If you want to start a side hustle or a full-blown business, you will need a website. Building a website is easier than it ever was. Thanks to tools like Wix and WordPress, you can develop your website in no time.
Earlier, if you wanted to build a website, you had to hire a developer or learn how to code. It is no longer the case. Now you can purchase your hosting, get a server and choose a custom template. Add some plug-ins, and voila, your website is ready.
Two of the major players in the website building industry are WordPress and Wix. People often think the two are interchangeable. That is not the case.
WordPress is a content management system or CMS, whereas Wix is a website builder. It is vital to analyze the different aspects of WordPress and Wix before choosing one. Let’s understand the differences between the two.
Ease Of Use
Wix is a website builder. It is easy to use and comes with its hosting. If you are looking for something simple, then Wix is for you. Wix also comes with its hosting. It means you don’t have to pay extra money for hosting.
But the drawback is that you cannot move the website to another hosting. Once you make a website with Wix, you have to stick with it. Customizing a Wix website is simple.
It has a user-friendly interface. People who aren’t tech-savvy can also use Wix. Wix has a visual drag-and-drop editor. It is a lot like a keynote or PowerPoint. You can see all your widgets on one page and customize it accordingly. Wix is easy to use but is less flexible.
WordPress is a content management system. It is a bit more complex. WordPress offers more ways to customize your site than Wix. It is vast. Since WordPress is an open-source platform, you can add several plug-ins to it.
WordPress seems complicated to use at first. But once you get the hang of it, it is super simple. WordPress does not offer a drag-and-drop option. You cannot see the editor on one page.
WordPress launched a new editor called Gutenberg. Even though it has made customization easy, it still doesn’t match the simplicity of Wix. Every time you make a change on the backend, you need to refresh the published site.
Going back and forth between the website and the editor becomes taxing. WordPress is harder to use but is more flexible. You can choose from an array of themes and touch it up with the perfect plug-ins.
Design
Wix offers a large variety of design templates. You can choose one for an e-commerce store or a simple blog. It currently has over 900+ templates. The designs are fresh and innovative.
They have an excellent finish and look professionally done. Wix templates are built using HTML5 and are fully responsive. Once you choose a template, you can customize it as per your needs.
The only problem with the templates is that you cannot change the template. Wix does not allow you to use a different template. When you expand your business, you also need to upgrade your website.
But if you are using Wix, this is not possible. It would help if you kept this in mind before choosing Wix. You don’t want to get stuck with a website or pay extra and build another one.
On the other hand, if you plan to keep a simple website or a blog that might not need significant changes in the long run, then Wix is for you. Wix offers 500+ themes.
Just like Wix, WordPress also offers a broader range of templates. You can choose a free one or a paid one. Many WordPress theme markets like StudioPress, Astra, and Themify offer these templates.
The templates are highly advanced and fully responsive. You can create an entire e-commerce store with these templates. Setting up a payment gateway and shopping cart is super easy.
WordPress offers a theme for all kinds of websites. Even the most complicated websites can be created using WordPress. It has drastically changed the game of website building.
The various plug-ins allow you to build landing pages and insert lead generation forms with ease. WordPress has more design layouts and theme templates than Wix. It currently offers 11000+ themes.
SEO
Anyone who has ever researched website building will know that Wix is not great for SEO. Wix comes with an inbuilt SEO plug-in. Site-booster is the most commonly used SEO plug-in. It is included in the cost of the website.
You also have other options that can be purchased separately. Sit-booster helps you track your website’s performance, add your company address in search results, and target essential keywords. It also has a few more options.
These features are not enough for search engine optimization. You can always boost your SEO with backlinks and content. That, unfortunately, will not be enough to boost your SEO. If you want visibility, then your web page needs to be indexed by Google.
For this, you need to have a perfect blend of SEO tools, content, and backlinks. It is like a tripod. Even if one leg is weak, it won’t work well. Wix websites have cluttered code in their page source.
It confuses the SEO crawlers launched by Google. Bots crawl through the web pages of your websites and analyze the data. The data either optimizes your website or deteriorates its ranking. That is why it is essential to have a good SEO app installed on your website.
WordPress uses a plug-in called Yoast. You can use the free version, but the paid version is better. Yoast has highly advanced backend features. Yoast automatically redirects the people to the new link when you change the link on an existing page.
This way, you don’t lose traffic because of a broken link. It allows you to customize the meta-data. Metadata is information that appears on search results. It provides inter-linking suggestions.
Every website has multiple pages. Yoast suggests which website link will be suitable for which page. Yoast is currently optimizing 5 million websites all over the world.
Plug-ins And Apps
Third-party extensions are known as apps or plug-ins. These extensions enhance the functionality of the website. Wix calls them apps, and WordPress calls them plug-ins.
Wix offers apps that help you add comments sections, galleries, contact forms, social media buttons, and more. Currently, Wix offers 200+ apps. Some apps are paid while others are free.
Therefore, the number of apps provided by Wix is limited. To improve SEO, Wix launched a new app called SEO Wiz. The app ensures that the website is mobile-friendly.
It also makes sure that the homepage is indexable and has keyword-rich content. You can also add an SEO title and description to the homepage. Although Wix’s SEO tools integrate well with Google, they do not provide scalability.
You cannot fully optimize a website. It is suitable for people who are on a small budget. If you want to build a blog for recreation, then Wix is for you.
Anyone who wants to earn an income should avoid Wix. SEO is an essential part of website ranking. Through website ranking, your website can gain visibility and attract traffic.
On the other hand, WordPress provides over 50,000+ free plug-ins. With WordPress plug-in, you can install a contact form, build an e-commerce platform or install Google analytics.
There is a plug-in available for every feature. You can enhance the design and functionality of the website by using these plug-ins. WordPress has a vast plug-in library.
WordPress is responsible for 30% of the websites on the web. WordPress is open-sourced. It means you can access the end number of plug-ins and add them to your website.
Provided your hosting has enough bandwidth. For example, Yoast allows you to add meta descriptions, meta-title, schema tags, and alt tags to your website.
It also lets you add XML sitemaps, canonical URLs, deep linking, and open graph tags. Most themes offered by WordPress are SEO-friendly. The developer already optimizes them.
E-Commerce
Wix provides e-commerce services with its paid plan. You cannot access it for free. It is easy to set up an e-commerce shop website with Wix. You can add a shopping cart and receive payment through Wix’s payment gateway.
However, this can become a bit expensive. Wix charges 2.9% of the amount per transaction, along with a $0.30 charge for orders shipped in the USA. It increases the overall cost of a transaction.
It also reduces your profits. Apart from this, Wix provides you with the option of integrating third-party payment apps like PayPal, CC Avenue, etc. When you build a site on Wix, you have to use the hosting provided by them.
If the server cannot handle a lot of orders at a time, your site can crash. It might also run very slow. An average load time of a website is 0.3 secs. Anything more than that, and the customer leaves the site.
When you are building an e-commerce website, all these things have to be kept in mind. Wix does not have many third-party apps for e-commerce stores.
WordPress is the best platform for e-commerce. It has a separate platform called WooCommerce. You can choose an e-commerce theme from the WordPress template shop.
WooCommerce allows you to sell physical goods, online courses, event tickets, and more. Since WooCommerce is solely designed for e-commerce stores, it provides an array of plug-ins.
You can easily set up a payment gateway, build a landing page and add a shopping cart. Most plug-ins are free, so you will have to pay for the theme and the hosting. Since you will have your server, you can add as many products as you like.
Owning your server makes it easy for you to manage traffic on your website. If your website becomes slow, you can always increase the bandwidth of the server. It is not possible with Wix.
WordPress helps you create membership websites. These websites can be made using MemberPress. You can build an online community, sell online courses or offer pay-per-view content.
You can choose from a wide variety of MemberPress and WooCommerce themes. The plug-ins provided by WordPress are specially optimized for e-commerce. It ensures better service and flexibility.
Support
Wix offers hands-on support to its customers. You can access their blogs and forums for basic queries. They also provide tutorials and other information on their website.
If you cannot resolve the issues, you can contact them through phone or email. They will resolve your queries in no time.
WordPress does not offer any direct support. If you hit a technical glitch, then you have to resolve it on your own. There are several forums available. WordPress also has its forums.
But you won’t necessarily find the exact answer to your question. If no one has faced the issue you face, there won’t be a comment thread to search from. Some hosting companies offer technical support for WordPress.
But this comes at a cost. WordPress Theme developers are open to answering questions, but these are only theme-related. If you are using WordPress for the first time, it is better to take help from a developer.
If you are tech-savvy, then you can watch educational YouTube videos and figure it out.
Pricing
Wix offers a basic website plan for $12.50 a month. It is an unlimited plan. It includes hosting as well as the template.
If you want to launch an e-commerce website, you will have to go for the Business Plan, which will cost $17 per month. It also offers a Business VIP plan for $17.50 a month and a Business Basic plan for $17 a month.
Technically, WordPress is free. It is open-source software. Which means anyone can use it for free. But you have to pay for the domain name and the hosting.
Companies provide hosting for as much as $3 per month. You might have to pay extra for the domain name, but that is a one-time. If you decide to go for a WordPress site, you will have to pay for the hosting. Some templates also cost money.
If you choose to go for a paid template, that too will be a one-time cost.
Conclusion
If you are planning to start a business or make money through blogging, then WordPress is for you. It might be a bit hard to use initially, but you will get used to it over time.
You can also hire a developer to set up your website. WordPress works better in the long run. It is SEO-friendly and allows you to control your hosting. Wix, on the other hand, is not suitable for online transactions. It is not very SEO-friendly.
If you need something affordable and easy to build, then Wix is for you.
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