It happened again! Another client is frustrated with trying to figure out the technicalities of their Wordpress website. Spending weeks going back and forward with emails to the ‘techie' who built it, and here we were 3 months later, barely a tiny step further on.
At this point I’ve seen this scenario, or similar, at least a dozen times. In my 8 years as a digital marketer it was something I recognized very early on, but common “wisdom”, the word going around, is that Wordpress is “how you get a good website”. And so, no matter how many times I saw evidence to the contrary I always questioned myself for believing anything else.
I’d questioned Mullensweig the founder of Wordpress too. He told me in front of an audience of 400 people that I’d get a free website, the whole place laughed and I didn’t get the joke. I am still waiting for that free site. As far as I can tell, to this day, a functional Wordpress site is not free.
I’ve given up waiting for an easy to use Wordpress site to exist, and definitely on waiting for a free one. That’s why I now run an agency where we make websites, mostly on Wix.
Wix is simple. It doesn’t claim to be free and yet it is closer to free than Wordpress.
There are other website builders in the same category as Wix, such as Squarespace, Weebly, Shopify, Jimdo, etc, but none have the same combination of ease of use, design options, feature abilities and low cost. In a few cases others may be a more optimal option than Wix e.g Shopify might be right if the main aim of the site is ecommerce and there is a larger budget to spend. But for most sites, on price and combination of features, Wix is the winner.
At UnWordy, we focus on getting the messaging right for your site, so that your site visitors will have the best chance of interacting more with your brand and lead them to the outcomes you want.
To see some more technical points see below.
General Comparisons: Wix and Wordpress
Comparing Wix vs WordPress SEO Capabilities
SEO is what makes your page most easily discovered, e.g for relevant searches on Google.
Plugins are not always easy to set up, and often are an additional cost. As you can see, Wix makes things easy and low cost. It’s such a clear winner.
Pricing Comparison of Wix & WordPress
*While pricing from Wix includes hosting, and almost all features mentioned here and more.
The following is a list of items with additional costs associated with a Wordpress website:
Wordpress.com hosting, or external hosting for Wordpress.org from e.g BlueHost
Paid theme
Plugin for SEO (easily £70/ year)
Plugins for most other functionalities (mentioned above) as required
Charges of a Wordpress expert
Plus guidance from UX designer, if your Wordpress expert is unaware of UX (which most are not, and if they are, they are the particularly high cost ones).
Guidance from content expert, if Wordpress expert is unaware of copy writing (which most are not, and if they are, they are the particularly high cost ones).
Features of Websites
This is a list of some of the features mostly at no additional cost from Wix.
Many of these cost, and some cost significantly, on Wordpress.
Video hosting (always be careful about how fast a site loads when adding video)
YouTube Videos playing within the website.
Bookings services: Sell access to services created in Wix Bookings. You can sell membership plans that last a set amount of time or a package (e.g. 5 horse groomings at a reduced rate).
Blog, (also included on Wordpress for a basic blog) On Wix you can have the option to make some posts, files or videos accessible only to your website members. If you sell a membership program.
Site pages - Create content on hidden site pages and sell access.
Online Programs: Create an online program, such as a 30-Day Challenge, and sell access to it.
Events calendar & offer discounts to your membership plan holders when they buy event tickets.
Contact form
Live chat
Build a mailing list for a newsletter - aiming to get email subscribers
Social media feed shown on the website.
Pop up box displayed before leaving the site, to encourage staying on the site.
A countdown clock to a significant event
Donations collection
Sell merchandise printed with company photos/ logo, using a make-to- order service.
Frequently asked Questions list
Jobs Board (e.g list jobs available working with Marwadi horses in India)
Search bar for the site
And much more.
Wix almost always wins. I'd only suggest Wordpress where the needs of the site are complex such as a database backend, and in these cases we work with capable development teams.
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