Wix is simple and you can do it yourself. “Yourself” being the keyword that determines whether the Wix-way is your way. In this article I weigh the pros and cons of using Wix, versus hiring a professional to manage your web presence.
There are many more or less simple tools out there you can use to create your own website, of which Wix may be the most widely known. If you want to put down the time to set it up yourself, and also are fine with being restricted within the limitations the web-editor of your choice offers, this might be the optimal path for you.
Should I use Wix?
If you have a small business, and right now, you have a lot of time on your hands, you might want to spend that time on learning a web-editor like Wix, and build a website yourself. It is relatively easy and there is no question of whether you can do it, but it will take your time, and it will have certain limitations.
Do not be mistaken. Though it is easy, it will take time to learn. No skill comes for free, though some have a shorter learning curve than others. So if you choose the Wix way, make sure you have the time at your disposal. It is a common mistake for a creative visionaries to go ahead and overextend themselves in the ocean of simple services. It may often be better to do fewer things, and do them well—a lesson I am slowly learning.
Use Wix if you have the time to set aside, but don’t forget, there is a learning curve to it, and you will be spending your valuable time.
Wixitations (yes, that is a horrible pun on limitations)
I often have people calling me who have been using some sort of web-editor and they ask me whether I can do this or that alteration to their site. They have built their site in Wix, or something similar, and now want to add something specific.
They have caught a vision of something they want—a particular function with a particular design, and now they can’t figure out how to do it in their web-editor of choice. Most of the time this could be solved if they are willing to either spend the time themselves to sit and explore deeper into their chosen web-editor, or they end up paying me to log in and do the very same thing. We will end up with something generic, that we’ll try to more or less fit into their brand, because that is the nature of these web-editors. They are a collection of pre-designed blocks that you can fill with your own content. Many times certain functions simply can’t be done. If it is something out of the ordinary, chances are you may have to work backwards—looking at what the editor offers, and choose your content after that.
I am in no way bashing Wix. I am only trying to help you think through the different options, and ways to go before you jump into a project. Wix might be the perfect fit for you!
Pixel Control or Wix(el) Control?
My brother in law once said some wise words. I’ll quote him right here and now.
If you want to run a business, you must be a control freak.My Brother in Law
Of course control-freak is an exaggeration. If you are a true freak, you’ll actually scare people away by being so picky that no-one on your team dares do anything. (Steve Jobs pulled it off somehow, but most people don’t.) However, true care is the keyword (as James Vincent McMorrow understood.) If you truly care about your brand, how it is presented, you will drop in here and there with clear direction. You say exactly what you mean whenever somebody is suggesting something that might damage or blur your brand.
Anyway.
You want pixel control. You are a control freak, and you admit it. You want your site to be—not necessarily unique, because there will always be a site that looks somewhat like yours—but in perfect harmony with your brand. The icons, the colors, the typefaces. If you want that degree of control, and you also don’t want to spend your valuable time trying to learn a new skill you’re not going to use for a very long period of time, then you can throw all the responsibility over on us. Once we have a site set up, we can add whatever new modules you would like, designed from scratch and functioning with whatever crazy ideas you may come up with.
When you put us to the task, we control the code to a pixel, and can do most anything you ask, given you release work-hours for us. It will cost, but this is what you pay for; complete control and the years we have spent working and learning in the industry.
So, Time and Control
I hope I clarified to you when Wix is the way, and when you should contact a professional service.
If you are not a control-freak and have lot’s of time on your hands, use Wix. If you are willing to let the editor determine your limitations, and work within those borders—that is the way for you.
If you admit you are a control freak and want to develop new and custom functions and quirks that goes outside the ordinary, and fits your brand style like a hand in a glove. Also, you want to spend your time doing what you do best, not learning something new then you should share those wild ideas with us, so we get to develop them.
