Why We Hate Wix
There, we said it.
We hate Wix.
This is not some, take it or leave it, not for me, kind of distaste for the platform. I mean, we seriously hate it.
If it were a tangible being, we’d probably quit designing websites and dedicate our entire lives to hunting Wix down and destroying it once and for all, Harry Potter style.
Still, despite our fairly strong opinions on the matter, 160 million websites are built and hosted on Wix, and businesses still continue to flock to it to launch their new online presence.
So, if you’re considering doing the same, we’d like to share a little advice with you.
Advice that will (hopefully) convince you to steer clear of a Wix website and opt instead for something a little healthier.
8 Reasons You Shouldn’t Build Your Site On Wix
Reason 1: Wix Websites Are Terrible For SEO
If you’re new to the website game, you may not have heard about SEO, or at least not know too much about it.
SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s essentially the process of optimizing your website to get found on search engines like Google.
There are a bunch of things that go into it, from specific on-page words, backlinks from other websites, page speed optimization, crawlability, the list goes on…
The problem with Wix is that it doesn’t really give you a tonne of flexibility when it comes to getting in and optimizing this stuff.
Because it’s a DIY, WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) website builder, it generates code on the fly, in the background, without you seeing what’s going on.
As a result, this creates unneeded code, and often makes your website hard for Google’s bots to crawl.
In the world of website development, this is a big no no.
The thing is, Google doesn’t give a damn about how sexy your design looks, or how HD your images are (sort of). It cares about how well your website is constructed, and this is entirely down to stuff that goes in behind the scenes.
So, where does this leave you?
Well, it basically means that if you build a website on Wix, you’ve got essentially no shot at ever ranking and ever being found in search results.
And if you’re not getting found, then you’re losing out on the opportunity to generate new inbound leads, and of course, revenue.
Kind of makes you wonder why you built the site in the first place, right?
Reason 2: Wix Websites Are Slow As Hell
When was the last time you opened up a new web page and had to wait 5 seconds or more for it to load?
Chances are, unless you have terrible internet, it was quite a while ago. And even if it wasn’t, I can almost guarantee that you didn’t wait for it to load and just got the hell out of there.
You’re not alone.
Web pages that take just 1 second longer to load than they should see drops in conversion of up to 70%.
So, it’s safe to say that a slow-loading website is something you want to avoid at all costs.
However, Wix websites are some of the slowest to load of all, hurting your conversion rates and undoubtedly causing people to leave and head over to your competitors.
Here’s what we mean:
Image credit www.searchenginejournal.com
FCP (First Contentful Paint) is a measure that describes how long it takes for your website browser to render the first piece of content (image or text) after you click on a URL.
It should be less than a second, based on Google’s recommendations.
As you can see in the above graph, less than 8% of Wix websites have a fast FCP time, compared to other successful platforms that are approaching the 50% mark.
That’s a huge difference, and it means that if you opt for a Wix website, you’re going to have a slow-loading beast that turns customers away and hurts your revenue goals.
Reason 3: Wix Websites Aren’t Responsive
Around 50% of web searches are completed on mobile devices today, and it’s been this way for a while.
What that means for you is that you need a website that is going to look great not only on desktop computers but on mobile devices.
We’re talking about mobile devices of all kinds and of all sizes.
This is known in the website development world as responsiveness, and it’s a big deal.
If your website isn’t responsive, then it’s going to look weird on mobile devices, and what’s the point of spending all that time and money on a site that looks like crap to half of your users?
Responsive websites are able to automatically resize themselves and look good on any size screen. Wix websites do not do that.
Here’s what we mean.
This is what a Wix site looks like on a standard sized screen.
Wix websites operate on an adaptive design methodology, which essentially designs the web pages for six common screen widths (320, 480, 760, 960, 1200, 1600).
When someone lands on a Wix site, Wix detects the kind of device being used and loads the appropriate width.
Essentially, it’s not perfect. It works well for certain screens, and not so well for others.
Though some website designers still opt for adaptive design styles, Google has long recommended responsive web design.
And, what Google says, goes.
Reason 4: Wix’s Interface Isn’t Very User Friendly
And that’s putting it nicely.
The truth is, it kind of sucks. Even the newer customizable interface is tough to use.
If you’re going the DIY route and building you first website yourself, you probably won’t notice the difference, but you’ll definitely notice that there is a huge learning curve.
The difficulty comes when you want to add small customizations, like changing colors or placement, because Wix is essentially theme-based.
In short, customization is not Wix’s strong point, at all.
Reason 5: Wix Owns Your Website, Not You
This is a pretty shitty situation to find yourself in, to be honest.
Here’s what you have to agree to when you create a Wix website:
Image credit wix.com
It basically says that your subscription pays Wix for a license to use the site, which can be result.
You don’t own your site; you’re renting it.
If Wix goes under, or decides to up and do something else, or removes any of the templates or features, you’re basically stuck and have little recourse.
Of course, it may be unlikely that Wix will go bust altogether, given they are such a giant in the DIY website space, but it’s still a massive concern for business owners in today’s environment, where your website is essentially your shop front and first point of contact for potential customers.
Reason 6: Wix Websites Aren’t Unique
This may or may not matter to you, especially if you just need a quick brochure style website for your trade business, but you miss out on the opportunity to create something unique when you sign up for a Wix account.
That’s because you typically need to start with a template, and there are only around 800 templates available.
That might sound like a lot, but consider the fact that there are 160 million websites hosted on Wix.
That’s 200,000 websites using each template.
Not that much after all.
The bottom line is that if you want a unique, eye-catching website that doesn’t look like it was picked off the shelf, then you should steer clear of Wix.
Reason 7: Wix Websites Aren’t Very Secure
Online security is a major issue, for both you and your customers.
The problem with Wix sites is that there are millions of them hosted on the same servers, which inevitably become prime targets for hackers.
Of course, Wix will be doing everything they can to prevent this, but it ultimately puts you and your data at risk.
Not something you want.
Having a Wix website = issues with security = your data could get stolen.
Reason 8: Wix Websites Make It Tough To Migrate Your Data
The whole point of Wix is to get you started in an affordable manner (more on that soon).
Many business owners see this a win and as a way to get their online presence launched quickly, planning to later move over to a more professional platform.
The problem is, it ain’t that easy.
Without getting into the technical details, the way that Wix builds their websites makes it impossible to just export and migrate over to another platform, you basically have to start from scratch.
So, you might as well have done it properly from the get-go.
Why Do People Get Wix Websites, Then?
The reasons against opting to build a Wix website are clearly stacked against you, so, why do people do it?
The reasons against opting to build a Wix website are clearly stacked against you, so, why do people do it?
The main reason is because you can get started for very little, or even for free.
Literally, for free. No cost. Nothing. What’s the catch?
Quite a bit, actually.
To start with, the features you have access to on the free plan (you can pay to get more) are pretty limited.
That makes it even tougher to build something unique, and you end up creating a site that everyone’s seen before.
Even worse, your domain name is going to look something like: [account name].wixsite.com/[website name].
Not very professional, huh.
And the paid plans aren’t even all that affordable, when you really think about it.
Wix websites are paid for by subscription, meaning they’ll charge your credit card each month into perpetuity.
Compare that to other website builders which might charge a one-off fee to access, and you’ll realize that after a given amount of time, Wix sites are actually more expensive.
Add in the cost of lost business opportunities as a result of not ranking in search engines and looking altogether unprofessional, and the ‘affordability’ of a Wix website vanishes altogether.
The main reason is because you can get started for very little, or even for free.
Literally, for free. No cost. Nothing. What’s the catch?
Quite a bit, actually.
To start with, the features you have access to on the free plan (you can pay to get more) are pretty limited.
That makes it even tougher to build something unique, and you end up creating a site that everyone’s seen before.
Even worse, your domain name is going to look something like: [account name].wixsite.com/[website name].
Not very professional, huh.
And the paid plans aren’t even all that affordable, when you really think about it.
Wix websites are paid for by subscription, meaning they’ll charge your credit card each month into perpetuity.
Compare that to other website builders which might charge a one-off fee to access, and you’ll realize that after a given amount of time, Wix sites are actually more expensive.
Add in the cost of lost business opportunities as a result of not ranking in search engines and looking altogether unprofessional, and the ‘affordability’ of a Wix website vanishes altogether.
So, What To Do?
Hopefully by now you’ve realized that going for a Wix website is a bad, bad idea.
So, what should you do instead?
Maybe we’re a little biased, but we’re pretty proud of the tech stack we’ve put together to build epic websites for our customers, using:
- Gatsby (Front End)
- Tailwind (CSS)
- Netlifty (Hosting)
- Sanity (CMS)
- Cloudfare (DNS)
Want to learn more about how these epic development tools work for you?
Check out our post about it right here.