We all know websites, browse their content, and hear about them, but what exactly are they, and how do they come into existence?
In a nutshell, websites are documents that web browsers read and display on your screen, but the intricacies go far beyond that simple explanation. We aim to delve into the complexities and provide you with a comprehensive understanding.
When it comes to creating a website, there are numerous paths you can explore, but a consistently popular choice is utilizing a website builder. Whether a novice or a seasoned design professional seeking to craft a website, website builders like Wix offer tailored solutions to meet your requirements.
Our comprehensive guide will meticulously walk you through the fundamental steps necessary in how to make a Wix website. Let’s start.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Determine the Type of Website
The journey to creating your website commences with the initial idea, a moment when you contemplate the type of website that aligns with your objectives. Your decision should be rooted in the goals you have for your website and the audience you aim to reach. Are you looking to monetize your website or aspire to share your culinary creations?
Your ultimate purpose should be a guiding factor in your website selection process. Only by doing so can you gain clarity on the ideal platform for your needs, the specific content your website should feature, and the timeframe required for its development.
Here are some examples of popular website types and how to embark on creating them:
- Online Stores: These websites are designed for online merchandise sales.
- Blogs: Blogs provide a platform to share information on specific topics consistently.
- Online Portfolios: Static websites that showcase your expertise and experience.
It's worth noting that website types need not be mutually exclusive. You can, for instance, combine an online store with a blog or start with a blog and later introduce merchandise sales. One of the most significant advantages of crafting your website is its flexibility to tailor it to your needs. Various elements can be integrated to shape a website that caters to your specific requirements.
Step 2: Decide on the Website Builder
In the journey of finding the answer to how to make a website on Wix, the next step is to choose a website builder. The options are listed below:
Wix ADI (Artificial Design Intelligence):
- Ideal for beginners or those in need of a quick website.
- Utilizes AI technology to generate a custom website based on your preferences and needs.
- Requires answering questions about your website's purpose and design preferences.
- Offers the flexibility to make design adjustments.
- It can be a great starting point for those new to website creation.
Wix Editor:
- Suitable for both beginners and experienced users.
- Employs a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface for creating and editing websites.
- It provides various routes to create a professional website with design flexibility.
- Allows using website templates, starting from scratch, or advanced customization with Velo.
Templates:
- It is suited for anyone seeking to create a website.
- Features over 900 professionally designed templates for various niches.
- Templates can be customized using the Wix Editor.
Create a Website from Scratch:
- Ideal for those comfortable with design and looking for complete creative freedom.
- You can build your site from a blank canvas or minimal layout templates.
- Offers extensive control over layout, design, and functionality.
Velo:
- It is recommended for advanced customization.
- Introduces coding capabilities with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- Enables the addition of custom functionality and dynamic content.
- It provides the option to use Wix website apps and customize them using Velo APIs.
Hire a Professional on Wix:
- It is best for those seeking a professional touch with little time.
- Hiring a web professional like a web designer can ensure a polished website.
- Freelancers can assist with specific tasks, site content creation, and SEO.
Accessible through the Wix Marketplace, where verified professionals are available to help based on your specific needs and project requirements.
These options cater to a wide range of users, from beginners seeking simplicity to advanced users looking for complete customization, making website creation with Wix accessible and versatile.
Step 3: Create the Webpages
Now that you've settled on your website type and chosen your website creation tool, it's time to take a moment to strategize the content you want to incorporate into your website. This decision should be closely aligned with your overarching objectives for your site. Typically, your site's goals will be translated into the web pages you decide to create, as these pages serve as vehicles for presenting the information you want your site visitors to access.
What exactly constitutes a webpage, and how it differs from a website? Essentially, a website is a collection of information, usually centered around a particular topic or brand, hosted on the internet and accessible to visitors. Websites are typically composed of multiple web pages, each offering distinct information. These web pages provide structure to your site and allow you to present various content, thereby relieving the homepage of bearing the entire informational load. To determine which pages best suit your website, it's advisable to conduct some research, observing what your competitors feature on their websites.
Some of the most effective websites incorporate these commonly used web pages:
Homepages
This is your site's main entry point and represents its core concept and purpose.
About Us Pages
These pages provide insights into your brand, history, and mission.
Product Pages
These showcase your products or services and offer detailed information for potential customers.
Contact Us Pages
These facilitate communication between you and your site visitors.
FAQ Pages
Frequently Asked Questions pages address common queries and streamline user interaction.
Each page may reside on separate sections of your website, but they enhance your site's overall narrative together. When creating your site, ensure that these web pages harmonize in terms of look and feel. An alternative approach is to create a one-page website, consolidating these different pages into a single, continuous-scrolling page.
We recommend commencing your website construction by crafting your homepage, as it primarily represents your site's core concept. Following this crucial step, you can gradually incorporate additional pages as your site and brand evolve. These supplementary web pages are essential for providing visitors comprehensive information, such as contact details, product listings, shipping information, and more. However, it's necessary to strike a balance and not overwhelm visitors with too many pages. Instead, strategically determine which information is vital and what can be omitted.
Step 4: Focus on the Design
As you move forward with your website project, you're likely contemplating the essential elements that make up the heart and soul of your site: its design and content. The significance of these components cannot be understated, with a staggering 48% of people considering a website's design as the foremost factor influencing a business's credibility. Therefore, it's crucial to consider the design elements and content you wish to incorporate into your website, ensuring that they harmonize seamlessly to deliver a memorable user experience.
Web design and website content are intertwined; they narrate your brand's story and enable effective interaction with your site visitors. It's imperative that when crafting your website, you take both design and content into account simultaneously. For instance, if you desire a fun and uplifting website, this should manifest in your choice of web colors, images, and textual content.
Web design encompasses all visual elements presented when entering a website, forming the crux of visitors' understanding, interaction, and emotional connection with the site. It's undeniably the most conspicuous and critical facet of any website.
Web design encompasses numerous components, including web color usability features such as navigation, images, videos, and scroll functionality. Wix provides many built-in design elements to cater to these needs, offering unique shapes, fonts, image optimization, professional videos, advanced scrolling effects, and more. These design elements can elevate your site, ensuring it stands out.
Key design elements include web colors, menus, buttons, visual elements, and mobile design. Colors play a pivotal role in affecting emotions and emphasizing crucial elements of your site. Menus serve as the navigational core of your website, guiding visitors to relevant pages aligned with your site's goals. Buttons are vital for engagement and tracking user interaction, demanding clarity and visibility. Visual elements such as images, videos, and scrolling effects enhance the visual experience, contributing to a cohesive web design. Lastly, mobile web design is indispensable in a mobile-dominated era, necessitating adjustments for smaller screens and an emphasis on page speed and performance.
The content you add to your website is paramount, as it defines user interaction and influences their decisions, such as purchasing services or products. Combining textual content, images, and videos helps convey your message effectively. A coherent content strategy aligning with your goals is essential, directing visitors towards desired actions. Remember that content should evolve to stay relevant, adapt to new technologies, and align with your growing brand. Website builders like Wix offer Content Management Software (CMS) within their editors to facilitate content management and the creation of dynamic or static websites or a hybrid approach, as per your needs.
Step 5: Finalize a Domain Name
One of the most critical components of your website is its name, referred to as a domain name. This name serves as your site's title. It plays a pivotal role in making your website easily recognizable and discoverable on the internet through its web address and IP address via the Domain Name System (DNS). Having a custom domain name is crucial, not only for professional appearance but also for branding. Often, domain names are identical to brand names, as seen with Wix and wix.com.
The initial step is to comprehend a domain to select an appropriate domain name. This understanding will guide you in choosing a name that aligns with your brand and is available for registration. Next, you must decide on a domain extension, such as .com or .net, and consider the value of subdomains. Once you've chosen a name, the domain must be purchased and officially registered through a domain registrar, with Wix being a certified option.
So, how do domain names integrate with Wix? If you publish your site for free without upgrading, Wix provides you with a domain. While this domain may not offer complete customization, your site remains fully functional. Alternatively, you can purchase a domain, granting you full control over your site's name and top-level domain. Wix is a certified domain registrar, enabling you to search for and register your domain directly on the platform. It's worth noting that with Wix, upgrading your site entitles you to a complimentary private domain for the first year.
Step 6: Choose Web Hosting
You might be contemplating how to ensure your website becomes accessible online and can be found by others. This is where web hosting comes into play. But what exactly is web hosting? Web hosting services essentially function as a storage facility for your website, ensuring it has a digital home on the internet making it accessible to anyone online. Various web hosting services exist, including VPS (Virtual Private Server), shared hosting, managed hosting, and cloud hosting. Wix hosting employs multiple Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) worldwide, ensuring the highest level of reliability.
With Wix, free web hosting is automatically provided when you publish your website, eliminating the need for an external hosting service. Upon hitting the "publish" button, your website resides on Wix's servers, which incorporate advanced security monitoring to safeguard your site. Hosting is a critical aspect for websites, but with Wix, you can rest assured that hosting and web server concerns are handled, including automatic backups and more.
Additionally, website security is a non-issue with Wix. Wix website security offers round-the-clock monitoring by experts, delivering enterprise-grade security, including TLS and public critical certification for every site. You can further fortify your website's security by implementing best-practice measures such as multi-factor authentication.
Step 7: Publish and Promote the Site
A critical post-publishing step for ensuring your website's success is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). SEO involves optimizing your site to enhance its ranking on search engines like Google, resulting in increased organic web traffic. While SEO is a complex field involving content and design optimization, Wix provides a robust infrastructure for search engines. For beginners, the Wix SEO Wiz offers a personalized SEO setup plan and assists with Google indexing. It suggests content tweaks to satisfy user queries and explains how these changes can impact rankings. It's important to note that SEO takes time, and instant results may not occur.
Wix also offers advanced SEO tools for experienced users, including a robots.txt editor, dynamic XML sitemaps, and customizable canonical tags.
Web Analytics:
Web analytics tools are vital for monitoring and optimizing your site's performance. They provide insights into site success, user interactions, and opportunities for improvement. You can gather on-site visits, click behavior, product purchases, and geographical performance data. This data helps tailor your content and products to your audience.
Furthermore, web analytics offer valuable insights into user behavior on your site. For example, they can reveal if users exit the site before reaching the checkout button, prompting adjustments to its location, prominence, or color for improved user experience. Wix Analytics provides essential data and customizable reports, while Google Analytics integration expands your data analysis capabilities.
This data-driven decision-making can lead to long-term website success by optimizing content, products, and user experience.
How to Make a Wix Website? FAQs
What is the cost of creating a website?
Creating a website can have different cost structures. You can use a website builder like Wix to create one for free. Alternatively, you can opt for a premium plan, which may range from tens to hundreds of dollars, depending on your chosen website builder. If you decide to hire a developer or technical designer for website creation, the cost could run into the thousands.
How long does it take to make a website on Wix?
The time required for website development can vary significantly, depending on various factors such as the website's complexity, required functionality, design specifications, the size of the project team, and the availability of resources. Building a simple website might take just a day, while a more intricate project could extend over several months.
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