Wix or WordPress? Or, heck… Squarespace, Showit, GoDaddy - you name it. There are SO many platforms out there and one of the most frequently asked questions I get is “Well, what makes Wix better than X?”
But unfortunately, it’s not that simple of an answer, and even according to Google, it doesn’t matter so much the platform you’re using as much as it matters the quality of content on your site. So when designers of a particular platform tell you that every single website should be on that platform - don’t believe them!!
Because it depends on so many things.
In this blog post, we’re going to get into:
Alright, here we go!
Why We use Wix at Pet Marketing Unleashed
The bottom line is, we primarily use Wix because it’s the easiest, most user-friendly platform for pet industry entrepreneurs to use. Typically, with super busy business owners, the last thing they want to do is learn how to use a more complicated platform like WordPress. Now, that doesn’t mean WordPress isn’t a great platform—it just means we’re meeting our clients where they're at and what will be the most likely platform for them to easily maintain moving forward, which I believe is the most important factor when it comes to growing their business via their website.
So, how do you know if you’re a great Wix candidate vs. a WordPress candidate?
WordPress
WordPress is a SUPER powerful platform that allows you to have tons of customization when it comes to custom coding, etc. If you’re looking for something a bit more robust and have a LARGE population of users or a larger business, you could consider something like WordPress. Just know that if you’re not the most tech-savvy, we’d highly recommend paying someone to maintain your website monthly!
You will need to know or at least be familiar with some coding if you’re going to be the one editing and maintaining your site. You’ll also need to know how to update plugins and make sure none are expired or making your site slow to load. You also technically need to stay within your template’s parameters when it comes to colors, fonts, images, etc. If you’re more advanced, coding can help with that, though!
The bottom line: If you’re a blogger, a larger business, or require particular customization on a more robust platform built for SEO and blogging capabilities, you may lean toward WordPress!
Wix
Wix is a wonderful platform that allows you to customize your site fully and easily. Each template and site is still 100% customizable, and you’re still able to add Embed/HTML code when needed throughout your site. If you’re a small business, Wix is probably the better platform for you when it comes to monthly maintenance, cost, time commitment, etc.
There’s no need to know how to code. It’s a simple drag and drop type platform where you can simply edit and move around things on your site to your liking! You can change absolutely ANYTHING and are not bound to just the things within your template (if you’re even using one). They even have a mobile editor now, which allows you to customize, add, or remove most things on the mobile version of your site.
The bottom line: If you’re a small, service-based pet business and will be the one maintaining your site on your own (and prefer to keep things easy), you may prefer Wix! You’ll still get the amazing features and 100% customization without having to learn code or worry about intense monthly maintenance.
How to switch your website from WordPress to Wix
First things first, leave your current site up until you’re ready to go live with your new Wix website. That way you won’t have a website that’s down or not completed yet.
Create a Wix account here or check out our selection of Wix website templates for pet businesses (dog walkers, pet sitters, dog trainers, and pet photographers).
If you purchase one of our Wix website templates, you’ll gain access to our Unleashed Website Academy (UWA) course, which walks you through the process of how to edit/customize your new website, write your pet business copywriting, implement SEO, integrate your software, and launch your new website! Otherwise, once you create a Wix account, you can follow the instructions to begin customizing your new website - either blank or via a template.
Once you’re done customizing your site and are ready to launch, follow the instructions in UWA on how to get everything connected (all the backend techy stuff), or access the instructions inside your Wix account on how to get your domain connected to your new Wix site!
Launch your new site! Once it’s live to the world, you can cancel your WordPress website hosting.
If this sounds overwhelming, you’re 100% not alone! Here’s what a couple of our past students had to say specifically when it comes to the tech portion of the course:
Brienne C., Beyond the Sit Dog Training
"Going through the tech portion of launching my website was "easier than expected with changing the domain to this new Wix site."
Ingrid C., Scales Tails & Paws Pet Sitting
"Oh my goodness, I did it. I got through this and it looks really good and I am so grateful I got to be part of this process...The tech portion was much easier than I anticipated."
Before we wrap up this post, I wanted to go over another commonly asked question when it comes to switching platforms, no matter the platform:
“Will my SEO drop or be affected if I switch my website over to another platform?”
SUCH a valid question and unfortunately, the best answer I have for you is: it depends.
If anyone tells you it will 100% go up or down, it’s simply not true because there’s no way for them to know. If your website has been ranking consistently for an extended period of time, you will likely stay in place, especially if you set everything up properly in terms of your SEO settings and any 301 redirects that may be needed. If you weren’t really active with your SEO and weren’t increasing or haven't been as stable in terms of ranking results, you may go down, but back up quickly! Moral of the story though—We haven’t had an issue with any customers in regards to SEO. In fact, most customers seem to increase in rankings immediately (but again, it depends on where they were prior to purchase).
Our website templates are strategically built to boost the user-experience, which ultimately helps keep people on your website longer and helps with your SEO. The UWA course that comes with your template has a whole module on how to set up the proper SEO settings for your blog, your pages, your photos, etc., so you’re not left in the dark whatsoever and you can make sure everything is optimized properly before launching your new site.
When it comes to the Wix platform specifically, here are a couple things for you to know:
Wix has tons of built-in SEO features, including the Wix SEO Wiz that gives you a complete check-list to follow to help you rank in Google.
If you want more info on Wix’s (which means our templates!) awesome SEO capabilities, here’s an article written by one of their experts to explain it all!
However, again… it doesn’t matter so much what platform you’re using so much as it does the quality of your content on the site itself, so we have plenty of copywriting strategies and education in our course as well to help you with just that.
