Converting Wix Site To Wordpress – Ultimate Guide

Picture this: your website is growing. Business is booming and customers are starting to find out about your web presence.

You need to upgrade your web pages – maybe with deeper HTML, maybe with custom plugins, or maybe you need to scale.

That once oh so useful Wix page just isn’t cutting it anymore. You know there are other options, but making the change means rebuilding from the ground up. Right? Not quite. Tools exist that simplify Wix to WordPress migration.

Today, we’re breaking down how to convert your Wix site to WordPress the easy way. Our guide can take you from Wix to WordPress in no time. Sounds good? Let’s get started.

What's In This Guide?

The Battle Of The CMS

Wix and WordPress are two of the top website builders around, with each having their own strengths and weaknesses.

Though on the whole, WordPress represents the more complete builder offering deeper customization.

It’s no surprise then, that millions of sites use WordPress, with that number always growing.

Part of the reason for this consistent stream is the user migration from other CMS platforms, specifically Wix.

People and businesses eventually outgrow Wix’s limited features and move to WordPress’ full-featured platform.

When we guessed feature limitation was the reason for your move, that’s because you share that same problem with millions of others. Wix simply doesn’t cut it once deeper web needs arise.

And it’s not a knock against Wix. The CMS does an excellent job building simple websites based on templates and a drag and drop formatting.

Anyone can quickly throw together a site that most people would find easy to use and visually appealing.

But once you start talking about HTML coding, CSS, and advanced web design, Wix becomes obsolete. WordPress just offers more options.

When we’re talking about the battle between the CMSs, Wix is like the beginner difficulty level while WordPress is the expert.

Getting Started

WordPress, unless you’re using the free option (and you shouldn’t), requires third-party web hosting.

It’s an unavoidable fact of using the platform that you can’t fight. But once you get past the initial cost, web hosting is more than worth the investment.

With web hosting, you can scale your server needs as your visitor numbers grow. It’s as simple as asking for more bandwidth from the hosting company.

With Wix, that’s not possible. We recommend WPEngine for your WordPress hosting needs.

Next, you need a domain name. This should reflect your business (you can potentially use the same one as you were on Wix). Don’t activate the domain after buying, however, because for now it’s just a placeholder.

Now it’s time to install WordPress. This step varies depending on the host you’ve chosen. Though most hosts offer a one-click installation, if you’ve chosen WPEngine, just click the install button and you’re done.

Setting Up Your WordPress Website

After installing WordPress from your web host’s cPanel, you have to set up your website, so it’s ready to receive the content you’ll be transferring from Wix.

The first and most important aspect is the permalinks. WordPress has different permalink structures, including plain, day and name, month and name, numeric, post name, and custom structure.

It’s important that you set up a permalink structure that resembles that of your Wix website. That way, you’ll have fewer 404 redirect errors – they occur when web pages cannot be found.

Here’s how to edit your WordPress permalink structure:

  • Log into your WordPress dashboard.
  • Click on Settings from the left-aligned menu.
  • Click on Permalinks under the WordPress settings.
  • Select the suitable permalink structure and click on Save Changes.
  • Visit your website and navigate some pages to confirm the permalinks has been updated.

Another important thing to do is to install a theme. While converting your Wix site to WordPress, it’s unlikely that you’ll keep the same theme.

However, the good news is that WordPress has thousands of free and premium themes.

It won’t be difficult to find a theme similar to the one on your Wix website if you’re bent on using it.

Here’s how to install a WordPress theme:

  • Log into your WordPress dashboard.
  • Click on Appearance from the left-aligned menu.
  • Select Themes, and you’ll get a list of your installed themes.
  • Click on Add New to choose a new theme.
  • Search the WordPress theme directory for the theme you want. If you have the theme file on your computer, click on Upload Theme and upload it.
  • Click on Activate after the theme finishes downloading or uploading.

If finding a theme is difficult, you can install page builder plugins and build the each pages from scratch. It may take time, but it’s easy as most WordPress page builders are drag and drop tools.

Alternatively, you can customize an existing theme. Take, for instance, Divi which has several plugins that allow you to flexibly customize your web pages as you wish.

Worth Reading:

How To Convert Wix Site To WordPress?

Once you have your WordPress website ready, you can proceed using any of the below methods:

Manual Conversion

Manual conversion isn’t the fastest way, but it’s arguably the most accurate way to convert your website. In essence, you’re conducting one big “copy and paste.”

The first step here is choosing a similar theme or template for your website. Next, you’ll need to build your actual website. This means recreating forms on web pages, contact pages, etc.

It takes time, as every page needs creating, and the content from those pages must be copied and pasted into the text area of the WordPress backend. The result is a website that’s as close to the original as possible.

While it might seem like you’re wasting time with the recreation, part of the reason you’re migrating is to make changes to your website.

It might take some extra work on your part, but starting with a clean slate is the perfect time to make any ideas you’ve had come to life.

And if you don’t need a completely clean slate, you can import any web code Wix did allow onto your new web pages.

As a rule of thumb, if Wix allows the (non-Wix associated) code, WordPress is guaranteed to support your import.

Plus, you can use the move to optimize your website for best SEO practices including linking structure, keywords, and other metrics.

Capitalizing on your increased popularity with better SEO metrics can help further increase the already growing number of eyes on your website.

Semi-Automated Migration

Semi-automated migration involves moving part of your Wix site based on your blog’s RSS feed data and then recreating the rest by hand. Confused? It’s actually extremely simple.

Wix provides all blogs with RSS feed data, which amounts to a code-based way to aggregate information in a live feed. Someone could take your blog RSS code and use it on their website in order to get live updates of your content.

But instead of having someone else use your code, you’re taking your existing RSS data and using it to populate your existing posts onto your new blog page.

First, click the RSS button on your Wix site. Next, copy and save the resulting XML data into WordPad or some other word processor.

On WordPress, open the RSS importer tool (in the “Tools” menu) and run the importer. Copy the XML information into the importer and you’re done.

However, the RSS feed import tool doesn’t copy over images and other media. You’ll either need to add those manually or use the WordPress plugin “Import External Images.”

This tool examines the HTML source of your posts and matches the HTML code with your ‘imported images’ IMG tag.

For the rest of the website, you’ll need to utilize the manual method described above, hence the semi-automated label.

Paid migration is the last option for those that don’t want to deal with the hassle of migrating anything on their own. While it does cost money, it’s also an extremely easy way to ensure the process goes smoothly.

Programs like CMSTOWP provide a full-service migration where you’re responsible for none of the process.

You simply send away your Wix information, pay the fee, and get handed your new WordPress login information.

Ok, it’s not that simple, but that’s the basic premise, though it is true that you’re not responsible for doing any of the work.

The process is completely automated, and they’ll even sign a non-disclosure agreement if you’re worried about your data privacy.

Post Conversion

The post-conversion process is just finalizing your migration from Wix to WordPress. It’s a simple few steps that involve taking your WordPress site live and shutting your Wix site down.

Following these instructions ensures you’re not leaving duplicate pages which can seriously hurt your SEO.

The main step here is taking your new website live using your provider and also shutting down your WordPress account.

If you’ve used the same domain and blog URLs your customers should have no problem finding your content.

If you choose not to register a domain at the beginning of our process, you can always transfer your existing Wix domain (assuming you have the paid version) to your new host. Wix has a transfer process under the “Advanced” tab.

If you choose the paid option, you can ignore this section completely!

There you have it. Regardless of which option you chose, your Wix to WordPress migration is complete.

Your new WordPress site is now ready to scale right along with your business.

Why You Should Move From Wix To WordPress?

Image by Dok Sev via Pixabay

The number one reason why people switch from Wix to WordPress is that Wix has some limitations that are everyday features in WordPress.

Launching a website with Wix is easy; however, it is much easier doing so with WordPress.

Besides, after launching your website, you may need to carry out extensive customization to get the perfect site; and that’s where Wix falls short.

The most prominent customization limitation is your website’s theme. Wix prompts you to choose a theme while setting up your website; once it’s live, it could be a complicated process to change your theme.

On the other hand, WordPress lets you access a library of thousands of free themes. You can also upload premium themes from other third parties.

You can change your WordPress theme a million times in a day if you want; there’s no limitation. You can change your theme while your website is live and simply display a Maintenance Mode message while it uploads.

Activating a WordPress theme requires a single click after uploading. As a result, it won’t likely affect your website’s uptime.

You can also edit the code of your WordPress theme – whether it’s a theme from the native directory or an uploaded one. Wix doesn’t let you access the HTML of your website.

Furthermore, as a WordPress alternative, Wix is a closed CMS platform. You can only make use of the native tools that the platform provides. With WordPress, the tools you can use are infinite.

You can use WordPress native tools and also install other tools as plugins.

Another major Wix downside is the inability to embed forms in blog posts.

If you’re a marketer or influencer trying to collect leads, using Wix can be challenging because visitors can only access the forms on a different page.

Meanwhile, adding forms to blog posts is a common WordPress feature. Many form-building plugins support embedding forms using HTML and shortcodes.

Bottom Line

You may want to move your website from Wix to WordPress to access more functionality.

Thanks to its free availability and easy support for plugins, WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world.

With this ultimate guide, moving from Wix to WordPress will be much easier.

About Author

Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing.
Tom has been a full-time internet marketer for two decades now, earning millions of dollars while living life on his own terms. Along the way, he’s also coached thousands of other people to success.