WIX, the current leader in drag-and-drop website creation, is one of many so-called page builders that many sole proprietors, small businesses, and independent consults use to get their business online. With an easy-to-use interface that makes it easy to create pages, it’s no wonder why.
And, it is true that the pages will appear exactly as you design them. Sounds like a perfect fit, a simple, inexpensive solution that feels like making a poster board for your business.
So what’s the problem, you may ask?
Plenty.
With an array of plans starting from everyone’s favorite FREE all the way up to $500/month enterprise plans, that just covers your base of having a site at all. To remove ads and use your own domain is $14.95/month. Unless you’re selling through the site, in which case it’s $23/month. Except if you want any support, that’s $49/month. And then comes the kicker, if you want to talk on the phone to a person for that support, you get slapped with $500/month.
Oh, you want to have an email address with your domain? That’ll be $6/month, per mailbox, on top of your monthly fee to have a site and domain.
And you’re a business, do you already have a logo? No, that’s fine you can design your own. Except if you want the high-resolution version, that you can use elsewhere, that means you get to spend $28 or $47/month.
And that’s before getting into the fact that this is all time that you have to pull away from your business just to create, manage, and update your website. On your own.
But it can be fairly cheap and you can get an okay enough site, right?
Yeah, maybe, no, it kind of depends. The real challenge of WIX and page builders, in general, is that they focus on the physical page, not your business.
Keywords for your industry that can help your search rankings, aka Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? That’s up to you too.
Taking, choosing, and managing images that best show off your products and keep your site consistent? Up to you.
And what about your goals for your business, what are you looking to do with having a website? Is it more than just “I was here” in the digital age? Accomplishing those goals will be up to you to figure out.
The clear costs for WIX and WIX-like page builders can easily exceed what many professionals charge for their services. What these companies do best is get you in the door with free or low-cost offerings. What they don’t do is get to know you, know your business, and help you succeed.
As for the hidden costs, or perhaps the opportunity costs, those are the ones that happen when the business gets very little–if any–return on their investment in having a website. When they build a site they expect that site to help their business grow, but where are the new customers? Is anyone even seeing their site? Are people seeing the site and running away?
Mystic Computers has dealt with a variety of website starting points and works to ensure that your customers and clients see a professional you, a business uniquely your own, but one that is presented with its best foot forward. We help you with your goals, strategy, planning & posting branded content, help you utilize social media effectively, and we are capable of growing with your business needs. While we charge for the services we provide you, we also want to make sure you get value for your dollars spent. So with every service we provide we always make our best effort to ensure that the content, whether it is a logo, a page, a promotional graphic, etc. will give you the best presence your money can buy.
