Why Not Wix? How Custom Web Development Builds Better Businesses

The greatest marketing asset your business will ever have is its website; it’s where everything there is to know about your brand lives, and will always be the greatest source of information on your brand. Then, you need to get your website found.

When it comes to building your company’s website, you have two primary options: DIY platforms like the very popular Wix and Wordpress, or Custom Website Development. While Wix and Wordpress offer relatively low-investment options, there are key issues with DIY platforms that prove you get what you pay for when it comes to building a marketing asset that can be leveraged long-term.

How DIY Websites Work

The average business owner is familiar with the ability to customize a website on their own using platforms like Wix and Wordpress. These platforms are built with a plethora of widgets and integrations, and allow the user to implement as many forms, buttons, photos, and features they want. Especially with Wix’s drag-and-drop functions, you can completely customize the layout of each webpage without any web design or development experience or ability to read or write even basic HMTL and CSS. There is also the attractive, low financial investment. However, this type of customization is arguably the greatest Wix downfall.

Think of a Wix website as a basic white bread sandwich: you get your meat and bread as a standard, but the end product is dependent on whatever you choose to stuff in it. The problem is, whether you want to just add cheese, or an entire garnish bar, the meat and bread can’t really change to accomodate; you can add every topping available, but what happens then? Your bread gets soggy and thin, the meat gets lost in the mix, and the whole thing is messy, heavy, and doesn’t fit together well. When you use a platform that executes your websites functions using widgets, it’s kind of like adding too many toppings to a basic bread sandwich. 

You want your website’s code to be light so it loads quickly, provides good usability, and is attractive to search engines. When it comes time to leverage a Wix or Wordpress website as marketing assets, search engines see messy code and poor SEO integrations; as a result, your website doesn’t show up in search results for related keywords, customers can’t find you, and the time and money you have invested becomes hard to recover.

Why Choose Custom Web Development?

Let’s quote an earlier statement in this article:

“with Wix’s drag-and-drop functions, you can completely customize the layout of each webpage without any web design or development experience or ability to read or write even basic HMTL and CSS”

Without experience, do you really know what works best? When you seek out custom website design and development services, you seek out those who do have experience, and are skilled with both the physical appearance and technical functions of building a website. 

A Custom Web Development agency will leverage resources from their graphic design and digital marketing teams to draft layouts that attract users, function well, and include all the necessary features that are important to your business. The key difference is they’ll be able to do all this with code that is clean and concise; your website loads quickly, the various features won’t crash, and Google can effectively crawl your pages and understand your SEO efforts. Your website can appear higher up in related search results, and with enhanced usability, your bounce rates are not only lowered, but your users are also more likely to convert vs. with a  website that ranks lower, or is abandoned because users can’t quickly access the information they’re looking for.

Going back to our sandwich analogy - custom web development is like using a “sandwich artist” to put together your meal. Your sandwich artist will start with a more robust bun as a base, and include everything you want, in the right way, so your sandwich is appetizing, simple to eat, and easy to digest. They’ll suggest what sides and drink go well with your choice, and make it even more attractive. Custom web development is like ensuring you get the whole meal, not just a cheap entrée, with websites that look good, function well, and drive more business.

Custom Web Development at Xi Digital

For almost 15 years, Xi Digital has provided custom web development, design and marketing services to small and medium businesses across a variety of industries. As digital veterans and Google Partners, we’re well-versed in building websites that get found in search engines, attract and engage customers, and help to grow businesses, from medical offices, to home services, to health and beauty. 

Our clients have consistently achieved higher traffic, lower bounce rates, greater engagement, and more business growth while partnering with our dynamic and talented team, speaking to the immense value of leveraging a combination of custom developed websites and custom digital strategies.

Call us today at 416-628-5410 to find out how we can help you start designing your first website, or help you migrate from your Wix or Wordpress to our in-house, custom solution. We’re ready to help you amplify your business!