Which software, editor or system is best for creating a minisite?

I was asked a question about the best software, webpage editor or “way to go about” creating a minisite.

I am currently concentrating on WordPress, but I have used Joomla and XSitePro2 as well. Other editors such as dreamweaver or the free editors such as NVU and komposer are also options I have tried. The differences for use seem to depend on the primary objectives of the user. These may be ease of use, cost and time investment, type of site, seo, hosting, etc…

Joomla -

is open source (free)  content management system software

Joomla is good for e-commerce sites selling multiple products. Using the virtuemart addon you have the functionality to sell digital (or physical) products send purchaser to paypal (or other payment processors) and securely deliver the digital download.

Against this, it’s a steep learning curve at first with much trolling of forums to fix issues that do arise. It’s not simple to seo but achievable and sites can be a little heavy to load. For a minisite it has too much time investment needed to be useful for this purpose.

XSitepro2 – a commercial (pay for this) website editor designed for extra functionality

XSitePro is fantastic html website editing software with lots of functionality options that are easy to add to your sites. It’s a one time payment for the software, that is well worth it. If it’s simply to create a minisite and then promote it, it’s really good.

Adding further content is easy enough and you set up ftp in the software and it overwrites what’s new automatically adjusting all menus.

It has some glitches but what doesn’t? (…and they are minor). Against it, is that some experts say that Google favours WordPress over html sites and it is psychologically easier to make a post in WordPress than to open XSitePro and create a new page and ftp it.

The fastest, cheapest way to create a minisite

The fastest and simplest system is to take an example of a resellers ministe and completely replace images and paragraphs of text using notepad. If you don’t understand basic html this is not always possible as some minisites that are provided with resale products can be complex. But if you find one minisite that is simple, use this as your template and just replace images and text in it for other products.

Use NVU or komposer to edit html using their WYSIWYG interface to add html elements. The most difficult part of this is the private thankyou page which almost all editors want to include in navigation. Simplest to just use one template for the thankyou but replace header and footer elements and of course specific text and images.

WordPress -

Open source blog and CMS software with extended functionality via numerous free plugins.

WordPress is both great and so time consuming it’s frustrating. The key to using WordPress for a minisite is to make a plan and templates for new installs. Get an excel sheet together and list the essential plugins you need for a minisite and then put the plugins, stripped of extra folders, into a dedicated “use these plugins’ folder for easy initial install via ftp. Keep page templates in the same folder.

Updating WordPress

Some people may argue that updating WordPress is annoying. This is valid because for security you need to keep it up to date, it’s not fun to have  a blog hacked. Old versions can be and you could unknowingly be spreading a virus.

Use the wp-automatic-update plugin, rather than the link in WordPress. This plugin leads you through the steps correctly so no errors occur, and creates a backup before in case they do. Most problems occur because people don’t deactivate plugins before updating. (Been there – done that- spent hours fixing it) Also don’t update immediately, give it a week or two – by then all those who may encounter errors have posted on the forums and had the issue resolved so you can read and apply if it happens to you!

Seo for WordPress

WordPress is easy to seo with the wp-all-in-one-seo plugin.  Search engines like WordPress, its easy to update, has automation tools and extensive other plugin functionality.

Some experts say a static html site is more favoured by search engines for serious sites, or that the default Kubrik theme is better received by customers because it appears to be more amateur and therefore more trustworthy than a marketing or sales site.

Against WordPress, for a minisite, it’s easy to spend hours on non productive tweaking. So pick an easy to customize free theme and stay focused. If you can learn how to use page templates, do so and use the same one, with different images and text. Being organized with everything all in one folder will help you set up a new blog quickly.

Last option is the ability of WordPress as a CMS to be similar to a html site using pages. This is where page templates come in. Some experts  say that this is the best option but like Joomla it’s a big learning curve. To do this the right way takes a lot of delving into WordPress code and some little known plugins and a lot of time.

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Tags: Content management system, Joomla, minisite, Open source, seo, Templates, Website, wordpress, wysiwyg

We all know that WordPress is the best blogging platform but few of us use WordPress as a content management system and this is largely because we don’t know how.

Essentially it means that you use pages rather than posts so your site looks more like a website and less like a blog. You can still use free themes for this but you have to brave and adventurous and start to look at the code that makes WordPress work.

The how to it instructions are all at the WordPress Codex which is searchable and fully documented but first you need to know what you have to do to make this happen. I recently came across a book that tells you how to do this and  it’s a good basic guide if you want to know how.

You can get  WordPress Secrets, if you’ve always wondered how and are now ready to find out. There is very little information in ebook form available on how to do this and although this doesn’t have as much information as I’d like, it has enough to get you started and the codex will fill in the rest. It’s not expensive, and may be just what you need to get you to be more hands on with WordPress and start to make your theme appear as you want it to.

What this enables you to do is to change sidebars and have full width pages for sales pages if you choose, without the clutter of sidebars to distract people from the message. It’s perfect for mini sites for products.

Check it out here – WordPress Secrets

There is a better way to get this book though. You can just get it by going to the link above, but you can also get it along with a lot of other products. And…

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If you’ve been looking for a fast way to monetize a site that is about blogging or marketing then this could be just what you are looking for.

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The Masterplan is a 72 page report that teaches you how to plan, launch and profit from a successful membership site. It’s pure CONTENT, plus an invitation to join his six week membership site training course.

Many times we are told that recurring income is THE monitization strategy. Advertise and convert once – and get paid recurringly there after. There are lots of ins and outs though about creating a membership site and believe me I know! If you have been thinking about creating a membership site – take a look. Take a look anyway and get the free report from Yaro Starek. You should know by now that he is one of the few marketers that really overdelivers with his free reports.

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There are many threads asking whether you should use Joomla or Wordpress. The answer is not simple. Both platforms or content management systems have benefits, but for different things. The one true factor, although others may disagree, is that both these content management systems are the best of their type, that is the ability to add content in a modular way without need of a programmer.

Tags: How To Use Wordpress, Joomla

XSitePro V2 was officially released a few weeks ago now and now I have used it, and checked out the new features I can honestly say that I highly, indeed very highly, recommend you check it out as soon as you can -it’s truly awesome. I consider it to be the only desktop web site editor for anyone serious about creating multi functional web sites. In fact it’s the only web site editor – period, although I still sometimes use front page for find and replace editing in mini sites as they are a little difficult to import in to edit.

But for start from scratch, start to finish, professional web site design -

XSitePro2 is the bees knees!

If you’re not familiar with XSitePro, this wysiwyg desktop web site editor was originally specially designed with Internet marketers and online businesses in mind. XSitePro V1 had a list of features that was pretty startling then but Version 2 takes the cake. Rather than looking up html code all day to create the page features that you want to use, you mostly can just right click and insert it using any number of smart functions that do all the hard work for you automatically.

Which is why this wysiwyg desktop web site editor…

XSitePro2 is perfect for both beginners or experienced web site makers. For the beginner this editor is far easier to master than Dreamweaver or Front Page with its user friendly interface, easily accessible help and a great tutorial to get you started. The manuals that come with it are comprehensive, professional and easy to follow. For experienced web masters and marketers XSitePro 2 has a list of web design features that will help you create great web sites faster than ever and do some things that were simply not possible with any other editor until now.

XSitePro 2 has the ability to easily create cool navigation, it can silo, you can see your CSS (a true wysiwyg css editor), you say yes or no on forms to create pages like robots.doc or insert forms, you can store affiliate urls in it for easy insertion to pages, you can insert audio, video, RSS, sitemaps, multiple pages …

But why should I list every one of the “XSiting” variety of features XSitePro2 can gift you with. Wander over to their web site now and look for yourself – it’s a long and astounding list. But before you start thinking it’s going to be way too complex, think wide screen tv. Simple, elegant and easy on the eye but so much better than a box.

But I did write a more extensive review that explains more about why I like it here if you really want to read it. XSitePro 2 Review.

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