The Ultimate Guide to Migrating from Wix to WordPress in 2024

In today’s digital era, many businesses start small, using platforms like Wix to build their online presence quickly. While Wix offers user-friendly tools for beginners, it often becomes restrictive as businesses grow and demand more customization, scalability, and control. That’s where WordPress comes in—a powerful, flexible platform that has become the go-to for businesses looking to scale their websites and take advantage of robust SEO and customization features.

If you’ve reached a point where Wix is limiting your business’s growth, migrating to WordPress is a smart move. However, the process involves more than just copying content over; a proper migration ensures that your website maintains its design integrity, SEO rankings, and functionality.

At Dellos, we specialize in CMS migration services that help businesses seamlessly transition from platforms like Wix, Webflow to WordPress, and Squarespace to WordPress without losing any valuable data or search engine rankings.

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through the process of migrating your website from Wix to WordPress in 2024, including everything from planning and preparation to executing a seamless migration.


1. Why Migrate from Wix to WordPress?

Before diving into the technical details, let’s explore why so many businesses are making the switch from Wix to WordPress:

a. Customization and Flexibility

Wix is a closed platform, meaning that customization options are limited to the tools and templates provided by Wix. As your business grows, you may want to implement advanced design features, custom functionalities, or integrations with third-party services. WordPress, being an open-source platform, allows for unlimited customization through themes, plugins, and custom development, giving you full control over your website.

b. Scalability

Wix is ideal for small websites, but as your content grows, you may experience performance issues, limited design flexibility, and lack of scalability. WordPress, on the other hand, can handle anything from small blogs to large, high-traffic eCommerce websites. It’s designed to scale with your business, supporting thousands of pages, multimedia files, and integrations.

c. SEO Advantages

While Wix has made strides in improving its SEO features, WordPress remains the superior platform for optimizing your website for search engines. WordPress gives you complete control over metadata, URL structure, and advanced SEO plugins like Yoast SEO, helping your site rank higher in search engine results.

d. Ownership and Control

With Wix, your website is hosted on Wix’s servers, meaning you don’t have full control over your hosting environment, performance, or technical aspects. WordPress allows you to choose your own hosting provider, giving you more control over site speed, security, and server resources.


2. Planning Your Wix to WordPress Migration

Migrating from Wix to WordPress requires careful planning to ensure that all your content, SEO settings, and functionality are transferred without any hitches. Here’s a breakdown of the key steps to prepare for the migration:

a. Backup Your Wix Content

Wix doesn’t provide a simple export option for all your site data, so you’ll need to manually backup your content. This includes copying text, downloading images, and making note of URLs, SEO settings, and other important configurations.

b. Choose Your Hosting Provider

Unlike Wix, WordPress requires separate hosting. You’ll need to choose a reliable hosting provider that suits your website’s needs. Popular WordPress hosting providers include SiteGround, Bluehost, and WP Engine. These hosts offer various plans depending on your traffic levels, storage requirements, and performance needs.

c. Install WordPress

Once you’ve selected your hosting provider, you’ll need to install WordPress. Most hosting providers offer one-click WordPress installation, simplifying the process. Once installed, you can begin setting up your new site.

d. Select a WordPress Theme

WordPress offers thousands of themes to choose from, allowing you to find a design that closely matches your current Wix site or one that aligns with your new design goals. You can choose from free themes in the WordPress repository or premium themes from providers like ThemeForest or Elegant Themes.


3. Migrating Content from Wix to WordPress

Since Wix is a closed system, there isn’t a direct way to export all your content from Wix and import it into WordPress. However, you can use a combination of manual methods and third-party tools to complete the migration:

a. Manually Copying Content

For smaller websites, you can manually copy your text content from Wix to WordPress. Simply paste your existing text into the new WordPress pages or posts. You can also manually upload images and other media files into the WordPress Media Library.

b. Automating the Content Migration

If you have a larger website, manually copying content can be time-consuming. Tools like the CMS2CMS migration service or the “Wix to WordPress” plugins can help automate this process. These services help migrate your blog posts, pages, media, and other key data from Wix to WordPress with minimal effort.

c. Setting Up Redirects

To ensure that your existing Wix URLs continue to work after migration and to preserve your SEO rankings, it’s essential to set up proper redirects. Wix doesn’t allow for 301 redirects, so you’ll need to manually set them up in WordPress. Use the “Redirection” plugin or edit your .htaccess file to create 301 redirects from your old Wix URLs to your new WordPress URLs.

d. Rebuilding Your Website’s Design in WordPress

While WordPress offers more design flexibility, rebuilding your Wix site’s design in WordPress may take some time. To make this process easier, you can use drag-and-drop builders like Elementor, Beaver Builder, or Divi, which allow you to recreate complex layouts without needing to code. Alternatively, you can hire a WordPress developer to replicate your site’s design.


4. Preserving SEO and Website Performance

Migrating a website involves more than just transferring content—it’s also about preserving SEO performance and maintaining site speed. Here’s how to do it:

a. Preserving SEO Settings

WordPress gives you more control over SEO optimization than Wix. When migrating your site, ensure that you manually transfer your meta titles, meta descriptions, alt text for images, and any custom SEO settings to the new platform. You can use the Yoast SEO plugin to manage these settings efficiently.

b. Maintaining URL Structure

To prevent losing your current SEO rankings, it’s important to maintain your site’s URL structure. Ensure that your new WordPress URLs match your old Wix URLs. If that’s not possible, set up proper 301 redirects to avoid broken links and search engine penalties.

c. Optimizing for Performance

WordPress offers numerous ways to optimize your website for speed and performance. Here are a few steps to take:

  • Choose a Fast, Reliable Host: Your hosting provider plays a big role in your site’s speed. Opt for a host with strong performance guarantees.
  • Use a Caching Plugin: Install a caching plugin like W3 Total Cache or WP Super Cache to improve load times.
  • Optimize Images: Use an image optimization plugin like Smush or ShortPixel to compress images without sacrificing quality.
  • Leverage a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN like Cloudflare can help distribute your website’s content across multiple servers worldwide, improving speed for international visitors.

5. Migrating Your Wix Blog to WordPress

If your Wix website includes a blog, you’ll want to ensure that all blog posts and comments are transferred over to your new WordPress site. There are a few different methods to accomplish this:

a. Manually Exporting Blog Posts

If you have a small blog, you can manually copy and paste each blog post from Wix into WordPress. Be sure to format the posts correctly, add tags and categories, and upload any associated images.

b. Using an Automated Tool

For larger blogs, a migration tool like CMS2CMS or the Wix RSS Feed export method can help automate the process. CMS2CMS allows you to migrate blog posts, media, and comments from Wix to WordPress in a few simple steps, making the process more efficient.

c. Transferring Media and Comments

If you have an active blog with lots of media files and user comments, you’ll need to manually transfer these as well. For media files, upload them to the WordPress Media Library. For comments, you may need to use a third-party plugin like Disqus, which can sync existing comments and provide a new commenting system for your WordPress site.


6. Setting Up WordPress Plugins for Additional Functionality

One of the biggest advantages of migrating to WordPress is the vast library of plugins available to enhance your website’s functionality. After migrating your site, consider installing the following plugins:

  • Yoast SEO: This plugin helps manage your website’s SEO settings and provides recommendations for optimizing content.
  • Elementor or Divi: These page builders offer drag-and-drop design functionality, allowing you to build visually stunning pages without coding.
  • WooCommerce: If you’re running an online store, WooCommerce is the best plugin to transform your WordPress site into a fully functional eCommerce store.
  • Gravity Forms: Easily add advanced forms to your site, whether for contact inquiries or lead generation.

7. Finalizing Your Wix to WordPress Migration

Before launching your new WordPress site, follow these final steps to ensure everything runs smoothly:

a. Test Your Website Thoroughly

Before going live, thoroughly test your website. Check that all content has migrated properly, URLs work as expected, and any forms or interactive elements function correctly.

b. Monitor Google Analytics

Install Google Analytics on your new WordPress site and monitor traffic to ensure that your SEO rankings remain intact after the migration.

c. Submit a New Sitemap to Google

Once your new site is live, submit a new XML sitemap to Google Search Console to ensure that search engines can properly index your new WordPress URLs.


Conclusion

Migrating from Wix to WordPress is a significant but highly rewarding undertaking. WordPress offers unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and SEO benefits that make it the ideal platform for growing businesses. While the migration process can seem daunting, careful planning, the right tools, and a step-by-step approach can ensure a smooth transition.

At Dellos, we are experts in CMS migration services, ensuring a smooth and effective transfer from platforms like Webflow to WordPress and Squarespace to WordPress. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying the full benefits of WordPress—taking your website to the next level in 2024 and beyond.


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