Why You Should Avoid a Wix Website

We get a lot of clients asking us, “should I build my website on Wix”? Wix is a content management system (CMS) that enables users to manage and amend content on a website without any coding skills.

And, while Wix certainly does have its advantages over other content management systems, the disadvantages far outweigh the initial, assumed benefits.

In this article, we want to explain precisely why Wix has become so popular and why many users swear by it. But, also to explain Wix’s limitations, why using it is not in your best interest in the long run, and why we do not recommend it.

Of course, there are advantages to Wix. Since it launched in 2006, WIX has gained millions of users. If Wix was all bad, it would never have achieved widespread adoption. Its success is thanks to the cheap and easy to use platform that is ideal for even the most technically-challenged people.

According to the latest Wix usage statistics from W3Techs, Wix has a 2.2% market share of all of the content management systems that we know – representing 1.2% of all websites online.

What makes Wix so popular is the drag and drop functionality, which has proven to be extremely popular with people looking for a simple website quickly and cheaply. Any person with elementary computing skills can easily build a website for free in a couple of hours.

Furthermore, the pre-designed responsive templates automatically adapt to any device; be it a computer, tablet or mobile phone.

Wix’s entry-level is free, which includes hosting. You can even use one of Wix’s free subdomains – e.g. yourbiz.wix.com – meaning you also don’t need to worry about domain registration fees.

Wix revenue was over USD 600 million in 2018. Clearly, many of Wix’s userbase spent a lot of money to enjoy some of the basic features one would expect with a functional website.

A free account on Wix will not even include Google Analytics, essential for all businesses. Google Analytics allows you to analyse in-depth detail about the visitors to your site. It provides insights that help to shape the online marketing strategy of your business.

Paid plans on Wix, range from $13 to $49 per month (billed annually). Plus, there is a specialised business solution called the Enterprise plan, which costs $500 per month.

By offering consumers a free platform to build and host their website, Wix has grown into the brand it is today. But a Wix free website – or a Wix paid site for that matter – is not what you want to go for, and here’s why.

Now that I have covered all of the advantages of Wix, let’s dive into the Wix disadvantages, and why we don’t recommend it for our clients.

The free platform is not suitable for business at all. Using a Wix domain name and free account – with Wix branding and Ads – is like holding up a sign to your marketplace that says you are cheap and amateurish. It suggests that you are not even prepared to invest in your own business, and you’re happy to cultivate a bargain-basement mentality.

The paid plans do not fare much better for business either. Think about it, if the Wix platform was so good, wouldn’t major companies and corporations be using them around the world? They’re not.

There are much better options for business and let us continue, and we’ll explain why.

Many of the Wix sites on Wix are built using Flash technology. Flash is frowned upon, particularly within the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) industry. Many phones and tablets do not even display Flash. This excludes a majority of your marketplace due to the trend for mobile internet use increasing exponentially in recent years, to overtake desktop usage.

SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is essential for any website. What is the point of having a website if it can’t be found?

Many factors can affect a website’s ability to achieve high search engine rankings. Some of the most important aspects include content, user experience and on-page SEO elements. And while Wix has made strong inroads to improving their on-page SEO, it is still a long way behind other content management systems like WordPress.

Here is an article that looks at Wix vs WordPress for SEO. The article goes into great depth to explain how Wix lacks this fundamental element of what makes a successful website.

The use of Flash is another reason why Google is not a big fan of websites built on Wix. Flash technology is known to reduce a website page download time. A slower website results in a poor user experience and an increase in site abandonment. All of these factors produce a cycle of negative signals that are sent to Google that says a site does not belong at the top of the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

While Wix does provide an array of templates, you cannot implement your own design ideas. If you wanted a few bespoke features, it is not a simple process to undertake in Wix.

Once your site is created on Wix, there is no way to export your data if you wanted to move platforms. If your site outgrew the Wix platform and down the track, you wanted to add features not supported by Wix, you are essentially stuck.

If you decided that another platform was more suitable, moving over to it would require a lot of work. You would need to manually copy and paste every single bit of your content to your new website.

Not very practical when you compare it to having a site on WordPress. On WordPress, you can keep all of your content and apply a new theme to change the layout and look completely. With WordPress, you can also add an unlimited amount of plugins to give you limitless possibilities seamlessly.

Perhaps Wix is an attractive option because you cannot afford web development at the moment. But, remember to factor in the potential future cost of a redeveloping an existing website because you’ve outgrown Wix or want to move it on to another platform.

Besides, even in the interim, once you start adding even basic functionality – such as Google Analytics, as previously mentioned – you will discover many hidden costs on Wix.

A website on WordPress can cost you just a few bucks a month, while a comparable website on Wix will cost you over $15 per month.

By far, the most significant cost to your business using Wix is the unknown costs. The cost of your site not being found on Google. The cost of having a website that lacks functionality and provides your customers with a sub-par user experience.

So which platform is better Wix or WordPress? At this point, the answer should be fairly clear. While Wix does have its advantages, there is a reason why WordPress dominates the Netscape. WordPress has a 60.4% market share of all content management systems and used by 33.5% of all websites online – including popular sites like TechCrunch, The New Yorker and Microsoft News Center.

WordPress is also free to download. You just need to purchase a domain and hosting.

Bottom line, if you want the easiest option to build a website, Wix is a good option. But, if you want loads of traffic and you want to give your business a competitive edge, then you can’t go past WordPress.

Want to create a professional site, built on a platform that can best serve you now and into the future? Get in touch with our friendly team today. 

Here are just three local Australian businesses that have benefited from a WordPress website package, custom-designed by Quikclicks:

• Renz – Binding equipment
• Austeck – Sewer cameras