1. Wix Insider Magazine — An Independent Digital Magazine Built By Wix Creators, For Wix Creators
Wix Insider Magazine is, at its core, an act of independence. It wasn’t commissioned by Wix. It isn’t affiliated with Wix. And it wasn’t created because someone at Wix asked for it — it was created because the community needed it long before anyone realized it. For years, I personally appealed to Wix and shared with them an idea that seemed so obvious:
“Why doesn’t Wix have its own digital magazine to highlight the freelancers, agencies, developers, and creative professionals who are building the ecosystem from the ground up?”
Every time I brought it up, the response was always warm, supportive, and appreciative — but Wix has been incredibly busy doing what Wix does best: building one of the world’s most intuitive, powerful, and accessible website-building platforms. Their product innovation hasn’t slowed down for even a moment. And in that constant push to evolve the platform — adding features, rolling out Wix Studio, expanding Velo, improving mobile responsiveness, refining the Editor — a dedicated magazine simply wasn’t something they had the bandwidth to create.
But the need never went away.
So instead of waiting, I built one.
Wix Insider Magazine was launched as an independent initiative to celebrate the people behind the platform — the designers, developers, and digital architects who’ve made Wix what it is today. This magazine isn’t about Wix, the company. It’s about you, the community that gives the platform life. And sometimes, the most meaningful industries are shaped not by corporations, but by the people who choose to build anyway.
2. About Me — Joseph Haecker & My Early Days With Wix
My connection to Wix goes back further than most people realize — all the way to 2008, long before Wix became the powerhouse it is today. At the time, I was running a lighting design consulting company called OC-3D Solid Designs, and like many small business owners, I needed a website but didn’t have the budget to hire a full-time developer.
Back then, Wix wasn’t the Wix you know today. There was no Studio. There was no advanced CMS. There was no Velo. The platform was, by modern standards, extremely limited. But it was also one of the first platforms that signaled a shift in the industry — a bold promise that maybe, just maybe, you didn’t have to be a programmer to put your business online. The interface was simple. The templates were basic. But the idea?
Revolutionary.
Wix made me feel like I had permission to be scrappy, resourceful, and self-reliant. It gave me the freedom to design something on my own terms. And that early experience planted the seeds of everything that came later — from my fascination with user-generated digital media, to my belief in democratized publishing, to my obsession with building online platforms that empower communities.
Back then, creating a website on Wix felt almost magical. No developers. No long timelines. No gatekeepers. Just you, a browser window, and a tool that made creativity feel possible again.
Today, the platform has grown into something robust, powerful, and shockingly flexible. But my roots with Wix go back to that moment — a moment where I realized that technology could make creativity accessible.
3. The Evolution of Digital Magazines — From Print to Flipbooks to True UGC Media
To understand why Wix Insider matters, you have to understand how far the concept of digital magazines has come — and how messy that evolution has been.
Traditional print magazines have spent decades defending the idea of “journalistic integrity,” even as the world slowly moved away from physical print. When digital publishing first emerged, magazines didn’t embrace the web. Instead, they tried to replicate print online using tools like Issuu, Flipsnack, Paperturn, FlippingBook, and Publuu — essentially flipping PDFs on a screen. It was nostalgic, familiar, and beautifully designed… but it wasn’t digital media. It was a digital representation of print.
A few magazines moved toward true digital content — notably Voyager and Shoutout — by allowing user-generated articles. But even then, the content was manually placed, curated, and structured in a way that still felt like a traditional magazine trying to “behave” digitally.
Meanwhile, the real digital revolution wasn’t happening in magazines at all.
It was happening on social media.
Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and others created something magazines never could:
instant, unrestricted, user-generated publishing.
24/7 publishing. Editable posts. Personal branding. Community amplification.
True autonomy.
Most people don’t consider social platforms as “media,” but in many ways, they are the most powerful media companies in the world. Everyone became their own publisher.
I recognized that shift early.
In 2021, I used Wix to launch Ignite Business Insider, my first attempt at blending the world of digital magazines with the autonomy of social media. The idea was simple:
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What if a magazine could behave like a social platform?
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What if people could submit their own content, build their own press coverage, and publish organically — without waiting for an editor’s approval?
That experiment set the foundation for every UGC magazine I’ve built since:
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Ignite Business Insider
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Only Fans Insider Magazine
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Open To Work Social
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Startup Stories
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Wix Insider Magazine
Each one iterated, expanded, and evolved the idea:
a magazine structure with the speed, autonomy, and accessibility of social media.
Wix has allowed me to bridge those two worlds more effectively than any other platform.
4. Why a Magazine for Wix Site Builders?
Wix today is not the Wix of 2008. The platform has grown into one of the most flexible website builders in the world — attracting designers, developers, technical specialists, agencies, and freelancers of all skill levels. We now have:
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Full CMS capabilities
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Advanced animations
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Custom code with Velo
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More robust SEO tools
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App integrations
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The new Wix Studio
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Multi-page dynamic datasets
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True responsive control
The community is full of brilliant creators — from first-time freelancers to senior developers who could easily be building custom-coded platforms but choose Wix because of its balance of flexibility and speed.
But here’s the issue:
Wix has never built a program that truly showcases the people behind the sites.
Yes, the Wix Partner Program exists — but it’s incomplete.
Yes, the Marketplace exists — but it's clunky, inconsistent, and often underdeveloped.
Yes, they celebrate case studies here and there — but it’s not a sustained, community-focused platform.
As an Icon-Level Wix Partner, I know firsthand how overlooked this space is.
That’s why Wix Insider Magazine was created.
Not to compete with Wix.
Not to replace their ecosystem.
But to elevate the creators who make Wix powerful.
Creators deserve visibility.
Developers deserve recognition.
Agencies deserve a platform to showcase their skills.
Freelancers deserve a place to build their personal brand.
Wix Insider is the missing piece — the ecosystem within the ecosystem.
5. Why a Digital Magazine Matters
Wix Insider Magazine isn’t a one-and-done press mention.
It’s designed to support creators repeatedly — over time — through multiple forms of published content:
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Featured Articles
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Spotlight Articles
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Project Spotlights
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Trending Topic Interviews
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Deep Dive Editorials
This gives every creator the ability to:
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Build authority
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Grow a personal brand
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Showcase real projects
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Tell the stories behind their work
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Establish thought leadership
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Publish long-form content that clients actually read
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Build credibility in a crowded marketplace
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Attract higher-value clients
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Strengthen their digital footprint
Most importantly, it exposes creators to a collective audience — not just their own.
This creates cross-pollination, networking, discovery, and opportunity.
A rising tide lifts all ships. Wix Insider is the tide.
6. How Press Helps Weed Out Fraud
One of the most powerful — and underrated — functions of consistent press coverage is how effectively it separates professionals from pretenders.
Fraudulent businesses avoid visibility.
They avoid scrutiny.
They avoid having their work examined publicly.
They avoid being Google-searchable.
They avoid documented proof of experience.
Real creators, real agencies, real developers — they thrive in the spotlight.
Press instantly filters out the noise. It signals credibility, legitimacy, and transparency.
And in a digital world filled with overnight “experts,” duplicitous marketplaces, and questionable freelancers, press is one of the strongest truth signals available.
By being featured in Wix Insider Magazine, creators instantly place themselves in a category that says:
“I am real, I am here for the long term, and my work can speak for itself.”
That’s powerful.
Closing Summary from Joseph Haecker
Wix Insider Magazine is the culmination of nearly two decades of building businesses, websites, digital platforms, and user-generated media. It’s a project born out of necessity, shaped by community, and fueled by the belief that creators deserve a platform that highlights their work and their stories — not just their deliverables.
Wix changed my career. It changed my understanding of what’s possible when you remove barriers. And now, I want to use that same philosophy to shine a light on the people who are building the digital world every day.
You — the builders, developers, freelancers, creators, and agencies — are the heartbeat of the Wix ecosystem. You deserve visibility. You deserve recognition. And you deserve a place where your expertise can be celebrated, amplified, and elevated.
That’s why Wix Insider exists.
This magazine isn’t just a publication. It’s a community. A platform. A spotlight. A stage.
And now, it’s yours.
— Joseph Haecker
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Wix Insider Magazine