Website creation is a crucial aspect of establishing an online presence for any brand or business. In the world of website builders, Wix has been a popular name due to its seemingly easy and convenient user interface. However, simplicity might come at a cost. Here are 15 in-depth reasons why Wix might not be the best choice for your website building needs:
1. False Simplicity
Wix promotes itself as a tool that makes website creation ‘easy’. While that might seem advantageous, it undermines the complexity and skill required to create a truly effective website. Elements like search engine optimization (SEO), content structures, on and off-site reputation management, and conversion optimization are not ‘easy’ tasks, and a simplistic builder like Wix often fails to address these in depth.
2. Oversimplified Design Approach
Wix’s design approach is closer to crafting a brochure than a website. This could result in a visually appealing site that performs poorly on crucial parameters like SEO and user engagement. Search engines like Google look beyond aesthetic appeal; they prioritize content, mobile-friendliness, and other technical details.
3. Inadequate SEO Support
Despite supporting SEO settings for pages, Wix often oversimplifies this crucial aspect, potentially affecting your website’s visibility. It is important to understand that SEO isn’t an ‘optional extra’; it’s essential to a website’s success.
4. Limited Control Over Hosting
With Wix, you are tied to their hosting service with no alternative. This means if you encounter issues with speed or performance, you’re entirely reliant on Wix to rectify them. In contrast, open-source platforms like WordPress allow you to choose from a wide range of hosting providers.
5. Limited Data Portability
If your business grows and you outgrow Wix’s offerings, transferring your data to another platform is a daunting task. On the other hand, platforms like WordPress let you retain all your content and switch themes easily, without having to re-enter your data.
6. Hidden Costs
While Wix may seem affordable initially, the costs can add up when you start adding functionality or need to remove limitations like Wix branding, which is present in the free version. Also, premium features like Google Analytics tracking are only available with paid plans.
7. Restrictive Free Version
The free version of Wix comes with several limitations like Wix branding, lack of analytics, and limits on adding functionality. While it may seem an attractive offering initially, the restrictions may force you to upgrade to a paid plan sooner than you anticipate.
8. The Cost of Lost Business
While the monetary cost of Wix may seem low, the cost of lost business due to a poorly functioning website can be high. Inadequate SEO, slow performance, and poor user experience could all lead to lost business opportunities.
9. Compromised User Experience
With Wix, you might create a website that looks good but performs poorly in terms of user experience. Slow loading speeds, limited customizability, and sub-optimal SEO could all contribute to a less than stellar user experience.
10. Lack of Advanced Features
Wix’s simplicity often comes at the expense of advanced features. If you want to add features or functionalities that are not supported by Wix, you might find yourself at a dead-end.
11. Template Lock-In
Once you’ve chosen a template on Wix, you’re stuck with it. Unlike other platforms where changing the look of your site is as simple as applying a new theme, with Wix, you’ll have to rebuild your website if you decide to change your template.
12. Oversimplified Analytics
Wix offers analytics tools, but they often lack the depth and detail of more advanced tools like Google Analytics. This lack of detailed insight can hinder your marketing decisions and strategic planning.
13. Limited E-commerce Capabilities
If you plan on running an online store, Wix may not be the best choice. Its e-commerce capabilities are quite limited compared to specialized e-commerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce on WordPress. Shopify offers some of the best e-commerce capabilities and is is currently the best ecommerce website builder for all-in-one store building.
14. Negative Impact on Online Presence
A website is a crucial part of your online presence, and a poorly performing website can harm your reputation and visibility. By oversimplifying the process, Wix may hinder your website’s performance, affecting your overall online presence.
15. Potential Future Costs
Finally, while Wix may seem like a cost-effective solution initially, potential future costs like migrating to a new platform, improving SEO, and lost business due to poor performance can make it more expensive in the long run.
Wix Website Builder Alternatives
While Wix might seem like an easy-to-use platform, it may not be the best choice for everyone. Depending on your requirements, budget, and technical proficiency, other website builders or a professional web development service might be more suitable.
- WordPress: This open-source platform is one of the most popular website builders around. It provides greater flexibility and control over your website’s design and functionality, with a huge library of plugins and themes. There are two versions: WordPress.com, which is a hosted solution, and WordPress.org, which is self-hosted and offers the most flexibility. Even our website was built with WordPress!
- Squarespace: Known for its sleek and professional templates, Squarespace is a great alternative for those looking for design-centric website building. It’s user-friendly and offers robust features, including e-commerce capabilities.
- Shopify: If you’re specifically looking to create an e-commerce website, Shopify is a great option. It’s a comprehensive e-commerce platform that allows you to sell both physical and digital goods, and it includes a wide range of templates and customization options.
- Weebly: This is another user-friendly website builder that comes with a range of stylish templates. It’s particularly known for its strong e-commerce features, making it a good choice for online stores.
- Joomla: This is another open-source content management system like WordPress. It’s slightly more complex to use, but offers a high level of customization and flexibility.
- Drupal: This is a powerful and flexible open-source content management system. It’s more complex than WordPress and Joomla and is often used for building large-scale and complex websites.
- Webflow: Webflow is a professional-grade website builder that gives you total design freedom with CSS, JavaScript, and HTML. It’s a bit more complex than Wix and other drag-and-drop website builders, but it provides much more control over your site’s design.
- BigCommerce: BigCommerce is another e-commerce platform that’s great for businesses of all sizes. It comes with a variety of customizable templates and gives you the ability to sell a wide range of products.
- Ghost: If you’re focused on blogging or content publishing, Ghost is an excellent option. It’s a simple, clean, and user-friendly platform designed for bloggers and publishers.
Wix has made improvements in their SEO capabilities, but they still fall short compared to other platforms like WordPress. For example, Wix’s URL structures can be messy and it doesn’t support some advanced SEO techniques.
No, Wix does not allow you to choose your hosting service. This means you are entirely dependent on Wix for any server-side issues, and can’t leverage different hosting solutions for cost, reliability, or performance needs.
Unfortunately, Wix does not offer full data portability. This means you cannot easily transfer all of your site’s data to another platform without significant manual work.
While Wix offers a free version, it’s quite limited and includes Wix ads. For full functionality and removal of Wix branding, you’ll need to upgrade to a paid plan. Premium features, like advanced analytics, also come at an additional cost.
The free version of Wix comes with significant limitations, including Wix branding on your site, no custom domain, limited storage and bandwidth, and no access to premium features like advanced analytics. Most businesses would likely find these limitations too restrictive.
While Wix’s design-oriented approach may result in aesthetically pleasing websites, it may compromise the overall user experience. Factors like slow load times, limited customizability, and suboptimal SEO can result in a less-than-stellar user experience.
With Wix, once you choose a template and start building your site, you’re locked into that template. If you want to change it, you’ll have to rebuild your website from scratch.
Wix’s simplicity often comes at the cost of advanced features. For complex functionalities that aren’t natively supported by Wix, you may need to depend on their app marketplace, which may not always have the specific solutions you need.
Wix’s e-commerce capabilities are quite limited, especially compared to specialized e-commerce platforms like Shopify or WooCommerce for WordPress. If you’re planning to run an extensive online store, Wix may not be the best choice.
Yes, using Wix can potentially affect your online presence negatively. Factors like poor SEO, slow load times, and limited customizability can lead to a less effective website and therefore a weaker online presence.
