Looking to switch from Wix to WordPress? As a web developer with over 15 years of experience, I‘ve helped dozens of site owners make this transition smoothly. In this ultimate guide, I‘ll share everything you need to know to successfully move from Wix to WordPress.
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Why Most Users Eventually Switch From Wix to WordPress
Wix is a popular do-it-yourself website builder known for its easy drag-and-drop editor. This makes it very beginner-friendly.
However, as your site grows over time, Wix‘s limitations and high costs start to add up:
- According to VentureBeat, Wix has over 200 million registered users but only 4.5 million paying subscribers. Most outgrow the platform.
- Wix limits bandwidth, storage space, and features unless you upgrade to expensive premium plans. WordPress gives you unrestricted access to all features.
- Your Wix site is hosted on Wix servers. With WordPress, you control hosting so you have more ownership over your site.
- Page load speeds are slower on Wix compared to well-optimized WordPress sites. This can negatively impact your site‘s performance.
WordPress gives you more design flexibility, lower long-term costs, and better customization. Over 64% of all websites are now powered by WordPress, making it the most powerful and popular CMS available.
The 7 Key Steps to Switch From Wix to WordPress
Based on my experience assisting clients with Wix to WordPress migrations, I recommend following these crucial steps:
Step 1: Get Managed WordPress Hosting
Since WordPress is open-source software, you first need web hosting for your WordPress site. Don‘t just get any shared hosting plan though – I advise choosing managed WordPress hosting for best performance and ease of use.
My top recommendations are:
- Kinsta – Fast site speeds. Optimized for WordPress. Great support.
- WP Engine – Created specifically for WordPress. Very reliable.
- Pagely – Extra WordPress security protections.
Plan for around $25-60 per month depending on traffic. This is an investment in your website‘s success.
You‘ll also need to purchase a domain name for your new WordPress site URL if you don‘t already have one.
Step 2: Install WordPress and Choose a Theme
Once you have hosting, installing WordPress takes just a few minutes. Most managed WordPress hosts provide a simple auto-installer tool to handle this.
Your newly installed WordPress site will use the default theme to start. Don‘t worry – you can change this easily.
Browse the WordPress theme marketplace to find a theme that matches your site‘s style and niche. Top theme companies include:
- StudioPress
- Elegant Themes
- ThemeForest
- TemplateMonster
For a simple blog or basic site, a free theme works fine. Expect to pay $40-80 for a premium theme with more features.
Installing a WordPress theme is very easy. Just upload the theme file in your WordPress dashboard.
Step 3: Set Up Your Content Structure
Now it‘s time to start organizing your site‘s content and structure.
First, go to Settings > Permalinks to create pretty WordPress URLs. I recommend the post name option for SEO.
Next, recreate your main navigation menus in the Appearance > Menus area. Add and arrange pages here.
Finally, start creating pages in WordPress to match your existing Wix site structure. You can draft content directly in WordPress and publish when ready.
Having your site content mapped out in advance will make migrating content from Wix smooth.
Step 4: Migrate Your Wix Content to WordPress
When moving your content from Wix to WordPress, follow these steps:
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Blog posts – Install the RSS Importer plugin to import your blog via the Wix RSS feed export. This will transfer your posts themselves, but you‘ll likely need to re-add images manually.
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Pages – Manually copy each page‘s content from Wix and paste it into new WordPress pages you create. Reformatting may be required.
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Media – Use a plugin like Media from FTP to import all your images and files from Wix into the WordPress media library.
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Menus – Recreate your Wix menus in WordPress Appearance > Menus as outlined earlier.
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301 Redirects – Redirect all Wix URLs to relevant WordPress pages with 301 redirects in your .htaccess file. This passes SEO value.
Migrating content takes time and effort, but following this process will smoothly transfer your site over to WordPress.
Step 5: Add Essential WordPress Plugins
One of the best things about WordPress is being able to extend its functionality with plugins.
Must-have free plugins I install on every site include:
- Yoast SEO – Essential for optimizing content for search engines.
- Smush – Compresses images to speed up page loads.
- BackUpWordPress – For automated WordPress backups.
- Akismet – Blocks spam comments.
There are also premium "all-in-one" plugins like SEOPress that bundle several tools into one. Expect to budget $20-60 per year for essential paid plugins.
Carefully research which plugins are right for your specific needs. Avoid installing too many unnecessary plugins though, as this can slow your site down.
Step 6: Customize Your Design With a Page Builder
One of the biggest advantages of WordPress over Wix is design flexibility. You are no longer limited to a template.
For drag-and-drop site design, install a premium WordPress page builder plugin. I recommend Elementor or Divi Builder. Cost is around $50-60 annually.
Page builders let you create beautiful, responsive layouts with no coding needed. This gives you the same ease of use as Wix with way more customization.
You can also use WordPress themes and CSS customization to achieve virtually any design style you envision.
Step 7: Ongoing WordPress Maintenance
As part of the migration process, it‘s a good idea to set up a plan for ongoing WordPress management and maintenance.
Be sure to:
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Create admin and editor accounts for any staff members who will access the WordPress dashboard.
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Set up automated WordPress updates via your hosting control panel.
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Schedule regular WordPress backups through a managed host or backup plugin.
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Sign up for site monitoring to catch issues proactively before they impact visitors.
With the proper WordPress maintenance routine, your site will run smoothly for years to come.
Migrating to WordPress Opens Up a World of Possibilities
As you can see, switching over to WordPress from Wix takes a bit of upfront work. But you‘ll gain so much flexibility, customization potential, and long-term cost savings.
Once on WordPress, you can add advanced features like:
- Custom forms, surveys and questionnaires
- User login areas and membership sites
- Appointment booking and scheduling
- Live chat and support features
- Forums and online communities
- Custom databases, CRMs, and catalogs
- APIs and site integrations
With over 55,000 plugins, over 10,000 themes, and an extensive developer community, WordPress makes virtually any website you can imagine possible.
I hope this guide helped explain the steps required to properly switch from Wix to WordPress. Let me know if you have any other questions during your transition! I‘m always happy to help fellow site owners.
