Wix is one of Australia's easiest-to-use and most popular website builders. In fact, in 2021, the platform had overย 200 millionย users worldwide, making it a go-to place for millions of entrepreneurs starting their online businesses, blogs, and stores.
Within hours, Australian merchants can have a beautiful online store up and running. Interested? If so, this article is for you. We'll cover everything from Wix pricing to features and more. So, strap in; there are lots to discuss.
About Wix.com in Australia
Founded in 2006, Wix is an international cloud-based website building platform. Wix caught the public eye with their easy-to-use drag-and-drop website builder and, by 2014, amassed over 50 million users as it continued expanding its services and features.
Today, Wix operates in 190 countries worldwide and has a team of more than 5000 workers. According to some estimates, Wix now has over 150,000 Australian members. This figure is continually rising as international fulfillment has made it easier for Aussie entrepreneurs to operate across borders.
Unfortunately, however, while Wix does allow Australian businesses to create and run websites, there are a few drawbacks you need to know about. Firstly, Wix has a payment solution that permits vendors to accept payments from Visa, Mastercard, and other well-known debit and credit card providers. But, they don't offer this service in Australia at the time of writing.
So, to accept payments as an Australian vendor, you must use an alternative payment provider such as PayPal or Square (as well as 14 other payment options). While this may present a slight inconvenience, it shouldn't stop you from starting or realizing your online dreams. Not least because besides payment processing, you should be able to access all the other features mentioned in this review.
Wix Features
Wix is an all-in-one content management system (CMS) solution. For the uninitiated, CMS software is used to create websites from scratch and manage your online content.
Wix doesn't require any coding knowledge. Instead, it allows you to create, edit, and upload content from a user-friendly interface or admin panel. In addition, it enables you to store files and comes with web hosting included.
The Wix CMS provides an impressive range of built-in features that give you the tools you need to create blogs and launch an eCommerce store. In addition, you can promote your new website using various search engine optimization (SEO) and marketing applications like email and social media content.ย
That said, here we'll look at the ins and outs of these features and what you can expect from the Wix platform:
Wix's Website Builder
Wix's website builder allows you to create a range of different websites. There are over 800 templates to choose from, catering to the needs of online stores, portfolios, blogs, etc.
With so many templates to choose from, picking one can seem overwhelming. Fortunately, choosing a template is easy with the Wix artificial design intelligence (ADI). Here's how this functionality works:
Wix builds your content and unique design from scratch based on your answers to a few questions. Then, you can customize its colors, text, images, and content using Wix's drag-and-drop builder. You can even use advanced design features, such as custom animation, videos, and vector art, to showcase your brand exactly how you want.
Ecommerce
Wix has tons of features that enable you to launch ecommerce websites for all kinds of use cases. For instance:
- Create an online store to sell physical products
- Launch a website that sells events tickets
- Build websites that take orders and/or bookings – such as those from restaurants or hotels.
To create an ecommerce website using Wix, first, you need to pick a template (as described above). This will form the basic outline for your site. Then you can use Wix's built-in branding tools, such as its logo maker and a business name generator. These are especially handy if you're launching your ecommerce brand from scratch.
You can also use your own custom domain name and tinker with web pages associated with online shopping, including:
- Checkout
- Product pages
- Your online cart
- Your customer's member's area
- Your payment page
Creating a customer member's area is wise if you want to encourage shoppers to create accounts on your website. This enables customers can log in to view and manage their orders and subscriptions.
Regarding product management, you can:
- Sync inventory across multiple sales channels
- Export and import product lists as CSV files.
- Make it easier for customers to locate relevant products by organizing items by category, style, or popularity
- Create product variations like size, color, and weight.
Your customers also benefit from a wide range of payment options, including:
- PayPal
- Stripe
- Square
- Braintree
- Fat Zebra
- Afterpay
- Lay-by
- Overpayment
…And many more.
You can even offer a ‘buy now pay later' option, giving customers more flexibility at checkout.
You can also connect your in-store POS to your Wix account to track online and in-person sales.
Lastly, Wix allows you to transform your site into a mobile app that's fully synced with your Wix account. As such, you can manage payments, edit products, and answer customer queries while you're on the go. Moreover, your customers can view all your services and products and make payments through the app.
Web Hosting and Domains
As we've already hinted, all Wix's pricing plans include web hosting and security. You can expect the following:
- DDoS
- An SSL certificate
- 24/7 security monitoring by their team
- 99% uptime
- Automatic site backups
- Free cloud storage and bandwidth (even on the free plan!)
You also get a free domain name for up to one year when you upgrade to one of Wix's paid pricing plans. Otherwise, you can purchase your own domain name and connect it with your Wix website.
Alternatively, suppose you're opting to use Wix's freemium version. In that case, you can host your website using a free Wix subdomain (however, this doesn't look as professional as a custom domain).
Marketing and SEO
Wix also provides tools for creating social media content that you can share directly on Facebook or Instagram. You can choose from a library of social media templates and customize them to fit your brand. Wix also allows you to promote your products using paid-for Facebook and Instagram ads from within your Wix dashboard. The advantage of doing this via Wix is you get free ad credit on Wixโs higher-tier pricing plans. Plus, you can use Wixโs ad AI to optimize your ads for better performance -win-win!
You can use Wix's video maker to showcase and promote your products. Here, you can change the typography, graphics, and background, then schedule the post to publish onto your socials from the convenience of Wix's dashboard.
You can also take advantage of Wix's in-built email marketing tools. For example, on Wix premium plans, you can create a custom email address using your domain name. This goes a long way to giving your email correspondence a more professional edge. Alternatively, if you already have a professional business email address, you can link it with your Wix account.
Wixโs email editor comes with a generous library of email templates that you can edit to create your own custom email campaigns. You can change the font, colors, and background to suit your brand. Then schedule emails to go out. You can even program these to go out automatically when users undertake a specific action on your site. For instance, when they purchase, sign up for an event, or abandon their cart. You can automatically respond to said action via an email personalized with their name, enticing discounts, product recommendations, etc.
You can also create online forms to boost engagement on your site. Wixโs form builder is suited to customizing simple submission forms to collect email addresses or learn more information about your customers.
Lastly, Wix offers built-in SEO tools to help ensure your website gets the organic attention it deserves. For instance, you can:
- Edit meta, description, title tags, and URLs.
- Produce automatics site maps
- Set up 301 redirects
- Image optimization with alt-descriptions
- Automatic caching
- Wix's themes are mobile-responsive. You can also view your website in mobile mode to see what it would look like on a mobile device and edit it accordingly.
- You can translate keywords and tags for multilingual SEO
The best thing about Wixโs SEO is that all of the above features are shown to you via its simple SEO wizard. This traffic light system quickly highlights which areas of your site still need improving and which are already optimized. In addition, it provides actionable steps for you to follow – making SEO optimization a breeze.
Analytics and Reporting
As weโve already touched on, Wix offers a localized dashboard where you can manage all aspects of your website, including analytics crucial to your siteโs performance. You can generate different reports based on the information you want to analyze, such as:
- Website traffic
- Product performance
- Sales
- Revenue breakdowns
- Conversion rates
- Campaign performance
- Subscription rates
- Sign-ups
- Stock levels
- Customer activity
โฆAnd many other actionable business insights.
You can see how your customer base grows over time and better understand what visitors look for when they come to your site. Wix analytics also considers variables such as geographic location, lead sources, and user behavior.
Best of all, you can transform these insights into custom visual reports that you can share with your team.
With this information, youโre better positioned to make data-driven decisions to improve your overall performance.
Integrations
Thereโs a wide range of integrations available in the Wix app market. These apps range from design tools and site widgets to marketing and fulfillment integrations. Popular apps include:
- Tidio chatbot
- Omnisend email marketing
- Ads for LinkedIn
- Google Ads
- Print full print on demand
This is as well as Wix-built apps for form building, events, forums, online booking, and many more.
Customer Service
All Wix pricing plans, including its free program, come with 24/7 customer support and access to an extensive library of tutorials, articles, guides, and FAQs. This goes a long way to help newbie site owners hit the ground running.
Another helpful support feature is that in its website editor, Wix includes a help button with any element they feel might benefit from a little explanation. Just click this button to access the relevant help documentation to learn more about the particular feature.
However, if you can't find the answers, Wix also has a help center where you can contact an agent or pose questions in their forum. For instance, a call-back service is available within Wixโs business hours as in a live chat option. However, Wix's exact customer support availability depends on the language you want to receive support. But, in English, it's available 24 hours a day.
Wix Pricing
Wix divides its pricing structure into two separate plans – for websites and businesses. As its name aptly suggests, website plans are strictly for simple site creation and donโt include any ecommerce features.
Conversely, their business plans do just that and unlock tools for managing products, shipping, and customer payments.
Below weโve listed both Wixโs website and business plans to give you a better feel of whatโs on offer:
Wix Pricing: Website Plans
Free
Wixโs free plan grants access to its site builder, free web hosting, website templates, and site customization. However, your web pages will have Wix ads plastered on them. This plan also includes:
- Access to customer service
- 500 MB free storage
- A Wix subdomain
- Free SSL security certificate
- Limited customer support
Combo – $15 AUD per Month
This plan is designed for individuals wanting to start their own personal website. The following is included:
- A free custom domain for up to one year
- 24/7 customer support
- 3GB of storage space
- Up to 30 mins worth of video storage
Unlimited – $23 AUD per Month
This plan is designed for entrepreneurs and freelancers wanting a website to promote their services. It includes everything in the Combo plan, plus:
- 10GB of storage
- $600 (AUD) of ad credits
- Visitor analytics
- A site booster app – your site gets automatically listed in Google, Bing, and Yahooโs directories
Pro – $30 AUD per month
This plan is for entrepreneurs who want a professionally branded business website. It includes everything from the Unlimited plan, plus:
- 20GB of storage space
- A calendar and events widget
- Your own professional logo
- Two video hours
VIP – $39 AUD per month
As well as everything in the previous plans, you also get the following with the VIP plan:
- 35GB of storage space
- Five hour's worth of video uploads
- Priority support
Wix Pricing: Business
Now, let's turn our attention to Wix's Business and Ecommerce plans…
Basic – $32 AUD per month
The Business Basic plan allows you to create your own online store and accept payments from your customers. Itโs an excellent choice for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to start online selling.
It includes:
- A custom domain for up to one year
- Secure payment handling
- 20 GB of storage space
- Five hours' worth of video uploads
- $600 AUD ad voucher
- 24/7 customer support
- Unlimited product inventory
- Cart recovery features
- Online bookings, orders, and event manager
Unlimited – $44 AUD per month
The Business Unlimited has everything in the Basic plan, with the addition of extra ecommerce features, including:
- Customer subscription-manager
- Automated tax calculator
- Multiple currencies
- Shipping and dropshipping tools
- A product reviews page
- 35GB of storage space
- Ten hours' worth of video uploads
VIP – $58 AUD per month
Lastly, with Business VIP, you can expect everything from the previous plan and a few nifty extras, like:
- You can create your own loyalty program.
- Access priority customer service
- 50GB of storage space
- Customizable reporting
- Unlimited hours of video uploads
Wix Pricing and Wix Review Australia: FAQs
Wow, we've covered a lot! But before we go, let's answer some frequently asked questions about Wix for Australian users:
How Do I Create a Website on Wix?
Let's cover the basics of setting up a free website with Wix.
- The first step is account creation. Hit ‘get started' on the homepage and sign-up.
- You'll be guided to the dashboard. From there, select ‘create new site.'
- The wizard will then ask you what kind of site you want to create. We clicked ‘Business.' Now decide whether to let Wix AI build the website for you or create one from scratch using the Wix editor. Here we'll select the Wix editor.
- Now, select a template, and click edit.
- Add the site's content, text, features, and structure to fit your brand.
- Now you can connect your site to an existing domain or purchase one directly from Wix. Alternatively, you'll be assigned a free Wix subdomain if you're on the free plan boasting the following format: accountname.wixsite.com/siteaddress.
- Now, you're ready to publish your site!
How Do I Add Products to My Wix Website?
Okay, so let's say you've designed the perfect ecommerce site. Now, we need to fill it with products.
- The first thing you need to do is create categories for your products. To do this, go to the collections tab on your dashboard, and click ‘Create a new collection.'
- Enter a collection name and add an image.
- Now you can click on each collection and select ‘add products.' It will ask you what product type you want to add and to enter details such as a product description, image, and title. Once done, click add product, then save.
What Are the Advantages of Wix?
So, why choose Wix? That's the question this review had been trying to answer. So, letโs do a quick overview of the main benefits:
- You get access to an easy and intuitive drag-and-drop interface
- It's mobile-friendly
- Wix boasts a 99% uptime and good site speed
- No coding skills are needed
- There's a free plan available
- There's a massive range of features and integrations to choose from
- There are over 800 website templates to choose from
- Free hosting
- You get access to 24/7 customer support and an excellent self-help resource library
- Access to built-in SEO and marketing tools
What Are Some of Wixโs Disadvantages?
While Wix is one of the easiest-to-use website builders on the web and provides a great range of features, the platform has a few downsides. Wix isnโt an expert at everything, and for some specific use cases, you might be better off choosing a different service.
That said, here are a few disadvantages worth noting:
- While you can display prices in multiple currencies, checkout always happens in your standard currency. As such, international merchants may find Wix somewhat limiting.
- You canโt switch templates once youโve built a site without losing all your content and starting from scratch, making it harder to experiment freely with your design.
- You canโt export blog posts, and blogging functionality is pretty basic.
- All Wix plans have unlimited bandwidth, but storage is capped at all pricing tiers. As a result, you need to pay more to get more storage.
- Premium plans work for single-sites only. Better website builders and ecommerce platforms are available if you want to manage multiple websites from one account.
- Itโs challenging to transfer your site from Wix to another provider. You canโt export your website content, so once you outgrow Wixโs capabilities, you're in for a headache.
What Are Some Wix Alternatives for Australian Site Owners?
Weโve hinted that other solutions might be better suited to some website owners. With that said, here are a few alternatives worth considering and what they're best for.
Shopify:ย If youโre building an online store and are looking for solid ecommerce capabilities, Shopify may be the right solution for you. Itโs simple to use and benefits from tons of tutorials and an active community. Shopify also has an extensive app market, making it easy to extend the functionality of your Shopify store.ย ย
Squarespace:ย In terms of overall functionality, Squarespace is probably Wixโs most significant competitor. While its website editor takes a little more getting used to, it's one of the best website builders for designers and creatives. It displays images at very high quality and automatically optimizes them for performance. In addition, Squarespace offers a decent range of templates and comes with powerful SEO, marketing, and sales features built-in. Its pricing is also relatively comparable to Wix.
Weebly: If ease of use is what attracted you to Wix and you only want a straightforward site, Weebly is a good choice. Itโs even more affordable than Wix and also comes with a free plan. The editor is similar, with its drag-and-drop interface. However, this is a little clunkier and doesn't have quite as many elements to offer. However, you can customize your site's HTML and CSS if you have some coding smarts. But, in our opinion, Wix is ultimately the more versatile and worth that extra bit of money.
WordPress.org:ย If youโre willing to take more responsibility for your website (sourcing web hosting, staying on top of security, etc.) and arenโt cowed by a bit of a learning curve, WordPressโs open-source platform is one of the best frameworks for website creation. It comes with a powerful blogging engine and no initial cost. You can budget your own pricing for hosting, a domain name, and any plugins you might need. At this point, it's worth noting WordPress gives you access to thousands upon thousands of plugins and themes for a great deal of customizability.
Tips and Takeaways
All in all, Wix is an excellent choice for new entrepreneurs and experienced business owners alike. It has tons of features for creating a comprehensive online shop it's hard to see why they have so little coverage in Australia. Obviously, the payment aspect is a significant oversight on Wix's part. Still, it makes up for it in terms of the breadth of marketing, analytics, and web design tools that come built in.
As for the pricing, some might be perturbed that you need a business plan to access Wix's ecommerce features. However, we think the Basic Business plan gives you a lot for your money – most notably, abandoned cart recovery functionality, a custom domain, and free ad credit.ย
If you want to experience Wix's services before investing, starting with their free plan is a good idea. You can also check out YouTube and their ample resource center for a fast introduction to using Wix.
So, will you be opting for Wix? Tell us all about your experiences in the comments box below!
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