Because of its diverse templates and intuitive interface, Wix seems to be an attractive and practical choice for small businesses. Users can quickly and easily create a Wix site. However, as your business grows and limitations become apparent, it may be a good idea to gain more control and move your site from Wix to WordPress CMS.
If you still have a wait-and-see attitude to migration, it may be helpful to understand the global market share types of these two CMS platforms.
The first thing to do before moving is to plan everything carefully. How big is your website? Do you need all the images and SEO settings (metadata)? You can also look at all the major differences between Wix and WordPress for a better understanding.
This article will guide you through the actions you need to successfully migrate your Wix site to WordPress using two different options.
- Purchase hosts and domain names
- Select and customize themes
- Option 1-Import content from Wix to WordPress
- Option 2-use WordHerd
- After migration
Purchase hosts and domain names
Before migrating your site from Wix to WordPress, you must consider and pay attention to two key things-purchasing hosts and purchasing domain names.
When you migrate from Wix, you need to obtain hosting services for your WordPress site; each site needs one. It stores all your site files and displays them to your site visitors. Your WordPress hosting provider will also ensure that your website loads quickly and does not fail. On Wix, this is what they provide you automatically behind the scenes, but you need your own hosting space to migrate Wix data to it.
For WordPress, there are quite a few managed service providers available. However, if you don’t want to worry about Wix maintenance, WordPress hosting is perfect for you. WordPress managed service providers focus only on WordPress and include update, backup, security, and performance features. In general, they are slightly more expensive than other standard managed service providers, but they are worth keeping your site fast and secure.
Select and customize themes
After successfully installing the WordPress site, you will run the default theme, which is currently 2021. But it doesn’t have to be this way. There are a wide range of free and paid themes to choose from.
WordPress theme-2021
The easiest way to find and install a theme is in the dashboard, in theAppearance→ThemeUnder the → installation theme.
No matter which theme you choose, you may still want to customize it to make it look like you want it to be. Today, many themes come with options and custom panels that you can easily adjust to your needs.
Option 1-Import content from Wix to WordPress
Because Wix is a closed platform (not open source), there is no direct way to transfer the content of this CMS. However, you can import Wix RSS Feed instead of recreating each article manually. First, you need to download the RSS file for your website. Follow these steps:
Step 1
Add/feed.xmlGo to the end of your Wix site URL to find the RSS file.
Wix RSS Feed
It is important to note, however, that this approach only applies to old Wix blogs. With their recent updates, there is no new Wix blog RSS Feed. If you are using a new Wix blog, skip to option 2 to migrate your site.
Step 2
If you are using Chrome, you will see a page full of code. Right-click the page and save the file on your computer. By default, it will be saved asfeed.xml. If you are using another browser, such as Firefox, you need to right-click and select View page source. Then save it to your computer.
Save the RSS Feed of your Wix site
Step 3
Now go to your WordPress admin panel, tool → Import. You will see the option to import RSS. Click the Run Importer button (note: you may have to install it first).
Click the WordPress RSS “run importer” link
Step 4
Click the Select File button and select the file you saved earlierfeed.xml. Then click the upload file and import buttons.
Upload and import Wix RSS Feed files
Step 5
You can check that all articles have been exported correctly by going to the article →. Sometimes, your entire feed may not be imported correctly the first time you try. If this happens, simply edit your XML file and delete the successfully imported articles.
Even if your articles have been moved, the images in these articles are still hosted by Wix. To solve this problem, you have two options:
- You can manually save all images on your computer and upload them to the library in WordPress. You can upload them in bulk via FTP/SFTP.
- You can install and activate the additional plug-in Import External Images. After installing and activating the plug-in, go to the media → to import the image, and then click the Import Image now button.
Import External Images plug-in
Note: although the above plug-in has not been updated for some time, it still works well.
Step 6
The final step is to move your Wix page to WordPress. Unfortunately, there is no automatic way to transfer. Therefore, each page must be recreated manually in WordPress.
To do this, go to the Wix page that you want to move to WordPress, copy all the content, and create a new page containing this content in the → add new menu of the WordPress management dashboard → page. When you have finished customizing the page, click the publish button to bring it online on your WordPress site.
Option 2-use WordHerd
No time to waste and need to make sure your WordPress site migration goes smoothly? Then we suggest taking a look at WordHerd. Full-service website migration service that migrates data from any CMS (Wix) platform to WordPress.
WordHerd
WordHerd handles migrations of all sizes, from small businesses to large enterprises. In addition to CMS migration, the WordHerd team is also proficient in assisting with CRM data migration. By the way, if you want to learn more about migration, be sure to check out our list of the best WordPress migration plug-ins.
After migration
After you migrate Wix to WordPress, you will most likely need to update your new site further, especially if you are just starting to use WordPress. Here are some suggestions and a good starting point.
Website security
It is always important to choose a secure WordPress host, which provides additional features to protect your site. But even so, there are some best practices that can further strengthen your site. Changing login to URL, choosing strong passwords, and even implementing WAF solutions such as Cloudflare and Sucuri can make a big difference. Check out the complete guide to WordPress security.
Choose a fast, solid theme
WordPress has no shortage of themes. The key is to find a product that is not only fast, but also provides you with the type of functionality you need. Any niche has a WordPress theme, so you won’t find a lack of choice.
Conversely, if you are trying to build an e-commerce site, take a moment to check out some of the best WooCommerce themes available.
The speed of the website is handled on many levels. You must know exactly what to do and what steps to take to speed up your site. You can do this on several levels.
Therefore, whether you are a beginner in the WordPress site speed world or experienced and want to take your WordPress site speed to a new level, there is a starting point for you to use.
Search engine optimization
WordPress is ideal for out-of-the-box SEO. This is one of the reasons why people like it! But, like any platform, of course, you need to do something to help your site rank better.
- Select the recommended SEO plug-in.
- Create a site map file and submit it to Google and Bing.
- Check your robots.txt file carefully.
- Pass and improve your on-site search engine optimization.
Google Analytics
Implement Google Analytics on your WordPress website. This can help monitor your site’s statistics (traffic and conversion), track online performance, and analyze the behavior of visitors.
Extended function
You will probably need some other plug-ins as well. This is probably one of the best things about WordPress-every possible feature has plug-ins, free and paid! But it can also make finding the right person a challenge. You want to learn more about the best social media plug-ins, contact form plug-ins, CRM plug-ins, and other useful performance plug-ins.
Be sure to check the comments of the plug-ins in the repository and when they were updated. If you want to open an e-commerce store, we recommend that you use WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads.
Summary
Migrating from Wix to WordPress can be a fairly complex process, but it’s worth it because you have more control over your data and the ability to extend your site as needed.
We hope this migration guide will come in handy for those of you who are making the transition.
