So you wanna build a website FAST?

You’ve got this great idea, you’re ready to launch your biz, and you KNOW you need a killer website to back it up. But unless you’re some coding genius, building a website can seem super tricky, am I right? Well it doesn’t have to be and I’m here to show you how to build a beautiful branded website in a matter of hours.

**This post may contain affiliate links. The services I share are the services I personally use and honestly recommend to anyone. No extra costs are incurred for you; the referral commission simply contributes to bringing you valuable content. 

This is not a joke, I repeat this is not a joke – if you sit down and work your way through this blog post, you could be launching your website tomorrow, seriously. Actually, why even wait until tomorrow? You can do it as we go!

I got you covered, girl! 

Let’s break it down into 6 simple steps (I’ll get super detailed below!):

1. Sign up for Wix
2. Choose your template
3. Upgrade to premium
4. Connect your domain
5. Build your site
6. Go Live

Before you sit down to start building anything, you’ll want to make sure you have a good idea of what you’re going to create! For example, what’s your business all about? What’s your business name? Who is your target audience? These are all things that you’ll want to have sorted before you jump into creating your website.

If you’re unsure about this stuff, you probably need to do some branding groundwork first.

These posts will help you with that:

• Why building your personal brand is important
• How to establish a stronger personal brand
• 25 Essential tools for establishing a strong personal brand

Once you’ve done the groundwork and you know what your brand is about and why you’re actually building this website. Then you can let the fun begin…

Step One: Sign up for Wix

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. All the best looking websites were designed by someone else. Because savvy business owners know that it’s best to focus on what they’re good at. And anything else should be outsourced.

Now you could go and spend tens of thousands of dollars hiring a web designer to build a beautiful branded website for you. And then you’ll have to wait weeks or even months of going back and forth while they figure out what you want, prepare proposals, and finally get your website complete.

Or you could save yourself all that time and money by purchasing a ready made website. I know what you’re thinking… but how’s it gonna be my own beautiful branded website if I’m just purchasing a pre-made one?

Well, allow me to introduce you to Wix. With hundreds of free templates to choose from it’s easy to pick a site that’s totally suited to you. Not to mention, their simple drag and drop editing features make it easy to customise to your brand and personality.

Please note, since writing this post I have since moved away from Wix as I realised their blog app was not up to my standards. If you would like to learn more about my choice and what platform I am currently using, read this post.

Step Two: Choose Your Template

Once you’ve created your Wix account you’ll be taken straight to a screen where you can choose your website template.

As you can see there’s a range of different categories you can choose from to make the selection process easier.

If you’re really struggling to choose the right template, they even have questionnaires to help you narrow down the options so you’re only seeing templates that are suited to your needs.

Once you’ve made your selection you can ‘View’ it first to make sure you do like the entire site. And if you do then you click ‘Edit’.

Step Three: Upgrade to Premium

Have a play around with the site first to make sure you’re definitely happy with the template. Then once you’re satisfied you’re going to want to upgrade to premium.

The main reason for this is so you can connect your own domain. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, to show you are professional and have a strong brand, you need your own custom domain.

Otherwise your site address will be something like this…

If you can’t even set up your own domain, what kind of message is that sending to your potential clients? Not a very good one I’ll tell you.

To upgrade to Premium simply click Upgrade at the top of your screen and then choose the plan that is suited to your needs.

If your business is similar to mine I’d recommend the Unlimited plan which is specifically for entrepreneurs and freelancers.

Step Four: Connect Your Domain

Once you’re ready to connect your domain simply go to ‘Settings’ and select the first option which is ‘Connect Domain’.

You’ll then be given two options. You can either purchase a domain directly through Wix, or connect a domain you already own.

Even if you don’t own a domain yet, I would recommend purchasing from a proper domain/hosting provider first. Because it will make things a lot easier for you if you ever decide you want to move your website away from Wix.

Some of my favourite domain providers are:

• GoDaddy
• Bluehost

Once you have your domain you simply follow the steps to connect it to Wix. I’m not able to show you the entire process as I’ve already connected my domain to my site, and I can’t do the process on the example site I created without paying. But it’s pretty simple and self explanatory as it takes you through step by step.

Step Five: Build Your Site

Now comes the fun part. Once you have your domain connected you can start building your site.

I have to say, this is where Wix really is an awesome platform. I’ve used other great platforms for my Aussie Adventuress site. But when it comes to ease of customisation, Wix really have nailed that aspect.

Main page builder

You simply select the page you want to work on and then it’s just a matter of clicking on the elements you want to change and then editing them right there on the screen. You can change images, links, colours, text etc. all right there on the screen.

So simple!

Extras

If you want to add extra elements you simply click on the add buttons down the left side. And once the element has been added it’s just a matter of dragging it around to where you want it to be.

As you can see from the screen shots there’s a LOT of awesome features you can add. This is where Wix is a lot easier than other platforms I’ve used. On other platforms you have to create the elements you want to add.

Here you just click a button and the element is added straight to your page.

Not only do they have your basic elements, but they even have a range of different apps you can add in to your site. These are like your WordPress plugins.

You can add things like your Instagram feed, social media icons, subscriber forms etc.

Blog

And of course, if you’re a blogger then you’re going to want to have a blog feature. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, this is the only part where Wix really lets itself down.

If you’re just starting out then their platform is fine. It’s just, if you’re someone who has already been familiar with WordPress, then the Wix blog will never cut it for you.

Elements I do like is their simple way of adding the blog feed to your homepage with a simple click. But the actual blog functionality and customisation is not ideal.

Also, make sure you take the time to go through each page and add in all your SEO information so you have a better chance of ranking on Google.

Step Six: Go Live

Once you’re happy there’s really only one thing left to do, go live! Simply click Publish in the top right corner of your screen and that will make the site visible to the world.

If you want to see how it looks to the public before going live you can also use the preview option.

And of course, if there’s any time that you want to make changes to your site you can do them in the editor and save them without actually affecting your live site until you hit publish again.

You can also keep pages hidden while you’re still working on them so you can have a live site. But keep the things you’re not ready to share hidden away without losing your progress.

The little crossed out eye shows you the pages I haven’t yet published. But all my progress is still saved and as soon as I’m ready I just slide that over and those pages will be visible on my live site as well. Simple!

So there you have it. How to build a beautiful branded website in just a few hours. I hope this article helped you get the site of your dreams launched. If so, I’d love to know your experience, show me your site even. I’d love to see what you created.

If this seems a little too much for you right now and you’d rather stick with a simple blog. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered there as well. Read my previous post on how to start a blog.

Good luck!

Jade xo

As usual, if you like what you’ve read feel free to like, comment, or share. Your time reading my posts is greatly appreciated.