As with any business or marketing solution, there are pros and cons of Wix as your chosen website builder. Proponents of Wix tout the easy drag-and-drop usability while opponents argue that Wix is limited in its capabilities and not as easy as they say it is. While both sides have their points, there is no one right decision for every business owner. It’s important to weigh your needs against the pros and cons and make decisions accordingly.
What is Wix
Wix is a web development company that allows users to create websites through the use of their unique drag-and-drop platform. Simply find a template, drag and drop your design and functional elements, and voila – you have a website.
Their own ads boast that it makes it possible for anyone to create high-quality websites without having to know code. Inside the editor, you’re able to drag and drop features to where you want them within your chosen template.
The templated organization means you can choose a template that matches your brand/industry and then customize it to suit your needs.
But there’s so much conflicting information on the internet. Some question whether or not Wix creates as high of quality of websites as it says it does. Others note that you don’t need to know code on WordPress either (and gain much more usability while you’re at it.)
With that in mind we’ve compiled a list of the pros and cons of Wix so you can make the decision for yourself as to whether it’s the right choice for you and your company.
Pros and Cons of Wix
Pros of Wix
- User-Friendly Interface: As previously mentioned, Wix’s claim to fame is their intuitive drag-and-drop interface. This unique interface makes it possible for individuals who aren’t tech savvy to build their own website, customize it to their needs, and make changes as necessary.
Wix comes preloaded with a wide range of professionally designed templates, which takes out all of the grunt work and thinking processes when creating a visually appealing website.
And finally, their editor provides a real-time preview. This allows users to see their changes immediately without having to wait for them to ‘publish.’
- Extensive App Market: Wix offers a large app market that includes a variety of add-ons and integrations (like plugins on a traditional site) that can enhance functionality.
This is great for adding tools like e-commerce platforms, marketing automation, booking systems, calendars, and more.
The app market provides flexibility and scalability, which allows businesses to add or replace features as their business grows and their needs evolve. When weighing the pros and cons of Wix, evaluate your functionality needs. Then ensure your site builder is able to support them.
- Reliable Hosting and Maintenance: Hosting and maintenance is a requirement for any website. Wix takes care of your website hosting and maintenance for you, ensuring your site is secure, optimized, and accessible to visitors.
They handle the updates and security patches, which greatly reduces the technical maintenance for website owners. Having it taken care of for you relieves the headache of breaches and viruses.
Wix also provides reliable uptime and fast loading times, which contributes to a positive user experience. This is important because an end-user experience is vital regardless of industry or profession.
Cons of Wix
- Limited Design Flexibility: While Wix does offer a wide selection of templates, the customization options are limited when compared to fully custom-created websites.
Users face restrictions when trying to modify certain design elements or implement unique layouts. If you have something specific in mind, you will need to try to drag-and-drop it in a blank template. Otherwise you are limited to their premade templates.
While Wix boasts its affordability over other platforms, customizing beyond the parameters of the template may require hiring a Wix expert. The extra cost to meet your needs negates the affordability as a win.
- Platform Lock-in: Once you choose Wix, you can’t migrate to a different platform or content management system (CMS) in the future.
Changing to a different site builder will involve rebuilding your site from scratch, which is time consuming and costly. We have personally encountered this when working with clients.
This lack of portability may limit the scalability and long term flexibility of your website. When evaluating your site builder, take into account your growth goals and forecast.
- SEO Limitations: While Wix does provide some basic SEO features, its capabilities are limited compared to dedicated CMS platforms like WordPress.
Users have less control over advanced SEO techniques such as optimizing URLs, managing redirects, or optimizing code for search engines.
Some SEO experts argue that Wix websites achieve poor search engine rankings. They say Google and other search engines prioritize other builds over Wix websites in their algorithm. When weighing pros and cons for Wix, your search engine rankings are important to keep in mind.
The Bottom Line
Your website build is a personal choice and there’s no single right way to do it. By weighing the pros and cons of Wix and other website builders you can make an educated decision. Evaluate your needs, growth potential, SEO focus, and customization needs. Then weigh those needs with the convenience, user experience, and hassle-free maintenance. Make your choice and run with it.
The plus side? Almost no decision is permanent – you can always start over later on, regardless of what you choose. The important thing in business is to keep moving.
