Regardless of the size, every business needs a website. However, building a website can be pretty challenging, especially if you have to do it yourself and don’t have the technical and marketing skills.
That is why site builders like Wix, Weebly, and Squarespace have gained tremendous popularity – they make it easy to build a website with a user-friendly drag and drop builder.
Regardless of the size, every business needs a website. However, building a website can be pretty challenging, especially if you have to do it yourself and don’t have the technical and marketing skills. That is …
But if something looks too good to be true, generally, it is.
Yes, Wix and other website builders might take away some of the technical overwhelm that comes with building a website, but the drawbacks of those site builders are more than you can imagine.
In this blog post, we will explore some of the top 5 reasons as to why you SHOULDN’T be using Wix (or any other site builder) for building your website.
We will use Wix as an example as it has a fabulous advertising presence, and it is one of the most popular drag-and-drop DIY website builders, but when we refer to Wix, we mean any site builder (Weebly, Squarespace, etc.)
While Wix is a fantastic tool for a personal blog, it’s NOT suitable for business. Here is why:
1) It might be more expensive than you might think.
While Wix offers a free plan, if you intend to have a REAL business, the free plan is out of the equation.
With the free plan, your website will be hosted on the Wix subdomain, and it will look like this: example.wix.com. Not very professional, right?
What’s more, you will have to display ads on your website and will be stuck with limited capabilities. Think for a second – if you are a customer and visit a website that doesn’t look professional, would you revisit it? Probably not, right?
If you want to remove the branding, use a custom domain and unlock some of the functionalities, you will have to use a business plan. The basic business plan starts at $12,50 a month, and the most expensive plan Wix has to offer is $35. However, you need to sign for a yearly subscription and pay upfront.
This is not expensive at all, but it would be a better deal to consider buying a reputable hosting service for that amount of money. If your website gets hacked, you would need a good hosting company.
Plus, even if, at the moment, the monthly cost for a site builder seems like a no-brainer, the amount will add up over time. Not to mention that you would probably need more functionalities than the Wix store has to offer. Most of them are free to start using, but you would need to pay to upgrade or keep using them at some point.
2) The cost that no one considers
The highest cost that your business would have to pay if you choose to use Wix is the cost associated with building a website by someone that has no clue of 1) what makes a website visible on the web and 2) how to build a website with the user experience in mind.
As a result, you end up with a website that your clients cannot find or doesn’t work well (or both). This might not seem like a big deal, but let’s illustrate that with numbers.
Take a massage therapist who has built his website with Wix 5 years ago. The site is not helping him in any way, and for those five years, he hasn’t gotten a single booking for his services. If we imagine that this site owner didn’t pay any particular attention to search engine visibility, then the below scenario applies:
- Average massage therapy: $150
- One massage booked through the website per week: 52 weeks * $150 =$7,800 income per year
- Income (LOST) for 5 years: $ 39,000
So, in this example, the website built with Wix cost him $39,000 in lost revenue.
Not to mention that he would build a professional website for that amount of money that would bring him more than one booked session per week.
Would you wait and see for yourself how much-lost income would bring you a cheap website built with Wix or any other site builder, or would you rather have a professional website that attracts customers that actually buy your products/services?
3) Your customers might get a bad user experience and slow loading website.
As we already mentioned, the biggest downside of using site builders is that the user building the website has no clue about user experience or how to make the site load speedy and appear in the search.
This might seem like not such an issue, but if your clients cannot find you online or they find you and leave your website because it loads slowly or for any other reason, the truth is that you are losing potential customers (hence money – see the example above).
What’s more, Wix and other site builders host your website on a shared server (along with thousands of other websites). This automatically diminishes the speed of your website. And not to mention the fact that hosting your website on a shared server is not secure-wise.
4) Your website will not be SEO optimized.
The most significant problem with websites built with Wix and similar site builders is poor search engine optimization. From a technical perspective, there are many problems with websites built with Wix – using Flash, page URLs, etc.
All of these factors make it extremely difficult to optimize a website created this way. And the truth is if your website is not SEO optimized, your clients won’t be able to find you – your competitors will show up on the top of the search, and your website will be buried somewhere after page three (and who does it even have the patience to get to page three?).
5) You don’t OWN your website
Site ownership is of great importance to every site owner. Site ownership is as essential as owning any other business asset.
Wix.com states:
“Wix does not claim any intellectual property rights over the User Submission.”,
“However, under the Wix .com Terms of Use, you grant Wix worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such User Submissions.”
In simple terms, this means that Wix can modify your website and content, and you are giving them this permission by simply agreeing to their terms and conditions.
You should ALWAYS have control over your website – it represents your brand!
Some final thoughts
Wix and other site builders might take away the complexity out of the equation, but once your website is ready, you end up with a not-so-good-looking website, and your new website will have little to no visitors. And if you want to establish a trustworthy online presence, then you should AVOID such site builders.
Still, if after reviewing all of the drawbacks you feel like having a website built with a website builder, then sure – go ahead and build it. If you are hesitant or have any other questions, our team is here for you.
We can help you build or redesign your website, establish your online presence and turn your customers into raving fans. If this is what you are looking for or have any questions, you can contact us here.
