How to get the best out of Wix?
> I used to scoff at website builders.
They were so basic and the results always looked dire. This was until Wix website builder came along.
Wix allows you to build a website yourself. It’s a powerful tool with lots of features built in like using strips, Wix columns, and dynamic layers.
The more you get into Wix the more you discover new elements and functions. It’s extremely advanced.
For this reason getting the best out of Wix does mean investing some time. I've written this article to help speed up your progress.
> Tips & Tricks to get the best out of Wix?
If you make use of the following elements you are getting the best out of Wix:
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You can set up your desktop & and mobile pages with safe areas
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You can add background images that lift the site
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The header main menu can have drop-downs
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You can SEO your Wix site easily
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Add a blog easily.
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Add in links in the footer easily
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Add PayPal buy now buttons easily
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Add an e-commerce shop easily (Wix e-commerce is known for being SEO-friendly)
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Add images and video easily with lots of effects & and optimization options on offer.
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Use a nice range of ready-to-use fonts with a custom font uploading feature that even allows you to upload your fonts.
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Add contact forms easily
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Preview the changes before putting them live on your Wix site.
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Set up marketing automation for not just your main website but for online stores, bookings, events, forms also.
> Who is Wix ideally suited to?
8 out of 10 small businesses could use Wix I would say, but here is who might benefit from it the most:
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Small business owners need a reasonably simple website such as local businesses
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Start-ups where you need your website to rapidly evolve as you learn about the market, especially usually in your first year of operating. Using Wix editor you can quickly make changes yourself and adapt your site. If you are relying on a web agency, costs can rack up quickly and you can be frustrated by their rate of progress, where changes can take weeks instead of hours and days.
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Where you need a quick microsite to test and concept or support an initiative.
> Wix v Wordpress
Wordpress has been the most popular way to build website for the last 5-10 years.
It’s loved by web agencies around the globe as it is quick to build using templates, and you can adapt and add plugins another any other features as and when you need, while Wix does have many features if it doesn’t have a feature you need you will have to go without.
Both are pretty easy to use and SEO friendly but Wix is widely accepted to be better with faster load speed.
Wix and WordPress both include drag-and-drop functionality, so you won't need any additional code to achieve the style and feel you want for your site.
If you want greater customisation, however, WordPress.org is your best bet because you may freely write using HTML. While Wix allows you to insert HTML, the process is difficult and cumbersome.
Wordpress though is more daunting to set up than a Wix website and perceived as a higher value sell than a Wix website that “anyone can build”. This is why Web agencies look down at Wix websites, even though really they are not that far apart in terms of end solution.
You can see a Wordpress website a mile off generally compared to a bespoke website. The design of the Wordpress website is very blocky and Wix is not that similar.
Wix offers storage ranging from 3 GB to 50 GB. The amount of storage provided through WordPress.org is determined on your underlying host company, although 50 GB is normal. Both firms provide free themes or templates, as well as plug-ins. Plug-ins are referred to as applications by Wix. A premium Wix plan includes a free secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate and a custom domain, whereas WordPress.org depends on your server, however most providers supply this for free.
Wix has a lot more built in features that to the uninitiated are easy to set up and manage – like an e-commerce shop, easy to use web editor, automations. The more you get into Wix editor you realise you could spend a month or two learning all the system (if you wanted to). The offering is vast.
> Pros of Wix?
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Best website builder out there in the marketplace by a country mile.
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Can design great looking websites with attractive in build templates
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With a bit of time invested you can build websites yourself
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Low cost – well kind of – the Wix business model charges you a monthly fee, which is affordable.
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SEO friendly – so you can get good web rankings (but mobile version can be a bit slow)
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Integration & Tools - Building your website with Wix gives you access to a variety of additional handy features.
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Lots of lots of extra features you can add in?
> What are Wixs short comings?
It can be a bit slow, especially the mobile version, for search engines.
It also doesn’t allow you to build everything exactly as you like as it might not have every feature you want.
That said for small simple websites is a good choice 9 times out of 10. It’s only like to not fulfil your requirements for more sophisticated sites, and once your business is at the level you’ll be probably happy to invest in a Wordpress site.
It can take quite a bit of time to learn, especially if you are starting from scratch. This is kind of the irony that website builders are built for those that know nothing about the web, and while they are pretty easy to use, you do have to invest time to get good results.
The support used to be excellent and you could within 5 mins get a telephone support callback and help. That last time I looked had been removed. You now have to figure everything out for yourself.
This is why I’d recommend using someone like me who knows if the tool is a good fit, and also is experienced as using the tool and can building a website in less than half the time it would take you.
> Some examples of Wix websites I’ve designed
Bear in mind, I’m not a designer, but these all worked well:
Surrey Conservatory repairs – set up a quick test website on Wix and generated £70K of work in the first month
GoReusable.Org –website set up quickly to test the market and see if we could get sales. In first week of test we had leads for over 20,000 bamboo cups.
YourTechnologyDirector.co.uk – I think you recognise this one. Our own website promoting our services and expertise.
> How do I make my Wix website more attractive?
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Keep your homepage minimalistic and free of clutter. Your website's homepage should communicate your core message instantaneously.
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Design with visual hierarchy in mind.
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Create easy-to-read website content.
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Ensure your site is easy to navigate.
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Stay mobile-friendly.
> How can I improve my Wix website?
Let's look at 8 tips to help you optimize your Wix site.
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Follow the SEO Setup Checklist.
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Connect to Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
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Conduct Keyword Research.
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Create High-Quality Content.
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Optimize Title Tags and Meta Descriptions.
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Write User-friendly URL Slugs.
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Add Internal Links.
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Optimize Your Site's Images.
> How do I use rich content on Wix?
Adding the rich content element to your page
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Go to your Editor.
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Go to the page or section in which you want to the rich content element.
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Click CMS on the left side of the Editor.
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Click Add Content Elements.
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Click Rich content.
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Click the Connect to CMS icon on the rich content element.
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Select an existing dataset that is linked to your collection from the Choose a dataset drop-down menu. Alternatively, click Create Dataset, then select the collection to link, name the dataset, and then click Create.
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Select the rich content field you generated from the Connect content to drop-down menu.
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On the Rich Content Viewer element, click Settings.
> Is Wix SEO any good?
Wix is an excellent pick for a website builder that can help you do well in search engine rankings, with a 5 out of 5 SEO score. It's especially useful if you're unfamiliar with SEO, owing to its beginner-friendly SEO setup checklist.