Websites are the new business card. If you have a business, you need a website.
It doesn’t have to be complicated or designed like Nike, but it does need to be easy to navigate, communicate who you are & what you offer, and visitors have to know what to do next.
Not having a website, or having a complicated site is a red flag for many potential clients.
You Get It, You Need a Website
Wix makes building a website easy. We’re not going to get into why some designers or developers hate on it – I think they might feel threatened.
We built our main site on Wix to show our clients how much we trust that it doesn’t matter what platform you’re on, it’s how you optimize it.
But I digress…In this post, we’ll be providing a guide for those who are new to Wix how to make a Wix Business site.
Key Steps to Make a Wix Business Site:
Plan out what you’ll need
Visualize your design
Focus on the essentials
Optimize for search engines
Test on mobile
Setup a lead capture campaign
Launch a lead nurture campaign
Use technology to automate
1. Plan What You’ll Need
Sitemap: Key pages that are ESSENTIAL to your launch. Consider, if a page is crucial to telling your story (what you offer, who it’s for, what problem it solves, why trust you, and what they should do next if they want more info/want to work with you).
If you aren’t sure if you’ll have enough content for the page, or it doesn’t address one of the questions above, you don’t need it yet.
Wireframes: Are a great way to plan what content you’ll need and where it will go before you start building in Wix. Your future self will thank you if you take some time to organize and prioritize your content.
Keyword Research: Keywords are what you use in search engines to find a specific service/product, or learn more information. It could be one word, or a series of words, keyphrase.
Use Google’s Keyword Planner to find the right keywords to use on your site.
Wix also offers SEO tools to help you optimize your site. We like to use Google Keyword Planner before you start creating your site, so you can plan your content accordingly.
Write Your Content: If done well, your content (images and copy) can speak to your target customer in a way that not only resonates with them in the moment, but also creates a lasting impression.
Focus on your target audience when writing your copy. It might sound harsh, but your customers want to know why they should care and what’s in it for them. Make this clear to them and you can build from there.
2. Visualize Your Design
Create Your Logo: Wix offers a logo maker, which you can customize to make it your own. Another option that we often recommend is 99designs.
Stylescape: Your color scheme, site elements (buttons, lines & icons), and fonts. Establish this now and it will make your life easier when you get into the Wix editor.
Stock Photos or Your Own Images: If you don’t have high quality, professional images, use stock photos. We recommend using images that either show your target audience in a happy state after using your service, OR in the before, frustrated state.
This helps your target audience picture themselves in the future state, or identify with the frustration/overwhelm they’re feeling now.
Make sure you have the rights to the stock photos. When in doubt, find ones you can purchase, so you know you are allowed to use them.
3. Focus on the Essentials
The essentials are the web features, design, technology, marketing, etc. you ABSOLUTELY NEED to launch your site. Not what would be cool, or is the shiny new tool, what you have to have.
It’s easy to get distracted when you’re building your site, so write out a list of your must haves, so you can stay focused.
Done is better than perfect, and something is better than nothing. You can always tweak and optimize your site after launching it.
4. Optimize for Search Engines
Wix is great about walking you through this part, and if you already have your list of keywords that will be quick wins and the ones that have a high search volume (they’re searched often by people), you’ll be well prepared.
You’ll first be asked to make sure your site is connected to Google (don’t worry, Wix guides you through this). Next you’ll add 5 keywords/key-phrases to your SEO plan, and finally, you’ll be instructed to optimize each page, so it features one of those keywords.
You’ll want to check back in Wix & Google Analytics to see how your site is performing and tweak your descriptions and keywords to see what gives you better results.
Don’t forget to update content & create new content on your blog as well!
5. Test on Mobile
Wix currently offers a desktop and mobile view where you can view and test your site on mobile.
A new responsive editor is in the works (where you’ll be able to also test on tablet) and should be released soon, but for now, as long as you keep your elements within strips and the center section Wix defines for you, you’ll be sorted.
6. Setup a Lead Capture Campaign
Consider what you can offer visitors that is valuable to them (saves them money, saves time, helps them avoid future headache, etc.) in exchange for their email address. This is often called a lead magnet, and it can be a guide, checklist, quiz, or discount.
Once you’ve created what you plan to offer, use Ascend by Wix, MailChimp, Constant Contact, or Keap to create an automation that will automatically email someone your offer and welcome them to your community.
In the email(s) you can also set expectations, so they’ll know what kind of content you’ll be sharing and why it’ll be helpful for them.
7. Launch a Lead Nurture Campaign
This will be setup similarly to the lead capture campaign, but it can be used for more of a long-term marketing strategy.
You’ll be using the same technology examples mentioned above, and will want to educate your target audience and build a relationship. This is important to do, so you stay top of mind and they know exactly what you offer and why they need it.
8. Use Technology to Automate
Technology is your friend! There are tons of things it can do to help you save time and make life easier for your target audience as well.
There’s booking automation, email automation (which we touched on above), social scheduling & review/feedback gathering.
Consider what automation could do for you and your business to save you time.
Read this article to learn how to document & streamline your process – a great way to start with planning for automation.
Wrapping It Up
We hope you found this article helpful as you make your Wix business site like a boss.
Wix is a great platform to help you get online quickly and without a lick of code. If you’re feeling stuck, or overwhelmed – we’re here to help!
Post a comment below, or email hello@border7.com, and tell us what’s going on.
You can also join our Facebook Group: Get more leads through your Wix & WordPress Site for free advice, resources & tips.
