Here we are with a digital intervention before you tank your brand’s credibility with a drag-and-drop disaster of a website.
If you’ve ever searched ‘website builder’ or ‘how to DIY a website’ – there’s no doubt your social media feeds are now laden with ads touting WIX as the be-all and end-all of website solutions. But take it from someone who knows a thing or two about the internet, this is not a ride you wanna take.
WIX sells itself as the answer for people who “just want something simple.” But what they don’t tell you is that simple often means utterly painful to use once you attempt to make it work for your business.
WIX is ‘easy to use’ – at first…
These guys market themselves as an easy to use drag and drop builder. But once you get into it, you’ll quickly be left frustrated. Want to change spacing on mobile view without destroying your desktop layout? Good luck.
Want to change the layout without elements jumping around like you’re moving an image in Microsoft Word? Ha, oh so simple. Not.
The “freedom” WIX gives you feels great until you realise it’s like letting your toddler decorate your living room, absolute chaos, and a great big mess for someone else to clean up.
But it’s so cheap… or is it?
Yep, it’s not a rumour, you can set up a WIX site for free. But that version comes with their delightful branding and a subdomain, which screams “I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING” rather than “I’m a legitimate business and therefore you should give me money.”
Want your own domain? Pay up. Need e-commerce? Pay up. Want anything beyond the bare minimum? Yep, you guessed it, pay up.
Even on their premium plans, you’re still stuck with limitations. So it pays to work out what you really need, and then do the price comparison exercise.
SEO, I’ve heard of that.
WIX has improved its SEO capabilities over the years (see I am nice), but it’s still nowhere near what you get with platforms like WordPress, Squarespace or Shopify.
It’s got the basics, meta titles and descriptions, even alt tags on images now. But have fun inserting structured metadata or schema into your website if you’re that way inclined. And I double dare you to ask a credible SEO expert to assist you with this.
If you’re serious about your strategy and rankings, choose something else, please I’m begging you.
It looks good, just don’t look too closely.
WIX templates look the part to an untrained eye. And on the surface, they do the trick. Just don’t try and change something and expect to maintain that visual consistency. One wrong move and you’re hit with mismatched formatting and a once good-looking template that you can’t get back to.
The lack of design constraints means you’re free to create, which sounds good in theory, but the reality of it is that you end up with a chaotic digital presence that looks amateur instead of the sophisticated vibe you were going for.
Your stuck with us
Unlike the superior platforms, WIX is a closed system. What this means, is once you build your site there, it’s stuck there. You can’t export it and move to another platform. Want to leave? You’re rebuilding from scratch.
That means all the time, money, and design effort you put in? Gone. Start again.
Don’t even get me started on the ethics
I’m no expert in the matter, but I do know this – WIX is an Israeli-founded and headquartered company. If that sentence made you stop, good. My work here is done.
It’s come to my attention that many people didn’t know this (and some that do and still choose to ignore it). You don’t have to be anything other than human to think twice about where your money goes. And for me, that’s a hard no.
TL;DR – What you’re really signing up for
WIX works if you’re building a school project. But if you care about being a good human and want to portray yourself as a legitimate business online, WIX isn’t the one.
You deserve a website that reflects your brand. One that works on desktop, mobile and search engines. One that won’t embarrass you when you drop the link in a LinkedIn post.
Let’s build something real.
Ready to leave that chaos behind and create a website that you are proud of?
Talk to me about a real website ➝