Add to Chrome — freeWhy Convert Your Strikingly Site to WordPress?
While Strikingly offers a simple, beginner-friendly platform for single-page websites, its limitations often become apparent as businesses grow. WordPress, in contrast, is an open-source content management system (CMS) that powers over 40% of the internet, known for its unparalleled flexibility, scalability, and vast ecosystem of themes and plugins.
Migrating to WordPress unlocks significantly more control over your website. You gain access to advanced SEO tools, e-commerce capabilities via WooCommerce, custom development options, and a much wider selection of design possibilities. This move is particularly beneficial for those looking to expand beyond a single-page format, integrate complex functionalities, or achieve greater independence from proprietary platforms.
Step 1: Prepare Your Strikingly Content for Export
Strikingly does not offer a direct, one-click export feature for your entire site content, database, or media library in a format directly usable by WordPress. Therefore, content migration primarily involves manual copying and pasting of text, and downloading media assets.
Begin by systematically going through each section of your Strikingly site. Copy all text content from pages, blog posts, testimonials, and other sections into a plain text editor or a Google Docs document. Organize this content logically, perhaps by page name, to streamline the re-creation process in WordPress. For images, videos, and other media, right-click and save them to a local folder on your computer. Ensure you download the highest quality versions available. Pay attention to any custom code or embedded elements you might have used, such as analytics scripts or third-party widgets, as these will need to be re-implemented in WordPress.
While this step is labor-intensive, meticulous preparation here saves significant time and prevents data loss during the WordPress setup.
Step 2: Choose Hosting and Install WordPress
Before you can build your new site, you need a home for it. WordPress requires a web hosting provider that supports PHP and MySQL. Popular and reliable options include SiteGround, Bluehost, WP Engine, and Kinsta, offering varying levels of performance and support. When selecting a host, consider your traffic expectations, budget, and the level of managed WordPress services you require. Most reputable hosts offer one-click WordPress installation.
Once you've chosen a host and registered a domain name (or pointed your existing domain to your new host's nameservers), follow these steps:
After installation, you'll receive login credentials for your WordPress dashboard (typically `yourdomain.com/wp-admin`). This is where you'll manage your entire site.
- Purchase a hosting plan that meets your needs.
- Point your domain name to your new hosting provider's nameservers (your host will provide these). This propagation can take 24-48 hours.
- Access your hosting control panel (cPanel, Plesk, or a custom dashboard).
- Locate the 'WordPress Installer' or 'Auto Installer' tool (often named Softaculous, Fantastico, or a proprietary solution).
- Follow the on-screen prompts to install WordPress. You'll typically need to choose your domain, set an administrative username and password, and enter an email address.
Step 3: Recreate Your Site Structure and Content in WordPress
With WordPress installed, the next crucial step is to replicate your Strikingly site's structure and content. Start by creating your main pages (e.g., Home, About, Services, Contact) under `Pages → Add New`. Paste the content you saved from Strikingly into the WordPress editor. For blog posts, use `Posts → Add New`.
Upload all your media files (images, videos) to the WordPress Media Library (`Media → Add New`) and insert them into your pages and posts. Ensure that internal links are updated to point to your new WordPress URLs. This manual recreation is the most time-consuming part of the migration but guarantees content integrity.
If your Strikingly site had any custom forms or advanced features, you'll need to find equivalent WordPress plugins (e.g., Contact Form 7 or WPForms for forms, Yoast SEO or Rank Math for SEO). Install and configure these plugins to match your original site's functionality.
Step 4: Design Your WordPress Theme and Styles
This is where you bring your Strikingly site's visual identity into WordPress. WordPress offers two primary ways to achieve this: using a pre-built theme or creating a custom one. For most migrations, adapting a pre-built theme is more efficient. Navigate to `Appearance → Themes → Add New` and browse the extensive WordPress theme directory. Look for themes that align with your Strikingly site's layout and aesthetic.
Once you've installed a theme (e.g., Astra, GeneratePress, Kadence), activate it and use the WordPress Customizer (`Appearance → Customize`) or the theme's dedicated options panel to adjust colors, fonts, headers, footers, and other global styles to match your original design. For more complex layouts, a page builder plugin like Elementor or Beaver Builder can help you visually drag-and-drop elements to replicate your Strikingly pages precisely. If you need to add custom CSS to fine-tune specific elements, you can do so in `Appearance → Customize → Additional CSS`.
Alternatively, if you appreciate the simplicity of converting a live webpage's design into a functional WordPress theme, tools like Themify (themify.io) offer a unique solution. You can point Themify at your live Strikingly site, and it will generate a ready-to-install WordPress theme (.zip) that captures your current site's visual layout, including animations and fonts. This can significantly reduce the manual effort of theme replication, providing a strong starting point for your WordPress design without writing a single line of code. You can then upload this .zip file via `Appearance → Themes → Add New → Upload Theme`.
Step 5: Configure SEO, Redirects, and Go Live
Before making your WordPress site public, ensure all critical settings are in place. Install an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to manage your meta titles, descriptions, and sitemaps. Go to `Settings → Permalinks` and select a 'Post name' structure for SEO-friendly URLs.
Crucially, if you're using the same domain, you'll need to set up redirects from your old Strikingly URLs to your new WordPress URLs. If Strikingly offered custom URLs, you might need to create 301 redirects in your WordPress `.htaccess` file (found in your site's root directory, usually accessible via your hosting file manager or an FTP client) or use a redirection plugin. This ensures visitors and search engines are seamlessly directed to your new content, preserving SEO value. A common `.htaccess` entry for a single redirect would look like: `Redirect 301 /old-strikingly-page /new-wordpress-page`.
Finally, thoroughly test your entire WordPress site: check all links, forms, images, and mobile responsiveness. Once you are confident everything is working correctly, you can update your domain's DNS settings to point to your new WordPress hosting, effectively taking your new site live. Monitor your analytics closely after launch to identify and resolve any immediate issues.
Frequently asked questions
- Can I directly import my Strikingly site into WordPress?
- No, Strikingly does not provide a direct export feature compatible with WordPress's import tools. You will need to manually copy content, download media, and recreate your site structure within WordPress.
- Will I lose my SEO rankings when converting from Strikingly to WordPress?
- Not necessarily, but it requires careful planning. By setting up 301 redirects from your old Strikingly URLs to your new WordPress URLs and optimizing your new site's SEO, you can minimize the impact and even improve your rankings over time.
- How long does it typically take to convert a Strikingly site to WordPress?
- The duration depends on the size and complexity of your Strikingly site. A small, single-page site might take a few hours to a day, while larger sites with many pages and custom elements could take several days or even weeks of dedicated work.
- Do I need coding knowledge to convert my Strikingly site to WordPress?
- Basic coding knowledge isn't strictly necessary, especially if you use a page builder plugin and a robust theme. However, familiarity with CSS can help fine-tune designs, and understanding how to manage files via FTP can be useful for advanced configurations like redirects.