect, to interact.

That's simple for me:

XSitePro for ease of use
XSitePro for quick affiliate, or Adsense sites
XSitePro for fuss-free marketing
XSitePro to get the CLICK

WordPress for SEO
WordPress for authority sites

I use both, and the biggest gripe I have with WP is the fact that I consistently have to update the software and the plugins. It sucks. XSitePro updates are less bothersome compared to WP and the software is a simple joy to work with.

If I had to choose between the two I would choose XSitePro over WordPress at this moment in time, no questions asked...

xsitepro is a website building tool like dreamweaver. Is that right?

WP is a blog creator tool. Both are different.

WP is SEO optimized and see a better fit for search engines. Anyone can use WP without much knowledge.

Robert

[DELETED]

Isn't XsitePro "just" an HTML editor? WordPress is a complete CMS so I wouldn't compare those two.. You can't blog with XsitePro, can you?

I love WordPress, it's super easy to use and a great tool for all my business needs

Marian

You could just as well say that it doesn't make any sense either to think that a website will rank better because it's made on wordpress and not xsitepro.

That is the point.

Too many people assume that that is the case. Why? Because everybody says so.

Since when was 'everybody' right?

Penny wise, pound foolish...

Like allready mentioned, good themes for wp can cost you an arm and leg. Then there are the plugins, popups etc.

If you really want to rock with wp, you have to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars.

For all that money you buy yourself a lot of hassle. That comes free with wp as well.

So really...what are we talking about?

Do you want to go thru all this, just because of some obscure plugin?

Think about it... don't fool yourself!

None of what I countered your last post with were opinions, but facts. You don't need to spend anything to use Wordpress. Fact. You don't even need additional themes or plugins at all with it. Fact.

Using those things does not constitute a "hassle" vs. all other ways of adding a design skin or functional scripting to a site. It's literally plug and play for both.

I do enjoy my opinions, but my last post was light on them - I was just offering facts you counter your opinions. You can provide evidence that you founded your opinions on to validate your point (whatever it may have been), but you don't have to.

Yeah, I think the OP was asking something just along those lines so they could know what platform was best for what they wanted to do. Most people here offered opinions tempered by fact. Yours wasn't, so I commented to add some facts, and invited you to support your opinions.

Again, you don't have to, but your initial post I commented on is an opinion founded on factual inaccuracies, so if you were trying to help by adding to the discussion, you have to accept the fact that people might disagree with you. Especially when you happen to be wrong.

So when is appropriate to use Wordpress? In your initial post, you made no mention at all that it was appropriate in any way. If you actually think this, you did a poor job of expressing it. So are you saying it's good or not?

What's that got to do with anything?

Sure, and if you find something you like, you can start a thread about it. But that's not what this thread is about. It's about comparing WP to XSP, and you made some points about WP that were actually false. I was just pointing those out, and asking if you had some info to back it up.

It's clear that you don't, or else you don't care to share it, in which case I guess the first post was just because you like the sound of your own self typing. There's nothing wrong with that, I do too.

But in a thread where someone's asking a question upon which to make a decision, it's only fair to provide experienced opinions based on fact, right? Otherwise, we're not helping.

Lost me again. Don't understand the point there.

I'm a fundamentalist for truth. I'm a fundamentalist for factual accuracy. I'm a fundamentalist for having opinions grounded in experience and facts. I'm a fundamentalist for not parroting false, made up, or ill considered information when other people are asking me for help.

I'm a fundamentalist for calling people out when they play the parrot because I feel like it's my duty to fight that kind of thing wherever I am. I don't go out of my way to do it, but if someone just says some stuff I know to be false in a thread I am reading, I will correct it.

And if I'm the one who is wrong, I will eat my humble pie and admit it. So you're still welcome to post any kind of facts to back up your initial points I took issue with. Just show anyone here how:

1. Wordpress requires certain plugins and or themes to operate adequately.
2. That those themes and plugins will cost you $200 or thereabouts.
3. That installing those same paid themes and plugins will be difficult to the degree that it's not worth doing.

You said these things, not me. I just said that they weren't true. You're entitled to believe whatever you like personally, even if it's not even true. I don't care. When you present it as fact, or even as opinion here, in writing, it becomes a different issue.

Presenting an unfounded opinion which you can't back up and then refusing to address it is something I have a fundamental problem with. You are correct.

Prove what wrong? I asked you to support your opinion with some facts and clarifications, and instead of doing that, you changed the subject, and called me names.

What is it with people that when I ask them to rub two braincells together and actually EXPLAIN the stuff that comes out of their keyboards and contribute to the discussion, they call me out for it like I'm some kind of dick. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills sometimes.

Am I that off base? Do people come here to learn or not? If they only come here to listen to their own opinions that they were spoon fed reflected back to them for some kind of shallow validation, that's fine.

But if you actually want to learn stuff, you need the facts, and then you form an opinion based on THAT. If you form your own opinions on OTHER people's unfounded opinions, you have NO CHANCE of succeeding in ANYTHING, really.

If all you want to do is say a thing and then say no more unless people agree, you can start a blog. I promise I won't come over there and call you out no matter how wrong you are. At least, you won't have to publish my comment if I do.

I mean, please, listen to yourself. If I hadn't commented and someone read your post and decided NOT to use WP because of it, would that have been correct? It certainly would keep them from buying what you're selling.

But if I hadn't asked, you wouldn't have then said that you WOULD use Wordpress depending. So which is it? Do you recommend it or not? If so, when and in what situation?

That would be useful information to have in order for the opinion you presented to have any value to ANYONE besides yourself. You said a thing, I'm asking you to support and add to it. If you won't, that's fine. If you CAN'T, that's fine too. It's a free country.

It's just not helpful for people to say stuff they can't support, because then other people believe them, and adopt that same opinion. Then THOSE people go spout it off again to another set of people, and you end up with a bunch of people that have a highly developed opinion that happens to be totally wrong and worthless.

I try to stop that from happening where I can because why wouldn't I? Shouldn't I?

This just in:

Xsite Pro Merges With Wordpress To Evolve The Greatest Platform Ever

I use both for different reasons and rank high on Google with both. They both have their strengths, and some would say, their weaknesses...

[DELETED]

Thanks, not for sale as I am still researching the topic

Let's be fair, statement two is only true because of your personal choice in statement one. You can create a "blank project" in Wordpress by configuring your "standard" install and exporting the DB, and getting a copy of the theme and plugin folders. After that, copying your "standard" into a fresh fantastico install is just copy, paste, upload and edit 1 file.

That description took longer to type than it takes to do.

Unless I misunderstand what you're saying, this is exactly how Wordpress works as well.

Wordpress itself and many plugins and specialized themes make use of the built in token engine. To create your own you would either need to know PHP yourself or just use one of the many free plugins which allow for you to create tokens out of whatever you like, including PHP code.

Then, when you want to reuse that code snippet in a post, you just say [tokenname] or something to that effect.

This is highly debatable. No one needs to "hack" your XSP to deface a site created by it, right? They just need to get into your FTP account and they can edit the files however they like - the files are the site.

In Wordpress, they need to get into the Wordpress admin or the database to do any damage to your content. They could stop WP from functioning, but that can be easily and quickly restored. But the likelihood of that kind of "hacking" is identical to both, because it's just about getting FTP access.

And in the case of Wordpress hacks, they're usually to spam links onto your site in an attempt to siphon your Page Rank from you, so they're aren't going to actually want to take your site down.

If you use good password schemes and standards, and you don't put your wordpress in the default installation location (don't put it in root or in /wordpress or /blog because that's where a hacker would look) - you should be proof against 99% of Wordpress-specific hack attempts. Oh, and create a new admin account and delete the default admin account.

Now, simply BECAUSE Wordpress is so widely used you could say it's targeted by more hackers (like Windows v. Mac) but then again, the spider scripts they will use to look for vulnerable installations are going to look in the default and easily guessed locations for the exploitable files. If you don't put them there, the hackers will most likely move on to other targets.

In favor of static sites? Wow. That's an uncommon sentiment. At least in my experience.

The closest you could get would be if you had a simulated spider crawl them and do metrics, but it would be a simulation at best since even the best simulated Google spider is still just a guess. I agree, the differences would be minimal because as far as a spider sees the sites, there's no difference. If you do good SEO on both, both will rank well.

I don't know if you can in XSP, but you can largely get Wordpress to automate most SEO best practices - generating meta info from post excerpts and tags for example. If that's of benefit to you, you may find Wordpress better in that regard. If XSP can do this, I'm sure someone will chime in and let us know.

I'm not sure what you mean here. Why can't you create as may WP sites as you want?

Not just for flipping, but if you build client sites, they would need a copy of XSP to edit their own site, right? I like WP for client sites because the admin is via the web onto the site itself.

There are even plugins specifically for embedding your own instructions and things into the standard WP admin to custom tailor client usage education. It's neat stuff and makes you look slick as hell!

As was pointed out earlier, it's not really fair to say without being able to do a controlled experiment. And since that's not possible in the wilds of the web, and no one has access to Google's spider code, the above is a good observation, but I think it's only fair to point out that it could just be coincidence due to many other factors in play.

It IS fair to point out that since you say "tend to" that you mean there are exceptions on both sides, so it's not off base to conclude that both rank well in general, depending on the competition level of your particular keywords, as well as external SEO factors that have nothing to do with your software choice, like domain name and backlinks.

NOTE TO ALL I QUOTED: I'm not picking any personal fight with you - you're all entitled to your valid opinions. I'm just countering inaccuracies and providing examples to make sure a balanced discussion can be had.

Tables?! Ouch! Saves me bothering with that program then. Thanks for that.

This is true of any site made with any tool.

You don't have to become a PHP expert to use Wordpress. To say so is misleading.

It takes more time for you because you haven't practiced as much with WP as you have with Xsite. I bet if we had a race, we would be evenly paced.

Also re: updates - why would you not want continuous updates that make the software better? I really don't understand the sentiment of the people complaining about how it's constantly updated. That's not a flaw, that's like the biggest benefit on the planet.

Adding plugins is not "reinventing the wheel" - the plugins exist so you DON'T have to re-invent the wheel with every site you build. You can use the same engine and add or modify whatever functionality you want.

If you build the same kind of website over and over, perhaps this benefit is not of use to you, but there's no need to misrepresent the purpose of the plugin system.

This is a fair statement. You like Xsite Pro because you've used it longer and are comfortable with it and didn't like using a new thing. I get it. It's why I don't want to switch from Wordpress.

This is a ridiculous statement, not borne out of anything but a singular bad experience. I've build hundreds of sites on Wordpress, many of which are still running like clockwork, continuously updating and running fine with no issues.

Also, I have a plugin that emails me whenever someone hits a 404 page, so I don't have to monitor jack unless something goes wrong. But this is exactly the same as any website built with any software. Problems with the site occur when something happens to the server. That can happen no matter what your site is made with.

Sure, but it's a factor that I see as a negative personally. I'd rather not have to tack on an additional charge that substantial considering I wouldn't get much of a cut. If you've done well with it, more power to you.

What about Xsite Pro do you consider to be a "marketing tool" vs. just website building, and what of that can't be done with Wordpress?

Again, not saying anything personally - just trying to correct the incorrect info in your review.

Upon even further more in depth review, debating and arguing, here is the additional information we have gathered from this thread thus far...

(a). Some people prefer XSitePro, and...

(b). Some people prefer WordPress

WOW! Now that's even more stunning revelation!

YouTube - Vader's Shocking Revelation

Tables, are you kidding me? XSitePro uses tables?

Wow, now that's a new revelation!

Giles, the Crew Chief

You seem taken aback. Why?

Sure, you're entitled to your opinion, but when the point of the thread is to compare two things, can't it be enough to present your opinion without incorrectly presenting one side to support your preference?

Personal preference is fine - perfectly fine - but I would think other people reading the thread would prefer a more objective comparison, so I'm just trying to make it a fair one as best I can.

I do happen to have strong opinions, but I haven't expressed much of that here - just factual corrections when people who prefer Xsite (which is fine) present "facts" about Wordpress that are incorrect. It's really simple, so I'm not sure why people keep misunderstanding me.

Maybe you should have your ears checked, because when I read the forum, I don't hear anything but the TV in the background. Look, there's nothing personal in my additions to the discussion. All I'm doing is correcting when people are factually incorrect about Wordpress.

When have I ever said otherwise? Even if I never even heard of Xsite, I still know Wordpress inside and out, and feel it's only decent of me to point out when people say things that I know are incorrect, or might give someone making a choice the wrong idea.

I have no vested interest in it, other than someone having the right facts to make a reasonable decision.

Maybe if I just start making bull**** up about Xsite, all the Xsite users will chime in and correct me and maybe you guys getting all butthurt will see where I'm coming from.

Again, not sure why you would think that. For example, say the OP asked "I see people here like to eat fruit. Some like apples, some like oranges. Which is better and why?

I happen to like apples, and have always eaten apples, and never had a reason to switch to or try oranges, because I like apples fine.

No someone who prefers oranges says, "I like oranges, because apples are red and that's bad, and they are hard and that's bad and they get worms."

So when I say "now look, I don't like oranges personally, but while some apples are red, they also come in yellow, green, and even orange-y. Plus, the color is that way on purpose. So it's not "bad". What you call "hard" some folks call "crunchy" and we like it. So it's not "bad".

Also, sure, some apples get worms, but some oranges do too. They don't all, but both do, so that's not a problem exclusive to apples. I've eaten literally HUNDREDS of apples, and never had a problem with worms, and have found the crunchy redness of apples has not been an issue, and in fact, has been a benefit.

Do you notice how I didn't have to say anything about oranges, and yet, the info I shared might be useful to someone looking for a tasty fruit that fits their needs?

It doesn't even imply anything bad at all about the orange eater, other than they are misrepresenting apples to the fruit eating public. You don't have to do that to justify preferring oranges. You can just like oranges.

Same as I don't have to say "Oranges are bitter and have seeds." I'm sure if I did, the orange eaters would be very quick to say "NOT ALL ORANGES ARE!!!"

But you'll notice no one has had to counter me on any factual incorrectness - neither for things I've said about Xsite (because I don't talk about what I don't know) nor about the things I've corrected people on about Wordpress (I guess because they are wrong).

If you get wound up by being corrected, I can't help it. I'm sorry you posted stuff that was factually wrong. As entitled as you are to believe whatever you like and express whatever you like, I can also correct you. Consider that I'm not even telling you that you, Hortensia, are wrong in your opinions.

Does that make it better? YOU ARE NOT WRONG to like whatever you like. You are merely factually wrong about certain features of Wordpress. Unless your entire personal identity hangs solely on your incorrect beliefs about this particular piece of software, there is absolutely no reason to get wound up.

Don't take it so personally, it's just the internet.

If I'm wrong about anything I corrected you about, please point it out instead of whining or thinking I've got some kind of issue BESIDES the repeatedly stated one, of just making sure the info I CAN speak to is as correct as possible.

I dunno. You I guess? Since you made a whole post about you which had nothing to do with whether or not Xsite or Wordpress is better, or whether I was even wrong about what I said.

But you probably only cared because you thought my post was all about you. It wasn't. It was all about Wordpress.

Which is better than Xsite, because Xsite is slow, cumbersome, simplistic, and promoted and sold by people who are too silly and backwards to know better. It will also corrupt your harddrive, and it is only to be used by flighty creative types who are fearful of technology.

--- (See, that there is a joke, but I hope it makes my point)

Feel free to keep taking it personal if you want, but if you want to change the subject to you, start your own thread please.

I have never had a problem with it!

I use XSite all the time and have never had a problem with it.

I love Wordpress but by the time I...

1) install it / create the database - ya I know it's just a few clicks in Cpanel but it still takes time.

2) upload the plug in's

3) activate and configure the plug in's

4) upload and activate the theme

5) tweak the settings in Reading, Writing, %postname% etc.

....I could build a few pages in Xsite and have them online.

I feel like with WP every time I start a project I have to piece together the machine before I can start using it.

Pieces that need constant updating. I know this is trivial but it is just another "thing" that needs done often.

As far as building niche sites for me XSite Pro is much faster especially using the token function and quick pages.

After I've been working on my XSite web sites and then go online to update one of my Wordpress sites I can definitely tell it is a much slower process to add pages....and I have a cable connection.

With XSite you can build 20 pages, hit "publish" and in 20 seconds you have 20 new pages added.

Changing and updating pages is just as fast.

I can't think of ANY plugin that I used for my marketing sites in WP that are not built into XSite Pro.

Social Bookmarking
Video
Audio
Affiliate link cloaking
Insert Adsense and other affiliate programs with a few clicks
All in One SEO
Pop ups
Site maps
RSS
Siloing

...and on and on.

And it's all integrated right there ready to use.

Of course XSite costs $200 and WP is free however I have spent more than $200 on professional themes for my WP sites.

You can find some pretty good free themes but usually with limited functionality, in my experience.

A big downside of XSite is that you cannot update your web site online.

So as someone who actually uses BOTH platforms I would say that they are both great however there is just no way I can build and maintain QUALITY web sites at near the speed in WP as I can with XSite.

Just my experience.

What a loser...

As valued as your opinion is as well as everyone else's, the reality is - what's good for the goose is not good for the gander.

The OP started the thread with one application versus the other and truthfully it is not about that. It's about what suits YOU!

Some people prefer to code sites by hand and they would never use any of those quote "automated programs."

Do we criticize them for not using WP, XSitePro or Dreamweaver?

A thousand times no because that's what suits them.

Some people swear by NVU.

Others swear by Dreamweaver.

Still others like, love, hate, and/or despise other web design applications but its not about that.

If you love WP, XSitePro, Dreamweaver, etc., I say more power to you!

But, to have a debate over which application is better than the other is really pointless.

They are all designed for and marketed to a different set of people.

Giles, the Crew Chief