Wix review
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My Wix Review 2020

ByMinx Digital Posted on Updated on

Every year I do a Wix review. I personally enjoy Wix and in my 2020 test of Wix, I found the platform has come along in leaps and bounds. Unfortunately, it’s still not great for SEO thought.

What is Wix?

A dinky little DIY website builder, check it out over on their website

Wix.com

Wix has become very well known due to its large marketing budget using celebrities to promote its service. They are the only web builder that I know of who has run ads during the Super Bowl.  They did ads staring Karlie Kloss, Jason Statham and Gal Gadot

Karlie Kloss shows in this ad how easy Wix is to use and yes, it’s that easy!

Like I said in the first paragraph, I enjoy Wix. If I could do my work using it, I would, but currently, Wix would not be good for me or my clients.  

My Wix Review Test

I haven’t used Wix for about 6 months so I went to it today to play around today and I have to say WOW!

In under 20 minutes, I was able to sign up to Wix (using my google sign) the use the Wix ADI to build a site.  I didn’t particularly like the site it gave me but it was a full website!

Using Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI)

  • It asked me the type of site I wanted; I picked Web Development Agency
  • I was asked about some features; I chose chat, blog, bookings, Store, Video & Events
  • I typed my business name:
  • Then gave a link to my existing website: www.www.minx.net.au
  • I gave my social media links
  • A few more clicks then presto
  • I have a website ready to copy and paste my content into.

The last time I used Wix was about 6 months ago even without the ADI option I was able to build a site in under an hour.  It’s a fantastic platform for a personal website, a little online store or a small local business that needs an online presence.

5 good things about Wix

  1. It’s easy to use and great for people who are technically challenged
  2. It has nice templates
  3. You can create and launch a website in a day
  4. No need to worry about upgrades, hosting or backups
  5. Set Monthly Pricing

Wix Monthly Pricing (in $USD)

  • Free – it has ads and limitations but hey it’s free…
  • $10 – 2GB bandwidth, 3MB storage, a domain and no ads
  • $14 – Up to 10MB storage + a domain and other inclusions
  • $19 – Up to 20MB storage + a lot of inclusions
  • $27 – Up to 20MB storage + 2hrs video + VIP support, calendar and other apps
  • Ecommerce sites start at $18 a month

Pricing Comparison

Some costs of wordpress services and plugins I use.

And then there is all the time I spend on maintenance and this month there have been a lot of hours spent on upgrades.

Whilst Wix would save me time and money, I would lose out in other areas.

Reasons I don’t use Wix

Some little annoyances:

  1. You can’t switch templates after the site is live.
  2. The cost of third-party apps adds up and can make a Wix site quite costly to scale
  3. AMP functionality is only available.
  4. Sites display correctly on a mobile device but are not fully responsive. This affects SEO so it’s a big reason for me but not for everyone.

Those I can live without but Wix doesn’t allow you access to your website code, change or access the CSS files, or export your website to another provider. 

Lack of Customisation

I hate being restricted when I design and develop websites. I like to be able to do whatever I wish for my own sites and for my clients.  Automation and integration with other services, online courses, membership sites, and online stores, the list is endless of what clients require.

I can do everything I ever need with one of the 55,000 WordPress plugins, research, imagination and custom code.    

No Export or Migration

I do a lot of migrations to WordPress as clients outgrow DIY platforms. Many budget-friendly DIY platforms make it hard to leave, Wix is the same as many others in this respect. You can’t export any of the files so the only way to migrate is to recreate the entire site structure and then copy and paste it into the new site build.  

Copying and pasting the content from 1 site to another is fine if it’s only 5 pages but for 50 blogs it’s a nightmare!  

Wix Terms and Conditions

Wix covers itself perfectly in their terms and conditions. Basically, you own the content, they own the platform and they can do as this wish. They can remove your site if they want to and they can share your details with whoever they wish to.

In their terms of Service Wix states:

Wix does not recommend using the Wix Services for hosting personal content and shall not bear any security or integrity obligations or risks regarding breach or damage to any such content.

I personally like a bit more ownership of my website, business and personal information.

If you decide to go with Wix make you always keep a backup of your site content in case the site is removed then you can recreate it. I wrote an article recently on what to do if your website disappears

My no 1 reason for not using Wix

No advanced SEO

For SEO, Wix has serious flaws and it’s simply not possible to do advanced SEO or most Technical SEO.

There is server access nor access to files such as robots.txt or .htacess.

Wix has an SEO wizard which is great for beginners to help them add a few on-page SEO page basics such as adding meta, alt text and edit URLs.

Wix tried to change public perception last year when they ran an SEO battle.

It was a fun publicity stunt but it doesn’t change the fact that Wix and SEO are not friends.  

If you want to read the winner’s case study on how they won, check out:

www.mariehaynes.com/closing-thoughts-on-the-Wix-SEO-competition

To rank a website on google organic search in 2020, you need access to your entire website and not be held back by the restrictions of a site builder platform.

I hope you found this blog on why I do not recommend Wix

Until next time