Initially, I regarded Wix as a basic website builder suitable only for creating personal websites for fun and not for establishing a professional online presence.
Although Wix made many promises, I was skeptical about its ability to fulfill them. However, I am always ready to admit my mistakes, and now I must confess that my initial impression of Wix was completely wrong.
Wix is an excellent website builder that combines ease of use with functionality. This makes it an ideal solution for small businesses that require a unique website that is straightforward to operate. Furthermore, you don’t need any experience with websites to comprehend how Wix operates. As someone who is not an expert in web design, I can attest that I created a visually appealing and highly functional website in just an hour using Wix.
In summary, Wix is a powerful website builder that is suitable for creating professional-looking websites without requiring extensive technical knowledge or experience.
It’s not just me who uses Wix; more than 200 million people in 190 countries use it to build their websites, and this number is consistently growing. The appealing free plan that enables you to create a fully functional website without spending any money may be a factor contributing to this increase. Additionally, Wix supports 19 languages, such as English, French, and Korean, which further adds to its appeal.
However, is Wix the best option for you? In this review, I will evaluate Wix’s most impressive features, as well as some of its downsides, to help you determine if it is a suitable choice for your website.
Wix boasts a vast collection of templates, with over 800 options in various subcategories such as business, e-commerce, and creative sites. Unlike other website builders that offer repetitive layouts with minimal variations, Wix allows for complete design freedom right from the sign-up stage. Additionally, Wix has templates for almost every interest and business, ranging from dog-walking businesses to wedding websites. What’s more, many of Wix’s templates come pre-installed with the necessary apps, making it easier to set up your website.
One of the notable downsides to Wix’s templates is that they are not automatically mobile-responsive, requiring manual edits to ensure the content is legible and visually appealing. Additionally, once you select a template, you cannot switch it. This lack of flexibility might seem to limit compared to other website builders that allow you to switch templates with ease. However, this restriction exists due to Wix’s customization flexibility. The more liberty you have to design your layout, the harder it becomes to convert those changes to a mobile site or a new template.
Overall, the design philosophy behind Wix’s templates is similar to that of pineapple on pizza – you either love it or hate it. Despite its limitations, Wix’s templates offer unparalleled creative freedom and a diverse range of options to build your website.
Design and Customization
You don’t have to limit yourself to templates that fit your website category because Wix’s customization options are extensive. You can select any template and modify it according to your preferences.
With Wix’s editor, you have complete control over the placement of elements, unlike other builders that restrict you to a set grid. You can position elements wherever you like and adjust their shapes and sizes down to the pixel. Additionally, each element has its own customization menu, providing endless possibilities to add your unique touch. The editor even suggests creative ideas, such as animation or scrolling effects, that you may not have considered.
Adding custom elements or widgets is a breeze with Wix. You can embed widgets using HTML code blocks or create custom elements with HTML or JavaScript. And, if you need more functionality, you can use Wix Velo to add custom JavaScript code or access Wix’s APIs to customize how each element works.
Wix’s Features Let You Build the Site of Your Dreams [title] Wix offers an array of features and customization options to create a website tailored to your unique vision. With grid lines and boundary lines, you’ll get helpful guidance to ensure your site looks professional and polished. And if you need more advanced design features, Wix’s Editor X is designed for agencies and professionals, with options like CSS grids, custom breakpoints, and element anchoring.
In addition to standard features like blog management and online stores, Wix offers specialized features for industries like restaurants, art and photography, and hospitality. Even the more advanced features are easy to set up without any coding or technical knowledge. The only challenge is deciding which features are necessary and resisting the urge to add every shiny new option available.
Wix Stores [title] Wix Stores is an effortless e-commerce tool that adds functionality to your website. Once you upgrade to a business plan to accept payments, you can access product and checkout pages, payment gateway integrations, and a range of new customization options. You can even showcase an online catalog of products in your physical store and offer click-and-collect orders.
Wix Stores allows you to sell your products not just on your site, but also on Facebook, Amazon, and other online marketplaces. You can accept various payment methods, including credit and debit cards, PayPal, and AliPay, without any commission taken by Wix. There are also apps available for buy-now-pay-later options, gift cards, and product subscription management.
While larger e-commerce businesses may benefit more from dedicated platforms like Shopify, Wix Stores provides more than enough features for small to medium-sized online shops. You can customize your product pages and shopping cart to your liking, making your online store unique.
In addition, you have the ability to set up shipping rules and rates according to location, weight, or product type. You can even link your store to apps such as Shippo or ShipStation that allow you to print shipping labels and access competitive rates. Alternatively, you can use a dropshipping app to handle shipping and fulfillment for you, while also expanding your product selection.
Robust App Market: Exploring Wix’s 300+ Apps
Wix App Market offers more than 300 apps with various exciting features that can help you expand your site’s functionality. Although about 50 of these apps are created by Wix, third-party apps, such as integrations with popular marketing tools like Google AdSense and social media ads, are also available. While most apps have a free version, some require a paid plan to access more advanced features. You can search for apps by categories like Marketing and Selling Online, or even by a goal, like Collect Leads.
Popular Wix-created apps that are particularly useful include Wix Blog, Wix Chat, and Wix Forms. Wix Blog seamlessly integrates into your overall site, letting you customize your blog home page, add posts, and categorize them for easy navigation. With Wix Chat, you can add a live chat option to your site so visitors can reach you 24/7. Wix Forms lets you create custom contact forms from various templates that you can modify to meet your needs.
Wix SEO Wiz is a powerful SEO tool that helps optimize your website to make it easier for search engines like Google to categorize and list it in search results. When using the SEO Wiz tool for the first time, you input three keywords for your site, which helps Wix decide which pages need to be optimized for those keywords. Wix then generates an SEO checklist for you to follow, walking you through the process for each task. Wix SEO Wiz includes an extensive SEO guide, which provides details on must-have pages, how to optimize them, and how Google reads and understands your site.
Wix also offers an impressive suite of business tools to help you get more visitors to your site. These tools include email marketing, a video maker, a social post builder, automation, marketing integrations, invoices, and analytics. Upgrading your plan allows you to send more emails and create more videos. Wix is moving toward being a one-stop shop for a business’s online presence, and this set of marketing tools is a huge step in that direction.
Overall, Wix is a pleasure to use, and everything is always where you expect it to be. The app market challenges your self-control with new, shiny features because you can add apps with a single click, and there’s no limit to how many you can have. With Wix, you can easily create a professional-looking website with advanced functionality without needing to know how to code.
Let’s start with the good news: Wix has a comprehensive Support Center that offers detailed, step-by-step articles and video tutorials on almost every topic you can think of. I even came across a video tutorial that explains Google’s Core Web Vitals update, which many other website builders don’t cover. This is a great resource, but unless you’re on the Enterprise plan, you’ll likely have to rely on it quite a bit.
In theory, Wix also provides live chat support five days a week, with support times depending on the language you need. However, in my experience, I was never given the live chat option. Similarly, email support is handled through a ticket system, but I was never given this option either. Even if you’re on one of the more expensive plans, these channels are your only option, with the only difference being that support requests are prioritized.
Instead, the Support Center and the English-language callback support line are advertised as Wix’s “24/7 support.” If you need assistance in another language, note that callback support is only available during business hours in the support team’s country.
However, I did come across an automated chatbot that allowed me to describe my issue by clicking through a series of prompts. Surprisingly, this provided plenty of detailed options, with each leading to a relevant support article. If you request to speak with a human, you can choose the option to request a callback from the Wix support team. According to Wix, you should also be able to submit a ticket or (if available) live chat with a customer support agent. However, despite using the chatbot several times throughout the day, I was never given this option. For the most part, I was directed back to the Support Center in a frustrating loop.
I requested a callback, but despite the chatbot indicating that I could expect a call in three minutes, the callback didn’t arrive until an hour later. To their credit, the Wix customer support team was quite helpful when I finally spoke with them. The agent answered my question about domain limitations right away, so I was on the phone for only a few minutes. Even though I was using a free account and asking questions, I was pleasantly surprised that the agent didn’t push me to upgrade.
That being said, my experience was positive because I could afford to wait. However, given that I had to wait longer than the advertised time for a callback, I could see how this would be extremely frustrating if you had a time-sensitive issue.
If you enjoy troubleshooting issues on your own, as I do, this setup works quite well. However, if you prefer quicker access to speaking with a real person or have an issue that isn’t covered by the written tutorials, Wix may prove to be a little frustrating.
Wix is a website builder that offers a variety of subscription plans to suit different budgets and needs. Their free plan includes many features and is more comprehensive than other website builders’ free plans. However, it has limitations such as no ability to connect a custom domain or remove Wix branding, limited bandwidth, storage, and no online payment acceptance.
Upgrading to a paid plan offers more benefits such as removing ads, connecting a custom domain, and increasing storage space. Higher-tier plans provide more storage and video upload capabilities, and some even come with additional extras such as a professional logo design and ad vouchers.
Wix’s Unlimited plan is a mid-level option that offers excellent value for the price and includes features that most users will need. If you’re a small to medium online business, the Business and e-commerce plans provide added benefits like automatic sales tax calculations, advanced shipping options, and product review tools.
Additionally, Wix offers Ascend subscriptions for their business tools, which come with different levels of service and value. They also offer a 14-day refund policy for their plans and Ascend add-ons.
While Wix is a great option for many, larger businesses and e-commerce stores may find more benefit from dedicated e-commerce builders like Shopify. Nonetheless, small to medium-sized businesses will find plenty of features and capabilities with Wix to support their growth.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What Wix plan should I choose? The plan you should choose depends on your needs. The free plan is suitable for hobbyists and bloggers, but it comes with Wix branding. Standard Wix plans are great for larger blogs, freelancers, and small businesses, as they offer all features and access to the Wix App Market. If you want to build an e-commerce site, you’ll need a business plan to accept online payments.
Are Wix websites secure? Yes, all Wix sites come with HTTPS and an SSL certificate, including the free plan. This means that sensitive data going to and from your site is protected from eavesdropping. Additionally, online payments made on your Wix site are extra protected to prevent fraud, meeting the highest security standards. Wix pays security experts to identify and neutralize any hidden vulnerabilities in its platform, ensuring that your site is safe from hackers.
Can I use my own domain name with Wix? Yes, if you already own a domain name, you can connect it to your Wix site when you upgrade to a Premium plan. The process is designed to be easy to follow, even for those with limited technical knowledge.
Can Wix handle high traffic? Most Wix Premium plans offer unlimited bandwidth to accommodate any number of site visitors. The free plan and cheapest Premium plan have limited bandwidth, which is typically sufficient for smaller sites. Wix also has advanced reliability features to prevent your site from being knocked offline, including built-in solutions to identify and neutralize DDoS attacks automatically. In the unlikely event, your site goes down, Wix’s dedicated incident response team will restore it quickly.
Are Wix websites mobile-responsive? All Wix templates have a mobile-friendly version, but they won’t automatically adjust to smaller screens. Depending on how many customizations you make, you may need to separately edit the mobile version of your site to ensure everything appears properly.
Which is better, Wix or Squarespace? Both Wix and Squarespace are powerful website builders, but Wix offers more functionality and customization options. Wix also has a free plan and more affordable subscriptions than Squarespace. Squarespace is known for its beautiful, high-quality templates and excellent e-commerce tools. You won’t get as much design freedom as with Wix, but you won’t have to edit the mobile version of your site separately to make it mobile-responsive. For more options, check out our list of the best website builders for 2023.
Is Wix good for SEO? Yes, Wix has one of the best SEO tools available on popular website builders. The Wix SEO Wiz creates a custom checklist to walk you through optimizing your site for your chosen keywords and even has features for optimizing technical site elements like sitemaps and URL redirects.