WordPress and Wix, which one is better?

WordPress and Wix – what’s the difference?

WordPress and Wix are both tools for building websites, but they have completely different approaches. So, out of WordPress and Wix which one is better for your business website?

If you’re a beginner who needs a bit of help creating your first website, Wix can get you up and running online quickly. It is a drag-and-drop editor and comes with a wide range of free templates to get a reasonably professional-looking website without too much cost or hassle.

However, for high-traffic websites that generate income, WordPress remains the best content management system. Ahrefs, a leading all-around SEO tool, has analysed 6.4 million websites. Their results show that WordPress sites have higher domain authority, backlinks, and traffic than their Wix counterparts.

It’s therefore no wonder WordPress has 65% of the market share as of January 2022, and according to w3techs, 43.3% of the world’s websites are built with WordPress.

This diagram below shows the percentages of websites using various technologies. WordPress is used by 43.3% of all the worlds websites: a content management system market share of 65.3%.

Let’s unpack that a bit

Wix might be easier to use but it is way less customisable than WordPress. In fact, it is one of the simplest website builders out there. Wix is an all-in-one hosted website platform with all the software you need to manage your website content, design and functionality provided. You don’t have to install any software, and you edit everything in your browser.

Your site is built on their software with their tools. Your website lives on their servers, and you can only access your site via the Wix admin panel.

You won’t have to set up a web host yourself, but and it is a big BUT, because Wix websites are hosted on their infrastructure, once you create a website with them, it’s stuck there. Moving your website off Wix and on to a new web host is a real drama. 

Whereas with WordPress, you can host your site wherever you choose. 

We choose WPEngine, and this is why…

Where Wix falls short

Wix is ideal for portfolio-type websites but not so great for building large sites, as they tend to become slow. That’s why you should think hard about what your website needs to do not only now, but further down the track, because as we know, when it comes to Google and SEO, content is king and smaller sites don’t perform as well as bigger sites. Small sites still require at least these essential 5 must haves.

Wix has online store options with plenty of options for payments. However, because Wix sites can be slower to load, they don’t make for the ideal shopping experience and a slow site can hurt SEO. Also, as the navigation is limited to one sub-level, it’s difficult to categorise larger product groupings, so Wix is not ideal for large stores. 

Here at Woodswork, we integrate WooCommerce with WordPress to create the most customisable shopping options available online. Team that with the Divi builder we use, and the customisation options expand exponentially.

If you are planning on having online payment, we have an article that may help you decide which merchant service is for you.

With Wix you can create and publish a free website, but it will display advertising and you cannot use your own custom domain name. Your domain name will be an extension of Wix such as, I-don’t-actually-own-this-website.wix.com. 

To use your own domain name and have full functionality, you’ll need to pay for a premium plan and then pay more to remove Wix ads from your site. The ongoing costs of using Wix start to add up.

You need a website that is future-proofed

As a drag-and-drop builder, Wix lets you create simple sites and is a popular choice among do-it-yourselfers. But, if you’re looking for increased flexibility and loads of features that will allow your site to be future-proofed, we think a WordPress site is a much better option.

WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system (CMS): there are around 70 million installations worldwide, give or take the odd million. We reckon that if you’re using the CMS the majority of website owners in the world are also using, then there has to be something pretty good about it.

When it comes to websites, we think how it looks is quite important. We believe your business needs to reflect who you are and what makes you special. The custom development of our WordPress themes means you get something that suits your business brand. No cookie cutter approach here.

Our web developers can make your business site all yours, in every way. Because we know CSS, HTML and PHP, we can give you exactly the website you want. 

Customised SEO and forms on top of branded design

WordPress lets you install SEO plugins such as Yoast, the world’s most popular SEO plugin. This tool helps websites improve where they appear in SERPs (search engine result pages) and boost their rankings in the long run.

We use a specialty form builder that enables us to build customised forms. You can have any content you choose in your contact form; we can even build out extensive conditional logic forms that provide extra fields based on previous field responses. These can be used in all kinds of applications: small stores, questionnaires, registrations etc. The scope is endless because we use WordPress.

WordPress is, in our opinion, the most future-proofed solution because what you can do and what you can add to it is virtually limitless. 

Web design services

Google Wix websites and you’ll often come across people asking for help to make their sites more visible (better SEO) and reporting issues with the Wix interface. From what we understand, there is not much support out there to help you right when you need it. 

Everybody has their “go-to” person for services they either don’t want to do, can’t do or just shouldn’t be doing themselves. Dentistry, haircuts, plumbing and electrical repairs all need to be tackled by professionals. Building a website from scratch would either fall into the “service you shouldn’t be doing yourself” or “why would you want to” category. We often come across clients who have built a site themselves only to feel disappointed and frustrated with the outcome.

Most people are more interested in investing precious time into learning about the latest developments in their own business. They understand that learning how to build a website could take weeks, be the cause of needless headaches and isn’t the best use of resources.

WordPress vs Wix: Our conclusion

For business, we think WordPress is a smart decision. A WordPress site is easily scaleable and can grow as your business grows. Get us to build it and we’ll make your website journey a pleasure, not a chore.

Let us take care of the website design and build for you. At Woodswork Web Design, we can give you the control over your website design that no “free” website builders can. You can own and control your content with ease. We even have an extensive training library and telephone support.

WordPress is a content management system for those who value flexibility and versatility. Wix is great for beginners who want to pop out a basic website that doesn’t need advanced features. It’s essentially an entry-level tool.

Convenience vs control 

Wix may be easier to use than WordPress, but that comes at a price. When deciding on the best fit for your business, we suggest you think carefully about the trade-offs: convenience for control, customisable design, the ability to grow and the fact you own your own website. In our view, the winner is WordPress. 

Let us build your website for you. You won’t have to use your valuable time doing so and you will own it outright.

Design and build package

Our packages cover the total design, build and care of your website. We can host your website using your domain name on the best WordPress dedicated host there is: WPEngine. We won’t settle for less when it comes to hosting your online business, and neither should you. Our website design and build packages include SSL certification so that your site is nice and secure from attack. 

You won’t have to worry about asking the right questions, because you don’t have to know what they are – your business is your specialty, web design and build is ours. We’re an experienced web company that you can trust to build you what your business needs and nothing you don’t.

If you’d like to get a no obligation website proposal, call 021 158 1400 or email us and we’ll be back in touch ASAP. We really are the best value website company in Albany, Auckland.