Our Columbus Web design firm weighs in

You’re starting a small business and know that creating a website is an essential item to check off your mile-long to-do list. But how do you know which content management system (CMS) is the right choice? With so many CMS options, all promising attractive themes and a user friendly interface, it proves difficult to decipher which will benefit your business the best.

Wix versus WordPress

Flexibility

Wix Wix’s codes are only available to their private development team. This means that Wix is relatively rigid with a limited variety of plug-ins and applications. However, app installation is easy and there is a smaller chance for their plug-ins to have glitches as opposed to an open source platform. If users do experience technical issues, Wix has a technical team that can step in and help.

WordPress– WordPress is an open source platform used by more than 65 million websites, making it extremely flexible and popular in the Web world. What’s important to consider is that because any developer has the ability to create a theme or plug-in, many are not high quality or reliable, and need to be sifted through. Technical help is usually only available if you purchased the plug-in from a developer and they’re willing to help you.

Ease of use

Wix– Wix uses simple drag and drop features, where the user sees what the final website will look like as they are editing, unlike WordPress’ backend editor and preview features. It has little room for adjustments and customizations, but can be used by those who may not be very technologically savvy.

WordPress– “A lot of people choose WordPress for its flexibility, but with this flexibility comes complexity,” Website Builder Expert explains. WordPress is far more powerful, with the endless possibilities for customizations. Our developers at Cement Marketing know WordPress backwards and forwards and are happy to help your business navigate any WordPress complexity.

Maintenance

Wix – Wix’s technical team handles all updates, so users don’t have to be concerned about maintenance.

WordPress – To ensure security and to fix bugs, there are required WordPress updates a few times per year. Depending on the plug-ins you have or if you’re working with a customized theme, making sure all of your tools remain compatible with the update is important.

SEO capabilities – the deciding factor

Recently, a daycare owner came to Cement seeking our help with her startup business. She only had three children on her opening day and was desperate for more kids in the classroom.

We discovered that the main website was built in Wix. Unfamiliar with the CMS, Cement investigated and found that our client wasn’t even ranking for her own business’ name. What we discovered was alarming – because of its URL structure, Wix didn’t allow search engines to crawl the site’s content. This means that any keyword throughout the website’s copy wasn’t being considered when it came to SEO determining its rank or authority.

Andy Kinsey of RedStar creative noticed the same problem as us. He says that “#” is called a “hashbang” (found in Wix’s URL structure) and they are being dealt / served through javascript, and in turn, aren’t  readable on  search engines. He also points out that all Wix pages are tabs of the homepage, therefore, would never rank anyhow.

Starting a business is a huge undertaking, both financially and emotionally. The last thing you want is to waste money by investing in a faulty website that people can’t find when surfing the Web. Her Wix website was attractive, simple and easy to use, but because of the lack of search engine compatibility, her business was suffering.

To alleviate these problems as quickly and as inexpensively as possible, we customized a WordPress template, migrated the existing content and launched a new site within a week. WordPress properly indexed each page of the site, and uses the plugin WordPress SEO Yoast to ensure everything is functioning as it should. Read about how our client, Babbitt & Weis’, WordPress site has seen more than a 200 percent increase in traffic since its launch.

Take advice from a Columbus Web design firm

Cement Marketing has always stood by WordPress, as it is the only CMS  in which we build our websites. Much more than a blogging platform, WordPress has been used by major brands, from CNN and The New York Times to Samsung and Ford. Our team understands WordPress inside and out and can create a beautiful, custom website for your business that generates leads and produces results. Don’t take our word for it—check out our work.

We offer hosting services, handle all of the maintenance WordPress requires, and have 24/7 support. Before we hand off your website, we offer training, where our teams guides your employees on how to make updates to your WordPress site. Meaning that changing a picture, headline or page title will be a quick fix you can do yourself – not work you have to ship out to a developer. Does your business’ website needs a facelift? If so, contact us today, or get in touch with Alaina Shearer at alaina@cementmarketing.com.