I have been using Wix to design websites for several years now and, in my opinion, it is the best website building platform available for small businesses. Below I have listed some of the reasons why I choose Wix over other website building platforms such as Squarespace and Showit.
SEO
Wix had a bit of a bad rep a few years ago with regards to SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). SEO is the process of increasing your website traffic by enabling you to rank higher on search engines like Google and Yahoo. However, that has all changed now and, over the past few years, Wix have seriously levelled up their SEO game and now offer several on-site features to improve your SEO as well as a personalised SEO plan to help ensure that your website is ranking as high as possible right from the start.
EASE OF USE
Let’s start with the basics. Wix has marketed itself as one of the most simple to use website building platforms around – and it really is. The Editor is very intuitive and Wix provide helpful tips and guidance throughout every aspect of editing your site. For me, this is a huge selling point for Wix. After I have designed my client’s site, I can be confident that they will be able to make edits and updates to their site moving forward and be comfortable with managing the back-end of their website.
COMPLETE CREATIVE FREEDOM
So, this would be one of the main reasons that I would choose Wix over Squarespace. Wix is a drag and drop website builder which allows complete creative freedom – you can literally drag and drop elements anywhere you like on a page. Now, complete creative freedom may not always be a good thing – just because you can put elements anywhere you like on a page, it doesn’t mean you should! However, Wix provide gridlines and encourage the use of strips to help you ensure that each element on your site can be viewed on all devices.
With Squarespace, whilst you can choose from several different templates, you are limited to their box structure. The structure of Squarespace templates are all designed to look great across a range of devices but, in my opinion, although clean and minimal to look at, Squarespace sites can tend to all look a bit similar.
One of the disadvantages of Wix is that, once you have chosen a template – whether that be one of the 500 Wix offer for free, or a premium template like the ones I offer – you cannot change your mind and select a different template whilst editing. However, you are able to edit and change every single thing about any template you choose so this isn’t a huge limitation.
HUGE RANGE OF FEATURES
The range of features and apps that you can add to your site are staggering and allow Wix to be the top website builder for a huge range of industries. Wix’s e-commerce features are incredibly comprehensive and allow you the option to add, sell and market your products with ease – and all from one place. Wix offers so much help for getting started with selling online and provides guidance and suggestions every step of the way.
The quality of e-commerce features is the main reason that I would choose Wix over Showit. Showit is a relatively new website building platform that also offers complete creative freedom with a drag and drop system. However, if you want to add e-commerce or additional functionality you have to use an external platform such as Shopify. This can end up becoming pretty expensive as you have to buy multiple subscriptions as well as having to learn how to use each separate platform.
It’s not just e-commerce features that Wix provides. They also give the option of adding booking systems for restaurants, accommodation, service based providers like salons, gyms and hairdressers. You can advertise, sell tickets and host events live from your Wix site which is perfect for business coaches and online educators. Wix are also continuously adding updates and new features which is really exciting to see.
These are just a few of the reasons why I think Wix is the best website building platform for small businesses. If you think it’s time to invest in a custom built website for your business that looks stunning, attracts your target audience and is easy to maintain and update, I would love to hear from you. Have a read of my packages here or get in touch.
