Wix Website Builder Review

The name ‘Wix’ may sound like a cross between a cleaning product a nazel spray, but it is actually a free website builder package. In the following article we are going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of using Wix to create a website.

Wix.com was founded in 2006, the first beta version of Wix was released back in 2008, and the company went public in 2013. It was designed for people who had no coding experience, but who wanted to create a professional web presence. Today around 62 million people use the platform, and with free web hosting included, it’s an attractive option for many small businesses.

Main Wix Features

Wix is a cloud based website building solution that enables users to create bespoke websites using a ‘drag and drop’ technique. The original Wix was based entirely on Flash, but the latest incarnation is built using HTML5, so it works on mobile websites.

Aside from the fact that Wix comes with free hosting, you also have access to hundreds of different templates, so you can create a customised website to suit your individual needs. Templates are categorised, so it should be easy to find a template that fits your business.

The intuitive website builder is very easy to use. To change anything, all you have to do is click on the image, text or layout section and adjust it.

The Wix App Market is available to add extra services such as social feeds, MailChimp, website analytics, business tools, and Google AdSense. You can use Wix to build an online store, but only if you subscribe to a paid version.

You can use your own domain address, or take advantage of a free Wix domain.

Ease of Use

The Wix website builder platform is very easy to use, even for absolute beginners. The ‘drag and drop’ design interface doesn’t require any technical knowledge, but if you do run into problems, you can ask for help on the Wix support forum.

Cost

If all you want is a basic website, Wix offers a free plan, however - there's a reason why it's free. You will be given a Wix domain address and access to design templates, but your website will feature Wix adverts. There are four premium paid plans: Connect Domain, Combo, Unlimited, and eCommerce. A basic Wix Connect package comes with 1 GB of bandwidth and 500MB of storage, which might not be sufficient if you attract a reasonable amount of traffic or your website has a lot of pages.

Support

Wix offers three customer support options: email, telephone and a support library (Wix Answers) on their website. The telephone support option is only available Monday to Friday between 6AM and 5PM PST, but you can request a ‘call-back’ if you don’t have time to wait for a customer support agent.

Reasons to Use Wix
  • There are lots of professional looking templates to choose from and if you want to create a website with lots of images, Wix could work well for you.
  • The ‘drag and drop’ interface is easy to use and ideally suited to someone with zero experience of building a website.
  • Wix servers boast an up-time of 99.9%, so your website won’t be off-line very often.
  • The Wix ‘mobile’ feature enables users to edit the mobile version of their website independently from the desktop version. So if you want to hide certain elements or tweak the display to create a better experience for mobile users, you can.
  • The Wix App store allows users to add all kinds of extra functionality to their website.
  • Web hosting is provided on all Wix websites, so you won’t need to look for a hosting provider.
Reasons Why Wix Might Not be Right for You
  • The no-frills version of Wix is free, but if you want to access premium features, there is a cost involved. Free Wix means no email, no personalised domain, and only limited access to the Wix admin area. For a small hobby website, this might not be a problem, but for a business, it will make it difficult to build a professional looking website.
  • There are lots of stylish templates to choose from when building a Wix website, but once you have selected a template, unlike with a WordPress site, you won’t be able to change it to another template. If you do decide to switch to a new design further down the line, you will have to re-insert your content – and if you have created dozens of pages, this will be a very tedious task.
  • Wix doesn’t allow users to edit any of the underlying HTML or CSS code. This won’t be a problem if you haven’t got a clue how to do this, but for anyone who wants to customise a design or make small tweaks, it will be limiting.
  • If you decide to move your website to a new provider, you won’t be able to take your Wix templates with you because there is no export or archive feature.
  • Only one website can be created per premium package, so if you plan on building more than one site, the cost will soon begin to add up.
  • Wix customer support leaves a lot to be desired. There is no live-chat option, which is rather unusual in this day and age. The telephone support service often has long call-waiting times and email responses from Wix support are often generic ‘cut & paste’ notes. You can post questions on the support forum, but are not guaranteed a useful response.
Conclusion

Wix has a relatively small market share compared to other free platforms such as WordPress and is mostly used by low traffic websites. If all you want is a functional online presence and you don’t care about building a highly-customised website, then the Wix Website Builder might be right for you. The basic free version of Wix is easy to use and there are lots of templates to choose from, but for businesses and anyone with ambitions to develop a more permanent web presence, Wix has a lot of limitations and you will get more value for money with a customised website built to your own specifications.

For more information about website development and how a bespoke website can help your business grow, contact us today.

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