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What platform should one use to build a business website today? Wix? Word Press? DIY code-yourself on Network Solutions? or try some new special-purpose new comers such as Shopify?
For the time being, I assume you want to have maximum flexibility. SO let's compare Wix and WordPress. There are many review articles on line, here I present my unbiased technical option from the owner's perspective.
There is no doubt that WordPress (WP) is everywhere. But is it good? If you want to build a functional business website and include credit card payment options, should you choose WIX or WordPress?
A disclaimer. I am a self-taught web developer. I am not affiliated with any commercial entities such as Wix, WordPress, or Network Solutions. I am just annoyed at all the trickeries that these entities throw at you. I am reporting what I learned after much trial and error.
There are many options to build a website today. Including:
- Option 1: Ask a super expensive design house to do it;
- Option 2: If you are on your own, you can do "drag and drop" with Wix or WordPress.
- Option 3: Select "WordPress" package from Network solutions.
- Option 4: If you want e-commerce, you also want to have store/item display features and payment receiving options. There are sites specializing in building a store, such as "shopify" and "square space", but these are not good for business or blogging.
When it comes to contact website building, Expensive is not better. Cheap is not better.
You can buy a $6000 option from a website designer that spend a lot of money on local radio, or you can go for a site that advertise on Google and promises $395 website package. None of them is what you think they are. In the end, they all use WordPress drag and drop engines, and they all use subcontractors. Sometimes, the subcontractors are in Asian countries and this severely limits many communications of details such as insertions of meta tags, SEO terms, etc etc.
I find Wix is better than WordPress (at least for the end of 2019 start of 2020 era), for the following three reasons:
Tip 1 WordPress is nice, but WordPress is getting overly complicated for its own good. There are too few template options. If you pick one "camp" and dig in, you are faced with a myriad of customization jobs. (Remember, once you start to build with one template, you cann't port to another template). Although it is fun to play designer, it is overwhelming even for someone like me with many years of design experiences. Also remember, WordPress' origin is blogging - it is not originated from a "business website" sense. As a result, there are really very few templates that can be a business website. Many WP templates are good for ALL, blogging, business, and e-business. That means it is overly complicated. Blogging is not the most strong trend today - online stores and social marketing are blowing past blogging and SEO.
Tip 2 WordPress does not have a good reliable option of doing Credit Card payment keys. The widgets WP recommended are laced with additional fees and gateway "passcodes". On the other hand, Wix seems to have a good option of working with Paypal.com. PayPal is an active player. SInce July 2019, Pay Pal strongly competed in the gig-economy payment space and really seem to want to gain market share against Visa and MasterCard. The PayPal CEO even paid a visit to China, where WeChat（微信支付）and Zhifubao （支付宝） use is wide spread. Paypal is doing a lot of things that makes sense for a low level business operator. For example, PayPal Checkout comes with Smart Payment Buttons and it is super easy to use.
Tip 3 WordPress forces you to use limited "templates" which are all third party proprietary. There is no doubt that the business model of such template companies is to lure you in and then ding you with additional features down the road. When I see a "Upgrade for more options" on the sign, I cringe. Wix does not do it yet.
So my sincere recommendations for an average-Joe website owner is ...
Use WIX, forget WordPress and others
Wix, it seems, is not behaving as a commercially competitive business. Its templates are still nice and not overly grown. Its relation with PayPal seems rather genuine and not gimmicky. I recommend Wix, beyond all other new comers and existing players.
The learning curves are becoming steep. Once you spend two weeks on a platform and then realized you have been fooled, it is two precious weeks YOUR TIME and YOUR MONEY.
A website design and hosting platform is only as good as its business intention. If some company behind the engine is trying hard to make it become a financial work horse, it will side track from its true identity of satisfying the website builders. For the time being, Wix is at the sweet spot.
Wix had its problems before, such as reported problem with Google SEO and bad payment e-commence packages. But as of January 2020, Wix seems to have cleared some of its act. I like working with a smart company who seems to care about user's complaints.
About myself
My name is Dr. Chang Liu. I am a scientist, engineer, author, entrepreneur, and business owner. I was a professor of engineering for 22 years, and then I started my own business. My company (sevenparall.com) consult on supply chain marketing and electronics product prototyping. The company has operations in Chicago and Foshan, China.
(2020-02-08)
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