93% of business purchase decisions start with a search engine search
Why is this important? Search engines are funneling a huge proportion of potential buyers towards your website.
Ask yourself these questions: Does your current website signal exciting things for your business? Target new markets? Strengthen your brand? Show that you’re on-trend with new technologies?
Answer ‘no’ to any of the above, and there’s a digital wall between your business and its potential for growth.
Building a new website or re-designing one is a crucial step to breaking down this wall. But which platform should you use to do this?
Why Wix vs WordPress?
Wix is the platform with a massive marketing budget and global advertising, check out the video below for a famous face! One in every three websites on the web are built with Wordpress, including some of the worlds most successful companies.
So you can understand which platform needs to be your businesses starting point we’ll walk you through:
Pay attention, because the winner has the potential to become the platform for your business’ future success.
Usability
Wix
In terms of accessibility, Wix is serious about being the most simple website builder out there.
The drag, drop and click mechanic is so easy to use that it almost feels like cheating. You’re not. What you might be doing (if you choose to use it) is building a website with an artificial design intelligence (Wix ADI) assistant.
Answer some questions about yourself and your business, then Wix ADI does its algorithm magic and boom! You have a website tailor-made for your industry and brand.
If you want to go into manual mode, you won’t spend much time choosing a template. Wix neatly organises them in industry-specific sections to reduce all that clicking.
Editing is also masterfully simple. You can chop and change videos, images and content using the drag and drop feature, and each article will be resized to fit your template.
WordPress
We’re talking about WordPress.org here (not WordPress.com), the most popular open source CMS in the website building arena.
Wordpress is the quickest to install (5 minutes, apparently). The truth is, it is very simple to set-up. But you will need to do some basic technical reading first.
Fortunately, WordPress is smart. It knows that your time isn’t an unlimited resource, so it uses uncomplicated language throughout the installation, such as ‘Customise your site’.
It takes one click to add plug-ins. Premium plug-ins require may require a purchase fee, but normally come with instructions, it’s a breeze.
And it’s worth talking about the WordPress support system. The system was built by a vast community who actively support new users. Voice your technical issues in an official forum and they’ll be answered in minutes.
The Winner?
So, which has the most user-friendly system? The face of Wix is its ease of use. That was what it was made for: to make website building effortless.
The drawback? Wix is accessible because there’s no CSS code editing (style sheet language used to adjust presentation and content on your web pages and user interfaces). Unlike WordPress, it’s no sandbox. It’s a linear process that allows you to chop and change but not create.
And while WordPress requires more clicking and thinking, the support available provides a huge safety net to catch you before you fall into the depths of code complexity.
It’ll take you more effort to build. But owning a website that does more for your customers and shouts great things about your brand is worth your time, right? We think so.
Design
Wix
Wix’s templates are beautiful. If you’re looking for sleek designs that feel both organic and professional, you have a choice of over four hundred stunning templates to choose from.
Each template has been created with a specific industry in mind, which might narrow down your options somewhat.
There are also refined subcategories. For example, if you’re a photographer, you can choose between landscape and wedding photography.
As mentioned previously, you can’t edit CSS code in Wix. But its templates have buckets of customisation options that utilise the drag and drop function.
Wix is also dedicated to keeping your website on trend: new templates are created multiple times a year that feature up-to-date designs and tools.
WordPress
If Wix was a pick and mix shop, WordPress would be like walking into Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, with over 2176 themes on offer.
Narrow down your options using the search filter, from blogs to fully-developed eCommerce sites. You can install themes either from the WordPress Directory or independent marketplaces.
There’s no support for ‘What you see is what you get’ (WYSIWYG) editing, so you have to put on your technical hat to customise your site and minimise layout blunders.
But there is one giant benefit from this. There are absolutely no restrictions when it comes to personalising your website (aside from what you or your website developer are capable of).
The Winner?
Who has better designs? Consider your ideal end product. If simplicity doesn’t trouble you, Wix is a comfortable way to get a beautiful, fully operational theme.
The trade-off? You’ll be sacrificing the freedom to make your site distinguished in a sea of look-a-likes. Whether you choose to build it yourself or pay for a developer, the possibilities available to you in WordPress will help you go one step further with your website’s design.
Another setback for Wix is that you can’t change themes without losing all your content. So experimentation could be extremely time-consuming.
Features
Wix
You can’t install plug-ins on Wix. Instead you have an array of good quality extensions (accessed via the Wix App Market) to integrate into your website.
If you have an online store, for instance, you can create coupons, special deals, and discounts. Product pages can also be added, in addition to an order tracking feature.
Wix ShoutOut and Smart Actions is an ingenious feature that sets Wix apart from other competitors like Weebly. It gathers information from people who visit your site. ShoutOut then uses that data to send emails to your contacts after they have completed a certain action, such as buying a product.
You have free rein to choose your email triggers and assign automated responses to them. Has email marketing ever been so slick?
WordPress
Plug-ins are WordPress’s bread and butter. While you can access free plug-ins from the site’s official directory, they must be uploaded externally using the ‘Add New’ option from the plug-in menu.
You have more than 33,000 website add-ons to choose from. If you want your site to be utterly unique, with WordPress it’s possible.
Your first thought might be, I can’t deal with that much choice. But if it wasn’t easy to pick and choose your plug-ins, WordPress wouldn't be the source of 24.8% of all websites.
Searching for features is easy, as is installing them. There’s a risk that, with this many features, some are more buggy than others. Installing a dodgy plug-in could seriously mess up your site.
To avoid this check the reviews for your chosen plug-ins, or pose your concerns in one of WordPress’s many forums.
The Winner?
When we’re looking at business websites and their features, quantity vs quality is something to think about here. If it were a battle of numbers, Wix wouldn’t stand a chance.
But, since the existing plug-ins have been created solely by Wix, the bar for quality is at the same level for all its extensions.
Of course, you can achieve so much more with WordPress, in terms of the sheer amount of innovative features and personalisation options available.
To avoid any bugs that could jeopardize the functionality of your site, it’s essential that you or your developer use caution when picking an independently made plug-in.
Wix vs WordPress SEO
Wix
No code customisation means little room for integrating high-performing ‘on-page’ SEO (your content, your site’s setup, and UX) into your build.
This has become less of a problem for users recently, thanks to the introduction of some dynamic SEO alternatives.
Depending on your plan, you could have access to lots of tools that’ll help your business get cosy with search engines like Google. For example, your ability to create meta descriptions, customise image alt attributes and keep tabs on Google Analytics.
Wix does a great job at covering the basics. And despite heavy criticism regarding Wix SEO capabilities, big players like Google’s John Muller have since rebuilt user confidence, reassuring them that: “WIX websites work fine in search”.
WordPress
You’ve probably heard of Yoast. If you haven’t, you’ve definitely visited a site that uses it. It’s a WordPress SEO plug-in that is currently operational on over four million websites.
This is partly because it was designed by the infamous SEO expert, Joost De Walk, who works for brands like eBay and Facebook. It’s also because Yoast is extremely good at doing itsjob: getting your site optimised for better Google rankings.
Install the plug-in and unlock access to beginner-friendly but advanced SEO goodies, all in one place. Even without Yoast, you have access to some advanced tools that are fully customisable.
The Winner?
In the battle between Wix vs WordPress SEO abilities, there’s no contest. WordPress’ SEO is cleaner and more advanced than what Wix can currently put on the table.
Take personalised blog post URLs, for instance. You can create them in Wix, but the site will add a random string that’s just plain bad for SEO (if it’s messy for the reader, it’s messy for search engines too).
All your URLs are fully customisable in WordPress. In short, unlike Wix, you have the ability to edit advanced ‘on-page’ SEO, strengthening your website's position in the digital world.
But to really climb the rankings ladder, you must combine ‘on-page’ with ‘off-page’ SEO (external links and signals). Getting authority from other websites containing links to your pages is the most sure-fire way to maximise your reach.
Pricing
Wix
You can create a website in Wix for free, but you’ll be plagued by ads. So let’s concentrate on the premium pricing options.
There are five paid versions to choose from, all of which are discounted if you pay annually (approx. £35 to £270 per year).
What will you get for your trouble? Pick an Unlimited, eCommerce, or VIP plan and receive:
- A domain name
- Approx £55 in advertisement vouchers
- Site Booster and Form Builder apps (worth around £80)
- 10-20GB storage
- 20GB - unlimited bandwidth
- Online store (eCommerce & VIP only)
Your two cheaper options are the Combo and Connect Domain. With the Combo you get everything except the above apps and the online store.
You don’t get a free domain with the Connect Domain option, making it a poor choice for business owners running a professional site.
WordPress
CMS is free in WordPress, but you need to purchase your own hosting service. This can range from anywhere between £3 - £10 per month.
Free themes are abundant but are limiting in their capabilities. They rarely come with support, updates are scarce and they are more open to security threats.
Premium themes are miles ahead in terms of quality, functionality, security, and support. They can cost anywhere between £20 to £60.
You’ll have to pay for certain plug-ins too. But as we discussed, why wouldn't you when they can dramatically enhance your website’s UX, increasing your ROI and strengthening your brand?
The Winner?
It’s Wix vs WordPress websites in the fight for cost and value. Reveal the answer by asking yourself,: what do you want from your website? Wix is an affordable ticket to a professional and well-functioning website.
While you will spend more on a WordPress website most of your payments are standalone. And you’re more likely to make that money back from customers paying to do business with you (because your website really sells your business, responds to visitor needs and ranks well in search results).
So, why skimp when you can soar?
What have we learned?
"In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable."
Robert Arnott
Comfort: that’s exactly what Wix represents.
- It’s easy to use
- Has templates that are specifically made for your industry
- Doesn’t require any study sessions on CSS code
- Can be cost-efficient
- Provides everything your website needs to cover the basics.
But you’re not here to settle down and be content with the ordinary.
You’re here to shake things up; to carve an ambitious path towards bigger and better things for you and your team.
WordPress can give you the extra creativity, innovation and freedom to build a more profitable future. So really, when it comes down to which platform will benefit your business more, WordPress wins outright.
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