WIX VS WORDPRESS

DIGITAL AUTHORS TOOLKIT

There is a lot of “snobbery” around Wordpress which is a legacy from the last 20 years as there were fewer options available in the past.

People often say that “30% of the worlds websites are built on Wordpress, which initially sounds compelling, but that actually means that 70% AREN’T built on Wordpress

Wix is the 2nd biggest website builder after Wordpress and in my option is far superior.

Wordpress itself is just a framework - any site on Wordpress is only as good as the designer or plugins and themes - Wordpress in that sense doesn’t actually “exist:” it’s how it’s added to that makes it the site you end up with.

One of the issues with Wordpress is that it can be so easily hacked… due to the fact that Wordpress relies on 3rd party plugin’s to get any sort of functionality - but often these plugins can have serious security flaws which can allow a vulnerability that is very hard to stop. Impossible to manage as the plugins are from various sources.

Wix has enterprise grade security- you can read more about it here - WIX SECURITY

Just as an example of the above, nearly every Wordpress site has the same address to log in to the back end “mywebsite.com/wp-admin” so hackers know immediately where to go to try and get in to your site.

Wix is a better system to actually use and manage a site - the “backend” is intuitive and clear and even the most technologically inexperienced can use it.

Most Wordpress sites are using “builders” to create sites like Divi or Elementor which are essentially trying to make Wordpress into a website builder like Wix, but they are much less intuitive and harder to use.

Learning Wordpress is time consuming.. the reason I promote Wix to Authors is that after some training, Authors are confident to update their own site - most don’t have time to work through Wordpress and want to focus on their writing

As a hosting platform Wix is excellent again -From Wix - “We are pleased to state that our server up-time is 99.8%. This means that Wix sites are live 99.8% of the time!” This is market leading and means your site is essentially always stable and online.

Plugins often need constant updating and most of them you have to pay for them after a free trial or limited free version - Wix does all updating for you in the background and you don't have to pay for any of the apps folded into your plan.

I have many many sites for a few Authors who used to use Wordpress and are now firmly fans of Wix. Jennifer Layer is one of my previous clients who now waxes lyrical about how she prefers wix and it has made her life much less complicated - She said ““I thought building and updating a website was a really difficult thing to do in general. But it turns out it was just because I was using Wordpress instead of wix. Wix is exponentially more customizable, and user friendly. Wix simplifies the process and allows you to do so much more in a much shorter time frame.”

If you google “Best website builder” you will find this Site - TOP TEN WEBSITE BUILDERS - You will see Wix is voted Best website builder 2024

The “templates” on Wix are superb and rival or surpass anything that Wordpress will offer, but generally I build sites from scratch anyway so that each website is bespoke

Wix is a fully rounded operating system which offers you domain management, email service, hosting and much more all built in. Some authors prefer to have everything all in one place rather than lots of bits from different providers - This is a big plus for me. - It means Authors only have to learn the back end of one system rather than many.

Clearly this is a ongoing debate, but the love for Wordpress is waning for sure, as simpler and more effective website builders come on the market.

I would not recommend a platform I didn’t know and trust 100% - and I have seen the difference it makes to Authors with their time and confidence in updating their sites.

The help pages and help desk with Wix is excellent - you can talk to a real person if you get stuck… (you don’t with Wordpress!) and googling ANY issue will bring up solutions - try googling- “how to add an image to my wix website” - you’ll see it is the top result and a step by step guide.. and this is true of any issue you might encounter - it’s easy to find an answer.

I realise there is a lot here, but I would summarise by emphasising my earlier point that any website is really only as good as it’s designer, no matter what platform it is on, so that is key to what you end up with!