How to create a Wix website

Did you know that you can create a professional website using Wix even if you don't want to write a single line of code?

So if you are wondering how to create a Wix website, you have come to the right place. Wix website builder has everything you need to design a professional website for your business.

With Wix, you can create stunning websites of any kind with its drag and drop capabilities, even if you are unfamiliar with the coding world. Wix is for everyone, and with a bit of computer knowledge, anyone can build a website.

Whether for personal use or business, you can choose the best template from 800+ professional Wix templates and customize it based on your needs. They are created by expert designers keeping in mind the market demand and are fully customizable.

Wix templates are available for all categories, from business and services to photography. Even if you don't find your favorite template, you can always use Wix ADI, which will guide you in creating a website in minutes.

One of the popular questions on the internet regarding website building is: is Wix free to use, or how to create a website on wix for free?

Yes, you can start with Wix for free and develop any website. However, the premium version has advanced features that make your website more professional and allow you to accept payments.

This simple guide on how to make a Wix website will walk you through the various aspects of the Wix website builder and the step-by-step process to create a stunning website for free.

What is Wix?

Wix is a popular website-building platform with more than 200 million users worldwide. It is a could-based website builder highly user-friendly(drag and drop technology), and you can create your website for free in minutes.

Without hiring a professional programmer or web developer, anyone with basic computer knowledge can create a free website that looks amazing.

Whether you want to create an online store, blog, or portfolio website(to showcase your skill), Wix is the ultimate builder to fulfill your business needs.

In addition to its built-in features and tools, you can also use hundreds of third-party tools to insert design elements to make your website just the way you want. You can find valuable tools in the Wix App Market.

Not only does it create a website for you without difficulty, but it also offers many marketing solutions like email marketing and SEO tools to promote and increase your online presence.

These days mobile users are on the rise, and there is 78% smartphone penetration worldwide; therefore, making websites and online stores mobile-friendly is an absolute necessity.

Google, too predominantly uses the mobile version of the website for indexing and ranking. Wix automatically creates a mobile-friendly version utilizing the content of the desktop version.

But before you publish the website or any new page, always use the mobile editor to adjust design elements so that users don't face viewing problems on smaller screens.

So Wix has everything to create a professional website, be it photography, business consulting, fitness, artwork, dance classes, or any niche. You can design any website using the drag and drop feature without writing a single line of code.

How to create your first Wix website?

Making a website on Wix is super easy, and in just a few minutes, your website will be ready and live.

Moreover, you can have a website free of cost and later upgrade to the premium version. Wix lets you create a website for free and help in bringing your business online in an easy way.

For free, you can create as many websites as you want, but the free version will have some constraints, as it will always display the Wix logo, and the URL for the free website on Wix will be something like this:-

accountname.wixsite.com/siteaddress

If you are a beginner or starting with Wix, select a template that best meets your requirement and create a free website.

By upgrading to the premium version, you can get rid of the Wix logo, accept online payments and connect to your personal domain.

Once you connect to your domain name, the site name or address will not have a reference to Wix and will also be free from Wix ads.

Wix is not just a website builder but also a domain registrar and web hosting company. The premium plans also offer a free domain name for one year.

Now let's talk about how to create a website with Wix.

There are two ways to create websites through Wix online website builder:-

1. Wix Editor - You can start from a blank page(template) where you must design the layout yourself or use designer-made templates that represent your idea in the best way.

2. Wix ADI(Artificial Design Intelligence) will automatically create a website. (However, you need to go through a questionnaire)

Building the Wix website from templates

Pre-made templates are a popular way of creating a Wix website from scratch for beginners or inexperienced designers. Whether a business person or blogger, everyone can find awesome templates to start website designing in Wix.

Below are 6 actionable steps to create a Wix website from scratch and make it live in a few minutes, even if you are not a web design expert.

#1. Sign-up for the Wix website builder

Making an account on the Wix website builder is the first requirement. Therefore if you are just beginning your journey with Wix, you must sign up and create an account.

Go to the Wix website and click on the blue button(Get Started), and you will be taken to Log In/Sign Up page.

You can Sign-Up with your email id or Facebook/Google account. Once you put your email address and password, you will be asked some basic questions about your website needs and other preferences.

You can either answer such questionaries to better personalize your website design or skip them.

Finally, you will be taken to the below page, where you need to select the method of website design.

#2. Pick the best template

Once you go with the template method, you must pick the template that satisfies your website development requirements.

Wix has a library of more than 800 templates for its users' use and is continuously making an effort to add more popular and trending templates.

You can always find a ready-made design for every type of website and industry, from automotive to education and wedding events to food recipes.

They are categorized into business and services, store, creative, community, and blog and further divided into subcategories.

If you don't see a template with the look and feel you want for your website, you can always search using the search bar.

Since they are fully customizable, you can choose the template from any category that looks the way you want, and by modifying it, you can make it your own unique design.

Although there are plenty of templates, the challenge lies in choosing the one that exactly meets your needs. It could be a little bit difficult, especially if you are a beginner and not a design expert.

So be clear on what type of website you want to make and who your audience is, whether they are older adults or school-going kids.

For example, selecting an online store theme will not suit your blogging venture since you can't change the template later. Therefore, don't be in a hurry; research your audience, browse different templates, and find the most appropriate one.

#3.Customizing the template

Once you select the template, open it in the Wix editor(click the Edit OR View button), and you can play with its layout and insert/delete design elements until it makes perfect sense.

Wix provides complete freedom to add or delete any elements from the website.

You can do unlimited things with the Wix template, from changing the menu style to deleting or adding some sections. The

Wix Editor has everything, including third-party tools, to change the design and make it your own.

Although there are countless ways to edit, here are some important ones. As you click on the Edit button, you will see a list of editing options on the left side of the screen.

Adding design elements

Click on the Add(+) button to fully build your website to add design elements like text, buttons, shapes, and many more.

Once you have added elements, you can customize them by clicking on settings, design, layout, and other options.

For example, if you want to change the font, alignment, or add effects, just select the text box and click on the Edit Text button.

To change an image, select it and click the Change Image button to upload a new image from your device or resources like Wix, Shutterstock, and Unsplash. Click on the Settings icon to add alt text and tooltip to the picture.

Moreover, you can also link a button, image, or particular text to other web pages of your site or external websites.

Wix also allows users to embed HTML iFrame for adding widgets or external sites. To add an HTML code snippet click on Add(+), then click on Embed Code to insert an iFrame where you can paste HTML code.

For example, if you want to insert an external widget like AdSense ad units or social media sharing buttons, you can create an iFrame and drag and drop it to the desired position on the page.

Customizing menu and adding pages

Regarding the development of websites, the menus play a crucial role in guiding the visitors to the different sections. Menus help better navigation between different pages and provide easy access to important sections.

You can choose different menu styles to match your site's look and feel. There are many other options(layout, design, animation) that you can change about your main menu.

To change design-related properties, select the menu in the editor, click on the design icon and then click on Customize Design; you will see options like Fill Color & Opacity, Border, Corners, Shadow, and Text.

To add a new website page, click on the Menus & Pages icon on the left side of the editor(or select the menu in the editor, click on Manage Menu).

Customizing site theme

A site's theme consists of color, layout, and text styles. Wix has plenty of pre-made themes, which you can choose to suit your site's look and feel.

You can pick a theme and see how your site's color and text styles change. After experimenting with various themes, you can select one that best represents your brand.

To select a new theme, go to the left side of the editor and click on the Site Design icon; you can then customize the color and text theme, page background, and page transitions.

Adding new page sections

The page's content is divided into blocks that are called sections. You can easily manage content on the page by adding different sections.

You can also link sections to the menu with the help of anchors so that people can directly go to them just with one click.

To add a new section, click the Add button on the left side of the editor and then click a slideshow/strip/ box. Then drag the section wherever you want on the page.

Uploading media

To design a fully functional professional website, you may need to add your own media files like images, videos, vector art, and fonts.

To upload a media file, click the Media button on the left side of the editor and add files from your system or other sources like social networks.

Adding Apps

Along with build-in features, Wix is also well integrated with third-party tools and apps that can be very handy for designers to give a look and feel to the website they want and make it stand out.

There are around 300 third-party apps available for users to make stunning websites and grow their online businesses. Whether you want to add social media plugins or launch an email marketing campaign, you can find various types of apps that can boost your business.

Some have free and paid versions, while others only have a premium version. You can install them on your website with a few clicks and remove them easily if you don't like their service anymore.

To add any app on your website, click Add Apps button on the left side of the Wix editor, and you will be taken to the Wix app market, where you can search and find your desired app.

#4.Making mobile-friendly website

Creating websites that are correctly viewable on small devices is the utmost need for entrepreneurs who want to build their online businesses.

Wix enables you to adjust design elements and texts to suit the need of mobile devices. Before publishing the website, you can switch to mobile view after making changes and ensure that page elements appear correctly for mobile users.

To make your site mobile-friendly, go to the top left corner of the editor and click on the mobile icon to switch from desktop view. You can then edit the content and optimize your site for mobile users.

#5.Creating SEO-friendly web pages

SEO is essential for generating organic traffic and leads from search engines. Wix provides all tools and techniques to enhance your website SEO.

Wix SEO Wiz is a step-by-step process to set up the SEO basics for your newly created Wix website. Go to marketing home on your site's dashboard, and then you can start your journey to get found on Google.

Once you add a new page, don't leave the meta title and description blank. Use proper texts so that Google can better understand the page and its content.

To set the page title and description, click on the Menu & Pages icon on the left corner of the editor. Click the three dots in front of the page name, and you will be shown a list of the options.

Then click on the SEO Basics to view a UI to set these meta tags. The UI has an Advanced SEO tab where you can set structured data markups.

#6. Publishing website & connecting with personal domain

When you create a new website, you need to hit the publish button on the top right of the editor to make it public.

You can also preview your website and its content before publishing if you make any changes or add new web pages.

If you use a free plan for your Wix site, it will have the Wix logo, and the site URL will also include the Wix name; therefore, to remove such Wix ads, you need to upgrade your website.

Once you have bought a premium plan for the website, you can connect it to your domain.

To connect your domain with the Wix site, go to domains in your Wix account, click on Add an Existing Domain, and then choose to Connect a domain you already own.

Creating a website using Wix ADI

Wix ADI lets you create a beautiful website in minutes only. All you need to do is answer some questions that come along the way of the website creation process.

So, Wix ADI is an artificial intelligence wizard that learns needs from your inputs and generates the most appropriate website.

With less time and effort, people with zero website design experience can build professional-looking websites quickly.

Once you provide inputs about your website needs, Wix ADI will automatically create a website for you with custom texts and images. However, you can customize them later.

Although you have limited freedom on website customization with the ADI option, you can shift to Editor mode from ADI mode at any time if you want more freedom and to drag and drop design elements.

Here are step-by-step actions to design a new website using Wix ADI:-

Go to your Wix home

Click on the + Create New Site button,

Provide an answer to the question, "What kind of website are you creating?" and click Next,

Choose features like Chat and Online Store that you want to have in your newly created website and click Next,

Choose the option "Let Wix ADI Create a Website for You" and click on Start Now,

Provide your business or website name and click on Next,

Provide a website address from where you want to import content(like texts or images) and want to use in the new site,

Add logo, social account links, and other data,

Pick a theme that you like,

Choose your favorite home page design,

Add or skip new pages,

Click on Edit Site; your newly created site will be ready for further customization.

Conclusion

Earlier website designing was very cumbersome and required much effort and money. But AI-powered website design tools like Wix website builder have made life easy for everyone who wants to own their website.

With its super easy-to-use drag and drop technology and app market, Wix is the leading website builder and famous for creative works, e-commerce, portfolio websites, blogging, and small-medium online businesses.