When Wix was first introduced, it catered to DIY individuals with no website development or design skills. However, today it is a strong competitor to market-leading website builders and can also serve great to advanced users.
Many entrepreneurs, individual site owners, and businesses come across Wix when working on a WordPress site. And still, switching from one platform to another is somewhat intimidating. Such a challenge always requires a new commitment, but it’s definitely worth it.
Generally, to maintain a WordPress site, you must be paying a specialist quite big bucks since they have to find security issues, SSL certificates and firewalls, updates, plugins, SEO tools, etc. Doing all this on your own is time-consuming.
On the other hand, Wix features a global reach of staff, developers, and engineers ready to assist in integrating most of your site features for you.
You are provided flexible plan options while the project management process is greatly facilitated. So it definitely makes sense to consider switching to Wix.
What You Should Consider When Switching to Wix
WordPress is a reputable, robust website-building platform. However, the big learning curve necessary for setting up a site and the further complexity of managing it repel plenty of users.
Wix, in contrast, perfectly combines the simplicity of use and impressive functionality. It ensures impressive value for money: at a reasonably low monthly payment, you acquire the possibility of creating a site with a virtual store, galleries, a blog, appointment booking, and plenty of other stuff.
Furthermore, Wix also offers pretty strong email marketing tools in all its subscriptions.
See the main reasons why it’s worth considering moving your WordPress domain to Wix:
- Wix offers an easy way to set up a site at a relatively affordable cheap price; you won’t even need developer support;
- A broad selection of quality and responsive templates is at your disposal;
- Despite not being eCommerce oriented, Wix features a decent eCommerce plan with a broad collection of selling features;
- The security setup stands out for its robustness: the overall platform is credible;
- Email-marketing tools are involved in every Wix account;
- Wix supports over 180 languages which makes it an ideal option for those who need to set up multilingual sites;
- The solution features a straightforward ADI version which is excellent, especially for website design novices;
- Thanks to the neat integration with Google Search Console, you can find the principal search metrics right on the Wix interface;
- Wix offers a thoroughly free version which is pretty good for trying out the platform;
- By subscribing to Wix, you also get a free one-year domain.
Before You Start the Transfer
WordPress doesn’t offer an easy switch button: Hence, transferring a WP domain to Wix is a manual procedure. On the other hand, Wix makes building a site easily; in the long run, a user will save on-site management time and money.
Switching your domain from WordPress to Wix means choosing the latter as your new domain host.
Accordingly, from now on, your website DNS settings, your domain contact information, and all registration payments must be managed from your new Wix account.
So, to transfer a WP domain to Wix, you have to submit the authorization code, which is the same as the EPP code. You can get it from your current registrar. Once requested, the company will send it to your domain-registered email.
Keep the website online throughout the process so that it won’t interfere with visitors accessing your site.
Note that to transfer your WP domain to Wix, you must buy at least one year of domain registration with it.
Furthermore, before starting the domain switch, make sure it is unlocked. Normally, domains are locked, so once again, you must get in touch with the current registrar and request the domain be unlocked and disable your site DNSSEC. The thing is that Wix doesn’t support it at present.
Expected Payments
Wix doesn’t charge for transferring a domain from WordPress to its platform. However, there’s some payment to be made for at least an extra year for the registration of the domain.
Actually, you have two options here – either to use a Wix domain voucher or get a domain from the system at extra cost. Let’s review both options below.
- Using Wix Domain Voucher
- Getting Paid Domain Name
When you decide to transfer a domain from WordPres to Wix, you will be offered a domain voucher as a promo gift. The voucher itself is free, but it implies the initial purchase of one of yearly Wix premium plans – Combo, Unlimited, Pro, VIP, Business Basic, Business Unlimited, Business VIP Premium or Editor X plans. The cost of these plans starts at $22/mo. It is also possible to redeem your 1-year free domain voucher after transferring your domain to Wix servers. By the way, if you already own a valid domain voucher, it is applied automatically when you choose the domain registration extension period in your Wix account in the process of transferring.
Mind that the domain name fee will increase right when the first free year is up. The cost of the domain after the renewal period will constitute $14.95 per year.
Most domains you can get from Wix cost around $10 and $45 per year. The cost is determined by multiple factors like hosting, domain age and structure, privacy protection etc. Registering a domain with Wix, however, costs $14.95 per year. Additionally, you can opt for private domain registration at $9.90 per year. Private registration guarantees that up domain contact info for the public Whois database will not become public.
Step-by-Step Guide
A domain is an address that people use to access your site. It informs the web browser where your website can be found. And here’s a step-by-step guide on how to switch to Wix from WordPress:
- Go to your Wix site, get acquainted with the critical information regarding the domain transfer, and click “Start Transfer” in the bottom right corner.
- Insert the domain to be transferred in the respected line.
- Complete the second checkbox with the domain provider you obtained it from. If you aren’t sure, you can search for it in your email, as you must have received a confirmation message or an invoice.
- Hit “Continue.”
- Access your account with your present domain host. For this, open a separate browser tab you have purchased your domain on (i.e., WordPress) and go back to the tab with your Wix account opened to choose the “I logged in” checkbox.
- To ensure the domain can be already transferred: for this, unlock it from your present domain host in a separate browser tab and then choose the “I unlocked it” checkbox from your Wix account.
- Apply to your domain host provider to receive the authorization code – do this from your account.
- Paste the authorization code under the line “Enter authorization code;”
- Go with the “Continue.”
- Now you will have to choose an extension period which mustn’t be shorter than a year. Note that free domain vouchers are applied automatically.
- Once again, choose “Continue”.
- Check if the submitted information is correct, and if necessary, make edits, to click “Continue” once done.
- Choose one of the privacy options. The suggested variants are:
- Public Registration: By choosing this option, your name and address will remain public in the WHOIS domain data records forever. And if you regret it, changing it to private is possible only after the domain subscription is manually extended.
- Private Registration: By opting for this option, you keep your name and address private, and they won’t be included in the WHOIS domain data records. Unlike the public Registration option, you can switch the privacy protection option on and off anytime.
- Hit “Continue”;
- Choose the payment gateway and hit “Submit Purchase”.
After submitting the purchase, Wix’s team sends an email to your domain’s registrant WordPress to confirm the start of the domain transfer.
Note that although it takes only several minutes to submit the domain transfer request, the entire procedure requires up to one week to finalize. However, if you need it quickly, you should connect the domain to Wix first. With such a connection, you get your DNS hosted by Wix yet still registered with WordPress.
To connect a domain, having a Premium Wix plan is a must. Since Wix doesn’t support DNS proxies such as Cloudflare, and DNSSEC, disable these options first.
So, to add a domain, follow these steps:
- Access your Wix account and go to your domains section.
- Find and hit “Add an Existing Domain.”
- Select the “Connect a domain you already own” option (it comes first).
- Choose the website to be connected to your domain and proceed with the “Next.”
- After entering your domain name, click “Let’s Go.”
- Confirm with “I own this domain.”
- Take your time to review all the information displayed on the screen, and if everything is alright, click “Start.”
If your domain happens to be already connected to a Wix account, you will get a message informing you about it right after the second step is fulfilled.
To connect the domain, update its name server settings from your WordPress account. Here’s how to do it:
- Enter your domain host from a new tab in the browser.
- Get back to Wix’s domains page and click “I logged in.”
- Locate your domain setting page on WP.
- Inform about it on the Wix domains page by clicking “I found my domain settings.”
- Detect your name servers – the area where you can edit and manage name server records.
- Return to the domains page on Wix once more and click “I found my nameservers.”
- Now you must replace your name servers from WP’s domain site with that provided on the Wix domains page.
- Click “I have replaced by nameservers” on Wix’s domains page.
Now all that’s left is to wait till the domain is propagated. Normally, two business days pass before your domain’s new DNS records are propagated.
FAQ
- What is EPP Code?
- What is DNSSEC?
- Private domain registration in Wix – worth it?
- How long does it take to transfer a domain name from WordPress to Wix?
An EPP (Extensible Provisioning Protocol) Code is also known as a transfer authorization code – a unique string assigned to every domain name. It’s used as a security measure to authorize and approve the transfer of the domain from one registrar to another.
DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) is a suite of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications for securing certain kinds of information provided by the Domain Name System (DNS) used on Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It is designed to protect against certain types of attacks such as data modification or cache poisoning.
Whether private domain registration in Wix is worth it depends on your need for privacy. It keeps your personal and contact info like name, address and phone number hidden from public view on the WHOIS database. This is an advantage when it comes to avoiding spam and protecting personal data.
The time to transfer a domain name from WordPress to Wix can vary. Typically, domain transfers can take anywhere from a few days to up to a week (in most cases, the term constitutes around 2-3 days). The duration depends on the responsiveness of the parties involved and the completion of necessary procedures.
Final Words
WordPress has led the website-building market ever since it was first introduced. However, new companies like Wix emerged, offering users far better services. It keeps introducing new features while the company’s development team keeps growing.
Wix has become an ideal solution if the user needs a DIY site approach, seeks a more beginner-oriented platform with better support options, wants to manage the site while allowing other agencies to cooperate, and looks for a hands-off tech process through the mobile app, too.
Switching your website domain from WordPress to Wix is a manual yet not complicated process. However, you may make the process even smoother by ordering my services for a domain transfer. Just take a look at my offer here.