About two years ago I started a blog series reviewing various content management systems (CMS) that I have worked with. After MUCH anticipation (<<sarcasm), here is my first review of an actual product. I am beyond grateful to say that the last two years have been filled with me doing the work that I love with clients in all different sectors so my blog writing was put on hold. You know the saying The cobbler’s children have no shoes. 

I went to school for journalism and I used to write A LOT. Now that my career has shifted to the digital space, the most I write these days (aside from client content creation) is emails. I found myself missing it and realized now would be the perfect time to pick this blog series back up, especially since I have spent the last two years getting down and dirty with the subject of my first review: Wix.

I’ve learned a lot about Wix in the last two years. While this will rarely be the first CMS that I recommend to anyone, I understand why people use it. So, let’s get down to it!

The Good

• It’s Easy to Get Started: Wix did an amazing job of coming on the CMS scene when more and more people were taking a stab at starting their own business. In my experience, entrepreneurs are the type of people who can and want to do it all. So, when Wix introduced this tool that makes it easy for someone to build their own website, it’s no surprise it took off.
• Their Templates are Pretty Great Out of the Box: Most CMS nowadays have a variety of website templates that are available for free but they tend to need some tweaking before you can use them and this can scare off folks who aren’t web savvy. With Wix, that’s not the case. They have created templates for various sectors that only require you adding your information and you are ready to go. They also include stock photos relevant to the sector which makes life even easier.
• User Interface Is Slightly Intuitive: Yep, they only get a slightly intuitive description. There are several drag and drop features that many non web developers will like. However, there are some features that they keep pretty hidden and you have to go searching for them and ultimately will end up banging your head on your desk before you actually find what you are looking for.

The Bad

• It’s Expensive: This is the part of Wix that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. They sell you with a “free” website. Sounds great for someone starting their business with limited resources, right? Well, once you want to customize your domain and take the word “wix” out of it, there’s an additional charge. Want to accept payments online? More money. By the time you have all of your tools up and running you are going to pay a lot more in the long run than you would have if you had paid someone to build a website on a different platform.
• It’s Slow: I’m not talking about the visitor’s experience. I’m talking about the web editor user interface. Everything that you click on and each time you hit save, you can expect to stare at the screen for a good 5-10 seconds. That might not seem like a lot for a minor edit but trying to create an entire website with that kind of delay will make even the most patient person incredibly frustrated.
• You Get Locked Out of Stuff: Now by stuff I mostly mean things that a developer would want access to. The reason they do this, and also the reason it’s problematic, is that it prevents you from doing any advanced customization. On other platforms you could get your customizations done, pay for the development work once, and then be done with it. With Wix, when you are locked out of various backend parts of your website, you have no choice but to pay for their ongoing features.

Final Verdict

Wix is great if you want to get a website live fast and are OK with paying for long term costs. For a review of other common CMS, stay tuned. Or, if you have any questions, please reach out.