A Full Review of Wix.com Website Builder: Create Your Own Beautiful Website For Free

Last updated on January 17, 2016 | Justin Katz

wix review, build your own custom wix website for free

Overall Impressions of Wix

If you are looking to build your own website, and need it to look professional and to work right, then Wix.com is a great solution. The coolest thing about Wix is that you can easily design your own website for free with their website creator tool; no coding experience required. This means you can get your site up, running, and looking good with no designing headache. This review will cover all the major elements to consider before signing up.

best websites for photographers review of wix

I have built my own website. Let me clarify: I have built many, many different versions of my website, using multiple different website building tools over the years. Currently, this site is built on a SmugMug, and I love it. However I am continually drawn back to checking out and playing with the Wix website builder, because of the incredibly cool functionality and layouts that they offer.

Some Wix Review Highlights

The newly released Wix editor is amazing.

Over 510 beautiful and professional free website templates

True drag-and-drop website builder. Insert content anywhere, and you don't need to code

Solid customer service and support

People who use Wix, tend to stay with Wix

Overall Rating: 4/5

Let me preface this review by saying that I am a photographer, so I have only really used Wix for that purpose. Having said that, if you are looking to build your own custom website for yourself or your business, then Wix.com is a great easy online tool for making it happen.

The spotlight of this Wix review is on the ease of use. Entirely customizable, insuring maximum responsiveness and slick design, and there is no coding required. Although you can really use it for anything from business, to blog or portfolio, I personally used my Wix account to create an awesome photography website. The large variety of ways to display images and galleries was a major appeal for me when looking for a way to display my art, and the eCommerce options allowed me to sell my photos directly from the site. The best part? You can try Wix for free to test it out and see if its right for you.

Watch this short video of their new editor that features parallax scrolling

Beautiful Free Wix Website Templates

There are over 500+ free Wix website templates that are fully customizable HTML5 designs, and are available to choose once you sign up. They have them separated into categories based on what you are designing your website for, which is a nice feature.

Is Wix really free?

Yes, Wix is really free. You can make a Wix website that is hosted on their domain, use many of its features, and never pay a dime. Your domain will read:

yourawesomesite.wix.com

If you want to get into some of the more elaborate features however, including the ability to use your own custom domain (ie, yourawesomesite.com), you may want to consider purchasing a Wix premium account

Features you get with a Wix website

Use your own domain name

Secure and reliable free hosting

Mobile browser-optimized

Languages (editor supports nine languages)

Widgets – small tools you can drag and drop to add extra functionality

Monetization (integrate google Adense, banner ads, and affiliate links if desired)

Ecommerce online store. Great for anyone who needs to sell their stuff online.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – page titles, meta descriptions, and alt tags can be added.

Dedicated 24/7 support

Wix Premium

A Wix Premium subscription is the perfect solution for your small-medium business website. It allows you to focus on what matters, and let the Wix premium support team handle all of the technical things so you don't have to. If you are looking for anything more than just the basic functionality of a website, I highly recommend the Wix Premium subscription. The upgraded plan even comes with $300 in ad vouchers (Bing and Google Adwords), as well as a free year of domain hosting, and $118 worth of free premium Wix apps. Click here for more information on all the pricing details for the various subscription levels.

Wix Premium plans always include:

Free hosting

Domain connection

500+ MB of storage

Google Analytics

Premium support

No set-up fee

Wix websites compared to other website builders

Unlike my other favorite photography website building companies SmugMug and Photoshelter, Wix websites can be built with a very wide-range of industries/interests in mind. While they do have amazing photography design templates, what makes Wix stand apart is that they have customizable site designs for pretty much any business vertical.

For photographers in particular, I would recommend checking out my in-depth SmugMug review, or the side-by-side comparison of websites for photographers.

Whether you are designing a site for your local plumbing business, your new restaurant, wedding photography, or pretty much anything you can imagine, Wix probably has a customizable template for you.