How to Transfer a Website from Wix to WordPress

Many Wix users reach a point where they want more command and control over how their website(s) work. Many decide to migrate to the WordPress CMS (WordPress.org, not WordPress.com) for many reasons such as how easy it is to learn and its capabilities for novice and experienced users alike.

Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to migrate a Wix website into WordPress. Much of the migration is customizing WordPress to suit your needs and mirror your Wix site as you see fit before copy-pasting text and uploading media files. You may be able to import some pages easiest via RSS, though. Only after migrating all data and checking that everything works should you update any DNS settings.

Install WordPress Import RSS Manual Migration Upload Images Permalinks DNS Settings

Install WordPress

1. Install WordPress manually with via Softaculous. If you used a Wix subdomain – e.g. user.wixsite.com/sitename, you can use your temporary URL.
2. Install and customize a preferred WordPress theme.
3. Install any preferred and recommended plugins such as for backups, security, and optimization.
   We recommend checking out Updraft, WordFence, and W3 Total Cache respectively.
4. Modify your primary menu to match your Wix website.

Import Content

Text and media files are imported using different methods. As stated earlier, the RSS file may reduce the workload, but text and images from many pages will need to be imported manually.

Import RSS Feed

If possible, importing your Wix RSS feed can cut hours from the migration process.

1. 1. Login your Wix website.
   2. Add /feed.xml to the end of your website URL –
      e.g. domain.com/feed.xml or user.wixsite.com/sitename/feed.xml .
   3. Right-click on the page and save the file.
   4. In WordPress, select Tools and Import.
      
   5. Select Run Importer.
      
   6. Browse for your RSS file before selecting Upload file and import.
      

The imported content should now show in Posts.

Import Content Manually

For anything the RSS feed doesn’t import, copying text from your Wix site to individual WordPress pages and posts will be the only option for migrating content.

1. Create a new WordPress page or post.
2. Copy the text from a page on your Wix website and paste it into the WordPress visual editor.
3. Edit the WordPress page or post to your preference.
4. Save Draft or Publish to save your work.

Import Images

There are two ways to import images from your Wix website:

1. 1. Use a WordPress plugin such as Save & Import Image from URL to import directly from Wix.
      The easiest way to get an image URL:
      Chrome: Right-click the image and select Open image in a new tab.
      Firefox: Right-click the image and select View Image.
      Generic: Right-click the image and select Inspect Element to view the URL within the source code.
   2. Download then manually upload all media files to your WordPress media library.

Note: Although you can upload images using FTP or cPanel File Manager, only media files uploaded to the WordPress media library can be selected from it.

Fix Permalinks

Permalinks determine the format of your website URL’s. You’ll likely want to change this to match the URL’s from your older website to ensure users don’t get 404 errors while trying view any saved links. The most common options are Post name and Month and name. You can reset these settings at any time.

1. While logged into your WordPress site, hover over Settings and select Permalinks.
   
2. Here you can choose a common setting or create your own structure..
   
3. Your changes take effect imeediately after pressing Save Changes.

Change DNS Settings

After copying all data from Wix to your WordPress site, you’ll need to update your domain settings.

If you bought a custom domain with Wix, you’ll need to change the A record at Wix.com to match your server IP shown in cPanel or transfer your domain to us or elsewhere before changing the nameservers to ns1.inmotionhosting.com and ns2.inmotionhosting.com.

If you bought your domain elsewhere and pointed it to Wix, you’ll need to change your domain’s A record to match your server IP shown in cPanel or nameservers to ns1.inmotionhosting.com and ns2.inmotionhosting.com .

Note: We recommend checking your WordPress website using a hosts file modification to ensure everything works before changing any DNS settings. Note that DNS changes may require ~4-24hrs to take effect.

If you used a Wix subdomain – e.g. user.wixsite.com/sitename/, you’ll need to purchase a domain to connect with your web hosting. In the meantime, you can use your temporary URL.

You can always contact our live support if you have issues migrating your website or implementing features similar to your Wix site related to Secure Sock Layer (SSL), Search Engine Optimization (SEO), analytics, domain settings, and more.