The best website design alternatives: Wix vs ProPhone

As a small business owner, deciding which professional website generation platform to go with can seem overwhelming when there are multiple options to choose from, each with their own design and engineering capabilities. What was intended to be a simple effort to get your home service business website up and running can turn into a second job when trying to compare the prices and various available website packages. But wan't saving time and generating extra income why you outsourced the task of creating a website in the first place?

We are often asked what makes ProPhone's website service different than Wix.

Before going into all of the details, online reviews of a "Bad" rating for Wix on Trustpilot vs. an "Excellent" rating for ProPhone point to the biggest upfront difference. Wix isn't a "bad" service, but the problem often comes down to the fact that Wix is designed with the idea that you either have an infinite budget to pay a designer or that you are already a designer yourself. They provide tools to make it easier, but it still takes time and experience. ProPhone website service is a different approach that is designed for owner-operators. You no longer have to use tools to create your own website but get matched a personalized designer who will create a website draft for Free and then customize it based on your input.

Look no further, in this helpful guide we take the load off your hands by providing a comprehensive breakdown of the services, prices, and customer feedback on websites generated by ProPhone vs Wix.

Services:

It's important to go with a platform that provides you the support and tools that you need to attract the attention of homeowners or other potential clients.

ProPhone:

• Timeline: custom website generated in less than 24 hours with only 5 minutes of your time needed
• Customer: tailored and optimized specifically to home service businesses
• Logo: professional logo design options to help you create a reputable brand from a marketing standpoint.
• ProSite Product: The first visual impression of your site is key in maintaining viewer interest. With a custom website designed by professionals, you ensure that you do not lose business simply due to a minor aesthetic error.
• Content: ProSite requires minimal effort on your behalf as our expert team can quickly gather website content from your Facebook business page, including general company info, your business cover photo, and examples of your best work, among other things.
• The extra details: ProSite offers an option to include your business phone number for customers to easily send you a text via an easy "send us a text" button.
• Marketing: certain pricing plans include custom marketing graphics to boost your marketing presence on social media platforms.

Wix:

• Timeline: The timeline will depend on wether you opt to design the site yourself or hire a Wix Marketplace Pro. If you design the site yourself, the time it takes you will vary based on your experience level and familiarity with the design tools but can be multiple hours. If you hire an individual developer, you could be looking at a few weeks to complete your site.
• Customer: Wix is a general website generation platform so their target audience can range from fashion bloggers to pest control pros.
• Logo: If you want a custom logo you will have to look to independent freelancers on the Wix Marketplace. Due to the fact that the designers are freelancer and not directly employees by Wix, the quality of design may vary.
• Content: Any content you wish to use on Wix will have to be uploaded either by you or any designer you hire. Be sure to have a file of your work photos ready so that you do not have to waste time tracking them down in various places.
• The extra details: Wix includes the ability to integrate an online store (for extra cost) and to include a contact page and various call to action buttons. However, you or your designer will need to know how to implement these features on the site.
• Marketing: Similar to logo design, you will need to source any marketing material design from the Wix Marketplace.

Pricing:

ProPhone:

ProPhone has straightforward pricing with three different tiers to choose from. The most friendly aspect of ProPhone pricing is that you can see a first draft custom website design for Free with no commitment if you don't like it!There are no up-front development costs or additional hidden fees. What you see is what you pay. period. If at any point you want to upgrade your plan, you are free to do so and the ProPhone team will be happy to assist you.

‍

‍

Wix:

Wix pricing can be tricky to navigate as they display a "monthly fee" number for each of their various plan options. However, the big catch is that this is the monthly fee if you pay for an annual subscription (that means you have to pay the price for the entire year as an upfront cost). If you choose to pay month to month, you will find yourself paying a higher fee than the one advertised.

‍

‍

As previously mentioned, when considering price you also need to account fo the fact that Wix is not a website development service in itself. If you want someone to develop your website for you, you may be directed to hire a Wix developer on Wix marketplace. The cost for this one time design/development service can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars, as the professionals advertised on Wix Marketplace are freelancers who do not operate according to one set price.

Another factor to consider is that while some Wix plans offer a free or discount domain voucher, this voucher is only good for a limited amount of time. That means that after a year you would then be paying the fee for a custom domain on top of the Wix subscription fee.

‍

Maintenance:

Website maintenance is a huge part of SEO (Search engine optimization). Even if your site ranks well on organic search results on a particular search engine such as google at one point in time, that doesn't mean that your site is destined to stay that way. If you do not make an effort to continually update it, eventually it will lag behind in search engine visibility and the number of clicks on your site will decline.

ProPhone:

The cost of maintenance is included in the monthly subscription cost. That means that if you want to upload photos, add a new client testimonial, or change your color scheme, it is not only available to you at no extra cost, but you have a professional at your disposal ready to perform the updates for you.

Wix:

With Wix, the subscription cost you pay only covers your site being hosted on the platform. Any updates you would like to make to your site either need to be manually done by you or you have the option of once again hiring a Wix Marketplace professional to add any updates for you. If you are not an expert at design or navigating website building tools, hiring a professional is likely the option you would want to go with. However, this means that you are now also having to open your wallet to cover the cost of paying the individual developer in addition to the cost of your Wix subscription. If you plan on maintaining a high-quality website presence, these costs can add up very quickly.

‍

Customer service:

When it comes to the best option for your business website, quality of work must also be considered alongside the way that the company treats their clients. You don't want to have a question about your site only to find that your calls go unanswered on a daily basis.

ProPhone:

At ProPhone, our team is ready to help you achieve your business website goals. We do not outsource our customer service to an agency overseas or force you to wait in a long cue just to ask a question because we believe that good customer service is part of the foundation of good business. We understand that your time is valuable and we make a point of assisting you quickly so that you can get back to running your business! Just take a look what what other home service pros have to say about ProPhone's quality work:

Wix: For all of your most pressing questions, Wix offers the "Wix Help Center" which is a compilation of answers to various categories of questions and blog posts to walk you through common site issues. As noted previously, this type of assistance is aimed at people designing their own sites and so if you are looking for help directly from another person, you may be out of luck. This is what customers had to say online:

‍

Online Reviews:

Here we have compiled the most recent reviews from Trustpilot on both companies so you can get a side by side of how they stack up overall in the eyes of actual customers.

ProPhone: Overall Trustpilot rating: "Excellent"

‍

Wix: Overall Trustpilot rating: "Bad"

‍

‍

Making your website decision is clear

In today's world, it is essential to go beyond just word of mouth referrals, lawn signs, and direct mail campaigns with strong a website presence. Whether you're looking to create a custom business website from scratch or you're ready to bring your business's online presence up to the next level, the ProPhone team is always here to help!

‍

‍

‍

‍