In this article we will talk about the limitations of a website builder , but if you want to know more about website builders, see this article here.
1. You do not own the site
The biggest limitation when using a website builder is never owning your own website . The website creation platform owns the code, template, design and other graphic elements made available by it.
The user only owns the content such as text and images uploaded to the website. Everything else is the sole and exclusive property of the company behind the website creator. Therefore, the website is owned by the company that owns the tool even if you pay someone to develop the website using the website builder.
As much as companies like Wix, wordpress and many others respect the user’s intellectual property , they do not provide ways for you to download their website. Therefore, they do not give you ownership of the site.
In the case of logo creation tools such as the one provided by Wix, the user has the right to use the logo as they wish, but the logo is not exclusive to them. In other words, anyone else can use the same tool to create a logo similar to yours .
2. Inability to migrate the website
This limitation of the website creator certainly makes many people think carefully about whether they want to use this type of tool. The creators do not allow you to migrate the site to another company or service.
This “problem” is directly related to the previous limitation. Because the website creator is a proprietary platform , whose technology used to create the website belongs to the company that owns the tool, it is not possible to migrate your website to another company.
Furthermore, you are subject to all the company’s rules and there is no guarantee that the contract will remain unchanged by the owner of the tool. It can readjust values, remove resources, limit access or anything else at any time.
Your only option is to accept the company’s new terms or switch to another website builder , leaving you forced to create a new website from scratch because the website builder does not allow you to transport the website to another location.
If after creating the website you realize that the tool does not serve you in some way, the time spent will be wasted due to the impossibility of changing platforms without losing the work carried out.
It is possible to use only texts and images when changing platforms, but the website must be created from scratch on the new platform. There is no option to migrate your site while maintaining the design.
The bad part of this is that every time you need to change platforms your website will have a different design, which can cause some confusion among your customers who may not understand such a big change on the website.
A better website builder like Wix and others like it usually only allows you to export blog posts . But no part of the design can be copied, only the text of published posts can be migrated to another tool.
3. Limited Design Resources
The way to create a website is very different when using a website builder. This is because there are some limitations specific to this type of tool . Whether company X or Y, a website creator will always have several limitations that are reflected in the way the website is developed.
There are design professionals on the market who specialize in creating website designs to be created with tools like Wix . They know that they cannot take full advantage of the potential because this type of tool has some limitations.
A lay user will hardly notice the limitation, however a user with a background in design or web development will certainly be disappointed when they discover that everything is based on creating a website from a ready-made template . And few changes can be made to the site structure.
Creating a website on WordPress allows for much more autonomy and customization capacity. As it is an open source system, WordPress allows you to create websites from scratch, using the simplest to the most advanced design, and it is also possible to use ready-made templates that allow anyone to create a professional website.
For those looking for a way to create a professional website , without any type of limitations, using WordPress may be the best option, as website creators can be quite limited at some points in website development.
4. Limited SEO
Tools have evolved a lot over the last few years, making it possible to create websites that are very friendly to search engines. Unlike what happened in the past, nowadays website creators offer solutions aimed at creating an SEO-optimized and mobile-friendly website.
However, don’t expect many advanced options and cutting-edge technological features. It is unlikely that a website built this way will be able to compete with a website made with WordPress. Good website builder only offers basic SEO and page optimization features.
For those looking to achieve maximum page loading performance and a great range of SEO tools , it is advisable to use a CMS like WordPress. As it is an open source and free platform, there are a huge variety of plugins designed to improve page response time and search engine optimization .
For this reason, whoever wants to create a website to insert a large amount of content, the website creator will not be the best choice. It’s not that it’s impossible to optimize your website well, however, if your competitors use WordPress, know that your website will be at a disadvantage in terms of SEO optimization.
5. Not good for blogging
The main website builders offer blogging functionality , but always with some type of limitation. This is because blogs are not very common for those using a website builder. For this reason, the tools only offer the basics for you to blog.
To some people it may seem like this content is about discouraging people from using a website builder. But in fact we are only dealing with the main limitations of this type of tool.
We inevitably have to say, once again, that WordPress is much better for creating a blog or website . This CMS is used by 40% of all websites on the web for a good reason, including the fact that it is great for creating amazing blogs.
Of course, not everything is rosy, WordPress also has limitations and if we create an article talking about the reasons not to use them it will make a lot of people afraid of it too. In the case of a website builder , the limitations are much more important.
For this reason, WordPress is the main blogging platform in the world , followed by Blogger – which is a very limited Google blogging platform by the way. But if you still want an easier-to-manage blogging tool, website builders are a great option .
6. There is no such thing as free and professional
You will certainly come across several calls to create a website for free, but know that there is no way to create something professional without spending anything , going against the promises we see in abundance.
Creating a professional website requires a monthly investment (even if low). We are not saying this to force you to purchase a paid service, quite the opposite. The goal is that you don’t fall into these free website builder traps .
7. Websites are not responsive
Sites built using a website builder do not offer responsiveness – or rather, they do, but to a limited extent. The site will work on virtually all devices, however there may be some limitations.
Websites are mobile-friendly, but they lose a lot in the ability to adapt to different resolutions. There is generally a desktop version (for computers) and a mobile version (for cell phones), but they are not responsive but rather a version for each device.
This causes problems in some cell phone resolutions (although it is compatible with most of them) and may also not display well on tablets. Even on monitors with very specific resolutions, there may be some type of problem when displaying the website created with the website builder .
On the other hand, platforms like WordPress are very advanced when it comes to responsiveness and mobile devices. The way websites are developed in WP allows the developer to easily create a responsive website that works well on any mobile device.
Even the most advanced website creator must encounter some type of limitation when developing a mobile-friendly website. To get around this, just use a CMS like WordPress to create the website.
8. Everything is very similar
A professional website developer knows when the website has been developed with a website builder just by looking at it . It’s easy to detect because sites that use this type of tool tend to have a more amateur look due to the limitations of the technology.
Another factor is that websites created using a website creation tool tend to have a very similar look and the main feature is that some elements do not fit well on the screen because the website is not responsive and needs to be made to work on all monitor resolutions.
