Inspired by the Siberian hamsters we just got for the studio, these are just some of the pet site’s made with Wix of late.

Please show us your pet & pet related sites in the comments below!!

And feel free to watch our hamsters:

We’ve been working hard to give you a beautiful way to set up shop on Wix – and now it’s live!

Setting up shop has never been so easy!!

We’ve had a lot of requests for an eCommerce solution on Wix. Well, we’ve been working hard to give you something great! Our new eCommerce widget is simple to use, beautiful to display and able to handle all of your selling needs.

We’ve also uploaded several new eCommerce templates for you – you’ll find them in Create. As usual, you can start from scratch or add the customizable eCommerce widget to an existing site and make it your own.

How to start selling online:

Open the editor (via your site or our new eCommerce templates) and go to Widgets > eCommerce

The eCommerce widget is a premium feature made up of 3 elements: product gallery, shopping cart and checkout button. You can take them apart and customize each individually OR work with all the elements together via “Stores”.

To start customizing each section, simply double click! Use the property panel (bottom of editor) to change skins, colors, manage your product and add your PayPal email into ‘settings’… You’ll find the full ‘how-to’ here in our help center, Wixpedia.

Ready to add eCommerce features to your site?

Go play with the Wix eCommerce widget in the editor. Then all you need to do is upgrade to the Wix eCommerce package and your ready to sell! If you have an existing upgrade, don’t worry, we’ll only charge you the difference when you upgrade to eCommerce.

We’d love to see what you’re creating with Wix eCommerce!

Be sure to drop us a line in the comments and share a link to your Wix sites!

A glorious day in Wixville – we’re pleased to introduce the most recent addition to the Wix family: the Wix Designers Directory.

The directory is a place for users seeking professional web design assistance. In it, they can find designers who have the skills, talent and experience to provide the ultimate service.

The whole initiative started after we received requests from regular Wix users who love the Wix platform but wanted to a professional touch. We listened and handpicked web designers who are using Wix: and viola! The directory was born.

Wix Designers Directory

We really believe that the users who want a helping hand and the designers that have what it takes will all benefit from this directory. And it’s also a giant step towards establishing a solid, groovy Wix community.

So how does it work?
Hop over to the directory and start browsing the different designers. You will find links to previous works they created with Wix, as well as a list of their offered skills.

If you want to contact one of the designers for professional designing services, just click on the Contact Now link on their business cards and send them a message. And you can both take it from there.

If you have any questions about the Wix Designers Directory, write us a quick mail to designers@wix.com.

We’re looking forward to hearing your comments about this exciting project!

Models and those who enjoy staring at them will probably love our new Web Design category, which is devoted to help models and actors flaunt their natural talents with ease.

A hot website is the new heroin chic. If you want to succeed in the biz, you need a good site to help you stand out. It’s true for every business, but even more so when what you’re selling is your looks.

After observing the Wix sites under the new category, I wanted to sketch some basic tips for creating modeling/acting sites.

The most important part is, of course, the image gallery. Make sure you choose the best type of gallery to fit your style. For instance, classic black and white photos will probably look better with a Photo Album gallery, while funkier pics go very well with a Slider gallery.

Since the photos are the essence, it’s best to keep the rest of the site’s content quite clear and simple. Flashy texts and animations can distract the visitor’s eye from what matters most.

For faster loading of the images, it’s best to work with regular site pages, not with Mini Pages. It will also work faster if you divide the photos between separate pages, and not upload all of them to one page.

I’ve gathered some cool examples of steaming modeling sites. You can find more in the Explore page (under Website). Check these out:

And if you want to create your own modeling or acting site, I recommend these two flash templates. You can find them in the Create page (the first is under Website->Personal and the second under MySpace->MySpace Layout):

I love that we’re able to feature what you’re making with Wix!

Last week I came across a wonderful not for profit using Wix to make their Flash site via twitter and I thought it was a good time to celebrate the great work being done for the world by featuring some non-profit sites made with Wix:

Hope these inspire you all!

P.S. Want to make your own site? Just hit Wix and create your own Flash website…

The studio is in the midst of creating more fully customizable Flash templates on everything from real estate, to pet stores to…consulting (and coaching) and I thought it would be fun to give you a sneak preview of just SOME of what’s coming!

These consulting websites are going live to the Create section in the next few days. In the meantime we’d love your feedback in the comments and in the Wix forum!

…and of course, while I was at it, I couldn’t resist sharing just a little of the consulting and coaching websites already being made by Wix users!

Can’t wait to hear your feedback here or in the forums!

Hope they inspire you to make your own website!

It’s Dr. Suess‘ birthday today and to celebrate I thought I’d showcase some of the writers, illustrators and artists using Wix to show off their works.

Keep up the beautiful Flash website/portfolio creations!

PS thanks to the DaveMcClure on twitter for the Dr. Seuss reminder! You can follow us on twitter here: www.twitter.com/wix

Since we revived Grunge at Wix with Flash templates and tons of grunge content, users have been having a lot of fun designing grungy sites and layouts – and asking for MORE!

So Kat from the studio went back to work on even more Flash grunge (which is fine because she loves it).

Preview new grunge music players, skins…and of course extra grunge websites, MySpace layouts and more below (you’ll find them in Create and the Wix editor). All are waiting for you to customize…

And we couldn’t resist to feature some of the beautiful stuff you’ve been creating too!

Check it out below:

Here are some of the latest grunge created by Wix users:

SIERRA VETERINARY CARE ENHANCES MARKETING STRATEGY WITH WIX

When Jerad Moss, marketing manager for Sierra Veterinary Care, a veterinary hospital in Northern California, decided that the clinic needed to enhance its overall web presence, he searched for an application that allowed him to build a custom web site on his own – without needing to hire a designer, or know code.

“When I was assigned the task of building the website for Sierra Veterinary Care, I searched for a simple to use yet powerfully creative design software package that would implement our website quickly and without technical problems, and Wix certainly fit the bill for us,” said Moss.

Moss immediately found the Wix design options with and elements beyond impressive.

“These are hip, current design elements, not just filler or useless options. The Flash choices are very cool and tasteful. We operate a professional yet fun veterinary hospital and Wix’s Flash-based platform provided great options for us to express ourselves. It is so easy to upload logos, graphics and images – without the need to write code,” added Moss.

In addition, to remaining competitive in this marketplace, Moss credits a well-designed and informative web site as being a key part of the veterinary practice’s overall marketing strategy.

“We now educate our clients about our services, the equipment we use and basic veterinary medical advice with our new web site,” added Moss.

We love it when you use Wix.com to design your own websites and get yourself out there!

Lately there’s been a lot of beautiful websites being created by Musicians and I wanted to shine a spotlight on a few of them.

Firstly, because of course I always like to give free promotion to Wix users :)
- but I also wanted to show you all how easy it is to use Wix to create your own unique sites from existing Wix template samples as well as from scratch using our “blank” website.

You’ll see from the examples below that it’s simple to make existing templates and styles your own!

Avant Garden Music, for instance, created his amazing site using our Old School Design Music sample. Can you see what they changed?

Remedy Motel, on the other hand, used the menu from our Musician Site template and then created their own design around that structure.

Plastic Parachute were clever. Even though they started with a blank site, they selected the “Grunge” Style and built their site using the grunge elements they found inside. This is a handy trick for anyone building a site with Wix: You can choose a “Style” (instructions included in the link).

They’ve also done a great job of using their website to link together all aspects of their online presence: MySpace etc.

We also love Second Hand Sex and Suigen (below, who created their sites using the Wix “Blank” website.

Hope you enjoy these designs (and sound) as much as we do. And maybe you’ll be inspired to make you own!