Getting Started on your First Free Website

Possibly the hardest step in learning how to make a website is deciding what it is you want to create, and the message you want to send from your place on the web. For inspiration, Explore our gallery of fabulous user websites, all made with Wix. You can browse through sites designed in your particular niche, whether it’s a photography website, a business website, an artist or design portfolio, and more.

Keep things organized with a simple sketch of your site’s architecture. Most websites begin with a homepage that connects to a series of inner pages. Depending on your needs, you may want to have an About page, a product gallery and a contact page. Using a pencil and a piece of paper, map out what you want your site’s navigation to look like. Don’t worry about technical or style details – you’ll see how simple it is to customize a website just the way you want, and easily adjust if you change your mind later.

Wix gives you the freedom to create a website just the way you want. You can build from scratch, or use a free web template to get started with a solid foundation for your site, and customize as you go. Take your time browsing the template category of your choice, located inside the Create section. Everything inside a Wix template is fully customizable from the colors to the Flash effects. If you like something you see inside a template, it’s yours to keep and use as you like just by creating an account at Wix. Once you select a template to edit, you will see it automatically placed inside the Wix editor.

Now the fun part. With Wix, editing is easy with a simple drag & drop process. Add galleries, menu buttons, music, video files, widgets and more without entering a line of code.

To change anything in a template, click on it. To add something new, use the toolbox located on the left of the editor. Drag and drop whatever you like onto your workspace. Click Save to store your work, and give your website a name. 1-step publishing puts your site live on the web. Easy!

Guess what? You’re done! You now have a live, viable website you can share with friends, family, clients and colleagues. Your site will be stored for free on our servers, so you can come back and edit it at anytime.

Your free domain will look like this: www.wix.com/yourusername/yourwebsitename

Wix offers a variety of Premium Packages to connect your own domain and discover how to make a website with advanced features. Set up an online shop, add a customized favicon and track site traffic with Google Analytics all by upgrading to a Wix Premium package. You’ll have your very own domain that we’ll show you in a few easy steps how to get.

Once your website is polished and ready you can promote it online with a variety of options. Wix offers a ton of SEO, advertising, social networking and other promotional opportunities so you can showcase your site to the largest audience possible, and gain all the online traffic you want. We’re here with you every step of the way, and you can find loads of support in our many Wix channels. From forums to blogs to PPC advertising, you can pick what option suits you and your needs best.

That ’s pretty much it! Now that you know how to make a website, why not get started customizing your own free web template? Discover the freedom and the ease with which Wix allows you to create, and put yourself online today. These How To guides are here to guide you on all aspects of designing and promoting your site. Fast, free and fun!