Best Choice for SMB
About Wix – An Introduction
Wix is a popular website builder with more than 200 million users. It has innovative design features, advanced business tools, and a smooth drag-and-drop builder. Users can create their websites from scratch or they can choose from intuitive templates.
Once the website is created, the built-in SEO tools, email, and social media marketing templates, and Wix Analytics can all be used to run the website professionally. If you want to maximize the platform, make sure you explore the range of design options and features they offer.
Key Points
Large Template Selection – Wix offers more than 500 template designs that can be totally customized.
For Everyone – Wix users don’t have to worry about learning how to code. The innovative drag and drop builder lets non-professionals easily build their own website. But they also have the Velo solution for full-stack development if you want to dig into the nitty-gritty of the code.
Comprehensive platform – Aside from website building, Wix also offers a variety of tools that can help you build your brand and business. If you’re still looking for a business name, they have a Business Name Generator to provide you with ideas. Wix also has a logo maker that you can use once you find the right business name.
Add-on Compatible – if you need more functionality in your website, you can integrate your chosen third-party apps to expand the capabilities of your website.
What We Like
Create and host websites for free without the constant reminder to upgrade to a Premium plan. Aside from free hosting, the website also includes enterprise-grade security.
There are over 500 template designs that can be fully customized. But if you’re in a rush, Wix Artificial Design Intelligence can give you a professional website in a couple of minutes by answering some questions. Wix Analytics helps you understand your website content better, which ones work best, and how your audience behaves. You can use the data to increase website traffic.
The most popular apps and web services are also compatible with Wix so you can send professional marketing emails, launch an online shop, add blogs, host contests, offer live support, make bookings and payments, and collect testimonials.
For people who have coding experience, Wix is still a great option because their full-stack web development solution called Velo gives access to APIs as well as the ability to add JavaScript to create a dynamic website.
Lastly, Wix is always adding new features and tools every month to help keep websites running without a hitch.
What We Don’t Like
Once you select and start to edit, you don’t have the option to change your template anymore. Content does not flow automatically into new template structures. So make sure that you really like the template you choose.
Wix also lacks the ability to export content. If you have an old website you want to transfer content from, you may need to do this manually. We mentioned earlier that Wix allows you to create websites for free. However, it does come with a glaring Wix logo plus a domain name that’s a Wix extension.
Tools and Characteristics
Wix is a popular and trusted website builder. The popularity they achieved is due partially to the wide range of features they offer for website building. Anyone, from bloggers to brands to business owners, can start building their online presence through Wix. Hundreds of templates and the ability to emphasize important content without the need for technical and design expertise allow users to enjoy Wix fully.
To make the website more interactive, you can take advantage of features such as custom interactions as well as triggering events when a visitor completes a certain action such as scrolling, clicking, or hovering. You can animation effects, events, show or hide some text, expand or collapse section, or change SVG images.
If you are in need of images to match your content, the Wix Image Collections is a great resource for professional stock photos. The Wix Pro Gallery, meanwhile, will let you edit and enhance images to your liking. Wix also allows you to exhibit these images in different slideshow galleries that can help boost engagement and increase user times spent on the website. If you already have social media pages for your brand, Wix will let users share the images on social channels.
You can also use videos and add them to the background without paying an additional fee. Videos can be uploaded through Wix videos. However, video backgrounds will not be displayed on the mobile version of the site.
One tool you can use to make images and other content stand out is Parallax scrolling. This effect provides an immersive experience by separating the background from the foreground. When a user scrolls down, these sections will move at varying speeds to imitate a feeling of depth. It is especially useful for large and fascinating photos and can help increase the time spent on the site.
If you’re looking for more features to fill your site with, the App Market contains hundreds of add-ons for a more streamlined and sophisticated website. Some of the third-party apps you can find are newsletter signup forms, social media streams, surveys, image and video tools, scheduling solutions, and e-commerce and SEO tools. Although many of these apps work for free, you will find some that require a small fee.
The Artificial Design Intelligence feature is the most innovative addition to Wix. Launched in 2016, ADI revolutionized website builders by using an algorithm to create custom websites based on the user’s requirements. The technology digs into millions of websites and then collects this information into a top-tier product. The accuracy and quality of the ADI’s choices based on a few questions will surprise users.
User Experience
Wix proudly boasts of having one of the most intuitive website builders in the market. You simply choose a template and customize it to your preference. You can create an account at the start of the day and have a professional website by the end of the workday.
To start, select the template you want and add your images, text, and videos. You can simply drag and drop features so you don’t need to worry about the coding experience. The tools empower users who are not web development experts or enthusiasts.
If you get stuck and don’t know what to do, the Help Center contains a huge collection of articles, video tutorials, and step-by-step guides. The help buttons in the Editor also allow you to access support without leaving your website. If you need further help, you can reach out to a support assistant from their Call center and relay your concerns and issues.
Default accounts automatically get a Wix URL with the following format: username.wixsite.com/sitename/page-url. You’ll need to upgrade, to get your own domain name. Choose from a domain purchased from Wix directly or transfer a pre-purchased one for an affordable fee.
Pricing
There are seven different premium plans offered by Wix. Each of these plans covers hosting and connecting a domain to the webpage. The Connect Domain priced at $4.50 a month gives you 1GB of bandwidth, 500MB storage, and your own domain name. However, you still get the ads. The Combo plan, which costs $8.50 a month, gives you 2GB of bandwidth, 3GB of storage, and no ads.
The $12.50 Unlimited plan includes all the features of the Combo plan, unlimited bandwidth, and access to special tools for entrepreneurs and freelancers. Lastly, the VIP plan features everything from the Unlimited plan, better support, unlimited bandwidth, and more exclusive tools. Wix also offers e-commerce premium plans ranging from $17 to $35 a month.
The Unlimited, VIP, and e-commerce plans all include $75 for Google AdWords, a Site Booster app, and a form builder app. The VIP plan also lets you run 10 marketing campaigns every month which also includes professional reviews. For the balance of price, tools, and features, the Unlimited plan becomes the most popular among Wix users.
Conclusion
Wix is a popular choice for a reason. Their intuitive interface allows to easily start a website without paying a web developer or designer. They also offer an abundance of support resources for a smoother experience. With Wix, you can create a professional website to help build your online presence.
