Using WIX to build a website: Step by Step Guide
Wix’s entry into the market coincided with the boom of the digital revolution, and today, it boasts a user base of 200 million across 190 countries worldwide. Wix’s popularity boils down to its ease of use for just about anyone looking to build a website with no knowledge of coding.
Are you a business owner looking for MarTech services or perhaps even someone who wants to start a career in UX website design? In this article, we will walk you through every step of creating a website on Wix.
Steps to Build a Website with Wix
1. Create an Account
To create a website using Wix, you need an account. Visit the main page and click “Start Now” to be taken to sign up. You will be asked to enter your contact details to create an account with them. You can also link your social accounts like Facebook and Google for a quicker setup.
After you create an account on Wix, you will be asked to choose a plan (free or paid) to build your website. While the premium version is undoubtedly a better pick in terms of features and functionality, the free version is perfect for anyone just starting.
2. Wix Editor
The Wix editor comes with over a thousand design features, an easy drag-and-drop function, and an extensive library of templates to choose from.
3. Wix ADI
The Wix Artificial Intelligence Designer uses AI to design the website for you. You will be asked a series of questions for the software to understand your needs, and it will use the information to create the optimal design for the website.
4. Select the Type of Wix Website You Want
Once you answer the questions, you will be questioned if you would like to see a sample designed by the Wix ADI. If you choose to use ADI, you can always change the website whenever and however you like.
You may be asked a few follow-up questions to help narrow down the best options for the design and structure of your page.In the earlier section, you may have said you wanted the website for business purposes. The follow-up question would be what kind of business the website is for, as each industry would have a different style.
Based on your answers, Wix ADI provides suggestions on what features you would like to have integrated into the website. It includes having a section for booking, chat, blog posts, and an Instagram feed.
After choosing what features you’d like to have on the site, you will be asked for the name of your business/website.
Next, you will be prompted with the option of importing content from your existing website if you have one. It saves you the trouble of manually moving information from your old site. You can also use content from Google Place listings with Wix.
5. Choose a Design
Designing with Wix is a breeze, thanks to their straightforward process. First, you’ll be asked what theme you would like for the website. The theme includes the font and color scheme your website will use.
Then, you will get to pick the design template for your homepage. Wix uses the information from before, your choice of theme, and business-related graphics to display the options.
6. Customization
Wix lets you customize any element of your website without requiring any professional knowledge about web design.
After you’ve picked your preferred template, you’ll be taken to the Wix ADI editor. Here, you can edit any detail on the website template to have it exactly as you’d like.
Click on any block (e.g., text, image) to open the editing interface. The editor auto-saves, so you won’t have to worry about losing any progress you make. With Wix Editor, you can add more elements, edit menus, install apps, and add media to your website.
7. Preview and Save
You can preview how your new website will be displayed on desktop and mobile. If you think it still needs a little tweaking, you can make any necessary changes.
Toggle between different website pages to make sure everything is in order.
8. Publish
Right now, no one else can see your website. To make the website accessible online, you must publish it.
Click “Publish” to launch your website on the world wide web. It will go live on Wix’s subdomain by default.
If you want to create a domain name instead, you will need to get a Wix paid plan that includes domain customization. Other benefits of the paid plan include getting the SSL certification for your site. If it is a business website, the certificate will significantly affect the traffic to your page.
Limitations of Wix Websites
1. More Adaptive than Responsive
Since Wix depends on creating websites efficiently, there are some site abilities they had to cut back on as they use preset codes rather than writing them from scratch. Let’s take screen size, for example. A Wix website does not recognize the various dimensions of a device screen. It makes the appearance of the page less than optimal on some devices.
2. Website Analytics Requires a Paid Plan
Website tracking and analytics provide insight into how well your website is doing in terms of visitors, bounce rates, and click-through rates. Most people use Google Analytics to view this data. But with a Wix website, you need to be on a paid plan to access any analytical tools.
3. Website is Non-Transferrable
When you build a website using Wix, it provides several benefits in the short run. In case you reach a point where Wix isn’t suitable for your website support for some reason, you cannot export it to another site. You will need to pay heavy money to recreate and transfer from the Wix website onto your preferred site.
Pricing Plans for Wix Websites
1. Connect Domain
This plan is the most basic plan for the Wix website development, priced at $4.50 a month. While it still displays Wix ads on your website, you get to customize your website domain name. It also comes with 500MB storage, 1GB bandwidth, and an SSL certificate.
2. Combo
For $8.50 a month, you get all the basic plan benefits plus a free domain for a year. The storage goes up to 3GB and bandwidth to 2GB. Wix also won’t display any of its ads on your website.
3. Unlimited
The most popular plan comes with unlimited bandwidth and up to 10GB of storage. For a year, you can avail the site booster app and visitor analytics app. This plan charges $12.50 per month.
4. VIP
Under this plan, you get all the benefits of the Unlimited plan, and you get to design a professional logo to go with your website. Full commercial rights and file formats will be available to you for use. The logo is always available in over 40 sizes for social media purposes. You purchase this plan at $24.50 per month.
Conclusion
Your website is not just a brochure for your products, rather it is a reflection of you and your brand. Wix can help you get a great website ready in no time for free, and you can upgrade to any of the premium plans whenever you like. It is ideal for individuals, small businesses, DIY website owners, and basic e-retailers.If you don’t have the technical resources or knowledge to build your site, you can even outsource the task to offshore website development agencies.
