My husband and I started our web design business in 2012. We launched the business in a small New England town whose economy relies largely on tourism and is made up of dozens of small and medium businesses (SMBs). Many of the local business owners have limited access to the Internet or little knowledge about how to develop an online presence or how to market their business through a website. We saw an opportunity to boost local business, encourage tourism to the region and support ourselves by creating professional-looking, affordable websites that our clients can easily learn to maintain and edit on their own. Wix.com offered us an easy way to do all this.

As we began to develop sites on Wix, we found that the platform allowed us nearly limitless design options and that in just two or three hours we can teach our clients how to use the Wix editor. As we revamped old sites and were exposed increasingly to other website builders, our decision to use Wix was reaffirmed time and time again. We found that Wix was far more intuitive and easy-to-learn for our clients than the other options on the market and its incredible design flexibility allows us to offer each customer a unique website that isreflective of the specific brand and feel of their business. Within months of opening the business, we quickly discovered that the solution we offered was a valuable one not only for the SMBs in one tiny New England town, but also for a much wider pool of independent businesses, artists, restaurants and others around the world who want clean, professional websites that they can maintain on their own.

Today, ORA Web Design has created websites for clients in Germany, Israel, New York City, Wisconsin, Seattle and more. And the businesses we have worked with range from Green Mountain Timber Frames, an antique timber framer in rural Vermont to Breads Bakery, a 9000 square foot coffee shoppatisserie in Union Square, New York, a pressed flower artist, life coaches, B&BS, contractors and more. All on Wix.

I’ll give you my top three reasons, but the truth is there are more.

1. Design Flexibility

That first moment when a visitor views a website is precious. Like the first impression we get when we meet someone new, in a split second, the visitor makes a decision about whether or not to stay on the website, browse and read on. Having an attractive design and layout is essential to keeping bounce rates low and converting visitors into customers.

Whether or not they know the mechanics of bounce rates and page visits on a websites, our clients intuitively understand the importance of design. Design is usually one of the first things we discuss when we meet with a client and we always ask them to send us a list of websites they like (or don’t like) in terms of design.

Because Wix does not confine users to specific templates, we can easily create unique designs for each of our customers, according to their specifications and preferences. We can integrate their logos and images, match brand books, or come up with our own branding for the business, without the restrictive templates of many other website builders. With Wix, we can ensure that each website has a distinctive look and feel that truly matches the business it represents.

(CAPTION: Here are three very different web designs we have created using Wix.com. From Left: The Inn at Sawmill Farm, James Platteter Fine Furniture Maker, and In Focus Strategic Research.)

Furthermore, for customers who are seeking a bit of direction for their design, Wix offers hundreds of templates (we prefer to call them design suggestions) to browse through for inspiration.

2. Intuitive Editor

Many SMBs cannot afford to pay high monthly maintenance fees to web developers. Oftentimes, clients are attracted to work with us because we teach them to manage their own website. While we do offer support to those who want it, we have found that most clients quickly pick up the basics of the Wix editor.

After completing each website, we sit with our clients for two or three hours and walk them through the Wix editor. We show them how to change text and images, drag and drop page elements or add new pages to the website. It’s one of the most rewarding times in our relationship with each client. They are excited about the launch of a brand new website and thrilled to see how easy it will be for them to update and tweak it on their own.

We also introduce our clients to some of the behind-the-scenes elements of their website. We show them Wix’s SEO Tool and teach them about page descriptions, tagging and more.

An additional Wix feature that we find particularly impressive is the Wix Help Section. Here, we show clients how they can find clear, concise answers (often with supporting videos and photos) to most of their questions.

3. App Market and Integrations

As part of our business model, my husband and I wanted to create websites that not only look pretty, but also are highly functional. Wix’s comprehensive App Market allows us to offer customers a great palate of options and features integrated into each website. From mailing lists and social media, to blogs and special galleries, with its large menu of Apps, Wix allows us to build websites that serve as ahub for each client’s online presence.

And we find that Wix’s App Market seems to be adding new features and capabilities at an astoundingly fast rate.

Wix also allows us to embed HTML code into a website so we can integrate additional features such as reservation systems, media players and many more.

(CAPTION: For the B&B website on the left, we used HTML to integrate a reservation service, a mailing list service and a Certificate of Excellence from Trip Advisor. Keshet International’s website, on the right, features a video embedded using HTML.)

After a year of working with Wix on a daily basis, we are continually impressed with the quality of the product and the improvements and new features that are added each day. More importantly, our clients, too, are happy with their websites.

In 2013, the vast majority of businesses can save thousands of dollars on building and maintaining a website, without compromising on features or design. Wix allows us to create websites that not only meet our clients’ needs, but can be integral to helping their business grow and reach a wider customer base.