Why or why wouldn't you use a website builder like WiX?

[cchurchill1986]

As a small business owner do you currently use WiX? What are your thoughts on it?
If you are not currently using WiX would you ever use something like that?
It doesn't necessarily have to be WiX is could be one of the others like Square-space, Weebly, etc...

 

[fisicx]

There are umpteen threads here and elsewhere, blogs, articles and other resources all explaining why wix and other page builders should be avoided.

Squarespace and Shopify are not the same and shouldn’t be lumped in with the likes of weebly.

 

[Mark T Jones]

I’m no expert here, but my understanding is that the likes of Wix are very poor for SEO and aren’t easily transported

For my part, my last self-build website cost very little money (basically the cost of domain and hosting):, took only a few hours to create an£ was surprisingly effective. I hav3 no technical skills, but was very clear of purpose.

For that price, I couldn’t see the value in Wix.

 

[Inva]

Speaking as a developer, i believe that generally these platforms make no sense outside the scope of hobbyists/DIY enthousiasts. Essentially, in most cases you pay more in Wix than you would have if hiring a professional (including buying hosting), for the "benefit" of having the website made by yourself, an amateur.

I believe the appeal is probably centered around "you can do it how you want it" and "having control" by not allowing anyone else access to your site.

I believe this is a poor strategy on all fronts. So therefore as i said, can only recommend it as a hobby.

 

[Alan]

Everyone who thinks they can build a website themselves should use Wix or Squarespace, that way it spares web developers from them.

 

[Will Richards]

Agreed, false economy really and, in my experience, even if it did work out cheaper than hiring a pro, then the amount of your own time spent on building it soon negates any benefit. I had a similar setup with Moonfruit - great until they change their pricing plans after a year and you decide it's not such a good deal. But then you realize can't move it away on to another platform so they've got you over a barrel.

I think Wordpress is fantastic platform as a happy medium, allowing you to manage / post / edit content but have a pro do all the tricky stuff behind the scenes.

 

[Paul Murray]

Speaking as a developer, i believe that generally these platforms make no sense outside the scope of hobbyists/DIY enthousiasts.

Agreed, this is pretty much the only reason I could think to use Wix, and even then there are much better alternatives. I see them basically as modern-day equivalents to the old Geocities and Angelfire websites of the 90s/00s.

 

[justinaldridge]

It's just different products for different purposes. Wix, Weebly and even Blogger (yes, still around) enable you to build a website. But that doesn't mean it's the best solution for a business that is serious about making money or generating leads online.

To be fair, a lot of business owners wouldn't know why they shouldn't use a platform such as Wix but essentially it just comes down to the fact that you are restrained by the limitations of the platform, which can stunt business growth and it's just not great if you want to target organic search traffic because of the way it works.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Everyone who thinks they can build a website themselves should use Wix or Squarespace, that way it spares web developers from them.

Are you basing that on quantified financial outcomes or your own technical perception of what a website should/shouldn't be?

My reason for asking is because my own self-build site (which definitely looked self built) generated more revenue than my previous 'professional' one, and those of competitors who had invested several thousand pounds.

 

[Inva]

Agreed, this is pretty much the only reason I could think to use Wix, and even then there are much better alternatives. I see them basically as modern-day equivalents to the old Geocities and Angelfire websites of the 90s/00s.

Spot on, only that those were free (with ads) while for Wix you have to pay.

 

[Inva]

Are you basing that on quantified financial outcomes or your own technical perception of what a website should/shouldn't be?

My reason for asking is because my own self-build site (which definitely looked self built) generated more revenue than my previous 'professional' one, and those of competitors who had invested several thousand pounds.

You cannot judge the process by the results. Here's the website of a ~500 billion dollar company:
http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/

There are many factors weighing in a sale, a website is only a part of it.

 

[Alan]

Everyone who thinks they can build a website themselves should use Wix or Squarespace, that way it spares web developers from them.

Are you basing that on quantified financial outcomes or your own technical perception of what a website should/shouldn't be?

My reason for asking is because my own self-build site (which definitely looked self built) generated more revenue than my previous 'professional' one, and those of competitors who had invested several thousand pounds.

Neither ( quantified financial outcomes or my own technical perception ).

People who think they can build website are often the wrong sort of customer ( or maybe the worst sort of customer ) for web developers and they can generally do without them, there are enough good customers to go around. They ( people of think they can build ) may be successful with their website ( like you perhaps ) and not need help - or they may not be successful and then seek help - but once they seek help and have had experience themselves they are likely select the right sort of web developer for them, and to value the time and expertise of the web developer, and be a better customer.

Your case makes the point, you did it the wrong way round, you engaged a web developer with out knowing how to direct him/her and they didn't ask you the right questions about your strategic objectives so failed to deliver the returns to their potential. So you learned the expensive way. Had you built your site yourself first and learned lessons about visitors and conversion, you could then have better selected a web developer and worked with them to deliver your business objectives, or indeed not needed to use a web developer at all.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Neither ( quantified financial outcomes or my own technical perception ).

People who think they can build website are often the wrong sort of customer ( or maybe the worst sort of customer ) for web developers and they can generally do without them, there are enough good customers to go around. They ( people of think they can build ) may be successful with their website ( like you perhaps ) and not need help - or they may not be successful and then seek help - but once they seek help and have had experience themselves they are likely select the right sort of web developer for them, and to value the time and expertise of the web developer, and be a better customer.

Your case makes the point, you did it the wrong way round, you engaged a web developer with out knowing how to direct him/her and they didn't ask you the right questions about your strategic objectives so failed to deliver the returns to their potential. So you learned the expensive way. Had you built your site yourself first and learned lessons about visitors and conversion, you could then have better selected a web developer and worked with them to deliver your business objectives, or indeed not needed to use a web developer at all.

But that kind of contradicts your argument.

I’d suggest that DIYers can make fantastic customers once, as yourv3csuggested they have learned the value of professionalism. That applies to most disciplines

 

[Alan]

I’d suggest that DIYers can make fantastic customers once, as yourv3csuggested they have learned the value of professionalism. That applies to most disciplines

I though that was exactly what I was saying, sorry if my written communication wasn't quite clear enough.

Person who 'thinks' they can build a website - but never has tried = potentially bad customer for a web dev.

Person who 'thinks' they can build a website - and has tried = potentially good customer for a web dev.

 

[garyk]

If you are using one for your business when you start they are great. They allow you to get something half decent done in double quick time. However the issue is you soon outgrow them and anything different from the norm you need to do becomes a massive pain.

The company I've just joined started with squarespace, what a bag of s**t that is. Any gains you make when you start will bite you in the ass further down the line.

 

[iDigLocal]

its about control of your assets and future growth and development. If you are serious get your own website built and hosted independently. It might cost you more in the short term but it will pay dividends.

talk to a few professionals about what you want. What is your website for? Brochure, e-commerce?

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Web site design is a catch 22 situation in that neither the customer or designer know what is really needed until they have had a site up and running for say half a year

Yes the major software will produce standard solutions to most problems, but most companies are individual and have separate requirements depending on their purpose and customers

If for instance you take car buying there are many experts in their own field in selling cars, you have the secondhand man at various levels, the small dealership selling cheap cars, the major dealerships and the top end dealers in Rolls Royce and the like plus many niche companies like say sports cars , SUV's and Campers

With designers in general they will try and meet the requirements of any customer who comes along, but they don't understand the customers needs apart from being a web site and the customer has no idea of what he needs apart from the basics

So maybe these shop in a box type sites are good for all in that they let you try and put a toe into the water and then find out the shortfalls and be able to go to the designer for a new site a year later with a long list of what they want and the designer can give there suggestions on how it can be done
So whilst its easy to knock these cheap solutions they can and do fulfill a valued job and help the designers more than anything else in a round about way

 

[TotalWebSolutions]

Wix can be very restrictive when it comes to add-ons/plugins (particularly payment processing options which are very limited) and you can't choose your own host provider - you have to host it on their services (although you can change the MX records to point email elsewhere).

 

[Paul Norman]

I obviously do not use it, because I part own a technology company who, amongst other things, make websites.

The technical people that work there, if I asked them this question would pelt me with decomposing fruit.

If you want to build your own website, there are better products to use than those listed, although, as already mentioned, the list is a little strange as not all those in it are that alike.

For the record, I also do not knit my own jumpers, although I am aware there are simple hobbyist kits around and some people enjoy using them. You can, usually, tell who they are, however.

 

[Jason Howard]

I think its fine if you don't need an over complex website. I used Go Daddy for a clearance company which suited it fine and i didn't want to pay the #1500 pcm fees for SEO

 

[comperio]

From a SEO standpoint you want to control what is on your pages as much as possible. Pure html would provide this feature; nowadays wordpress is quite stable, but still carries some risks, such as plugin hacks. Or even plugin bugs, just look at the latest Yoast SEO plugin bug fiasco.

But we can live with worpdress or some ecommerce platforms like Shopify, as we can mostly control our pages, generally speaking (using caution).

With WIX and other web20 type of properties reminiscent of squidoo, you lose control and put your destiny in the hands of a third party. We never use WIX and would never recommend our clients to do so.

 

[Dan101]

Imo Wordpress is the way to go. I have absolutely 0 technical skills or experience but have built some really nice looking and well functioning sites on Wordpress. So I sat at my computer and had another device next to me playing an instructional vid on how to build a professional WP site on Youtube. I followed the vid to the very last detail, pausing it at every stage to click the correct button on my computer. After about 40 minutes I didn't need the video any more, navigating Wordpress just clicked and I could do everything on my own from there. If I can build a good site on WP then ANYONE can.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Why or why wouldn't you use a website builder like WiX?

Because somebody else can do it I am a courier not a website expert I don't want to concern myself with all that stuff I cant do everything around here

 

[Alan]

Because somebody else can do it I am a courier not a website expert I don't want to concern myself with all that stuff I cant do everything around here

It is funny isn't that most people can drive adequately, but they wouldn't say drive 100 miles to pick up a laser printer for their office, they get it delivered by courier, but when it comes to websites many people think they should DIY.

I think it is a bit like the DIY craze of the 70's / early 80's when DIY products became accessible to the public every one was doing DIY projects around the house, now they just get a builder or handyman in.

 

[DotenHosting]

As a small business owner do you currently use WiX? What are your thoughts on it?
If you are not currently using WiX would you ever use something like that?
It doesn't necessarily have to be WiX is could be one of the others like Square-space, Weebly, etc...

A good option if you're looking for an easily editable website would be to use WordPress and a fantastic theme (themeforest.net have some great themes at affordable prices). This would require sourcing a Web host and domain name, this usually costs around £25 a year for a basic startup package.

WordPress is free and easy to use and there are loads of websites online designed to help and provide support.