Unless your business has a website, it will be difficult to capitalize on the opportunities available on the Internet. Social media marketing won’t be enough.
A website will organize all of the processes you need to run your business online. And as the world experienced in 2020, it will protect your business from unforeseen and unpredictable threats.
For years, WordPress has remained the dominant website builder in the market. WordPress offers free templates that are customizable to fit the needs of every business.
However, some entrepreneurs are intimidated by the idea of working with WordPress because of the coding involved.
In response to the call of these tech-challenged entrepreneurs, a niche has opened up for platforms that offer website builder solutions where knowledge of coding is not needed.
One of the major players in this new niche is Wix. And while it has grown in popularity and market share over the years, we won’t use Wix for our clients and will always prefer WordPress.
What Is Wix?
Wix.com Ltd. is a company that offers consumers a way of setting up their own websites without having to learn to code. The company introduced Wix in 2006 as a website design solution that utilizes drag-and-drop tools to assist users in building their HTML5 and mobile responsive websites.
Wix was developed with the idea of giving entrepreneurs a one-stop solution for all of their website development needs. There’s no need to install software or subscribe to any hosting service because the platform itself is a hosted solution that has its own servers.
All you need is to have an Internet connection and a web browser to build a website from Wix.
The company which is based in Israel has certainly grown over the last decade. From having only 10 million subscribers in 2010, Wix claims to have acquired 200 million users in 2021.
According to Builtwith.com, 8 million websites prefer Wix over any other website builder. W3Techs reports that Wix accounts for 2.3% of the website design market.
With all of these glossy numbers about Wix, why aren’t we convinced that it’s good enough for our clients?
Wix Services And Features
Wix websites can be designed and developed to perform a variety of functions and manage different types of business activities.
For example, you can use a Wix website for:
- Blogging
- Running an online business
- Generating leads
- Setting appointments
- Creating content including images and videos
- Storing files
However, the features that allow you to run these functions are only available when you sign up for one of Wix’s paid premium plans.
The cost of these plans are as follows:
Basic Website
- Combo – US$16/month
- Unlimited – US$22/month
- Pro – US$27/month
- VIP – US$45/month
E-Commerce and Business Websites
- Basic – US$27/month
- Unlimited – US$32/month
- VIP – US$59/month
Then, there’s Wix Enterprise which starts out at US$500 per month.
Take note that these prices are calculated based on the annual subscription cost per plan. If you choose to strictly follow a monthly payment scheme, you’ll end up paying more.
Does Wix have a free version?
The answer is “Yes”. However, based on the free version’s shortcomings, you might as well opt for the paid subscription.
Here is a list of the drawbacks if you decide to go with the free version of Wix:
- There are ads everywhere; you can’t avoid them.
- You won’t be able to use a domain name for your website.
- You can’t set up an e-Commerce business website.
- You can’t use Google Analytics to check on your performance numbers.
The free version of Wix will have value for those who need a website to support an event such as a wedding, a milestone birthday, or a small event within your community.
But if you’re looking for a website that can fully support the functions needed to run your business, you’re better off subscribing to one of Wix’s paid annual or monthly plans.
The best option would be to let us build your website using WordPress.
5 Reasons Why We Prefer WordPress Over Wix
If you’re looking for testimonials to validate our claim that WordPress is the best platform for building business websites, just look at the numbers.
- Out of the 1.3 billion websites on the Internet, 455 million are powered by WordPress.
- People search for “WordPress” 2.94 million times every month.
- WordPress’ 54,000 plugins have been downloaded 1.5 billion times.
- WooCommerce accounts for 25% of the market for e-Commerce websites. WooCommerce is the e-commerce plugin of WordPress.
- Bloggers post 27 blogs per second on a WordPress website.
The numbers don’t lie. 455 million users easily beat 8 million users. While WordPress accounts for 37% of the market, Wix only owns 3.4% of the website builder pie.
What factors are driving these massive numbers and have made WordPress the market leader among website-building platforms?
1. WordPress is Free
We need to clarify this statement.
When we say WordPress is “free”, we are referring to WordPress.org which features open-source software that users can modify, develop, and extend without having to pay fees. All you have to pay for are your web hosting service and domain name.
Then, there’s WordPress.com.
WordPress.com is a web hosting service that was created by one of WordPress’s co-founders, Matt Mullenweg. Unlike WordPress.org, to avail of WordPress.com, you have to pay for its services.
What’s the advantage of opting for a paid subscription? With WordPress.org, you’re responsible for updating and maintaining your website. With a paid subscription, WordPress.com will take care of updating and backing up your website.
Comparing apples to apples, the free version of Wix won’t grant Google Analytics access to your Wix website. You won’t be able to track your site’s performance and have valuable data to use as a reference for making improvements.
And if you go for the free version of Wix – you won’t be free from ads.
In contrast, WordPress.org will allow Google Analytics to access your WP website. You’ll have data to know which areas you need to improve upon to meet your goals.
The other difference is that with Wix, you don’t own your domain name. Your URL will read username.wix.com/businessname. That might put off some of your clients who might think you’re not 100% invested in your business.
As mentioned above, with WordPress.org, you have to pay for your domain name. It’s a small investment that will pay dividends from a branding standpoint. Having a URL that reads businessname.com comes across as more professional to clients.
2. WordPress Has More Plugins
Plugins are software programs that are created by other developers to improve the performance of a website. While these programs are called “plugins” in WordPress, Wix refers to them as “apps”.
Wix has over 200 apps available for its users to install on their websites. Among the features that these apps can add to your website are built-in commenting, contact forms, and social media sharing buttons. Some of the apps can be downloaded by those with the free version of Wix.
Meanwhile, WordPress.org otherwise known as the free version of WordPress has close to 60,000 plugins for you to choose from. We doubt if there’s a feature you have in mind that can’t be found in a WordPress plugin.
With a WordPress website, you can flex your creativity muscles to their fullest.
In combination with Google Analytics, having all of these apps at our fingertips makes it easier and more convenient for us to improve the performance, aesthetics, and functionality of our client’s websites so they can deliver the desired results.
3. WordPress Is Better For Blogging
Website trivia: Before it became the #1 website builder in the world, WordPress was a blogging platform.
WordPress had a headstart over Wix and other website builders when it comes to blogging. Over the years, WordPress has increased that lead. Its Content Management System (CMS) is used by 43% of the blogosphere.
The blogging feature of Wix is very limited.
Yes, you can attach images and videos, archive posts, introduce categories, and add tags. However, you can’t produce private/custom content, backdate posts, and commenting is only possible if you install apps that allow readers to post comments from other platforms such as Facebook.
These features – and more – are all available in WordPress CMS.
4. More Design Possibilities With WordPress
While it’s nice to have a website that functions optimally, you can’t overlook the importance of having one that’s aesthetically pleasing to the eye.
As the saying goes, “First impressions last” and usually the first impression is physical – how does your website’s appearance appeal to your audience? Both Wix and WordPress understand the value of appealing to the viewer’s design sensibilities and have many pre-designed templates for you to choose from.
Wix claims to have more than 900 pre-designed templates that cover a range of interests including personal, business, online selling, instructional, and the arts to name a few.
There are tools available that will let you tweak the template but once you select one, you won’t be allowed to change it.
WordPress has thousands of free templates for you to choose from. When compared to the paid WordPress themes, the free templates have fewer features. Rest assured that before making these templates available to the WP community, they go through a rigid quality assurance process.
And if another theme caught your eye, go ahead and make the switch. WordPress will allow you to change your theme with another one that you feel suits your purpose better.
5. WordPress is Better Suited for E-Commerce
E-commerce has been on an upward trajectory since 2014. The industry is expected to generate US$5.5 Trillion in global sales in 2022 and US$7.4 Trillion in 2025.
The demand for e-Commerce has increased substantially because of the pandemic. Entrepreneurs and solopreneurs are hoping to get the best products and services on the Internet right away by setting up e-Commerce websites.
With Wix, you cannot set up an e-Commerce with the free template. You have to avail yourself of one of the platform’s paid plans. Likewise, you might find that there are very few third-party apps you can use to improve your online store’s performance, boost its functionality, and promote it on the Internet.
With WordPress, simply install WooCommerce and you’re good to go. There are also other e-Commerce plugins you can install that might better suit the type of online business you plan to run.
For example, if you’re a musician or a fitness trainer who wants to sell online courses, you can install MemberPress. With this plugin, your WordPress website can sell monthly subscriptions, offer pay-per-view content, and samples of your instructional courses.
Conclusion
Hands down, WordPress is the superior website builder. WordPress allows you to challenge the boundaries of your creativity and gives you opportunities to take the performance of your website to the next level.
WordPress is able to do this because as open-source software, you can modify the code and introduce improvements that will boost your website’s functionality. Also, you have thousands of plugins and free themes at your fingertips.
Install the plugins and themes that you believe can heighten User Experience and bring you closer to achieving your business goals.
Wix is marketed as a website builder for those without knowledge of coding. Well, the same can be said for WordPress.
The difference is that if you have a professional web designer/developer such as Mountaintop Web Design onboard, we can do more for your business with WordPress than with Wix.
If you’re thinking about setting up a website for your business, give us a call or drop us an email and we’ll help you with the decision-making process. Of course, we only use the best for our clients – and that means we’ll build a WordPress website for you!
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