How to Know if Squarespace is Right for You
Anyone who’s been around for more than 2 seconds knows that having a strong online presence is crucial for the success of a business of any size. And one of the key pieces to establishing an online presence is
***drum roll***
having a website!
After all, a website can be used to showcase your work, promote your products or services, and connect with a global audience.
Well, these days it seems there are more options than ever for building a website, which can definitely make it tough for business owners to figure out which platform is the best fit for their individual needs.
Wordpress or Wix? Squarespace or Showit?
If you’re new to the world of website building it can be quite overwhelming.
But fear not, friends! I’m going to try and make that decision a little bit easier. Today we’re going to explore Squarespace and see if it’s the right choice for you.
Ease of Use and Design
One of the main reasons people choose Squarespace to build their website is because it has a very user-friendly interface and loads of elegant design templates. I know this was one of the main reasons I chose Squarespace back in the day.
Of course, that was some time ago *ahem*. The updates Squarespace has made with the addition of their Fluid Engine editor and other design elements has made it even easier for newbies to jump in and get their feet wet with website design.
From the moment you sign up, Squarespace guides you through every step - making the process of creating your website fun and enjoyable even for those with very limited technical knowledge.
Fluid Engine’s drag and drop design lets you tweak layouts and experiment with element placement as quickly as you can drag your mouse across the screen.
The clean and organized interface lets you focus on your content and design, rather than getting lost in endless settings screens or a maze of complex code.
In my opinion this makes Squarespace perfect for folks just getting started with a website - when your focus is more on just getting it done and having it look great rather than devoting time to learning a complicated platform.
**A word about templates**
If you’re not familiar with Squarespace you may have heard about their large selection of beautiful, professionally designed templates that cater to various business types (think photographers, restaurants, etc.)
It’s true that Squarespace offers pre-made templates with built-in elements specific to different business types. So in theory you could pick a template, change nothing about it other than maybe the color palette and adding in your own pictures/logo, and boom! Website is done!
But I’ll let you in on a little secret: While Squarespace’s templates are undoubtedly beautiful and functional, it’s not the best idea to take a template off the shelf, plug in your info and call it a day.
Why? Because I can guarantee you there are a butt ton of other people out there who had the same idea, which means your websites will look eerily similar.
That’s not what we want!
You want to know another secret? If you’re working in Squarespace 7.1 it doesn’t actually matter which template you choose.
*gasp*
You know why? Because with a little tweaking you can make them all do the same things! So don’t feel locked in to choosing a template recommended to you based on your business type. Pick whichever one speaks to you the most, then go in and customize away!
The point of picking a template is to give you a headstart on design, so it’s a good idea to pick one that reflects the vibe you’re going for. Don’t worry about the functionality because you can always add in whatever you’re missing.
All-In-One Platform
This kinda goes along with the easy to use part, but I wanted to break it out here. If you’re starting from scratch and don’t have experience with multiple tools or other website-building platforms, Squarespace is an ideal choice.
It combines website building, domain registration, and hosting services in one easy to use account. That means you don’t have to worry about purchasing a domain separately or finding a hosting provider (one more thing off your plate! Yay!)
Squarespace also offers integrated features for various website needs like e-commerce, blogging, portfolio showcasing, event management, etc. That means you don’t have to figure out how to integrate external plugins or extensions into your website. Everything just works!
Responsive & Mobile Optimized Design
Ok, so obviously we know that pretty much everyone is surfing the internet on their phone these days. Well that means having a mobile-responsive website is crucial! You don’t want your website to look great on a laptop but super weird on a phone, right?
Well Squarespace has taken care of that headache for you by ensuring your website automatically adapts to different screen sizes and devices so your visitors always have a great viewing experience.
When designing your site you can also preview how your changes will look on a mobile device with Squarespace’s built-in viewing options. They have one for desktop, tablet, and mobile so you can check your design in real time. And with Fluid Engine you can actually make custom changes to the mobile layout vs desktop layout for your website pages. How cool is that?
E-Commerce
I mentioned it earlier when talking about how Squarespace is an all in one platform, but let’s talk a bit more about e-commerce in particular.
If you’re looking to sell products or services online Squarespace can definitely accommodate. It provides a comprehensive set of tools to create and manage your online store. You can tweak each individual product listing or edit en masse. You can track inventory, process payments securely, and even calculate shipping all without the need for external accessories.
I once created a Squarespace shop for a client who already had an Etsy store and was selling her items there but wanted to try and direct her customers to her website to avoid paying the Etsy fees.
It was very quick to set up and honestly the “hardest” part was adding all the pictures of her items. (If I wasn’t clear she already had a Squarespace site up and running - I didn’t make the whole thing from scratch.)
Additionally, you get the same great, aesthetically pleasing design elements Squarespace is known for - but now applied to your product presentation! You can showcase your products in a way that’s set up to engage and attract visitors and turn them into customers, even if you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing.
Squarespace also offers built-in marketing tools like discount code creation, email campaign management, and social media integration to help connect your store with your audience.
Now, if you had a particular tool in mind to handle any one of those aspects, fear not! Squarespace plays well with others! Meaning you can connect other tools like Honeybook, MailChimp, ConvertKit, etc. to your website quite easily.
And if you find your tool of choice isn’t automatically compatible you can easily connect it to Squarespace using Zapier or another workflow management tool.
SEO
Have you ever heard that Squarespace sucks for SEO? I’m not sure where this rumor got started or how it became so widespread but let me tell you right now…
IT'S NOT TRUE!!
If you need proof just check out Paige Brunton’s massive Squarespace site. If you read through her history or even some of her blog posts she’ll tell you how she built a huge online following with her Squarespace website - because of her great SEO!
Just in case you’re unfamiliar with what SEO is or why it’s important I’ll explain briefly.
Search Engine Optimization is the process of optimizing your website for internet searches. Basically you want people to find your website, right? Well Google is looking for specific things on your website pages in order to know how to rank you in its search listings.
You want to have your key search terms sprinkled throughout your site so Google will pick up on it and show you to more people searching for those terms. I’m not sure why anyone thought Squarespace would be a bad platform for this process, but I promise it’s not.
Squarespace provides essential SEO features like customizable page titles, meta descriptions, and custom URLs. It also offers automatic sitemap generation, which makes it easier for Google to crawl and index your site.
Granted, Squarespace’s SEO capabilities are relatively basic compared to some other website building platforms. If you want to incorporate advanced SEO techniques like customizing header tags or implementing structure data you’re likely better off using third-party tools or choosing a different platform.
But for the average person who doesn’t have time to dive into advanced SEO (or who doesn’t have the money to pay someone to do that) Squarespace will work just fine.
Now if you’re a stats nerd you’ll be thrilled to know Squarespace integrates with Google Analytics. That means you can track visitor demographics, behavior, traffic sources, and more. Looking at trends in this data can help you make informed decisions on how to improve your site’s visibility or hit a specific performance goal.
Scalability
Scalability might not seem like something you need to think about right now, especially if you’re new to the website game. But trust me! If you have any thoughts of growing your business in the future this is absolutely something to consider.
Regardless of whether you’re a small startup or an established enterprise, Squarespace can handle your traffic and functionality requirements with their various subscription plans.
What’s nice about that is you can start on the basic plan and upgrade as your needs (and profits!) increase.
What might those needs be? Well as your business grows you can generally expect an uptick in traffic. With increased traffic usually comes the need for increased content on your site (blog posts, videos, etc.) If you sell products you might need to expand your catalog as you grow. These are some things to keep in mind, even as you’re starting your business.
Let’s say you start a blog that does really well in the first year and you want to start selling merch. Squarespace gives you the flexibility to add a store to your site. But you don’t have to start out with a store (i.e. you don’t have to pay for functionality you won’t use).
Customer Support
Squarespace prides itself on offering excellent customer support. They provide 24/7 support via email, and live chat support is available Monday through Friday from 4am to 8pm EST. As a newbie it’s very comforting to know you have access to support whenever you need it.
In addition to that, their Help Center provides a wealth of video tutorials, community forums, and a general knowledge base to help assist with troubleshooting and just learning about the platform’s features in general.
Similar to other review systems like Amazon and Reddit you can browse other people’s questions/conversations and see if you can get an answer to your problem there as well.
I have yet to come across a website building platform that has a training library/support system as comprehensive as this one!
Conclusion
Choosing the right website-building platform is essential for any business owner. For people without a website, Squarespace is a great place to get started. It offers a user-friendly experience, beautiful design templates, scalability, e-commerce options, and top-notch customer support. It’s a great choice for people wanting to create an online presence without needing extensive technical knowledge or skill.
But before you decide, make sure you take stock of your specific goals and needs. Think about your budget and the level of customization you want. Explore a few other platforms to see if Squarespace is the best fit for you.