Andrea Wilson’s Blog

When I was in management in corporate life, one thing I learned was to work with my staff’s strengths and not try to get them to improve in areas they weren’t good at or cared about. My star customer service rep had a desk piled high with papers and made grammatical faux pas that made me cringe… but customers adored her. Did I insist she keep a tidy desk? Did I send her to grammar school? No, I gave her the most difficult, demanding customers we had… and she flourished and so did they.

I applied this thinking to my own work recently. I was totally stuck and stressed out trying to put out a Camtasia video on “how to create a simple template in XSitePro” (something my clients have been clamoring for). Then it struck me, my forte is writing, not speaking. So I wrote a step-by-step report, added dozens of screen shots, created a nice little bonus report… and in a few days the job was done. No more stress!

The Web is evolving and audio and video seem to be “the thing” right now, but they aren’t “my thing”? If the thought of having to use audio and video to create products holds me back, then they aren’t effective at all… for me! Maybe I’ll work on mastering Camtasia. Maybe I’ll do small videos first so I don’t become overwhelmed and stuck. Or maybe I’ll stick to what I know. I don’t think the written word is dead… not just yet anyway!

I was planning to make my next tutorial a Camtasia video, but I was feeling rather stressed by that as video is not a natural medium for me. Writing is my strength, so I decided to do what I know and write a report instead. However, I did include numerous screen shots in the report so it’s very easy to follow.

What is it about? It’s a step-by-step guide to creating a basic, simple, but professional-looking template in XSitePro V.1. There is a need for simple XSitePro templates for all kinds of purposes: AdSense sites, affiliate sites, product review sites, landing pages, sales letters, practice sites, and so on. And it serves to teach concepts like simple rollover navigation, double borders, adding a table to the header section, setting up a template from scratch, etc.

I know V.2 is coming out May 20/08, but it’s going to be more complex to use than V.1 and the templates, while lovely, are not customized to your business. You will still have to customize them or have a custom template made. You will quickly start seeing the default XSP 2.0 templates all over the Web and soon realize that even a simple template customized to your business is preferable to looking like every other XSitePro user out there. And certainly preferable to — shudder! — typing your business name over a generic template header… no matter how pretty the design!

I just have the bonus report to do now and I’ll be offering this tutorial for sale. Not sure of the price yet, but it will be very affordable, for sure.

I still plan to tackle a project in Camtasia. Maybe I’ll use it to capture some tips for V2.0. I know I can help everyone with V2.0 as I was one of the beta testers so I already have a very good handle on how everything works. I will also be able to create custom templates and QuickPages for you.

A cheap off-the-shelf template or one that comes free with XSitePro can be useful for throw-away sites and for practice using XSitePro, but other than that you need a custom template for your business. Why? A custom header will include graphics that reflect your business, not graphics that could reflect any business even vaguely associated with your market. If you’re a peewee soccer coach, having a soccer ball on your header doesn’t differentiate you from a company selling soccer balls! A header with a photo of little kids charging down the soccer field and a picture of you and your team holding up a winning trophy tells a much more accurate — and compelling — story. No generic XSitePro template will do that for you.

In addition, on a custom header your Web site name will be beautiful and crisp because it will be incorporated into the header graphic itself, not just typed over it. You’ve seen those ugly, jagged titles on headers. Think cheap. Think generic. Is that what you want associated with your business? If not, you know where to find me!

A couple of days ago, the beta testers had a sneak peak at the pre-launch version of XSitePro 2. What can I say? Is every single thing we wanted included in the release? No, of course not. Are there features included that we hadn’t even thought of? Oh, yeah! Is it going to make our lives easier? Well, it’s going to make YOUR life easier! As a designer, I’m personally going to have to work harder because the templates included in the new version are more complex than in the current version. None of the new templates are personal to your business, of course, so likely you will find a nice one as your jumping off point and want me to personalize it for you. This means that I quickly have to come up to speed on how to customize the existing templates (something I never had to do before because no one wanted those templates as their starting point!). I also have to quickly learn how to create more complex XSitePro templates for you! The pressure is on…

Meanwhile, I recently thought of a kind of template that my clients can easily create themselves and that gives them an unlimited set of unique, fast-loading templates for launching quick and dirty (well, more like attractive and professional) Web sites for affiliate products, sales letters, Google AdSense sites, Pay-Per-Click landing pages, etc. I am going to create a video to show you how to do that. It will be my first Camtasia video ever, so here’s hoping it will be good since I’ll be selling it for a whopping $7.00! I guess it would be like one of those $7 Warrior Forum Offers (WFO) except it’s an XSPDO (XSite Pro Designs Offer) or maybe an AWO (Andrea Wilson Offer or Able Webs Offer, take your pick). Now don’t look for this tomorrow, as I’m just starting a week-long project for a client. But once that’s delivered, I’ll dust off Camtasia and have a go at putting this together for you.

And, yes, it will work in XSite Pro 2. And while you may be tempted with all the new eye-candy in XSite Pro 2, there will always be a place for simple sites that you can knock out in minutes, without using graphics-heavy, complex, and hard-to-maintain templates. My biggest fear about the pretty new templates is how much more difficult they will be to maintain for the average user. I somehow think the support side of my XSitePro Designs business is going to increase many fold.

Whoohoo! XSiteProDesigns.com is back to #2 in Google for “xsitepro templates” and #1 for “templates xsitepro” and “xsitepro headers.” And #5 for “xsitepro.” Must be doing something right! Still striving for the #1 position in Google for “xsitepro templates.” I will persevere!

On another note entirely, my son and I are planning a trip to the south of France in October, so I’m starting to get things done like passport application, research, etc. Good friends of mine know that area well, so I’ll be talking to them quite a bit about the best places to stay and visit. They might even go at the same time. That would be so cool! They already told us to put GPS on the laptop we’ll be taking… NEVER would have thought of that! My son speaks French, so I’ll be clinging to him like a desperate leech! My French makes him roll on the floor laughing!

My newest grandson is almost five months old. Yikes, where DOES the time go?! I’m looking forward to seeing his personality emerge. So far, so good. Adorable! Maybe a bit of a worrier, as he had already mastered the worried frown at birth! Now he’s mostly all smiles, but once in a while those frown lines appear. He looks so cute, though. Too bad WE don’t look cute when WE frown!

I haven’t had much chance to put the pre-release version of XSitePro 2.0 through it’s paces, but I did quite a bit of testing on the beta release. Why haven’t I had the time? I’ve been very busy creating XSitePro templates for clients. And even some Dreamweaver sites! I’m a bit behind getting my latest clients’ templates up on my site, but I’ll get them up soon. I can’t put every template up, because of disclosure agreements (yes, a few secrets pass my eyes, that’s for sure!), but the ones I do put up usually get a link from me once their site is working. So that’s a nice bonus for my clients. It means their site gets indexed very quickly by Google. So, if you’re not my client yet, what the heck are you waiting for?

For XSitePro users who require files to be in folders for third party applications or for siloing purposes, there’s a product available called Easy Directory Manager from John King. Many folks are waiting for version 2 of XSitePro to see if it will have this feature. But if you have version 1 of XSitePro and don’t plan on migrating to version 2 right away, this is a good solution to the fact that XSitePro publishes all files to the root directory. It’s not very expensive and it can be used as an FTP program which is always handy to have. And if version 2 of XSitePro doesn’t have full flexibility in this area, more of us may be buying this product, I suppose.

I haven’t tested out the program myself, so I can’t recommend it on personal experience, but the concept looks good. Once you set it up, you publish your site via Easy Directory Manager, not via XSitePro. The set up looks easy and straight forward.

John also has a product called Site Header Pro that enables you to create your own header and add HTML text to the header for SEO purposes. While the header won’t be as crisp and clean as a 100% graphical header (like the ones we make at XSiteProDesigns.com), you might gain a brownie point from Google if you use keywords in the header text. Personally, I prefer a more professional-looking header, but for many people it might be a reasonable solution, especially if you’re graphically challenged. You don’t need software to enable you to make a header like this, however, but if you don’t know how to do it yourself, then by all means use this tool to do it!

Well, January’s weather hasn’t been so great, but all those New Year’s resolutions are sure good for my business. Everyone’s busy getting their first Web site up and running or moving onto the next project on their “to do” list. I had to get serious with my own “to do” list to keep up with all the work and in the process re-discovered the power of goal-setting… as well as the immense satisfaction of crossing things off my list!

I bought another neat gadget from ErgoCanada.com. I got the Toasty Toes Footrest. You plug it in and it warms your feet while you sit at your desk. I don’t like to keep my suite overly warm but I do hate to have cold feet. This footrest solves the problem completely. I can actually turn the heat down a notch!

I added a lovely, big wooden lateral file (like a filing cabinet) and an armchair to my living room, a small bookcase to my bedroom, and a standing coat rack to my hall. Winter coats are bulky so this really takes the pressure off my one clothes closet. All these items came from my friend who lost both her elderly parents recently and had to clear out some things from their home. She also gave a living room suite and some other odds and ends to my son. He was short of furniture after his roommates moved out!

The town house has sold, but the closing date is the end of March so I have a few weeks to wait until I can put that part of my life behind me and really move on. At some point I may consider using the profit from the town house to buy an apartment, but I’m not ready for that yet.

I’ve been doing some beta testing for XSite Pro Version 2.0. While I’m sworn to secrecy, you can glean a few facts from the XSite Pro forum. Don’t laugh, but I’m doing my testing on a site that will feature my very own diet tips! It’s the last thing I would suggest you choose as a niche market. I actually use the health and diet market as an example of “what not to do” when you get into Internet marketing, but I’m having fun with it and, hey, there’s always room for one more if you know what you’re doing… right? Right? Hmm… Oh well, it’s pretty much a throw away site so no loss if it doesn’t make any money.

A client and online friend just joined Perry Marshall’s Bobsled Run. I’m looking forward to his success on the program. I may just take it myself if he does well. It’s hard to lose with the kind of guarantee Perry offers, so I’m really tempted to take it now, along with my friend, but as busy as I am at the moment, I’m not sure how I’d keep up with the assignments. I’m very competitive in that kind of situation so I have to go into it knowing I can do well… or at least keep up!

I added a couple of new clients’ templates to my site today. And there’s one coming that I think will blow your socks off, but it’s for a non-profit organization so the wheels grind slowly. The template is ready, but they haven’t given me the content they want added yet. I wish I could put up every template I do, but often I’m doing them for folks who don’t want anyone to know they didn’t build their own site. Internet marketers, for example. Oh well, they provide a good business for me, so no complaints.

Off to bed now. My friend is coming in the morning to help me put SoftPaws on one of my cats (Merry). He’s decided the new living room chair makes a good scratching post. My other cat (Pippin) is quite content to use the scratching post and not the furniture. I opened the door yesterday and both cats ventured outside briefly. Come Spring, I’m sure they’ll start to get brave and eventually become indoor/outdoor cats, instead of indoor cats. Merry can’t wear his SoftPaws outside though as he won’t have any traction on his front feet and that means he might not escape danger if he needs to. However, once he’s outside a lot, I think he will be much less likely to scratch the furniture. In the past, my indoor/outdoor cats never touched the furniture. So this might be one of the last times I put the SoftPaws on him. Anyway… off to bed.

The townhouse is finally renovated and up for sale. I couldn’t handle the stress anymore so in late October I moved into a little rental suite. It’s a ground floor suite in a private home (like an in-law suite). It’s new and bright and I love it! Best of all I have both cats with me and in the Spring they can go outside (too cold right now to leave the door open for them to sit in the doorway - they’re too nervous to just march outside). My husband and I have officially separated. He’s still living in the townhouse while it’s on the market.

I have pared down my belongings until they fit in my suite with only a few boxes in the storage area in my landlady’s garage. This was so liberating!

I bought a new desk with a hutch and a pull-out section on the side. The desk has a ton of storage built into it. I added a metal filing cabinet from IKEA and I kept my little plastic drawer set from Staples. I only brought one bookcase and that has my cookbooks and a few other books on it. All my computer, Web design and marketing books are housed in the desk’s storage areas. I got rid of any books I hadn’t used in a long time and kept only the most current manuals for software like Photoshop and Dreamweaver.

Haven’t missed a single thing since I pared down and I have really enjoyed buying the things I needed. I chose a love seat with a small footprint and had it upholstered in fabric I chose myself. It has a sofa bed in it for sleepovers with my grandson (he’s coming tonight!). I bought a leather ottoman with storage inside and a coffee table that contains two large baskets. In the kitchen I bought a baker’s rack (IKEA) and stand-alone pantry cupboard for extra storage of canned goods, kitty litter, broom, etc.

In the bedroom I bought a bedside table at IKEA that has two deep drawers. I put a storage container from IKEA under the bed. The closet space is pretty tight, so I used the front of the bedroom door to hang coats and the back of the bedroom door to store various odds and ends.

In the bathroom, towels and wash cloths are rolled up and stored in a wicker basket. Hooks on the back of the door hold my housecoats. I found a neat under-the-sink shelf that adapts to the awkward space under a bathroom sink.

My motto has become “a place for everything, and everything in its place.” In a small space it’s the only way to make it work. And I have found it a lot of fun to find imaginative storage ideas and to figure out the best place to put things.

My little suite is quick and easy to clean: travertine tiles in the kitchen, hall and bathroom and light-coloured laminate in the living room and bedroom. The floors are great. They don’t show every drip, crumb or cat hair like the white linoleum and dark laminate we put in the townhouse!

Well, I could go on and on about the neat things I’ve done to make this space comfortable, but I have to run to the store and get some things for my grandson’s visit!

I discovered an amazing online store the other day. I was looking for something to raise up my bed just a little bit so I could fit an IKEA storage box under it. I searched online and found a product called RaiseIts. When the package came I was delighted with the results. Not only do the little plastic blocks raise up my bed perfectly, they also stop it from rolling around so I can read in bed easier. I don’t have a headboard so I prop pillows against the wall. As I read the bed slowly eases away from the wall. Not anymore!

Anyway, when I got the RaisIts, a brochure was enclosed in the box. It showed all kinds of amazing ergonomic and practical solutions to make life better and easier: programmable keypads and foot switches, mouse trays, adjustable laptop solutions, book and document holders (one version even holds your book for you while you lie in bed or sit on the sofa!), keyboard and monitor arms, track balls and touch pads, rollermouse, upright keyboard, a car desk (this looks amazing!), ergonomic office chairs, children’s keyboard, the list goes on and on. My favourite? Footrests that keep your feet and immediate desk area toasty warm and use less electricity than a lightbulb!

They even have a free Ergonomic Professional Locator Service, so you can get an assessment of your workstation by an ergonomic specialist in your area (Canada only).

Here’s their Web site: http://www.ergocanada.com.

I don’t know if they ship to other countries (they’re a Canadian company), but they list the manufacturers they distribute products for and the list is extensive. These manufacturers may ship internationally or have a distributor in your country. To see the list of manufacturers: http://www.ergocanada.com/about/about.html (scroll down).

Oh my, oh my… XSiteProDesigns.com moved up to the number 2 position in Google for the keywords “xsitepro templates”! I guess my little Web 2.0 campaign is working after all! Doing my victory dance! Now onto position #1! Thank you, Google! Thank you Ed Dale and Dan Raine!:)

P.S. Had to get the phone technician to come to the house to fix the problem with the phone/Internet. Got a new modem and splitter and all is just fine now! And it was a free service call!

However, my desk is still sitting in the middle of my office after the painting and carpet cleaning because we’ve decided to replace the carpets upstairs (the cleaning didn’t renew the carpets to the extent we’d hoped). So now I’m waiting for the carpet people to come. It’ll be a few days, so here I sit like a frog on a lily pad in the middle of the pond. Well, I don’t look like a frog! I hope… Okay, let’s not go there!

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