Wix – A Quick Tutorial for Building Your First Website

Building your own website doesn’t have to be difficult. If you lack the technical expertise or the funds to employ an entire department of website designers and developers, Wix is the ideal option for you. This tutorial is going to show you how to get your first website up and running in as little as one afternoon.

Getting Started

Your very first step is to register an account with Wix. You don’t need to enter any of your personal details.

All Wix needs is an email address and a password. You can even sign up using your Facebook account to make the process even faster. Just confirm your email address and you’re ready to start.

Choose Your Website Type

When you build a website with Wix you need to decide on the type of website. Click the prompt ‘I Need a Site For’ and you’ll be able to choose from a range of options. These are segregated by business type, so you may want to select a blog, a photography website, a restaurant, or a general online store.

This is an important decision because the type of website you choose will influence which templates and features you have available to you. Think about what best represents your venture and base your decision on that.

Selecting Your Template and Adding Your Details

Now that you’ve selected the type of website you want you’ll have templates to choose from. There are hundreds of templates provided by Wix, so it’s best to order them. An easy way to get started is to sort them by popularity. If you don’t find anything you like then you can start digging into specific categories. Those with some technical knowledge could even select a nearly blank theme and build everything from that point.

After you’ve selected your template you’ll be taken to the Preview page. Different elements can be dragged around and dropped where you like.

Before you get into that you should add your details to the website. Change the text elements to something specific to your business, such as your name and tagline. Just click on the text element and start typing. At the same time, you can alter the size, font, and color.

Do You Want to Add Any Media?

Media like images and videos need to be placed carefully. We recommend that you place these before doing anything else to save any hassle later. If you chose a template with images already in it just click on those images and replace them with your own by uploading them from your computer to the server.  You’ll learn how to add additional media elements in the next section.

You may want to think about the background at this point, too. This can be an image, a video, or just a simple block of color. Look on the sidebar and you’ll see a background option. From here you can make any changes you like.

How Can I Add Different Elements?

Your template may not have come with images, or you may want to add something new. The template is your foundation and you can complete your website by going to the sidebar and clicking the ‘Add’ button. There are elements like text boxes, images, menus, and buttons to choose from. There are nearly always multiple style options to choose from for each element.

All you must do is move the elements around and resize them how you like.

Add Elements for Every Page

Remember that up to this point you’ve only been working on the homepage. You need to repeat this process for every other page on your site. You can customize each page accordingly, since most websites only transfer specific elements over to every page.

Select the page and just click the ‘Edit’ button on your navigation bar. You can add elements just like you did in the previous section. Just remember to save your draft!

How Can I Add Special Sections?

The first special section you might want to add is a blog. If you already used a blog as your homepage you can skip this section. The sidebar will allow you to add the ‘Blog’ page element to your page. From there you can add new content and edit any existing posts.

Another special area you may want to add is a products section for an online store. On the sidebar, you’ll find the ‘Store Manager’. From here you can add any products you may have for sale. You’ll be able to add text elements, photos, pricing information, and shipping information.

You’re Done – Upload Your Site

Once you’ve made it this far you’re ready to publish your website. This is as easy as pushing the ‘Publish’ button in the top-right corner. You can add your registered domain or choose one of the free Wix options, but registering your own domain is a cheap yet worthwhile investment.

Are you ready to build your first Wix website?