Is Wix better than Wordpress?
Wordpress, while a great blogging platform, is riddled with problems – for one, it is an unsupported free CMS (Content Management System) that causes my clients a lot of grief due to hackers getting into the backend and adding malware to sites. Because it is an open-source platform, robots/hackers can easily find security flaws to get behind the scenes to add their malware and links. I have had several clients come to me with hacked Wordpress sites, and unfortunately I have to tell them it would be easier to start from scratch than to try to fix their hacked sites.
Unfortunately, a lot of people get a Wordpress site up, and they don't stay on top of the updates and security patches that prevent it from getting hacked.
I'm not saying Wordpress is all bad, as it is very customizable and, with thousands of dollars in development fees, it can be a great platform if it is kept updated and utilizes the latest security features, But if you're looking for a great platform that doesn't require constant updating by your developers, Wix is a wonderful alternative. Note: it is not wise to update your own Wordpress site unless you back up the files and database first, which is not easy for a non-website designer to do!
Wix is a great platform, as it is a hosted platform and they have tech support. With a Wix website, you don't have to worry about asking your website designer/developer to upgrade your Wordpress software version every 6 months. Wix is auto updated with new features nearly every week, and you don't have to lift a finger. Plus, if you do have a problem, Wix does have tech support. While Wordpress has a massive forum for posting questions, it is very difficult and time consuming to go through all the forum responses to problems and determine which solutions (if any) will solve your Wordpress problem.
One of the big arguments against Wix is that is a hosted platform, and you cannot move or set up Wix websites on other hosting providers, as you could with open source platforms such as Wordpress. There is also no easy way to export out a Wix website to other platforms, so once you're on Wix, it's a manual process to move it to a different platform. However, one could say the same of Wordpress, Shopify, and other platforms. Wordpress sites, while they have exportable data, are also difficult to move from one hosting provider to another unless you're a developer. Moving a Wordpress website almost always requires a developer to help export databases and setup themes and port over the data on the new server, and this can take several hours. It is also quite an undertaking to make major design changes to a Wordpress website, such as editing the headers or footers or the homepage layout, which often requires a developer if you want to do something different.
The real question is, does anyone care if a website is exportable? Most small businesses don't want to switch website platforms regularly, it's only done out of necessity (like when you have a hacked Wordpress site and you're tired of fixing it repeatedly and battling it to make simple design edits.) To be honest, even if you have a Wordpress site, it's no small feat to redesign the pages and templates, in fact, in my experience, it takes much longer to redesign a Wordpress website than it takes to redesign a Wix website. With Wix, you don't have to waste valuable time recoding themes files and CSS styles, you can just work right on each page to update the design as desired.
And, websites are not tied to Wix if you should ever change your mind. Like Wordpress and other platforms, you can still rebuild and move your website onto a new platform at any time. You may need to copy and paste the content and download/import over images from your old Wix website if desired, but it's not much different doing this from Wix as it is from Wordpress or other platforms. When you change platforms, it's always a time consuming process, and often you end up redesigning the website in the process anyway. And with Wix, why would you want to change platforms? They have the best WYSIWG website editor in the business – in my opinion, Wix provides a million dollar website editor for about the same cost for hosting as Wordpress hosting. It's a no-brainer for most website needs*.
Wix is so easy to use, you can simply login to the editor, and then click on the items you want to edit and edit them right on the spot. In Wordpress, often times your content is buried in different places (like in Widgets) that are difficult to find and makes editing your website a chore. With Wix, it's as easy as cake, and I find that my clients actually ENJOY working on updating their websites in Wix. I can't say any client with a Wordpress website has enjoyed their relationship with the platform, the reason they come to me for a new website design is because they're tired of fighting Wordpress.
One argument I hear often from Wordpress-worshippers is:
“But Wix is not responsive!”
Simply not true. With Wix, you can use Strips and other full-width elements that flex with the screensize. Plus, you can CUSTOM design each of your mobile pages using Wix's famous Mobile Editor that allows you to reorder, resize, rearrange, hide, or add new elements such as images or buttons or text to fully customize the mobile view to enhance the customer experience on phones. With Wordpress, you don't have much control over how the so-called "responsive" theme layout reflows for vertical mobile users. With Wix, you can control everything down to the last detail. You can move elements around, add or hide elements and make the mobile website the best it can possibly be.
For more examples, view some of the Best Wix Websites we've recently designed.
Bottom line, if you have a small business and you'd like to have a beautiful, mobile friendly, e-commerce capable website that is easy to edit, and doesn't require constant software or plugin updates, then choose Wix.
Contact me if you'd like help getting your Wix website designed, setup and launched, I can even help train you on how easy it is to edit once it's complete!
I also offer Consultations for general help with existing templates, so if you find a template you love, but just need some help getting it setup with your business information, colors, fonts and graphics, contact me and I can give you a free estimate.
SEO for Wix:
I also offer SEO (Search Engine Optimization) Consultation to help get your Wix website into the top of Google. Contact me to learn more and get a free estimate »
* One last note: I do still work in Wordpress, Shopify and AISO's solar powered website builder for some of my client websites. Wix is a great fit for 95% of my clients, but sometimes complex ecommerce or other custom needs are better suited to using Shopify or possibly Wordpress, or sometimes businesses and non-profits love having solar-powered hosting so AISO is a great fit for their needs. I offer free consultations, and I can recommend the best platform based on your specific needs.
