For a person who has no idea about web design, coding, etc., the Wix website builder seems like the gateway to heaven.
It’s easy to set up, it looks kinda nice, and you can edit your page easily after set-up. Life seems great, but then you notice that Wix is actually not all fairytales and rainbows.
In this article, you’ll see the benefits and key things you give up by using Wix for your website.
What is Wix?
Wix is a website-building tool that is often advertised as a way for people to create their own website or online store without any coding skills. However, there are several reasons why you might not want to use Wix for your website.
It’s a ‘hosted’ solution, meaning it’s hosted on its own servers (‘in the cloud’). As a result, you won’t have to install any software and won’t have to pay for any hosting.
With a web browser and connection to the internet, you can build, maintain and promote your website using Wix. Sounds amazing right? Not really.
Why Shouldn’t I Use Wix to Build a Website?
There are a lot of reasons why Wix is not a good solution for the long term, or even for the short term. We’ll go over the most important ones to us.
1. You Can’t Use Your Own Domain Name with Wix
If you’re planning on using your own domain name with Wix, you might want to think twice. Wix doesn’t allow you to use your own domain name unless you upgrade to their premium plan, which can get pretty pricey.
Moreover, while you are using a wix.com subdomain, you’ll have Wix ads on your website. Displaying wix.com ads and the inability to use your own domain name makes your website look unprofessional and cheap.
You can bet there will be ZERO conversions on that site with all that trust-breaking elements flying around. So if you’re set on using your own domain name, you’ll need to look for other solutions.
2. Bad User Experience
If you’re not a professional web designer, the biggest reason you should avoid using Wix to create your website is that you won’t be able to produce a site that looks and functions as well as one created by someone with experience. The process of creating a website includes more than just throwing up a few pages and calling it done.
It’s important to also consider factors like user flows, calls to action, and prototypes in order to create a site that’s both visually appealing and easy to use. While Wix may claim to be simple and user-friendly, the reality is that without prior experience, you’re likely to end up with a subpar website that doesn’t reflect well on your business or organization.
User experience is critical for any website.
A bad user experience will result in lost customers and revenue. When you create a website using a DIY site builder, you are likely not designing it with a good user experience in mind.
This will diminish your user experience and make it harder for people to find and use your website. You will also lose brand recognition and uniqueness because there are a lot of other customers all using the same website templates.
If you want to create a website that has a good user experience and stands out from the crowd, you should hire a professional web designer.
User experience is critical to the success of any website.
Professional web designers use objective-based designs that are focused on increasing engagement and conversions. By understanding the user’s needs and objectives, they can create a user flow that guides the visitor through the site in a way that is most likely to result in a sale or other desired action.
While it is possible to create a website without professional help, it is much less likely to be successful. Sites created with the help of user experience professionals are more engaging, better organized, and easier to use, all of which increase the likelihood of converting visitors into customers.
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that any website will do — if you want your site to succeed, you need to make certain investments.
3. You Can’t Migrate Your Wix Website to Another Platform
You may be out of luck if your company outgrows the Wix platform or if you decide to switch platforms for whatever reason.
While competing platforms, such as Webflow, offer straightforward HTML export as part of their commercial plans, Wix presently does not allow you to export your data to another platform.
According to the Wix Help Center:
“Your Wix site and all of its content is hosted exclusively on Wix’s servers, and cannot be exported elsewhere.
Specifically, it is not possible to export or embed files, pages, or sites, created using the Wix Editor or ADI to another external destination or host.
If you embed a site into an external location, Wix is no longer in control of the way that your site appears or functions, and therefore, cannot provide support. In addition, Google Analytics and search engine crawlers are not able to work properly with an embedded site.”
What Does This Mean?
So what this means is that you won’t be able to transfer anything anywhere else. Everything you do or add is stuck on the Wix Platform forever.
When the time comes and you have outgrown your Wix site, you will have to leave everything behind and start a new website. You won’t be able to migrate any information, not even a single line of code.
Wix might be a starting point for those just getting started with website design, but you’ll need to explore other options if you want to take your business or project further.
4. Wix is Not an SEO-Friendly Platform
One of the most common complaints about DIY website builders like Wix is that they are not very SEO-friendly. This means that it can be difficult to get your site to rank high in search engine results pages (SERPs), which can in turn lead to less traffic and fewer leads.
There are a few reasons why this is the case.
First, DIY builders often generate code that is not as clean or well-structured as what you would get from a professional web developer. This can make it more difficult for search engines to crawl and index your site properly.
Second, DIY builders typically do not offer as many advanced SEO settings as more expensive, professional platforms. This means that you may have to put in more work to optimize your site for search engines.
Wix has always been behind the curve when it comes to SEO. The platform is constricting and inflexible, making it hard to customize your site for Google’s ever-changing algorithms.
As a result, Wix sites have always struggled to rank as highly as their more nimble competitors.
However, Wix has made some improvements in recent years, and the platform is now slightly better equipped to handle basic SEO needs.
But at the end of the day, it still lags behind other platforms in terms of customization and flexibility.
5. Wix Ads
Sure, the platform is easy to use and doesn’t require any coding knowledge, but there are some major downsides to using Wix. Chief among them is that your site will be plastered with ads, touting the fact that it was created with Wix.
Not only does this make your site look cheap and unprofessional, but it also makes it less likely that visitors will trust your brand.
In today’s competitive marketplace, you can’t afford to sacrifice customer trust. So take the time to build a website that looks and feels like a true reflection of your brand.
6. You Won’t Be the Owner of Your Website
When creating a website for your business, it is important to consider who will own the site. With Wix, you will not own your website or your design.
You are simply one of the thousands of subscribers to the Wix platform, and your license can be revoked at any time. All of this is made clear in the terms and conditions that you agree to when signing up for Wix’s services.
As a result, it is important to consider other options when developing a website for your business. Letting professionals handle your website creation will allow you to own your website and design, giving you the peace of mind that comes with knowing that your hard work will be for nothing.
If Wix ever goes bankrupt, decides to take down their platform, or remove certain templates/features/functionalities, you’ll have no recourse except to move on to whatever Wix has decided to do instead.
This could be extraordinarily disruptive for your business and cause you to lose customers and valuable data. As a business, you never want to be this reliant upon some external company over which you have no control.
7. Very Limited Customization and Optimization Options
A website is a powerful tool for any business. It’s a way to reach new customers, build credibility, and grow your brand.
However, a website is only successful if it’s constantly being optimized. That means looking for ways to increase engagement using A/B testing and user flow testing.
Unfortunately, when you create a simple Wix website you don’t have the ability to do any of this. The result is a static website that is not growing or evolving.
This can be disastrous for your business
You’re missing out on opportunities to reach new customers and grow your brand. So if you’re serious about building a successful website, steer clear of Wix.
Instead, invest in a platform that will give you the flexibility and freedom to optimize your website along the road.
Know What You Want and What You Can Get From a Wix Website
While it may be tempting to build your own website using a pre-made template from Wix or another similar service, there are a number of reasons why you should avoid doing so. One of the biggest problems with using a pre-made template is that your website is likely to look very similar to everyone else’s.
This lack of originality can make it hard to stand out from the competition, and it may even turn potential customers away before they’ve had a chance to see what you have to offer. Additionally, customers are becoming savvier and can often tell when a website has been built using a pre-built template.
This lack of professionalism can harm your chances of building trust with potential clients.
Wix is an outdated platform that does not meet the needs of modern-day requirements like cost, SEO, flexibility, and ownership.
So for better scalability, a more professional look, better rankings, higher conversions, and better control over your website, invest in a real solution.
At Optimum7, we design, build and, maintain websites for higher conversions and rankings. Contact us and let’s talk about your project ASAP!
