PART 3: GREAT! MY STUDENT OR WIX CAN DO THIS. (OR NOT)
Teens are wired. Technology is so integrated with teenagers’ lives that creating useful and usable websites and apps for them is more critical than ever. So why not let them design it for you? It is free. Your student will be thrilled. So why not?
As rough as it is to hear…your teenage riding student, niece or nephew or any other young family member, does not have one key element : PATIENCE. Websites are not longer simple. With over 200 different devices possible and the market leaning toward 70% mobile usage, website now have to be smart. A technological term called responsive. Each site adapts to the device it is being displayed upon.
With over 200 different devices possible and the market leaning toward 70% mobile usage, website now have to be smart.
Add to the challenge, that websites now have to be fast.
In simple English, the site has to be tested to work on all these devices and just work….especially for the equestrian world, who patience and understanding of technology borders on nothing. If it does not work, if it does not display quickly, older equestrian or the parent of your young potential student, will just give up trying.
I have seen this reaction over and over again. A potential client…gone, because the website did not do it’s job. It did not represent you well.
If it does not work, if it does not display quickly, older equestrian just give up.
SURELY WIX WILL WORK?
Yes WIX is cheap. Yes, WIX appears to be able to build a website fast…but does it work? Have you created a Wix website but noticed that you are getting no website visitors? Your thinking, as a equestrian business owner most likely would be “…see the internet just does not work!”
“…see the internet just does not work!”
Being the CEO of a web design company, a lot of clients ask me why you shouldn’t use Wix to create an affordable website. When you first check out these website builders, they seem like a pretty good deal. You pay an affordable price every month and get to have your very own website online.
BUT when you start digging deep into these websites, you see that they are not all they are cracked up to be. You end up with an ugly looking website that doesn’t bring in any customers or traffic. So what happened?
I always tell my clients that building a website is like building a house. It takes a team of people (all with specialty skills) to come together and build it. You need an technical designer, graphic artist, IT specialist and SEO specialist plus a writer to make those SEO codes work.
When you have to have the right set of codes, that will get the search engines attention. Put the wrong words, the wrong codes, too sophisticated language and the engines will not display your site in a high enough ranking, to get any attention at all.
This is called “readability” and as shocking as it sounds, the “readability” of pages, aka “Flesch Kincaid Grade level” is 8th grade education.
….as shocking as it sounds, the “readability” of pages, aka “Flesch Kincaid Grade level” is 8th grade education
When you build your website with platforms like Wix, you are trying to build a house all by yourself and it may end up looking decent on your computer, but it’s going to have a lot of structural issues. One of those structural issues we mentioned before….mobile usage.
WHERE WIX GOES WRONG....
1. Poor User Experience
Getting people interested in “you” and your service is the entire point of a website. Yet WIX is more closely related to a bulletin board on the freeway. People drive by and rarely pay attention. It is an electronic pamphlet. Not that is wrong, but unless the site looks unique, drags them into, keeping their attention longer than the 30 second norm and gives them something interesting to read,watch and dive deeper…call you, it is worthless.
2. Not Viewable on a mobile device
The biggest reason you should not use Wix to create your website is…it does not work on mobile devices. On a mobile device, WIX cuts off the pictures and does not present the page or information, as you intended it. The key element of “responsiveness” does not exist on that platform. So unless you are willing to give up 70% of the marketplace, WIX is not the direction to go.
2. Speed & Security
One of the most important parts of your website is speed and security. Having a fast website will increase user engagement and search engine optimization. Wix.com and other DIY ( Do it yourself) site-building websites host your website on a shared server with thousands of other users. This diminishes the speed of your own website will result in lost customers and bad user experience.
Having this many people on a single server is also dangerous security-wise. If someone were to hack one of these servers, it may compromise every customer hosted on that server.
3. Lack of SEO
Probably the single biggest problem with builder websites like Wix is that they are not SEO-friendly. SEO stands for search engine optimization and its the act or methodology of getting more visitors to your website from search engines (like Google). This includes on-page optimization as well as off-page optimization. Both of these are very necessary and equally important for getting more traffic to your website.
4. Not Unique
Wix currently has over 90 million users and 500 designer-made templates. Now, 500 may sound like a lot of pre-made templates but with over 90 million users these templates are going to get used a lot. That means that even though you may think your website looks pretty good, there are a lot of other people with that exact same template.
THE SOLUTION
This is where a professional website designer and developer steps in. These trained individuals know what makes a site work. They understand the different needs of a site beyond just the superficial appearances. They address the guts of a website, the portion not seen by humans, but highly important to the engine that makes the internet work.
Your young riding student, niece or nephew, does not the training, knowledge or patience, to get the job done. Both internally to the internet engine, but to make sure it works on a majority of the mobile devices.
OTHER ARTICLES IN THE SERIES
PART 1: DON’T LET THE INTERNET BUCK YOU OFF
PART 2: MOAN, i NEED A WEBSITE! NOW WHAT?
PART 3: GREAT! MY STUDENT OR WIX CAN DO THIS. (OR NOT)
PART 4: BUT I DON’T WANT TO DEAL WITH GEEKS!!
PART 5: BE HONEST, WHAT IS THIS GOING TO COSTS ME?
PART 6: WALK ME THROUGH THIS
PART 7: STRAIGHT DOWN THE CENTER LINE AND HALT. (aka HOW NOT TO GET CHEATED)
PART 8: ENTER THE COMPETITION. LAUNCHING A SUCCESSFUL WEBSITE
PART 9: WEBSITE LAUNCHED! NOW WHAT?
PART 10: EXPLAIN THIS INTERNET THING TO ME … IN ENGLISH
PART 11: I AM A VET, FARRIER, BARN MANAGER. WEBSITES? COME ON, THEY NEED ME!
MultiMedia Designs, LLC
Digital Design & Technology Company
Office: +1.818.272.0819
Email: multimediadesignsllc@gmail.com
HONEST ANSWERS – GREAT PRICES
