Should You Use WordPress or Squarespace or Wix?

It seems like whenever I open up YouTube (which is pretty much nightly for meditation and sleep-inducing videos), I am accosted by ads for either Wix or Squarespace.

Now, I know why this is. Because of the kinds of websites I visit frequently – entrepreneur-based business news, social media, and marketing – some algorithm has decided I am the ideal entrepreneurial-minded candidate who might find one of these sites useful.

The problem is, I’m not just some hopeful. I already have a website I’m quite proud of and I find these advertisements annoying at best. But, always striving to be open-minded, I wanted to see if either of these platforms had something to offer that I was missing. I went exploring…

What is WordPress?

WordPress is an open-source content management system. Basically that means WordPress is where the code goes that makes the website look the way it does (via a WordPress theme). It sounds very technical, and to someone completely computer-illiterate, it can be. But it is also something you can and should become familiar with if that is how your website is run.

In order to run WordPress, it needs somewhere to ‘live’ so you would need a web host to give WordPress a home. I use Bluehost for their excellent prices and mainly for their customer service. WordPress is free, Bluehost is not. The links provided in this article are my affiliate links. Because I believe in Bluehost so much, I partner with them to promote their services and in some cases get a small commission in return.

The Good

First of all, already being happy with my current setup, I certainly wasn’t looking to spend more money. Turns out, that with the equivalent of my hosting package from Bluehost, that is just what I would be doing if I switched.

Wix turned out to be the same price per month as Bluehost (WordPress is free) but I would have had to pay for email which is included, unlimited in my Bluehost package. An equivalent package at Squarespace would have cost between $4-12 more per month depending on how I chose to be billed. Plus I would only get one email free for a year then billed at the standard rate.

Second, I am self-taught in WordPress. The only way I was able to do this is through the amazing community of developers, coders and designers that support the platform. I have found answers to my exact issues on a variety of message boards and online communities.

In some quick searches, it appears that both Wix and Sqaurespace have both created their own extensive libraries and FAQ sections to answer customer questions. While I’m sure these articles and videos are extremely accurate, there is something comforting to me about WordPress communities where I can ask the most specific question in the world (using all the wrong lingo) and not only has it been asked before but people have provided the answer for users who know HTML and those who need a simpler work-around – like a plugin.

The ‘Bad’

As I said, I taught myself WordPress. Completely. From nothing. It is definitely doable. And more than that, it’s made me confident to be able to alter things on my website that I want to change. This frees me from paying fees to developers for making minor changes. It also introduced me to my first bit of HTML coding experimentation. However, the learning curve is NO JOKE. It is an actual, bona fide miracle both my MacBook and me made it out unscathed. There were numerous times I threatened to toss it out the nearest window. The good thing is, with such a community of developers, it’s easy to find help – something I should have done MUCH earlier. While it’s nice to know how to make my own changes, I realized just how much time I had wasted trying to get an image perfectly centered in my footer or something equally inane.

*PRO TIP: I found my current WordPress designer through a Facebook community group posting and she’s great! They’re out there, you just have to ask!

This is not really what I would consider a ‘con’ but Wix and Squarespace both have options to bill monthly rather than for the year up front. For the cash poor business or the purely experimental entrepreneur, these pricing structures are an option. However, now that I am making money in my business, I much prefer to pay up front. For one, it’s one less bill I have to remember to pay. Two, even though it’s not a lot of money, making a financial commitment upfront speaks wonders to the intention you have for a goal. I don’t want to give myself the ‘out’ of only committing change to a goal I’ve set.

Full disclosure

Now, of these three platforms, I have personally only ever used WordPress and Bluehost and I love them. I’ve received customer service that goes above and beyond which is definitely something that comes in handy when something big happens like your website goes down or content is missing.

And I know this service is above and beyond because I’ve had experiences with other big name hosting services who, in my opinion, cheated and took advantage of clients I’ve worked with who may not have been the most tech-savvy.

The major upside to platforms such as Wix and Squarespace as I’ve been told is the ease of use. And while that may be true, I’ve been assured by more than one designer that while, for someone who is rather technology inept, they might be an appealing choice, for a site’s longevity and custom options as the business matures, WordPress is the best platform to give that kind of flexibility.

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Photo credit:
Arnel Hasanovic