Online Website Building Tools
A word about Wix, GoDaddy's and Network Solutions' Website Builder tools. We don't use or endorse any of these tools for a number of reasons - here are 14 of them:
- Flash. In the case of many site builders, especially Wix, sites are usually created with Flash. No matter what they say, Flash is not search engine friendly. Google recommends against it. Flash is on it's way out with the advent of HTML5.
- 1 page only. Because Wix limits you to just one page (the Flash portions make it seem like you have multiple pages, but technically, you don’t.), you decrease the amount of content Google can crawl. Decreased content means fewer keywords. Fewer keywords mean fewer searchers and traffic.
- No data. Again with the 1-page-only thing: you can’t create multiple kinds of keywords, page titles, or meta data to be indexed for other search terms. It’s like having a phone book with only 1 page.
- Google unfriendly. Google can’t verify your site in Webmaster Tools. That may be too advanced for some right away, but for a team like us, we use Webmaster Tools to monitor site downtime, crawl rates, broken links, and search traffic.
- Poor analytics. Inaccurate site analytics, caused by older scripting technologies, don’t allow Wix or GoDaddy site builder users to get an accurate picture of a site’s traffic and performance. We use Google’s highly recommended Analytics service.
- Bad taste. The templates look like something out of Microsoft’s template directory (NOT a good thing!)
- Bad first impressions. “I’m just a small shop, I need a site for cheap, I’ll use Wix anyway.” Have you ever heard the expression, “First impressions are everything?” You may think your customers aren’t discerning enough to figure out the difference, but they’ll know something is lame about it.
- Not mobile friendly. Slow-loading Wix sites, that are data and graphics laden, turn off all mobile users and churn through limited data plans faster. Only desktop users can see your site and they won’t wait longer than 5-7 seconds for a site to load. Would you?
- Rome wasn’t built in a day. You can build a website with Wix or any other site builder in about 30 minutes. It takes more time to bake a cake. Don’t you think your business or organization deserves more time and energy than it takes to bake a cake? We take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the size and scope of a project.
- No branding. Without a real domain name, having a URL of wix.com/username doesn't give you your own brand identity.
- No differentiation from your competitors. At the time of this writing, Wix has about a few hundred templates. GoDaddy has far fewer. Wix and GoDaddy boast millions of users. Guess how many other people have a website that looks exactly like everyone else’s.
- Ads. You get a big “THIS SITE WAS CREATED WITH WIX.COM CREATE YOUR OWN FOR FREE!” banner at the bottom of your site. We put our name at the bottom of our sites because that’s what artists do. But we don’t put a big “HIRE US TO DO YOUR SITE TOO!” down there.
- No support. If you have questions, no one can hear you scream. They have support staff, but in many cases you have to pay. The support from these site builders is purely technical. They won’t review your site for errors, they won’t help you craft a marketing message, they won’t help you build a better business or tell your story.
- We care. No one cares more about your success than we do. We see every customer as a partner in our business - we have every incentive to help your business grow because when you grow, we do too. We’re only as good as our last project. Wix, Network Solutions, 1&1, GoDaddy and others will continue to find people who don’t know any better or don’t care. Don't be treated like a number. Your company is unique - your online presence should say that.
