If you want to create the freedom of an online income you need your own website. Thanks to website design tools like Wix, you can set an impressive site up in an hour or two. They have hundreds of templates you can customize to represent your online presence.
Whether you're an aspiring blogger, an artist, a clothing store, or an affiliate marketer, you will be able to create a valuable online asset with Wix. Read our step-by-step guide on using Wix to create a website that embodies your personal brand.
Wix Create Your Own Website: Step by Step Guide
1. Make A Wix Account
Sign up to Wix if you don’t already have an account. It's free to sign up and start creating a website. Just enter your email and some personal details.
2. Create Your Own Wix Website
Once you’ve completed the sign-up process you will be taken straight to a page that has a range of website categories to choose from. Select the category that is the best suited to the type of website you want to start. You can choose from Business, Blog, News, Designer, Photography, Online Store, and many more.
3. Choose How You Want Wix To Create Your Website
Here you have two options; either let Wix Artificial Design Intelligence (ADI) create your site for you. The AI asks questions about your website and creates a site based on your answers. Your second choice is to create your website with the Wix Editor.
I usually stick to using the Wix editor and customizing one of the many templates Wix provides. Wix ADI often overcomplicates its design and is not ideal for someone creating their first website on Wix.
4. Pick a Website Template
Decide whether you want to start with a blank template and build your website from scratch or use a pre-made template from Wix that you can customize however you like. If you are new to creating websites or Wix, I suggest using a template, to begin with.
Creating your own website on Wix is tricky when starting from scratch. If you aren’t a Wix expert, you will end up with a very simple website that isn't visually appealing. Wix has some awesome template options to choose from, scroll through, and find one that best suits your brand.
Hover your mouse over the templates you like and select ‘View’. This will show you what the template website looks like on a desktop or mobile. Remember to make sure it looks good on mobile because over 50% of website visits come from mobile devices.
The templates all have stock photos and general information on them, personalize these to suit your brand. You can find plenty of photos on Wix, or Google, or use your own. When deciding on a template, try to imagine the site with your own content on it.
These templates are fully customizable, so don’t get hung up on picking one, you can always change it. Once you’ve found one that matches your brand or the website you imagine then click ‘Edit’.
5. Start Customizing Your Wix Website
After clicking ‘Edit’ you will be taken to the Wix Editor. Here you are able to customize your website however you please. Wix has versatile tools that make stunning websites. But, be warned, if you are a Wix Beginner it can be extremely frustrating trying to create anything more than a basic site.
You will have a clear idea in your mind of how you want Wix to create your own website, but visually representing that is difficult. I’ve spent hours using Wix to create my own website that represents my brand, only to make it look a lot worse than when I began.
You seriously only need to spend 5 minutes on this stage, just change the stock photos out. Then, customize the general information in the text boxes to describe what your website is about. It helps to add keywords related to your niche here, this will improve your site’s SEO health and give you the best start to getting ranked on Google (which is a long process).
To begin editing, click the top left corner of the Wix Editor where it says ‘Page: Home’. This will provide a drop-down menu of the pages on your website. E.G. Home, About, Services, Products, Blog, Contact Us
You want to click on each of these pages and change all of the information on them to something relevant to your website. Click on 'Manage Pages' to delete or hide any unnecessary pages on your site.
If you are creating your first website, you only need 3 or 4 pages. I would have a 'Home Page’, an ‘About Us Page', and then any Resource Pages. For example, if you were creating a travel blog, you would add a ‘Travel Page’.
I recommend linking any related social media accounts to your website. If you are creating an online clothing store and already have an Instagram and Pinterest, link these to your site. It's an easy way to start building a following around your brand.
You need to create a contact or subscribe form, most templates on Wix already have one, so you can edit it the existing one. Link your email to the website as this allows you to be notified of any new subscribers, sales or comments. This will grow your email list from the start, which is important to monetizing your blog in the future.
6. Wix Website Design Tips
To ensure your website is visually appealing you want a consistent color scheme throughout the site. Browse color schemes on color.adobe.com, they have thousands of suggested schemes you can choose from.
Do not add too many different fonts to your website, it slows loading speed and makes your site harder to read. I recommend starting with one font pairing, you can pick fonts from fonts.google.com. Choose one font for all Headers on your site and then one for all the body text. One of my personal favorite pairs is Bryant Pro and Effra. Wix templates also have great font pairings, so you may not have to edit them.
If you are new to Wix and creating your first website I wouldn’t mess with the template too much, just change the general information and publish.
The most important step to creating a new website is getting content published, this is how you generate traffic and sales. So, don’t get caught up on all the fancy features on the Wix Editor and publish a simple site, you can always improve it later.
When I do edit templates, I use Canva to design any variations for my website. It’s so easy to use and makes me feel like a professional visual designer. I like to brainstorm my ideas on there, it allows me to get a visual representation of what I want my site to look like.
Once I’m satisfied, I recreate it on the Wix Editor. Canva is free to use, but I recently upgraded to the premium membership for $15 a month. The free account has more than enough, but Canva Pro gives you an enormous range of tools and images to use.
7. Publish Your Wix Website Site
Once you are satisfied with your site it’s time to go live. Preview how it would look on both mobile and desktop browsers then select publish. Wix will provide you with a completely free domain and you can start getting traffic to your site. Unfortunately, the free account has limited bandwidth and storage, and the domain is something like www.user1234.wixsite.com. This lacks authority as a domain and it won’t be unique to your brand.
I recommend signing up to Wix Premium, they give you a free domain that you can tailor to match your business name. This will give your site more domain authority which is good for SEO health. You also get free google ad vouchers to start immediately driving traffic to your site. It's $17 a month for their premium package. Once you hit publish, your website is live and your next job is to create quality content and drive traffic.
Final Thoughts On Using Wix To Create Your Own Website
Using Wix to create your own website or online business will cost you $17 a month, it works out cheaper if you pay for it in one yearly sum. A small investment each month to create your own online asset. The more time and energy you invest in this your website, the more it will be worth in the future.
My biggest tip to anyone using Wix to create their own website is: Keep it simple and get started right away! Don’t get caught up on trying to design the perfect site, you will never make it perfect. Just publish your website and start creating content.
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