Program: Wix
Website: www.wix.com
Price: Free with premium plans ranging from $9.25 to $24.92/month
Rank: 93/100 – inexpensive option for non-tech savvy small businesses who need a basic website, but not the best choice for everyone
INTRO – WHAT IS WIX?
Wix’s website builder launched in 2006 with the simple intention of helping everyone create a free website. They wanted to take away the headaches of creating a site by providing a simple and effective way for non-tech savvy individuals to easily create a professional looking website. They accomplished this goal by making their service code free and through setting no creative limits – meaning they granted users full control over how they expressed themselves through their website.
This simple, fun, and code-free nature of the service turned out to be a huge hit – leading to 85 million users in over 190 countries.
Wix separates itself from other website builders by offering tons of value in the form of unique features and applications. For example, after creating an account – you get access to an intuitive drag and drop editor with HTML5 capabilities, over 500 designer-made templates to choose from, hosting, applications, and over 1000 free features.
These unique aspects of the service have captured the hearts of users worldwide – making Wix the leader in the space. The service has grown throughout the years, and it has improved to cater to a wide variety of people. So, whether you’re a business owner or a photographer, or someone in between – Wix will provide you with all the unique tools and features you need to build an amazing online presence for FREE.
If you’ve stumbled across the website – you may have a few questions regarding whether it’s as really as good as it’s made to appear. This review will help answer all your Wix related questions – allowing you to make the best decision when it comes to deciding whether or not the service is the perfect fit for you.
WHAT TYPES OF FEATURES DO YOU GET AT WIX?
You get a ton of value by simply signing up for a free account (1000 features and counting – new features are constantly being added). To stay up to date with recent feature releases – you can check out their official features website here.
Wix has a set group of features that are quite remarkable – these are listed below.
Blogging – Wix makes it easy and simple to set up a blog on your site – through Wix’s technology you can schedule blog posts, add featured posts, use tag cloud, and toggle Facebook comments.
Commerce – If you’re looking to create an eCommerce site – Wix has you covered. Although better suited for smaller type of shops – Wix will help you handle everything eCommerce related, whether that be payment options or managing taxes, and everything in between.
ShoutOut – One of the unique features offered by Wix is the ShoutOut feature. The ShoutOut feature allows you to create custom newsletters – allowing you to easily and effectively communicate with your viewers. This is a huge plus because features such as these add additional value, ultimately giving you a better experience compared to other traditional website builders (with Wix you’ll have access to tons of unique features that you won’t find elsewhere).
Mobile options – One of the main shortcomings of other website builders is you aren’t guaranteed full mobile optimization – this is a pain to deal with, considering more and more people are using their phones to browse the net. With Wix, however, you don’t have this problem. Considering Wix was one of the first to recognize the power of mobile optimization – you get a full range of options that allow you to design effective and appealing looking websites for smartphones and tablets.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The awesome thing about Wix is there isn’t much of a learning curve – meaning you won’t have to spend days learning the inner workings of the service. If you know your way around the net, and you’re somewhat familiar with the basic website building process – you’ll have no problems setting up a website on Wix (even if you’re a complete newbie – it’s very straightforward and easy).
The process is illustrated below:
1. Choose the type of website you want to build. Each niche is beautifully categorized and broken down into further groups. So, whether you want to design a site for your side consulting practice or you want to build a vacation rental website – Wix has you covered.
2. Browse all available themes. Once you’ve chosen the type of website you want to set up, you’ll be granted access to a web page designed specifically for that niche. On this web page, you can look through the different types of templates and designs available. You can filter the themes by most recent as well as by categories.
3. Once you’ve found a theme you like, you can click on the Get Started box and from there you’ll be asked to sign up for a free account.
4. After you sign up, you can choose your template and begin designing a professional looking website. The process is quite simple and easy – simply drag and drop to customize images, text, and layout.
PRICING
Wix offers you the ability to create websites for absolutely free. Now this free label comes with some catches, as you probably have already guessed – one of those catches being the free website is hosted on Wix.com.
This means that your website will look like this: www.yourwebsitename.wix.com
This isn’t very professional – if you’re going to be creating a commercial site, you’ll obviously have to upgrade and buy your own domain. Wix grants you a free domain with each of their premium options.
All the premium options are listed below; they range from $9.25 to $24.92/month.
WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF USING WIX?
With so many different website builders to choose from – what makes Wix so special? Below are all the advantages you’ll get by using the service:
Great designs –Wix beats out all other website builders when it comes to design. The service has over 510 professional templates for different industries – meaning you’re bound to find one that fits your needs.
Drag and drop – Don’t know how to code? No problem. Wix makes it easy to create a professional-looking website. Literally all you have to do is drag and drop – a lot of website builders market their services as being drag and drop, but in reality, they’re much more complicated (Wix doesn’t have this problem).
Specific tools for specific niches – One of the cool things about Wix is they create tools for specific industries – meaning they’ll build features that will help take your business to the next level. Recently, Wix built specific tools to help musicians and bed and breakfast companies to grow their businesses. These tools are unique to Wix – meaning you won’t find them anywhere else on the web.
Large app market – Unlike other website builders, Wix integrates and leverages the power of apps – making your life a lot easier. Whether you need a newsletter or a subscription box – you can find an app fulfilling your unique needs. These third party apps beautifully complement your website – allowing you to integrate all the features you need to create a professional looking site.
THE MAIN ISSUES WITH WIX…
Despite all the pros listed above – Wix does have its fair share of issues…
Annoying advertisements – If you sign up for a free account, your site will be home to annoying advertisements on both the side panel and bottom panel of your web page. Although every website builder has advertisements with free accounts – Wix’s advertisements are quite prominent and annoying. You can only get rid of these advertisements by forking over some money and signing up for a premium account.
You can’t change templates – Another annoying thing about Wix is once you’ve chosen a template, you won’t be able to change it.
Lack of complex e-commerce tools – Wix is good for simple e-commerce shops, but it starts faltering when it comes to complex e-commerce needs. If you’re going to be launching a large scale e-commerce operation – you probably want to find something other than Wix.
You cannot edit the code – Wix doesn’t grant you access to the source code for design templates – meaning you cannot edit the code to match your specific desires.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Wix is designed for everyone, from small business owners to photographers, and everyone in between. It’s a completely code-free site builder designed for non-tech-savvy users.
WHAT ARE USERS SAYING?
According to reviews pulled from WhoIsHostingThis, the main complaints were:
Horrible customer support – Although the site claims to pride itself on great customer support – the reality seems to be far different. If you simply Google Wix’s customer support, you’ll see a bunch of negative reviews about the lack of support.
Inefficient billing system – There are quite a few horror stories out there from individuals thinking they canceled their account, only to find out they had been getting billed for years and years.
Lack of complex tools – Since the site is code free, you can’t really use it to design complex websites. It’s more so a tool for non-tech users who simply want to create a professional looking static page.
CONCLUSION – IS THE SERVICE RIGHT FOR YOU?
Wix is the leading website builder in the space right now and for good reason – it allows you to easily and effectively create professional websites for free. Although the free option doesn’t really give you the professional look you need – you still get a ton of value.
I highly recommend signing up and designing a website. Depending on your needs, you’ll soon discover if the website builder is for you. Ultimately, if you’re looking to design simple web pages, blogs, or portfolios – Wix is the perfect tool.
If, on the other hand, you’re going to be designing something much more complex – you probably need to hire a designer of your own. Wix isn’t too great at designing complex sites (this isn’t unique to Wix – most website builders aren’t capable of building complex sites).
The bottom line is…
Wix is an inexpensive and practical website builder for small business owners who either aren’t very tech-savvy or don’t have the time to learn a more complicated site builder. If the primary goal of your website is to be a mostly static page that looks highly professional, Wix may be a good choice.
Compared to other website builders, Wix is much cheaper and affords you a lot of great designs and features. The great thing about this service is they even offer a free option (although not very professional) but it’s still nice to be able to try out the service before you invest money. If you’re looking for something simple and effective, I highly recommend you sign up for the free account, and see how you like it.
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