DigitalxMarketing preferred website-building platform is Wix. Wix lets you build beautiful websites starting for free. Wix has over 200 million sites that have used their software/platform and provides one of the easiest to use the integrated website and digital marketing platforms.
Wix is a free website builder that allows anyone with no prior experience, programming skills, or design knowledge to develop and design a website from the ground up. We would like to point out that as your business progresses so will the need for more features and functionality.
The design always appears professional, even with such a simple tool. Your customers will assume you hired a designer with your website looking so good.
This convenience extends to a range of essential issues you don't want to deal with on your own, such as security and dependability. You can rest assured the Wix package takes care of the necessary formalities, guaranteeing that your site is always secure and visitors can access it through their servers.
Plus, they go above and above with automated site data backups, ensuring you'll never have to start over in the event of a disaster.
Wix's adaptability is another reason why we suggest it so strongly. It can cater to the design requirements of nearly any form for your website.
Wix can handle everything from simple blogs to portfolio sites, online shopping, restaurant websites, fitness businesses, small company websites, etc. Other website builders just do not offer the same level of flexibility.
Continue reading to learn how to create a website for free with Wix.
Step 1: How to Create a Wix Account
The first step is to create an account with Wix. Go to Wix.com and sign up for an account. This is entirely free, and they don’t require you to provide any credit card information.
Simply select one of the numerous "Get Started" links on the homepage or across the site.
Unlike other platforms, the Wix sign-up process takes only seconds to complete. There are no complex form fields to complete. They only require your email address and a password.
You may even sign up with a single click using Google or Facebook without inputting anything.
Wix will guide you through the website creation process once you've signed up.
Step 2: Choosing a Website Type
The next step is to decide what kind of website you want to create. Your choice of design will be influenced by your response.
A personal blog and an ecommerce website, for example, will have vastly different design choices. A photography or custom art portfolio site will not have the same design as a local restaurant website.
This process is made simple with Wix. You'll be asked to choose a website type from a list of possibilities.
Wix will automatically offer you relevant templates in that category based on your response.
If you choose "online store," for example, the layout will accommodate product pages and categories while also making it simple to construct a checkout procedure.
In less than a minute, you'll have a personalised website design. The design is stunning, and all you have to do now is fill the pages with your own information.
We'll go with the second option—creating a site with the Wix editor—for the sake of this tutorial. This will provide you more flexibility and control over your design options.
Step 3: Choosing the Best Template
It's far easier to start with a template than to try to develop a website from scratch.
Take a few moments to go through the many possibilities. What are your favourite styles? Which templates best represent your brand? There are many templates available on Wix. At first, it may seem overwhelming. However, you should focus on your specific website kind.
Wix includes themes for consultants, real estate firms, and professional services such as finance and law, marketing, etc. Every website type includes subcategories with different templates.
If you choose "online store," you'll see templates for clothing, jewellery, gadgets, home decor, beauty supplies, sports equipment, etc. Wix includes templates for personal blogs, travel blogs, fashion blogs, podcasts, and other types of blogs.
The rest of your website's design will be built around your template. As a result, taking your time and not rushing through this process is critical. You'll still be able to tweak different design components to your liking, but it'll be much easier with the appropriate template.
Step 4: Editing Layouts
Wix has templates for consultants, real estate firms, e-commerce stores and professional services such as finance and law, marketing, etc. Every website type includes subcategories with different templates.
If you choose "online store," you'll see templates for clothing, jewellery, gadgets, home decor, beauty supplies, sports equipment, etc. Wix includes templates for personal blogs, travel blogs, fashion blogs, podcasts, and other types of blogs.
The rest of your website's design will be built around your template. As a result, taking your time and not rushing through this process is critical. You'll still be able to tweak different design components to your liking, but it'll be much easier with the appropriate template.
Step 5: Prepare Your Content
Content is a significant component of your site’s design. You can’t wholly finalise the website design without understanding what materials will be featured precisely on the website.
Gather images, videos, GIFs, logos, slogans, text (copy), and whatever else you want to display on your site.
Step 6: Define Your Branding Strategy
Start to think about how visitors will perceive your website. The colour scheme, fonts, and other design components will directly impact your brand image.
Click the “Theme Manager” on the left side of your Wix editor. This is the button with an “A” and what looks like a raindrop or paint drop.
From here, you can change your site’s theme colours. You’ll also have the ability to edit your default text themes for headers and paragraphs.
In this case, the current colour scheme works well for a business consultant. It’s modern and professional. But let’s say you were designing a website for kids. You could have more fun with bright colours and big, bold fonts.
If you added your company logos and other materials back in step #5, you’d want to ensure that the colour scheme flows well with the rest of your content.
Step 7: Add Landing Pages
Your landing pages will each have unique designs. While they should all follow your home page's branding principles and theme, the design choices will have some variations.
To add a page, click the top icon on the left side of your Wix editor. Then click “add page,” as I’ve highlighted below.
New pages will essentially be a blank canvas, except for your header and footer. But rather than starting from scratch, you can “add a strip” to any page based on what content it will contain.
Click the “+” button on the editor to browse some options.
Think of this as a mini template. Apply the principles you used back in step #3 when you first chose your overall site template.
This is just an easier way to design new landing pages. Wix already has so many great options that it’s not worth trying to build your pages from scratch.
Step 8: Focus on Usability
Sometimes during the design process, you can lose focus on how visitors will engage with your site. But user experience (UX) can’t be overlooked.
There are certain design best practices people expect when they visit a website. For example, they expect the navigation menu to be at the top of the page. They expect the footer to contain contact information. They expect the logo to take them back to the home page.
Let’s look at something simple, like a navigation menu:
In this example, there are only four pages in the menu. You could maybe get away with adding one or two more. But beyond that, it’s too much.
Imagine if this website had 10 or 20 pages in the menu. It would be a disaster. The top of the page would be too cluttered, and visitors would never find what they’re looking for. Overall, that would be a poor design choice.
Think about usability with every design choice, from CTA placement to scroll effects, white space, architecture, etc.
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel here. Follow web design best practices, and the UX will be acceptable.
Step 9: Mobile Device Design Optimisation
According to Statista, mobile devices account for about half of all global web traffic, meaning each visitor to your site is likely to be using a smartphone or tablet.
You must ensure that your website is mobile-friendly. You'll never get mobile conversions otherwise.
Wix, thankfully, makes this process simple.
To switch away from the desktop view of your website, simply click the mobile symbol from the editor or previewer page.
Wix will optimise your website for mobile devices automatically. However, you should still go over everything to see if there are any modifications you want to make. You can alter your site's mobile design without changing the desktop version if you see something you'd like to change.
Step 10: Time to Publish Your Website
When you've completed the design, it's time to put your site online.
It's worth noting that you don't have to publish your site. You can always return and add more pages later. However, once you have a homepage, about page, contact page, and a few more site pieces, publish it to start generating visitors. Just make sure you don't publish any pages that aren't complete.
To continue, click the blue "Publish" icon in the top right corner of your Wix dashboard.
As previously said, Wix allows you to develop and publish a website for free. However, there is a catch.
Wix free users will not be able to customise their domain. Your Wix account name, Wix branding, and the name of your site are all included in all domains.
Any business-related website should avoid this option. If you're just playing around with web design principles. You'll need to subscribe to a premium Wix plan if you want a legitimate site.
You'll be able to utilise a custom domain name that you can buy from Wix or a third-party domain registrar. Everything can be managed more easily through a single platform.
Website design has progressed significantly over time. What used to be a problematic or costly undertaking for new site owners is now a simple task.
Wix and other website builders ultimately eliminate the need to create websites from scratch.
Non-technical users and those without any design skills can pick a template and customise it with their own information. There's no need to hire a designer or understand any web programming languages.
Sign up for Wix, follow the steps outlined above, and have a professional-looking website in no time. It's that easy!
Once your website is built you will want to understand the other digital marketing features and functionality to help your business grow.
If you need help with your Wix website, DigitalxMarketing ia a certified Wix partner. Allow us to surprise you with how fast we can build your website for you!
Call DigitalxMarketing today!
Comments