Which site builder is best for influencers and content creators?

We will be taking a look at two significant competitors, Wix and Shopify so you can decide where to build your website. 

One of the most important aspects of being a digital creator is making sure you have a great website.

Your website says a lot about you – perhaps this is your online shop, or your portfolio to showcase your work. But this site may also be where brands will look to see if they want to sponsor you, and where your followers can go to learn more about who you are. Your website should be clean, show off your personal brand, and be easy to navigate. 

Back in the day, you needed a lot of experience coding to create a website. But now, there are so many site-building alternatives out there, that you can create a website in seconds without any design experience. 

But with so many site hosts, how do you know what to choose?

Wix VS. Shopify – Feature Comparison For Creators And Influencers

Wix

What is Wix?

Wix is a website-building platform that was founded in Israel in 2006. The company is now worth over a billion dollars and serves over 220 million registered users worldwide. It is one of the most popular site hosts and even has a free plan so that anyone can build a website.

How does Wix Work?

Wix uses a drag-and-drop method, which means building a site is as easy as dragging your mouse across your screen and clicking to change out different fonts and media.

Once you create your account, Wix will ask you a few questions in order to figure out what type of website you want to create. 

This way, Wix can offer you templates and features that will be the most beneficial to you. This is also where you will choose your URL, or your domain, of the site. You can change this at anytime. 

Once you’ve chosen your domain and picked your website type, you will have access to the over 800 templates Wix has to choose from. Below are just a few of your choices.

Once you’ve chosen your template, you can start customizing your site to your liking.

Below is what your dashboard will look like.

Everything you need to craft your site will be on the left-hand side. These are your tools, as well as where you can handle other management, such as app intergration. These apps range from contact forms to background music and often have free plans or trials.

To change the text on your site, simply click on the text already there and insert what you wish to write. You can also change the font, and add pages, sections, headers, and anything else to fully customize your site.

Once you’re satisfied with your website, you can hit publish in the upper right corner and your site will be live to the world!

Should You Upgrade?

Although Wix is free, there are options to upgrade to premium plans. These plans allow you to unlock key features such as advanced analytics and SEO features to make sure your site is reaching as large of an audience as possible.

The pricing plans are listed below.

Connect Domain – For $6 USD a month, this is the most basic plan you can get. You can connect a custom domain to get rid of the Wix branding, but will not have access to most other features.

Combo – for $12 USD a month, this plan removes Ads from your site, as well as allows you to not have to pay for your domain for a whole year.

Unlimited – For $20 USD a  month, this plan is specifically for freelancers and entrepreneurs. You have 20 GB of storage on your site, as well as free access to the visitor’s analytics app. This is the most popular plan.

VIP – For $34 USD a month, this plan has 35 GB of storage space, as well as a professional logo and priority customer support.

Wix also offers e-commerce plans, specifically for those with an online shop. Those pricing plans are –

Business Basic – For $24 USD a month, you can start accepting online payments, have unlimited products, and recover lost sales with abandoned cart recovery.

Business Unlimited – For $36 a month, you can start to really grow your business with access to advanced analytics and collect and post up to 10,000 customer reviews, and even accept multiple currencies worldwide.

Business VIP – For $52 USD a month, you get priority customer support and have access to unlimited dropshipping, as well as 50 GB of storage.

All these e-commerce plans allow you to have secure online payments, and recurring payments for long-term customers, and remove Wix’s ads from your site.

Shopify

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a global e-commerce company that was founded in Canada in 2006. The company reportedly has 1.7 million businesses using its platform as of 2021. 

As of July 2022, the site is one of the largest publicly traded Canadian businesses and has an annual revenue of over 4 billion USD. 

How does Shopify Work?

You can easily create an online storefront with Shopify with little design experience. You can have full control of your finances, shipping, and analytics all from one convenient place.

Unlike Wix, there are no free plans available, so you have to sign up for a premium plan in order to create your online store.

When you’re signing up, Shopify will ask you questions in order to find out what type of shop you want to create. This is also where you will name your store, as well as pick out a domain.

Once you’ve picked your domain and store name, you can start to customize your site. Below are a few themes you can choose from.

The pre-designed themes make it easy for you to have as little or as much say in your site as you, please. You can even choose a blank template and start from scratch. 

Your customization dashboard is below. All the tools you need will be on the left, and you can easily click on different media to change the images to images of your own.

Once you finish customizing your shop, you can hit save and your site will be ready to go.

However, you will still need to set up the rest of your shop. Your dashboard is where you can upload the products you’ll be selling, manage shipping, and view all your analytics. 

Below is an example of what your analytics could look like. You have access to important data such as returning customer rate, conversion rate, and average order value.

How much does Shopify cost?

You are given a 3-day trial before you have to commit to a plan. Luckily, Shopify offers some affordable options. 

The pricing plans are below. All plans allow you to start off paying $1 USD a month for the first 3 months.

Basic – For $29, this is their most popular plan. You can sell in up to 1,000 locations, have 2 staff members on the site, and have a transaction fee of 2.0%

Shopify – For $105, this plan gives you a transaction fee of 1.5% and allows 5 staff members to join the page.

Advanced – For $399, this plan gives you a transaction fee of 0.5% and gives you an advanced report of your store.

Which site builder will you choose? Let us know down below.