Can one compare apples and oranges? The answer is no. However, both these fruits bear the similarity of being rich in nutrients. Similarly, Wix and WordPress are effective tools for website building. But, both stand poles apart in terms of design layouts, range of themes and approaches. To begin with, Wix is a website builder. It is quite easy to use but does not come with much options for customization.

• “What separates design from art is that design is meant to be functional.” – Cameron Moll

WordPress is a CMS or Content Management System platform. It offers better options in designs and customization compared to Wix. With advanced coding, you can customize themes and edit almost anything according to your choice. This article will be your entourage in understanding the key differences between the two and which one to choose as per your requirement.

• Wix is Better for Beginners and WordPress for Tech Savvy Users:

Are you are new to website creation? We have  just mentioned that Wix templates are limited and not perfect if you want to increase website’s functionality. But, it is perfect for people like you as it is an easy-to-use platform. It even does not require any coding. Power, flexibility and customization – these are the things which summarize WordPress. If you are technically sound and good at coding, choose this Content Management System.

• Cost Comparison Between the Two:

The paid version  of Wix will cost you only around $14 per month. WordPress is open-source. One can use and modify it for free.  However, you may have to spend some money to set it up on a host, customize themes and choose some plugins. On an average, you need to spend $200 for the initial set up of WordPress. Then you have to pay the monthly charges for continued service.

• Difference Between the Editor of Wix and WordPress:

One of the key differences between Wix and WordPress is the editor. Go through the points below to have a detailed idea.

• Wix Editor:

1. Its visual drag and drop editor functions like Powerpoint or Keynote. You can move any element to anywhere on the page.
2. Most elements are edited visually in Wix. The process is simple. You see something, click on it and change it.
3. Wix editor is less cluttered and quite user-friendly.

• WordPress Editor:

1. The newly launched block-based editor of WordPress is Gutenberg.
2. It does not exhibit the full page within the editor. It is abstracted from the page.
3. You have to switch between the editor and published website to check how the page will appear to the viewers.
4. It also abstracts the interface from the page. For example, plugins like WPForms are used for creating a form using a different interface. Then you can use “short code” to embed the form into pages.
5. It is more abstract and utilitarian for being sophisticated in design layouts.

• Is There Any Difference in Hosting?

Wix comes with hosting. So, you don’t have to even set up a host. This feature however has a limitation as you cannot move your website to a new host from Wix. On the other hand, you need to set up WordPress on a web host. You can find many hosts offering installation simply with one click.

• Comparing the Strengths and Weaknesses of a Closed and Open Source

As mentioned earlier, WordPress is open-source. But, Wix is completely different. Let us weigh the pros and cons of these website building tools.

• Open Source:

• Closed Source:

• What About the Features?

Are you looking for some conventional features while creating a website? Do you want to go unconventional? For the first question, Wix will be your solution while WordPress will be ideal in the second scenario. Now the question is what the conventional features are and what do we understand as unconventional attributes. For example, if you need a photo gallery, Wix has a plenty of it. But, if you want a photo gallery, which is moving in a particular direction, you will need WordPress.

• Go Unconventional with WordPress:

1. It’s ecosystem is diverse with around 55k plug-ins and 12,000 themes.
2. You can find bbPress, YoastSEO, BuddyPress, Redirection, Advanced Custom Fields, TablePress and TinyMCE for all sorts of features.

• Choose Wix for Conventional Websites:

1. It offers simple solutions for creating conventional websites for businesses such as restaurants, photographers and non-profit organizations.
2. Wix helps your website to get up and run quickly.

• Customization of Themes:

WordPress has around 12,000 themes to choose from while Wix offer a humble number of 500 themes. However, sometimes, all the themes of WordPress do not work properly and demand debugging with code. But, with Wix it is not a problem. You can use “Customizer” tool to experiment with styles in WordPress. Wix follows a completely different method. It allows you to select elements and customize on the fly.

• Difference in Customer Support:

WordPress is open and free source. It does not offer the facility of customer support. But, you can choose a paid theme or plug-in for this additional support. Wix includes phone, chat and email customer support in their packages.

• It’s Quality Vs Quantity:

By now, you know that WordPress has endless features, plug-in (around 50,000) and themes. So, it will always top your priority list if you are looking for quantity. But this is also one of its most prominent drawbacks. The junk  ones are enough to make you feel lost in the course of finding the one you need. On the other hand, all the 250 apps of Wix are integrated with it. Besides, those can be added to your website with few clicks.

• Conclusion:

To sum up, you need to focus on a website’s functionality while choosing Wix or WordPress as the tool. Wix is an easy to use and integrated website builder for creating a great website. Meanwhile, WordPress allows you have the ultimate control over the design and safety of your website. So, if your search is for a user-friendly builder, opt for Wix. And, get going with WordPress if you need a flexible and powerful system.

Landing page, the name itself is self-explanatory. Put simply, it guides a visitor or potential customer on a web page. Now, how does it do that? How can it help in lead generation effectively? Hold your horses. Let us assume you as a web visitor. Landing pages will channelize you from a link within social media posts, emails or other sources. Who doesn’t know about Facebook ad campaigns, direct promotional mails or pay per click relevant ads? Landing pages also use these as link sources. Finally, it encourages the search traffic to fill out a form or call a business.

• Best Way to Increase Business Conversion

 Statistically speaking, having an optimized landing page results in around 25% boost in converting the leads into business. This data from a leading online marketing and web analytics company further fortifies it as a smart move.  I know that you get irked when paid search campaigns direct you to the home page or registration page without any match in the offer message. A well chalked and targeted message will automatically yield better results. And, that is why landing pages are critical components in the process of content marketing. Want to know some other benefits of a good landing page? Read on.

• Helps a Business Find Its Niche

Business goals – this phrase itself is heavy enough to bog you down with pressure. But, relax. You just need a good landing page to meet your business goals. Is it that easy? Why not? It helps reach out to a niche market, promote a new product and get new customers. Especially, landing pages are beneficial for catering to the targeted search traffic for creating brand awareness. These further allow a business to compare the success rate in comparison to the goal.

• Getting too much wordy? What does the landing page do?

• It asks the user to sign up for the mailing list
• Provide contact information
• Subscribe to a newsletter
• Asks people to make a purchase
• Encourages the users to request a consultation

• Generating Data and Valuable Insights

Have you linked the landing page to a specific campaign, content piece, paid search campaigns, action or source? It will help you track user behaviors. But, how?

• Landing page will help understand which eMarketing campaign is performing the best
• It will assess which topics of content marketing are creating ripple.
• It will determine the channels which are bringing the most leads. Standalone landing pages further help you to establish a culture of accountability. Individuals can take charge of a particular campaign and be responsible for its success.

•  How Does Landing Page Help in Data Generation?

Often, a landing page contains a form. The visitor needs to enter various data to fill up the form. But, how does it help? It allows you to learn about the visitors’ specific challenges, chosen date & time for consultation. The visitors also get to share some additional info, they want you know.

• Why are Landing Pages and A/B Testing Effective for Campaign Success?

A/B testing is one of the most reliable tools to help your business with data and insights. You can assess different landing page elements and determine what is the most effective using the data and analytics. Sounding complicated? It’s as simple as assessing the success of a video content against a picture, experimenting with new styles, vocabulary and tone. You can even try out tweaking content or the button colors.

• A/B Testing Helps Make Changes Without Hassle:

This is also effective when the websites have multiple owners in the organization. They all need to be informed and their opinions matter when you want to introduce a change. What’s the way out? Operate the marketing campaigns through a standalone optimized landing page.

• Boost Brand Awareness:

• Consistency is the Key:

What are the things which can make a landing page stand out? It’s design should match with the style, look, feel and copy of the content it is linked to. This consistency is like taking one step forward in creating a buzz about your brand across all media. The user will recognize your brand among others and they will want to get engaged with your brand. All of us want to buy from an entity which we know. As the customers become more familiar with your brand, they tend to make more purchases. Landing pages create a brand consciousness among the users, so that, they know your business. And, most importantly, they remember you!

• Engaging More People With Paid Search Campaigns:

The success of a paid search campaign depends on click through rates. Landing pages influence click through rates to a great extent.

• Offer the Visitors Only What They are Looking For:

Dedicated landing pages offer the visitors exactly what they are searching. Through relevant ads or campaigns, it channelizes you in a way so that your head does not get cluttered. On this page, they will find the information they want or fill up the form they need to move forward. When a campaign yields appropriate results, it is likely to get more clicks. Isn’t it pretty obvious?

• Campaigns Linked to Home Page Make People Confused:

How will you feel if you are directed to a home page which is filled with generic info? You will get irritated as you will become unable to find what you are looking for. This distraction or disappointment affects the rate of lead generation. A distracted visitor is unlikely to make further moves and purchase your product.

• Essential for an Increase in Credibility:

Every user has a definite course of action. A good landing page helps the user in achieving that course of action. It also helps the users believe that you acknowledge their problems and have put enough endeavor to solve those. You can even include testimonials in the landing page to make most of the credibility benefits. It will make the users feel secure as they go through the experiences of other people in using the particular product or service.

• Increases the Scope of eMarketing Through Mails:

Everyone gets to see an “opt-in” button when they fill out a form. It helps them to inform you that they want to receive offer mails and newsletters. Thus, you can include these willing users to your email list and send them promotional content and sales offers. It further keeps your business at the top of every user’s mind.

• Conclusion:

Hopefully, you know why landing pages are crucial for improved conversions and giving your business a boost now.  To sum up, a good landing page builds and maintains the relationship of a customer with a business. Get in touch with an expert and try using a landing page for your business next time onward.

One of the most decisive steps in any web designing project is the choice of colors. And, if it is for a special website, it becomes even more important to utilize the right set of colors. The colors you choose while designing a web layout should be at per with the theme of the website, which is the products, services, or maybe the domain of information that you are offering the audience.

The color you use; instead, the range of colors you use in a web design layout will send a message to the page visitors about what to expect from the site. Also, this needs to be attractive enough to engage them effectively onto the website. That’s why this decision holds so much importance.

For example, red generally is the color of passion, while blue implies tranquility and peace. To illustrate this point, it is not the same colors that you would use for a website that sells baby clothes, or for a law firm. Most likely, choose soft colors with pastel shades for the first, and muted shades of blue and grey for the second. The color depicts the image you want to portray to the audience.

Here, let us discuss the five best color tools and sites online to make your website development cycle a lot more interesting and exciting, along with making it appealing to the audience. I will divide this list into three distinct parts, which you can use according to your needs.

These are:

• The Chromatic Circle
• The Color Schemes
• Choice of Colors for Typography According to Its Background.

Let’s Discuss The 5 Best Color Tools and Sites Online for a Convenient Web Development Cycle

1. Playing with the Chromatic Circle

Undoubtedly, on more than one occasion, you have used a combination of two colors that did not fit. In the spectrum of colors, many work well together, while others do not match so much. For this reason, a color circle is a spectacular tool for understanding color relationships. Whether we are looking for an analog group or a personalized collection of shades, these tools with the color wheel will you to create the perfect palette.

2. Adobe Color CC

It is one of the free Adobe tools where anyone can generate color schemes from scratch. You can choose from many different color palettes, where you will surely find the one that best suits your needs. You can also save the different hexadecimal and RGB codes, or create a wheel based on a previously chosen image and use it accordingly.

3. Paletton

Paletton is a standard that experienced designers will surely know. It has existed for years and remains a reference site to date. Add a base color, and let the application do the rest and show its magic. You can choose different color relationships and how they would appear in the design. And, for each color choice, you will find slight variations with variable contrast. In this way, you can complete a palette with similar colors.

4. Choose Your Own Color Scheme

You may be in a situation of having to use a chosen color in your project. So, the next thing you have to do is find other colors that work as a complementary color to it. This way, you will ideally configure the tone of your next website. Thanks to these three-color palette generators, for making this task a lot simpler. Besides being able to continue experimenting with other colors to create dozens of color palettes, these schemes are very useful. For example, if you are creating a style guide, it will make the process a lot simpler, easier, and convenient.

5. Canva

With Canva, you can go a step further, and what at first is a website to choose your color palette, it suddenly becomes a Wiki. When you add a color, the web offers a detailed description of it. To which you must add a complete palette with different shades, in addition to various color combinations that you can use for the project.

As You Know About The 5 Best Color Tools and Sites Online Now, Let Us Also Talk About the Importance Of A Few More Aspects of Web Development Cycle.

Make Your Text Readable

What is the use of a website having the perfect shades of colors, if the text can barely be read? Color and accessibility are incredibly essential for anyone to have a pleasant and enjoyable web browsing experience. These resources will ensure that the web content is visible to all the readers by making the texts having sufficient readability.

Color Safe

Color Safe is a tool that allows web designers to take advantage of the available color palettes according to the standard. To use it, select the background color, typography, font size, weight, etc. and you are all set. Next, you choose a color for the text. You can preview the color of the text in the upper toolbar by clicking on a box and selecting the HEX or RGB value in the toolbar to copy it to the clipboard. And you are all sorted.

Accessible Colors

Accessible Colors works in a very similar way to Safe Color, although with a more straightforward and cleaner interface. You will surely appreciate this, as it will keep you away from unnecessary distractions. In a line, you will insert the necessary data: color, size, and weight of the typography. In another, add a background color.

As you now know about the 5 best color tools and sites online, you will also know that there is no set color pattern for any website. So, the next time you endeavor onto your next web designing project, choose your palate of colors carefully.

Choose Wisely. Magic Will Happen Automatically!!!

Modern-day website management is easier than it was before. However, mistakes can happen almost anytime. For example, your website could get hacked, the website could collapse once you update the same, or you could remove some of the most critical files by mistake. The only solution that can save your website in an unwanted situation is to take a backup.

A website backup is a process of storing all your website’s essential components. A website backup should include all crucial elements like website codes, databases, images, add-ons, plugins, themes, etc. As a part of your regular site maintenance, you need to take daily backups of your website. By keeping a monthly website backup, you can ensure that you have everything ready in hand in case your website faces an issue.

Why you need to back up your site:

It is tough to understand what losing all of your website data feels like unless you’ve practically gone through this situation. The only way to avoid this type of situation is to take a website backup beforehand. The best way to back up your website is either daily or weekly backups. Whether you should go for a daily or weekly backup depends on how active you are in updating your website. For example, if you only upload a blog post per week and nothing else, then weekly backups will suffice. However, if you update your website daily, upload images, videos, and if you have a vast database to manage daily, you should go for a daily backup.

Mentioned below are the situations when you need to back up your website.

Accidental Situations:

You have to admit that people make mistakes. This is true for your website as well – one of your website managers could accidentally delete an important file which can break down the website entirely. Therefore, it is vital to back up your website regularly. Many site owners assume that they can get help from the hosting providers during such situations. However, the truth is your hosting provider won’t have the latest copy of your website. Some website hosting providers perform regular backups when you take a subscription of their website backup service.

Your Website Get Hacked:

Another reason why you should perform a regular backup of your website is to regain your website in case it is hacked. The most commonly used content management system WordPress accounts for almost 30% of the website currently available online. As WordPress is an open-source platform, anyone can access the coding of your website. If you are running a WordPress site, you must take regular backups of your website to avoid critical situations.

Problem after Updating the Website:

There are times when you experience an issue on your website once you complete an update. Things can go wrong with your core files, or a plugin may start malfunctioning. Also, you may experience a situation when you click on the update button, and your site is no longer live. Taking a backup of your website ensures that you have everything handy and you can restore the website to its previous state just by making a simple click.

You Failed To Renew Your Hosting:

It can happen anytime, especially when you have a new credit card and forget to update the billing info with your hosting provider. When the billing date comes, you hosting provider attempts to charge your old card and failed. This can eventually break your website, and you may need to purchase your hosting plan again. However, in case the hosting provider is unable to restore your old site content, you are all lost. Although you can submit a restore fee to bring back your original site, the process takes time, and your customers may view a new site for a while. In both cases, a proper website backup could save your time and money.

Server Outages:

Your hosting server may encounter a sudden outage and can have severe problems with their data centers. No hosting companies can provide you with 100% uptime. During this situation, your customers may experience irregular downtime. There could be several reasons why a server is down. However, frequent outages occur due to software errors, hard drive failures, etc. Whatever the reason is, it is important to back up your website beforehand to avoid unfortunate situations.

Website loading speed has become one of the most significant factors nowadays that determine the value of your site in the search engine result page and its ranking position. Google’s effort of making its search algorithms perfect has made website loading speed optimization a must for webmasters who want to rank well in the search engine result page (SERP).

A slow website is also harmful to your business as the users are reluctant to spend time on a site that loads very slowly. However, it’s not just your potential customers that hate slow website – Google and other search engines have also started to penalize slow-loading sites. Most of the search engines now consider website loading speed as a ranking factor, and to improve the online presence of your website, you must employ a significant amount of time in correcting your site’s loading speed error.

With all of these points in mind, you must keep the following things in mind to make sure your website runs smoothly and in no time.

Lower Down the HTTP Requests:

One of the most critical factors that determine the loading time of a website is the number of HTTP requests it sends before it is fully loaded. Given the highly interactive user interface nowadays, it is quite common to find websites that need to load at least a handful of images each time when a user tries to load the site. A website sends an HTTP request each time when an image is being loaded, which slows down your website loading speed. The more pictures in a website layout, the more HTTP requests it sends each time – which is high enough to hinder your website from loading faster. The only solution to get rid of this problem is to compress all your website images by using CSS. Combining images into CSS sprites can make your website load insanely faster than anything else.

Use of Caching for E-Commerce Websites:

User experience matters the most for an e-commerce website, and it is essential to optimize the loading speed of your online store so that it loads fast even when it receives a large amount of traffic. Using caching is a sure way to make your eCommerce website runs smoother as it prevents unnecessary loading files. Caching technique stores data of a page into the memory so that when anyone opens the same website in the next time, it loads from the mind instead of from server.

Try to Use Content in an Optimized Way:

According to Google’s best SEO practices rule, a website with long and descriptive content with a significant number of shareable videos, images tend to attract more customers and rank higher in the search engine result page. This could be an effective SEO practice but can reduce the website loading speed. Therefore, it is important to use contents in an optimized way so that it takes minimum space and consumes lesser bandwidth while loading.

Consider Changing Your Hosting:

There are times when a site runs extremely slow because of an unreliable hosting provider. Using these types of hosting harms your user experience as well. The golden rule to research a bit and choose a reliable hosting provider. However, you should not use a hosting just because it worked well for someone else’s site, because the concept that one type of hosting will work best for all kinds of website is not genuine at all.

Avoid Using Unnecessary Plugins:

If your website is built by using a WordPress Theme and you are using a lot of additional plugins, it can significantly slow down the site. WordPress plugins are, and many developers use the same because of their easy accessibility and ease of use. However, using additional plugins in a single site will slow down its loading speed and result in negative user experience. The best way to get rid of this problem is to remove plugins that are not in use.

Use Content Delivery Networks:

One common practice of improving the website loading time is to use a good content delivery network (CDN). CDNs are an enormous collection of servers placed in different locations all over the globe. The benefit of using CDN is that it stores several copies of your website on different servers in different areas. As a result, users, visiting your website from their locations, will be able to access the website that is hosted in the same place. The result is a faster loading website with superb user experience.

For business owners who are planning to start a new eCommerce business in 2019, it’s vital for them to get an idea as to how the eCommerce platform has evolved in the past couple of years. Before selecting a particular eCommerce platform for your business, you must keep the significant highlights of the eCommerce industry in mind.

Choosing the best eCommerce platform for your store is a difficult decision as there are many different things to consider. In case you are not up-to-date with the current eCommerce industry, there are a thousand platforms that can be regarded as the best eCommerce platform. Wix, Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, WooCommerce, 3D Cart, OpenCart, ZenCart – these are all popular eCommerce platforms, and they have active users and communities. With so many options it becomes challenging for the users to choose a particular one, especially when they all call themselves the best eCommerce platform.

When choosing the best eCommerce platform, you must consider the critical factors like popularity, features, cost, user experience, customer support, and overall reputation. Based on these vital factors, we have assembled a list of 5 best eCommerce platforms that can help you start your store in 2019.

Shopify:

This is a Canadian based eCommerce platform that has been assisting online businesses across the world since 2004. Shopify is always considered among one of the top eCommerce platforms that have evolved their platform according to the latest trends and technologies. Shopify provides its users with a powerful social shopping experience, and it even doesn’t let your customers leave their social media platform to purchase the product.

The most important advantage that Shopify offers is that you can directly integrate this platform with your Facebook account and make your FB account an eCommerce store. The only drawback of using Shopify is you need to pay additional transaction charges in case you are not using Shopify Payment gateway. Despite the drawbacks, Shopify can be the best solution for the startups and novice eCommerce entrepreneurs who are looking for a conventional eCommerce solution.

Magento:

Introduced in 2008, Magento is a popular open source eCommerce platform which is known for its reliability and ease of use. Due to its scalability, Magento is considered among one of the most popular eCommerce platforms available in 2019. Many popular businesses have their websites built on the Magento platform. Magento is the best choice for business owners with a massive volume of products. However, Magento is not the right choice for a business owner who has little or no knowledge in the programming language. At least, the store owner needs to have a team of professional programmers who are working on his team.

WooCommerce:

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin, and it is widely popular in the world of eCommerce. It provides users with many benefits like secure payment gateway and a high-quality shopping cart. As it is open source and very easy to handle, even the novices with little knowledge in WordPress can feel the WooCommerce platform. However, one needs to install an additional plugin to initiate a multi-product eCommerce store.

BigCommerce:

BigCommerce is another important eCommerce platform which is often compared to Shopify. Like Shopify, BigCommerce also offers a similar user experience and allows users to choose from a range of prices and packages. BigCommerce is an affordable eCommerce platform, and all its packages are tailored to different kinds of businesses. This platform is highly customizable, and if you know the necessary coding, you can customize its themes and templates to build your eCommerce website. However, not all these themes and templates are free, and you may need to pay an additional cost to use a particular BigCommerce theme or template.

Wix:

Wix is the easiest of all eCommerce platforms available nowadays. It has unlimited free themes and templates that you can use to build your eCommerce website. Wix has an in-built artificial design interface that lets you create a website by using its AI program. Another important reason why most people prefer Wix is because it is very affordable. Wix comes in only $5/month. The most expensive plan for Wix comes with $25/month. It’s true that Wix doesn’t support multiple features that the other big eCommerce platforms do, but it satisfies the requirement of most small eCommerce entrepreneurs.