Recommended Resources

I have gathered free and paid resources for you in the way of:

• tools and services for creating headers and Web graphics
• HTML tools for adding nice touches to your XSite Pro templates
• Internet marketing tools so you can get more traffic and convert visitors into customers.

Some of these are my affiliate links because I signed up as an affiliate AFTER using or evaluating each resource. This list is invaluable to you as it would take you months of trial and error to find resources and tools that work as well as these do. Print this page, bookmark this page, come back often.

1. XSitePro - Your tool of choice for quick and easy Web site creation. XSite Pro's built-in Search Engine Optimization is awesome!
   
   
   
   
2. XSitePro to WordPress Integration - How To Seamlessly Integrate a WordPress Blog Into your XSitePro Web Site: Convert XSitePro to WordPress

3. If you want to really learn SEO and great marketing strategies, the best person to listen to is Aaron Wall. He's not one of the "Internet marketing gurus" that tend to be all hype and no substance. Some people are true gurus... Aaron is one of 'em! His SEOBook is the best out there by far. If you're wondering why I only had one affiliate program (XSite Pro) on this site for almost a year, read this book!
   
   
4. Finding stock photographs online - You can find royalty free stock photos by doing a search in Google for "stock photos," "royalty free photos," etc. Here are some sites that have very cheap stock photos: www.fotolia.com, www.dreamstime.com (my favourite), www.luckyoliver.com, www.istockphoto.com, www.qdesign.com, www.bigstockphoto.com.
   
   
5. RECOMMENDED Hosting - HostGator (CPanel includes file manager & Fantastico; unlimited MySQL databases; 1 domain $4.95/month; unlimited domains $7.95/month).
   
   
   
   
6. 68Meg Graphics Package - Highly recommended and cheap, too! Gorgeous buttons, bullets, icons, stars, smilies, ribbons, credit cards, US currency, medallions and tons more! How to use these images in XSitePro. I've given you a few examples, but you're limited only by your imagination.
   
   
   
7. Adding Detailed Data-Collection Forms to Your Site...
   
   InstantFormPro from Joel Comm - Works with XSitePro. **No limit to the number of sites you can use it on! Easy drag-and-drop interface. Extrememly flexible and feature-rich.($197)
   
   

   Imagine Being Able To Create Unlimited... * Simple Questionnaires * Complex Surveys * Contact Forms * Job Applications * Testimonial Generators * Database Entry Forms * Feedback Forms * File Uploaders * Tests and Quizzes * Or Collect Data of Virtually Any Kind

   
   MachForm - Integrates okay with XSitePro, but you'll need to know some CSS. Need to buy one license per domain (including subdomains) you want to use it on. ($39.00 per domain; $199 for 100 domains)
   
   Jotform - Requires tinkering and knowledge of CSS to get it to work with XSitePro. (Free)
   
   
8. Online Forms Generators - Here are two contact forms generators that come recommended by some of the contributors to the XSitePro forum: Best Web Forms and My Contact Form.
   

9. AWeber - This is the autoresponder service I use. That means I can help you with it and I can easily add an opt-in box to your template.
   

   FREE AWeber Demo!

   Less Work! More Sales! Sound good? AWeber's unlimited follow up autoresponders increase sales, lower costs, build lasting customer relationships, and increase your profits! Find out how with Unlimited Autoresponders. Watch your email box! After you fill in the form on the left and click the Free Demo button, you will receive a confirmation email. You MUST click on the link in the confirmation email to activate your free demo!

10. Really Nice Headers - Graphically challenged? Here are some really nice header graphics that you can edit in Photoshop.

11. Need some inexpensive XSitePro sales letter templates? My friend, James Schramko of XSP Cheat Sheet fame, has put together a package for you.

12. XSP Cheat Sheet is the missing link as far as I'm concerned. It tells you exactly how to optimize your XSite Pro Web site for the search engines: SEO on steroids! If you have a professional, custom XSite Pro template and this ebook, you're good to go with XSite Pro! (Hey, that rhymes!)
    
    

13. Google Keyword Tool - Google gives approximate counts of keyword searches over the previous month.

14. MyFonts.com - Here's where I get great fonts! Automatic installation included (you don't have to know how to install fonts!).
    
    

15. Affordable, Powerful Shopping Cart & Merchant Account - 1ShoppingCart is used by top marketers like Alex Mandossian, Yanik Silver, Marlon Sanders, Stephen Pierce, Jim Edwards, Armand Morin, etc., but it's not expensive! You can by-pass ClickBank and similar systems that take a substantial percentage of your profits! No technical knowledge needed. Automate your business: shopping cart, real-time credit card processing, affiliate management, unlimited autoresponders, digital product delivery. Yes, there's a Canadian version so we can accept both CAD and USD.
    
    
    
    
16. Article Underground - 400 articles per month; plus, an amazing, 100% white hat traffic-generating system; lots of real success stories! Make $500.00/month on AdSense like a friend of mine is doing with very little effort.
    
    
17. Writing Headlines and Other Copywriting Advice - A List Apart is a wonderful source of info for Web owners.
    
    
18. Article Rating Script - Want your visitors to rate your articles? Here's PHP script that will do it. All article pages must have a .php extension to be rated.
    
    
19. Bloglines - Awesome RSS Feed Reader recommended by Ed Dale of Underachiever and 30-Day Challenge. You can keep up with everything in your field and your areas of interest, hobbies, etc. with this RSS Feed Reader.
    
    
20. 7 Dollar Report Magic - This $7 report shows you how to use an inexpensive report to build your list, drive traffic to your site and sell affiliate products or your own products or services. There's a lot more here than meets the eye! Use this report to learn how to create your own $7 reports! Not a writer? Don't worry, there are plenty of ghostwriters and editors out there. And a $7 report doesn't have to be a masterpiece. By the way, we can create awesome high quality covers for your reports, ebooks, etc.
    
    
21. Free Report: how to build your own simple XSitePro template. Download here.
    
    
    
    
22. OrwellPro - This is Jason Potash's amazing tool for finding buckets of articles from article directories. OrwellPro costs $127.00, but here's a link to the free version. It doesn't have as many bells and whistles, but still works great! The free version of Orwell works just fine with XSite Pro's Import Pages (Power Pack), but the Pro version exports directly to XSite Pro, WordPress, RSS2Blog and ContentComposer, so definitely a time-saver there! Also, the Pro version automates several other steps in the process.
    
    Tips: 1) The Pro version rates the articles (using the number of uses on the Internet already) so you can choose the best ones, but it will be rare to find articles no one is using, so think about adding an introduction or comment when you import them into XSitePro. 2) Set up the Export Settings to save the articles using their file name so you can easily compare them with ones you previously downloaded. This will avoid duplicating articles on your site. 3) OrwellPro will also parse articles you locate on your hard drive for keyword relevancy, so set it to work analyzing articles in your directory of Article Underground articles. Then export them to XSite Pro. Talk about building relevant content fast!
    
    
23. Cheap domains at 1and1.com - Buy .com and other top-level domains for $5.99 - reliable registrar; no tricky stuff. Note: You do NOT need to (and probably should not) host your Web site with your domain name registrar. See hosting recommendations above.
    
    
24. YouSendIt.com - FREE online FTP service for sending files over the Internet. Very useful if your ISP blocks large files, like mine does!
    
    
25. Mikogo.com - Free, small, downloadable application that enables you to see your client's desktop and vice versa. Very useful for troubleshooting and training calls.
    
    
26. Search engine optimization seo keyword blog - Shows you how to amplify the current results you are getting right now. You will know exactly what keywords should be in your web 2.0 or reciprocal linking backlinks.
    
    
27. How to Buy a Profit-Rich Domain Name - Free report by Andrea Wilson (PDF).
    
    
28. The Words That Sell - Reports on words, phrases and expressions that appeal and don't appeal to 38 different professions and groups of people you might be marketing to: real estate agents, medical professionals, engineers, entrepreneurs, CEO's, CFO's, etc. These reports run about $28 each. They are AWESOME!! This is one of those best kept secrets on the Web!
    
    
29. Online-Image-Editor.com - Free online tool to add rounded corners and nice borders to images. More info about this tool can be found on our Tips page.
    
    
30. Picnik.com - Picnik is an awesome online tool that allows you to edit your images like a pro! You can add rounded edges with a background colour that matches your Web page, crop, resize, rotate, sharpen your images, change your image into sepia tones, add borders, and do all kinds of great effects and fun stuff. And it's way easier to use than Photoshop, believe me!
    
    
31. ColorPic - Incredibly useful, free colour picker tool. More info about this tool can be found on our Tips page. Hint: To change the hex value to RGB for XSite Pro, use the free ColorPic tool. Enter the hex value in the Color section in the field that has a "#" in front of it. The RGB (Red, Green, Blue) values will appear below in the Mixer section.
    
    
32. Peter Piper's Color Palette Picker - This free Web page allows you to play with colour combinations so you can choose a pleasing colour palette for your Web site. It also gives you the hexadecimal value for the colours. Mouse over each colour to see the hex value. Hint: To change the hex value to RGB for XSite Pro, use the free ColorPic tool.
    
    
33. Colour Schemes Generator - This is an online tool (although you can copy it to your hard drive) that allows you to develop a harmonious colour scheme based on colour principles. Very useful! Note that the tool uses a different colour model than Photoshop, so entering RGB values may result in slightly different colours than the same value would produce in Photoshop. Example: entering #F854A9 as an RGB value will produce #F854AA in this tool.
    
    
34. Logo Maker - For $99 you can make a great logo quickly and easily using this site's interactive tool. The artwork is very nice. The finished logo is perfect quality and can be used for print as well as the Web.
    
    
35. One Minute Poll - This is an online polling tool so you can survey your customers and prospects. 30 day free trial! $49.95/year for the basic service of 250 responses per survey (Note: 100 legitimate responses is enough for most purposes). The number of surveys you can do is unlimited and they can be totally customized.
    

36. Good Keywords - Free software for finding the perfect set of keywords for your Web pages. Knowing the right keywords to target is very important because your site should provide what people are searching for. Find suitable keywords sets, create meta tags, brainstorm product ideas, etc. Includes a site popularity meter and a link popularity meter. Use the Web page explorer to study Web pages, including keyword density.

37. Abra Screen Recorder - This is a free screen recorder that also records audio. It is meant for help desk managers to use to record the actions of their customer service agents, but it works just fine for any screen recording. It doesn't have any fancy settings, but it works!
    
    
38. PrimoPDF or PDFFactory - As an alternative to Adobe Acrobat®, here are two free tools to convert MS Word and other documents to PDF. Lots of features. Make nice reports or ebooks to give away or sell on your Web site. PDFFactory will create live links in their trial version, but the trial version puts a small banner on your document. PrimoPDF does not offer live links. XSite Pro Tip: to upload PDF's to your XSite Pro Web site, go to Other > File Manager > Add and browse to find the file on your hard drive. Next time you upload your pages, the PDF will get uploaded, too. To link to the PDF, simply link to it like you would to any other file, e.g., <a href="myreport.pdf">My Report</a>. More about PDF's here...
    
    
39. TextPad - Try before you buy. Invaluable tool for writing email messages with a set number of characters per line (e.g., 65) and working with lists of keyword.  Phenomenal search and replace features. In addition to the usual cut and paste capabilities, you can correct the most common typing errors with commands to change case, and transpose words, characters and lines. Other commands let you indent blocks of text, split or join lines, and insert whole files. Any change can be undone or redone, right back to the first one made. Visible bookmarks can be put on lines, and edit commands can be applied to lines with bookmarks. I use this tool every day! The way it can sort, prune, split and edit keyword lists is amazing!
    
    
40. XMailWrite - Free software from the makers of XSitePro. Helps you write email messages that are more likely to arrive at their destination, and messages and articles that are more likely to be read!
    
    • Reformats your message to a set number of characters (e.g., 65)
    • Checks your message against 900+ spam characteristics. 
    • Tabbed interface makes it ideal for writing autoresponder series and article collections.
    • Instant readability analysis to make sure your message gets read. 
    • Detailed statistics telling you all you need to know about your message.
    • Word count and density report makes writing articles a breeze.
    • Real-time spell checker and much much more.
      
      
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    For as little as $360 a year, your company is literally one click away from the front page of the major search engines. Finding a cost effective advertising tool, that provides national exposure, is a key component for any successful marketing or advertising campaign and cannot be stressed enough.
    
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