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If you work in a creative or entrepreneurial field, you most likely have heard the buzz around new website builders and may wonder how to use Showit. In this blog post, you will learn how to use the Showit platform even if you are not tech-savvy or a beginner at building a website.
Showit is a drag-and-drop website platform created in 2006. Originally, it was developed with photographers in mind due to its allure of image galleries. However, it has evolved over the years, and many health, beauty, and wellness brands are starting to switch to Showit.
Showit allows you to create an elevated online presence without the tech headaches because it does not require advanced coding skills. Showit prides itself on being extremely user-friendly, and I know from firsthand experience that the Showit community is amazing at helping with any technical or design-related questions.
How to Use Showit
Let’s examine how Showit works.
After you have created a Showit account, you should Open the Design App. This is where you build your website.
If you are just getting started, I highly recommend using one of the free website templates from the Showit Design Market. This way, you will already have the foundation of a beautiful website.
After you select a site design, it will be loaded into your account, and you can start customizing your website immediately!
Showit’s Design App Layout and Features
The Design App’s left sidebar contains key tools for customizing your site. Let’s examine each of these in more detail.
Site Settings
Site Settings include your domain, blog, social media links, Google Analytics, and other third-party integration tools. This is probably the most technical part of setting up your website, but the Showit support team can help you connect your domain and blog.
Pro Tip: I recommend revisiting this step after you are ready to launch so you don’t feel overwhelmed.
Design Settings
Under Design Settings, you can customize just about anything that appears on your website. This includes your color palette, fonts, and styles. Personally, I like editing these features right away so I can envision what the website will look like with the brand’s specific guidelines.
Also, if you have purchased a premium font for your brand, you may upload a .WOFF file and use it on your website. There are plenty of free Google Fonts to choose from.
Pro-Tip: Even though you assign your design settings here, you can customize colors, fonts, and sizes anywhere on your website. That’s what’s so great about Showit: you can customize anything!
Media Library
Your image uploads live in the Media Library. You can also add subfolders to organize your photos.
Pages in Showit
Next, on the left sidebar of the Design App are Pages. These are all of your website pages. You can add or delete pages and assign which page you want to be your “home” page. I recommend having the following pages:
The next section is Blog Templates. You can design the way the blog pages look in the Showit app and you write the actual blog posts using WordPress.
WordPress is the universal standard for a good blogging platform. Although the interactions between the two platforms might initially seem confusing, using a blog with Showit has become easier. You can read more information about how blogging with Showit works here.
Site Canvases
Moving down the left sidebar of the Design App are Site Canvases. Site Canvases are the most frequently used sections of your website that you repeat across multiple pages, such as the main navigation bar, footer, and sidebar. They are helpful because you don’t have to recreate the section on every page; you can add them as needed.
Canvas Set
The last section on the left sidebar is the Canvas Set. Think of this section as a group of canvases (sections) that you want displayed on the majority of your site. For example, on my website, I have my main navigation bar, the work with me section, and the footer. I want these canvases displayed on my entire website, excluding landing pages and shop pages. Having a main site canvas set is really about saving you time from designing parts of your website again and again.
How Showit Works
Showit is different from traditional website building. With its drag-and-drop technology, you can easily customize and arrange elements exactly how you want them to appear when your website is live—no code is needed.
Showit Terms You Should Know
Of course, there are some key terms you should know when using Showit. Some of these terms are pages, blog templates, site canvases, and canvas sets. Let’s dive into each term.
Showit pages
Showit pages are all of your website’s pages. These include webpages like home, services, about, contact, and blog. You will build your site using canvases on your pages.
Showit Blog Templates
If you have a basic starter blog or an advanced site on Showit, your website will have a blog. The blog templates are designed in Showit, but you write and edit the posts in your WordPress account. More details on blogging with Showit can be found here.
Canvases vs Canvas Sets in Showit
Canvases are like the building blocks of your Showit website. Each canvas holds a specific section of your website. When all the blocks are put together, they build a webpage. The difference between canvases and canvas sets is that canvas sets can be easily reused on other web pages.
Pro-Tip: I recommend turning your most repeated sections into canvas sets.
How to Blog Using Showit
One of the most confusing things for me was understanding how WordPress (my previous website platform) and Showit worked together. Now, I love how the two platforms communicate to build an amazing blog.
First, if you have an existing blog and are switching to Showit, please contact support to transfer your blog posts. The Showit support team is amazing!
After customizing your blog using a Showit template, you can log into your WordPress account to write a blog post. You can log into your Showit account and click ‘Blog Admin,’ or you can type your website domain backslash wp-admin, for example, yourdomain.com/wp-admin. Personally, I have the second option bookmarked.
After you have logged in, on the left sidebar, you can click on ‘Posts’ and add a blog post. You can use the basic WordPress editor to add text and images to your blog post. All of the formatting will take place on the Showit platform. If you want to change the heading font or color, you must edit it in the Blog Templates section of Showit. Purchasing a solid Showit website template can help format blog posts, especially if you don’t consider yourself tech-savvy. Also, you can have a trusted professional customize a website template with ease, so you don’t have to.
Note: Blogging is only available on the basic starter or advanced blog Showit accounts.
How Showit Compares to Other Platforms
For the fence-sitters wondering how Showit compares to other platforms, here’s a brief comparison:
Squarespace vs Showit
Squarespace is a great option for non-tech-savvy beginners, and it is also a drag-and-drop platform.
Squarespace is limited in the creative freedom a user has on both desktop and mobile.
You can read more about Squarespace vs Showit here.
Wix vs Showit
Wix is another beginner-friendly website platform.
While Wix can be a good starter website, it can be challenging to switch as your business grows.
Sarah Hawk is a Web Designer and tech educator in Rochester, MN who helps health and beauty business owners ditch tech overwhelm. With a background in teaching and pharmaceutical sales, she blends strategy, design, and education to help service providers launch websites that look professional, feel aligned, and support real business growth, without the confusion. When she’s not behind the computer, she loves aesthetic coffee shops, systems, strength training, and testing new recipes for her family.
Explore web design services and resources at bysarahhawk.com
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