Why your Wix site is costing you customers

I'm not going to write a Wix-hate piece. Wix is a fine product for what it is: a platform for people who want a website quickly without digging into tech. That's legitimate.

But if you run a service business and your most important new-customer channel is Google, you're on the wrong platform. That's not an opinion. That's what the data shows.

The first problem: load time

Google uses Core Web Vitals (how fast your site loads, how fast it responds to a click, how stable the layout stays) as a ranking factor. Official since 2021, weighing more heavily in the ranking since 2024.

Average Wix site on mobile (Largest Contentful Paint): 4.5–8 seconds. Google's threshold for "good": under 2.5 seconds. What my sites do: 0.8–1.4 seconds.

A Wix site consistently scores "Poor" or "Needs Improvement" on Core Web Vitals. That means: if there are ten results in Google for "hair salon Almelo", you start behind. You can climb out with great content, but you begin 0–2 below.

The second problem: design homogeneity

This isn't an SEO issue, but a conversion one. Wix has about 900 templates. They're used by millions of businesses. Open two hair salon sites both running on Wix and you won't see the difference without looking at the logo.

As a visitor, you unconsciously search for signals that you've landed on a serious business. A unique design is one of those signals. A generic template design, with the same sliders and the same "Our Team" section, is the opposite signal.

What I see with clients: entrepreneurs moving from Wix to a custom build see their conversion rate (% of visitors who make contact) double or triple. Not because the functionality is fundamentally different, but because the design generates trust that a template can't.

The third problem: SEO limits

Wix offers limited technical SEO control. You can write meta titles and meta descriptions, you can set redirects, and that's mostly it. You cannot:

• Customize structured data (Schema.org for LocalBusiness, Service, FAQ)
• Fine-tune your sitemap (which pages may or may not be indexed)
• Set custom canonical tags
• Control cache headers
• Self-host fonts (third-party requests slow your site)
• Deliver images properly (Wix does that partially, but not in modern formats like AVIF)

For a business wanting to be found locally (and that's most service providers), Schema.org LocalBusiness and structured opening-hours data are direct ranking signals. Wix does that halfway. A custom-built site does it fully.

The fourth problem: your own data

If you ever want to move, your Wix content is cemented in Wix's own content model. You can export it, but what you get is a raw HTML dump without structure. All the "blocks" and section arrangements you built in Wix, you have to rebuild manually in whatever platform is next.

That's a form of lock-in. Not dramatic, but real. At Tieman IT, you get your content in Markdown, your database in SQL, your images in a plain file system. If in four years you want to move to another developer, they can pick up where we left off.

When do you stay on Wix?

• You have a two-year-old shop, mainly word-of-mouth customers, and your site is really a digital business card.
• Your revenue is under €50K/year and a website investment of €3K can't be earned back.
• You're happy with what you have and have no growth ambition.

In those cases, Wix is fine. I don't build sites for people who don't need my work.

When do you switch?

• Your new customers need to come through Google, but you rank poorly and don't know why.
• Your business is growing and the website is holding it back: slow load times, no online booking, no content updates.
• You've received your Wix subscription renewal and realize you'll have paid Wix more over three years than a custom build costs.

In those cases, I'm probably a better option. Let's talk: I'll help you figure out whether a switch makes sense for you, and I'll tell you honestly if it doesn't.

One last number

Wix costs €12–€35 per month. Over 5 years that's €720–€2,100. Plus the time you spend on it, plus the customers you miss because Google rankings won't climb.

A custom build with me costs €3,500 + 5×12×€49 = €6,440 over 5 years. But without wasted time, without missed customers, and with a site that still makes you proud in year 6.

Do the math. Call me if it adds up.

- Kevin