Liquid Interactive is a team of digital marketing experts with over 13 years of experience. They specialize in building and optimizing strategies for some of the world’s leading brands. Visit their website to learn why Wix is bad for search engine optimization.
Wix claims anyone can design their own website. Really? That’s like saying anyone can repair a car. Anyone can build a outdoor patio. Anyone can teach high school AP English. It’s possible that with these free programs, such as Wix and Weebly, some business owners can put a website together and get it up on the internet. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good website. That doesn’t mean it will be a powerful tool for your business. That doesn’t mean anyone will be able to find you. Good web design is a skill and not one that just anyone can do. If you truly want a strong website that is a professional reflection of your business, is optimized so search engines find you, and is a highly functioning piece of your business, you need to hire a professional who knows what they are doing. But before we discuss that, let’s take a look at 6 reasons why you should say “No” to a Wix DIY website:
This is major. Under the Wix.com Terms of Use, customers “grant Wix worldwide, royalty-free and non-exclusive license to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such User Submissions.” Signing up for Wix.com web services means you allow them to modify your site and your site’s content. Even worse, when you later decide you want to leave this service, you lose your website. You must abandon it on the Wix platform and start fresh somewhere else. This can be a major setback. While other platforms, such as WordPress, allow you to move your site to another hosting service if you desire, Wix does not. In short: You should own your own website at all times. Period.
For a customer to buy something from your website, you must have them go through Paypal or one of the other limited merchant account options available on the Wix Online Store. When the customer clicks Checkout, the customer leaves your site. Because the way the Wix system runs, they are unable to provide a secure connection (https). Without that secure connection, your website can not offer a secure transaction. Users are less likely to trust your site when there is no secure option.
With a Wix.com site, implementing an SEO strategy is nearly impossible. You are limited to the on-page SEO option that Wix provides since they do not allow you to download more robust SEO plugins such as WordPress SEO by Yoast. Your website will not rank well, making it harder for people to find. When a site is not search engine optimized, it directly impacts how much traffic your website can get. Also, Wix sites cannot be verified in Google Webmaster, which can be a big deal especially if your site ever gets hacked.
Wix websites load slower than those built on platforms such as WordPress. This can affect your website traffic because slow loading sites will discourage visitors. You don’t want your first impression on a potential customer to be ruined when they find they can’t open your site easily. In addition, slow loading websites are penalized by search engines because they see your site as providing a poor user experience. This will directly affect your rankings.
Wix forces their customers to create a mobile version of their website on a different editor, which could lead to inconsistencies and, in many cases, outdated information since all updates need to be done to both versions of the site.
None of the website templates offered from Wix are responsive. Responsive templates are a major requirement in website design today. Visitors need to be able to view your website on a desktop, an iPad, and a phone. The Wix Help Center states “Currently, Wix sites are not responsive and do not automatically adjust to screen size.” If the website does not adjust properly, users have a poor experience. Considering the majority of people visiting your website these days are doing it on a smartphone, this is a huge problem. When a search engine, such as Google, knows users are receiving poor experiences, your ranking drops. Again, these problems become serious factors when we consider SEO for your website.
As with most anything in life, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Now you’ve learned why Wix is a bad choice for building your website and you want to move. Since you don’t own your own website with Wix, you don’t have the ability to pick up your site as is and move it to a new hosting company. But not to worry. You can have your website professionally designed on a proven platform such as WordPress. Imagine the time and frustration you’ll save knowing your website has been developed by a professional website designer who will focus on increasing your website optimization, and work with you to grow your business. Isn’t it worth the peace of mind knowing your website was done properly and is performing well? Your business will be around for a long time. Your website should too.
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