Deciding on a Website Platform

When I first started my own business it was a Virtual Assistant Business. I was offering ‘all of the things’ trying to discover my niche and what I really loved to do. The first step in creating my virtual assistant business (in my mind) was to build a website. Here’s what I knew before starting my website platform research:

1. I knew I wasn’t 100% sure on my business name since I was a newbie and still discovering myself, which meant I didn’t want to invest in anything.
2. I wanted the freedom to create and put things on a page wherever I wanted to, and didn’t want to be designing in a ‘box’ or ‘grid’.

And so my investigation began…I tried a bunch of different ones, set-up free trials and played around until I decided on Wix.

The Pros of Wix

I know a lot of people have negative opinions about Wix, but for me it was perfect since I was just starting out. 

1. The platform was very easy for me to teach myself. It is drag and drop, and gave me the freedom I was looking for in designing. I could place things anywhere, move them around, and figure out on my own how to make a visually appealing website.
2. At this time I knew SEO was something I had to do but I wasn’t sure exactly what I was doing. Wix made it easy to set the page titles and meta descriptions, and even though I had no idea what I was doing, I still felt like I was doing things right.
3. I could launch my website without paying for a domain or subscription fees. This was HUGE for me since I was just starting out. Although the url had ‘wixsite’ in it, it didn’t matter to me. I was starting a business and I wanted something to send to people that were inquiring about me. 
4. Wix would handle all of the technical behind the scenes stuff that I didn’t know about yet. I knew if I had a technical issue, they would be able to help me.

My first Wix website didn’t turn out too bad…this is what it looked like below. You will notice that since it was the free version of Wix it has the ‘wixsite.com/website’ in the URL, and it also has the top Wix banner. These are not ideal but since I was starting out, it didn’t bother me too much.

In my opinion, Wix is an amazing entry-level website platform but eventually I learned more, focused my business, and was ready to invest. That is what led me to Showit.

The Switch to Showit

Wix was very good to me, but I was ready to up-level. I was confident and excited about my business name, I was ready to purchase a domain, and really invest in myself and my business. While I was on Wix, I was in a lot of Facebook groups and the Showit platform kept coming up. I researched the platform, signed up for the free trial, and absolutely fell in love. 

 

The Differences with Showit vs. Wix

Showit was similar to Wix but one million times better…if that makes sense.

1. Showit still had that element of ‘drag and drop’ but the creative freedom is 100% better. You can literally drop anything into a Showit canvas, turn it, angle it, hang it off the page, whatever you want. While Wix does have that element of drag and drop, you are still confined to a box-like or grid-like mentality. Showit is the clear winner for ultimate page designs.
2. In Wix I could easily figure out how to change a font or a color, but Showit takes it to another level. The Design Settings in Showit were life changing. It is SO much easier to use the same colors and fonts throughout your entire site. Wix I felt like I always had to find the right/same font, and it seemed to always take some sort of effort to match font sizes and colors. In Showit, you set the design settings (fonts and colors) once and then you easily drag and drop elements throughout your site to ensure consistency.
3. The SEO capabilities with Showit are far superior. I knew from my research Wix was definitely not known for SEO, and now I realize why. Text tags, page descriptions, and the ability to use WordPress to power the blogs are all amazing advantages of switching to Showit.
4. The support with Showit is like chatting with a super smart and helpful best friend. The little chat box in the corner of the platform makes it so easy to just ask a quick question and get a solution. I don’t even think Wix had that – and if they did, I never knew about it or used it.

 

It’s time to switch to Showit

If you are debating whether or not to switch from Wix to Showit…make the move now. You will NOT be disappointed. Wix doesn’t make it easy to leave them, and you will have to start all over…but sometimes it’s nice to have a fresh start. If this overwhelms you check out the free Showit templates available. You can start with a free one just to get use to the platform at first! Showit also has a free 14-day trial so you have plenty of time to play around until you are comfortable. There are also a ton of amazing designers that sell professional, beautiful and strategic website templates. Starting with a template is a great way to work with professional website designers at a fraction of the price of a custom website. Check out my full blog post on the advantages of website templates.