Wix has gotten truly known in the course of the most recent couple of years, partially because of spending plan busting promoting efforts featuring stars like Heidi Klum, Jason Statham and Gal Gadot, otherwise called Wonder Woman. Be that as it may, how about we start with the rudiments. Today, Wix is the greatest part in the site building scene and hosts an incredible 160 million sites.
Wix Review: Summary
Wix offers an astounding intuitive webpage developer to make little sites. There are 100s of free formats accessible. Wix gives its own web facilitating just as space names (free and paid). The App Market makes it simple to add additional usefulness, for example, photograph exhibitions or internet business.
Their outwardly amazing formats are intended for private companies, cafés, online stores and craftsmen, for example, artists and photographic artists. They are improved for cell phones and can be spiced up with one of the various applications accessible from the Wix App Market.
In a manner you can contrast Wix with a pre-assembled house: the major design as of now exists and can’t be changed. You can, in any case, paint the dividers to your fervor (pick a topic) and add the furniture you love.
Wix is accessible free of charge however long you need. In the event that you need proficient highlights like your own space name or web based business, you should browse one of their superior plans going from “Combo” to “Business VIP”.
Now you are probably wondering if Wix is right for you. Let’s find out what’s good and what’s bad about this product:
Pros of Wix.com
1. You receive upgraded design templates.
With the drag-and-drop design functions that Wix offers, you can have a modern website created in a few minutes. This allows you to get online with a commercial or personal site without a large investment. Some of the templates are restricted with the free plan, but otherwise you receive an immediate and solid user experience.
2. The interface is intuitive and useful.
It isn’t the best looking backend interface that you’ll find with a website builder today, but it is incredible useful. All of the tools you need are a couple clicks away at most. You also receive guidelines and tools to customize templates, even on the free plan, so your website can match the look of your brand.
3. You’re not locked into long-term plans.
In order to receive an affordable premium plan, many website builders lock you into 24-36 month contracts. You don’t have that issue with Wix. If you want to upgrade from the free option, you can try it out for as little as $5 per month and cancel at any time.
4. Wix takes care of your site security without compromising speed.
Right out of the box, Wix websites perform at above average rates for speed. You don’t need to worry about security because the site is hosted on a Wix server. This means you get to worry more about designing your site and taking advantage of the services you may have purchased from their various premium bundles.
5. You receive an all-in-one solution.
If you run into a problem with your site for some reason, all you need to do is contact Wix to get the solution you need. There’s no time spent hunting down issues or trying to deal with plugins or widgets that may have malfunctioned. You can contact their customer service depart via email, phone, or what amounts to an interactive FAQ page.
What Are the Cons of Wix Websites?
1. The starter plan doesn’t remove ads from your site.
Advertising on your website should benefit you, especially if you’re paying a fee. With Wix, the entry level plan that hovers around $5 per month does not remove Wix-based ads from your site. To remove the ads, you must go to a different monthly plan that will cost more than most of the website building competitors that are out there right now.
2. There are no unlimited plans.
With Wix websites, you are not allowed to have unlimited bandwidth or storage on any plan. This even applies to the business and commercial plans that are sold at premium rates.
3. Drag and drop designs can limit your creativity.
Although the website builder has improved dramatically in the last couple of years, you still have certain limitations. You can drag and drop items anywhere instead of into locked boxes, but it still can be a hassle to get a design to look and work the way intended. It takes much more time in reality to design a site on Wix than most people will think it does.
4. The App store on Wix doesn’t really offer apps.
Adding functionality to your Wix websites is pretty easy to do with the App store that is offered. The only problem is that most of the apps there aren’t true apps. You’ll get to add I-frames instead of real functionality to your website. These are easy to install and they work okay, but it isn’t the ideal solution that many may like to see.
5. SEO is a pain in the neck with Wix.
You do have access to an SEO Wizard with Wix that can help you maximize content optimization, but the techniques offered are a little behind the times. Most of the focus is on keyword targeting, grouping, and ranking without any regard to other aspects of modern SEO. It may not be a deal-breaker, but it will be a disadvantage to those who are looking at a long-term website effort.
Rating Details
criterion | rating | comments |
Ease of use | 5 /5 | The editor is very easy to understand. If you are stuck, the FAQ section will help. Short introductory videos give instructions on the different functions. Complete novices will love Wix ADI: this new system holds you by the hand while configuring your website. It’s a bit less flexible but very convenient. What’s best: you can switch to the regular builder whenever you like. |
Choice and flexibility of design (templates) | 5/5 | The designs look professional and allow for pixel-perfect customizations (see examples). There’s a mobile-friendly version that can be adapted individually. You are also able to embed videos in the background and even upload your own fonts to the Wix editor. |
Advertisement-free | Ad-free only from the premium plan “Combo”. The free version and the Connect Domain plan show some pretty visible Wix ads. | |
Languages | 4/5 | The editor supports 16 languages. Multilingual sites are generally possible. Here is a guide to multilingual website creation. While it’s a pretty efficient system that is easy to use, we wouldn’t recommend it for larger sites as it’s not ideal for SEO (you can’t use unique URLs for each language). |
Features | ||
Your own domain name (e.g. .com or .net) | Free domain name for one year included in the premium “Combo” and higher plans. Wix supports domain endings including: .com, .org, .net, .co.uk and .info. Renewal prices start at $14.95 per year. Using the “Connect Domain” package (and higher) it is possible to move your existing domain to Wix or point it from another domain registrar to Wix. More information. Always included: SSL encryption (https). | |
Depth of navigation | A maximum of two levels is possible. A third level would be desirable as right now it’s not very convenient to manage a larger site with Wix (30+ pages). Also, the more pages you add, the slower the editor tends to load. Keep in mind that Wix websites have a page limit of 100 (not counting blog posts). | |
Widgets (small tools to add extra functionality) | Wix App Market features a wide range of unique widgets and apps. We especially like Wix Music, to sell and promote music, and Wix Bookings that will let your customers book and pay for appointments and consultations. External applications can be integrated as well. | |
Monetization | You can integrate Google AdSense via their App store. Another possibility is banner ads and affiliate links. | |
E-Commerce | An online store is included in the “Business & eCommerce” packages. You can also test the function in the other plans. At $23 per month it’s fairly priced (there are no sales fees) and it allows to sell both physical and digital goods while tracking what you have in stock. Learn more in our detailed Wix Ecommerce review. | |
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) | You may have heard bad things about Wix’s SEO capabilities, which was still true a few years ago (more about this here). However, they have improved massively, letting you edit page titles, meta descriptions, and alt tags individually. There are even advanced SEO tools like 301 redirects. Unfortunately, Wix changes image file names into something cryptic (e.g. 09ab7~mv2.jpg/), which is a minor disadvantage. Beginners can use the SEO Wiz, a guided tutorial. For more information, check Wix’s SEO post. | |
Blog | Wix’s blog is a pretty good add-on, which is also SEO-friendly. It comes with most of the features that you’ll need (e.g. tags, categories, RSS, etc.). It’s also possible to schedule blog posts. With the Wix mobile app you are able to edit and publish articles on the go. You can even sell paid subscriptions to your blog posts. A downside is the cumbersome commenting feature. Your visitors need to sign up for an account with your website to leave a comment. | |
Visitor statistics | In order to access statistics, Google Analytics must be integrated in advance. | |
Contact form | There is a simple contact form builder, which is limited to 10 form fields. More sophisticated tools can be found in the App Market. | |
Password protection & member areas | Exemplary! Pages can be allocated an individual password. You can even create a small membership website where users sign up in order to receive personal login credentials. Unfortunately it doesn’t integrate with ecommerce. You decide whether they get approved instantly or manually by you. Both features included in all plans. | |
Newsletter tool | You can use Wix’s own “ShoutOut” newsletter service. It’s very easy to use but not as powerful as specialized external providers. Read our full Wix ShoutOut review here. | |
Add HTML code | Embed various widgets and other tools by means of an integrated app called HTML iframe. But that’s not all: Wix Code (Velo) caters to people with advanced coding skills and lets you set up custom API interactions by means of JavaScript. You can also create databases. | |
Storage space | 500 MB+ | 500 MB – 20 GB web space, depending on the pricing tier. Please note that there is also a monthly bandwidth limit in most plans. This is only relevant for large websites, e.g. the 2 GB bandwidth of the Combo plan should be enough for about 3,000-5,000 visitors per month). The Unlimited and VIP plans both provide unlimited bandwidth. |
Backups & Restore | Wix comes with a very convenient version control system, called Site History, that will let you restore to any previous version of your site with one click. | |
Support | FAQ Chat Email Telephone | Support center, forum, phone. The documentation is very detailed and clearly explained. If you get stuck, you can submit your question to the forum. Answers are usually prompt but sometimes a bit of email back and forth until the issue is solved. |
Fun Factor | Starting up is very playful and, initially, impressive results are achieved quickly. Wix gives you a lot of freedom in the design process. | |
Overall Rating | 4.6/5 | Wix.com is a smart website builder with optical delights. Easy to use and as flexible as it can get. It’s the perfect website builder for photographers, bands, artists and any kind of (small) portfolio site. Loading speeds should be improved. |