If you are looking to build your first website, perhaps a DIY website is on top of your mind. You’ve heard a lot about Wix.com and how it can give your business an online presence for free.
You have a lot of questions. “Is Wix.com really free?” “Is it really possible to build a business website for free?” “What are the hidden costs?” We answer all these questions and more to help you make an informed decision.
So is Wix free?
The basic plan is free but there’s a downside – your website will have a prominently visible Wix ad, which is the last thing you want your visitors to see. Moreover, you won’t be able to connect your domain name to your free Wix site. If you are looking to create a professional image of your brand, then this is really an impractical option.
If you want to remove ads from your website and need access to professional features such as connect your domain name or e-commerce functionality, you must upgrade to one of their premium plans.
Put simply, if you want to build a business website with professional features and connect your domain name, then Wix.com is not really free. Hiring a web design Auckland agency is the better option.
Why You Shouldn’t Use Wix
We have had clients come to us after building a website on Wix and looking for a better website with better visibility. And that right there is the biggest problem. Wix makes it extremely easy to build a stunning website that performs poorly.
In that paradox lies its biggest problem.
Let’s take a look at some of the reasons why you shouldn’t use Wix to build your business website or any website you want to monetise:
Easy Doesn’t Make it the Best
Sure, Wix makes it extremely easy to build your own website. But there lies the trouble.
The approach towards website design as an ‘easy’ job itself is incorrect. Your clients rely on you for the products/services you specialise in. But visitors to your website will judge you based on how your website looks and performs.
Now just because you could easily put together a website does not mean that you will end up with a conversion-friendly website. So what if your visitors land on your website only to leave sooner than they arrive?
It means your website has failed to serve its purpose.
Web design isn’t just about putting together some random elements, images and content. There are so many aspects to consider such as:
- The structure of your website
- Content optimised for the search engines
- The page titles to use
- Compelling calls to action
- Analytics to track the performance of your website
A free website may help you save a few thousand in web design costs. However, think of how much business you will have lost using a cheap web design?
You Can’t Choose a Hosting Provider of Your Choice
There’s no negotiating with this point. Wix will mandatorily host your website. And there’s a lot not to like about this situation.
For starters, if you are not happy with the page load speed of your website, you should be able to switch to a host of your choice. And there are so many options to choose from.
But when you are with Wix, you have no choice.
And there lies the second problem. Let’s say that you want to move your Wix site to another platform like WordPress. You won’t be able to do that. Although you can move a WordPress website to any hosting provider or web design company, you won’t have such flexibility with a proprietary platform like Wix.
You will have access to your website only as long as you are paying the monthly subscription fees. Should you decide not to pay the monthly fees or move to another host, there’s only one way out – forget your Wix website and start building a website from scratch!
Not only that but you will have a hard time migrating your content, which can be exhausting if you have tons of pages. If you are on an open-source platform like WordPress, you can easily think of making the switch. At most, you may lose your previous theme but at least you won’t have to sweat about migrating your data and content.
Wix is Costlier than You Thought
Wix’s free website plan makes it a great attraction among business owners. It’s an excellent sales strategy that brings customers through the door.
However, you are pretty much stuck with a free plan. Your free website will have Wix branding and the favicon will also be a Wix logo. You won’t even be able to add Google Analytics tracking code until you upgrade to the premium plans.
Premium plans begin from as low as $6, which makes it a no-brainer.
When you want to add additional features and functionality to your website, Wix will take you to the app store where you can pick from different apps. Most apps are offered on a fermium model, which means additional features are always offered at a price.
However, these are not even the biggest costs of using Wix. The biggest cost is that you end up with a website that is built by people who don’t know what makes a website tick and end up with a site that does not perform well or is difficult to find online.
And that loss of functionality is costing you customers who would have otherwise converted had you invested in a user-friendly, functional website.
Parting Thoughts
Wix makes it possible to create a website you think looks great. However, that’s nothing more than make-believe. Unless your visitors have a user-friendly experience, they are not going to take any action.
Your website is not just your online calling card. When done right, your website can help you to boost sales and grow your business to unimaginable levels.
That’s what a website design agency is for. Just like your customers rely on you to make the world’s best products, businesses across Auckland and New Zealand trust us to build websites that win customers.
