WiX vs. WordPress: Which is Better for an eCommerce Site?
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Creating a website for your eCommerce store can be overwhelming. You need to select the right platform for your online store.
Two popular website design platforms you can select from are WiX and WordPress. So, what are the differences between the two platforms? And most importantly which of the two platforms is better for an eCommerce site?
Let’s dig in to find out which will best serve your business needs.
1. WiX
WiX is an Israeli-based company that was established in 2006. The company offers an online platform for the development of HTML5 websites. It features a drag and drop interface for designing websites.
The website design platform was designed for small business owners with no coding experience. The functionality of the website design is suited for individuals who want an easy-to-setup site.
You can create and set up an eCommerce site using WiX within minutes. If you want a website design platform that does the heavy lifting for you, the platform will meet your needs.
Features
Plethora of Themes
WiX provides a slew of themes that are perfect for online stores. You can apply small customization to the themes like changing the background color.
All paid and free templates are optimized for both desktop and mobile displays. You don’t have to manually optimize your online store for mobile display.
Security & SEO
You won’t have to worry about security as WiX takes care of it. There is no need to install a security plug-in to protect your eCommerce site from hackers. You get a free SSL certificate when you subscribe to any of the package.
WiX also offers basic on-page search engine optimization (SEO) features. You can add meta tags and optimize the content for keywords. You can also install paid plug-ins for advanced SEO options.
Third Party Apps
Various third-party apps are available that will extend the functionality of your eCommerce website. For instance, you can install plugins to automate follow-up tasks with customers. You can also install chat plugins that trigger when online users add products to a cart.
Pricing Details
WiX offers two-price packages for individuals and online businesses. You can see the price details of the business package in the following image.
Business Basic is suitable for startups and small online stores. You can later upgrade the package to Business Unlimited or VIP as your sales increase over time.
Drawbacks of WiX
A con of the WiX platform is that the content displays slowly as compared to most other platforms.
A study carried out by Search Engine Journal in 2018 found that WiX had the slowest First Contentful Paint (FCP) – or how quickly the website loads important content. FCP was much lower as compared to WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla.
WiX offers website hosting to make your online store visible to internet users. Website hosting is part of the service. This means that you cannot migrate your WiX website content to another hosting provider.
Image Source: Search Engine Journal
2. WordPress.com
There is also WordPress.org that provides the self hosted version with more flexibility and freedom in designing unique websites. We use wordpress.com here since it could be more related to WiX.
WordPress is the world’s most popular content management platform (CMS) that powers about 42 percent of the available websites. The website platform was first released in 2003 by Mark Little and MattMullenweb.
At the start, WordPress was a blog platform. But over the years the platform evolved to become the most popular platform for different types of websites.
Designing an eCommerce store using the WordPress platform may require more time and skill than WiX. But you will get a professional, unique website. Thousands of plug-ins extend the functionality of the website.
Features
SEO-Friendly
The best feature of a WordPress platform is that sites created on the platform are SEO optimized. The inherent SEO functionality of the platform makes it easy to rank WordPress sites in search engines.
Lots of Plugins
WordPress offers dozens of plugins. The third-party plugins are constantly updated so that your website remains secure. You can manually update the plugins as soon as they are released.
Detailed Analytics
The analytics features of WordPress offer detailed insights into your online store performance. You will know what products have the most visits and sales. You can also analyze the traffic to know the demographic profile of the online audience.
The deep insight into your website will allow you to make changes to your website to attract traffic.
Hosting Transferability
Unlike WiX, WordPress allows the migration of your website to another hosting provider. You can transfer to a hosting provider that offers better value for money in terms of service quality and pricing.
Pricing Details
WordPress offers four price packages for individuals and online businesses. The Personal package is suitable for creating a personal website. Freelancers should select the Premium package that comes with additional features such as live chat, monetization, integration with analytics, and video uploads.
eCommerce is the best package for online stores. You get advanced functionalities such as access to 50,000+ plugins, advanced SEO tools, international shipment, and premium website templates.
Cons of WordPress
Designing a website using the WordPress platform is not for novice users. Many people get bogged down due to a large number of options available to customize a website. You should hire professional website designers to design a professional eCommerce site using the platform.
Another drawback of WordPress is that you need to manually install updates. You will be notified about new updates. But the process of updating plugins is not automated.
Installing plugins is not as straightforward in WordPress as compared to WiX. You need to make sure that your payment processing providers support the plugin and the theme. Moreover, you should also read whether the plugin is actively supported by the developer.
A plug-in that is not updated represents a security risk. A hacker can exploit weaknesses in the plugin to hack your WordPress website.
Final Remarks
You must know both the pros and cons of a platform to make the right decision. WiX is preferable if you don’t want to get into the details of customizing your eCommerce store. The website platform has a simple drag-and-drop functionality that makes it easy to design a website.
In case you want more control over customizing your eCommerce store, you should consider the WordPress platform. The platform is also preferable if you will rely on organic ranking rather than online advertising to attract traffic.
Contact igwebs if you want Huntsville website design services. We have a team of experienced designers who can design a professional-looking eCommerce store for your website.
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