Why I Recommend Using Squarespace for Your Website Platform
Wordpress was the original cool kid on the website platform block, but as more people are going online, more website platforms have been developed. There’s Weebly, Wix, Shopify, GoDaddy, and more, but you may have heard a buzz about one in particular: Squarespace.
Squarespace is gaining popularity for its ease of use and fresh designs. If you’re on the fence of which website platform to choose, here’s what the Squarespace hype is all about:
No coding required!
You can if you want, but it’s not required.
It’s easy to use.
Squarespace works in blocks that are organized into sections, which are super easy to insert and move. There are text blocks, image blocks, form blocks, calendar blocks- aaaaall kinds of blocks. Whenever you move a block, it snaps into alignment based on where you placed it, unlike Wix where you have to drag a block to where you think it aligns. And when you move a block on Squarespace, the blocks around it snap into place. On Wix, if you move one block you have to move the rest or be left with overlapping blocks.
And unlike Wordpress, when you work with your Squarespace website, you’re editing the actual site, not working with code or text on the backend. What you see is what you get on Squarespace, so you don’t have to continuously move between the backend and the live version of your site.
And finally, your branding is added in one place and applied throughout your website for consistency and ease of use.
The designs are fresh.
Like most web platforms, Squarespace works on templates. They have a variety of templates with different styles, and all are eye catching and minimal-based. Gone are the clunky, overwhelming websites of the 90s!
Unlike other web platform templates, however, Squarespace allows you to completely customize theirs; templates are merely the foundation. This allows you to mix and match elements you like from different templates.
Branding is Easy to Implement
The Site Styles section allows you to add your brand colors, which Squarespace then uses to automatically create 10 color themes based on different variations of those brand colors. This allows you to easily change the background and header colors of different sections on your website pages.
There are also four header sizes and four body sizes for fonts, which gives you plenty of options! Squarespace has a great font library, but if your font isn’t on there you can upload and code it in. (It’s not tricky, I promise!)
Websites are optimized for desktop, tablets, and mobile devices.
All websites adjust to the device they’re being accessed on, so you don’t have to design three different versions of your site*.
*On the new Squarespace 7.1 I have had to adjust the mobile design. The optimization isn’t as good as it was in older Squarespace versions so you may need to move your blocks around on the mobile version.
It’s all-in-one.
Platforms like Wordpress require you to pay a third party for your website hosting, domain, and email hosting. On Squarespace, it’s all-in-one. Your hosting, domain, and email are all paid to Squarespace and billing is easy to work with. Not only that, they always send you payment reminders when a bill is due- even if you’re on autopay.
Hosting starts at $144/yr and domains are typically $20-50. It’s also easy to transfer a domain from another hosting provider.
Squarespace also offers e-commerce hosting plans. (Platforms like Showit require you to use a completely different platform for e-commerce.)
Email is through Google Workspace and is $72/user/year. While you login to Gmail to access your email, the fee is billed through Squarespace.
While Squarespace hosting may cost a bit more than other platforms, the ease of use and convenience of an all-in-one platform is SO worth it.
And Squarespace now offers online scheduling, email marketing, and member areas so you can host your online courses or membership directly on your website!
Their customer service is bomb.
They’re speedy too! While Squarespace has an awesome tutorial and answers section, there are still times when I haven’t been able to figure out how to do something. Each time I chatted with a customer service rep, they were friendly, thorough, and patient. Most web platforms and third party hosting providers give you the run around, barely answering your question.
That’s not the case with Squarespace. In some instances, they’re also willing to correct the problem for you.
SEO is easy.
Search engine optimization (SEO) is essential for getting people to your website, and Squarespace sites are built for clean indexing by search engines, meaning it’s easy for Google to scan Squarespace sites.
Furthermore, adding your own keywords and site descriptions is easy. Squarespace also provides an SEO check-list!
Their sites are super secure.
Because Squarespace is an all-in-one platform, there’s less of a chance for your site to be hacked. The company has a dedicated security team whose sole job is to keep the platform secure, deal with any threats, and handle hacks.
I’ve noticed that popular third party hosting/domain providers have been susceptible to recent hacks, while Squarespace is never listed.
Shortfalls of Squarespace
While I highly recommend Squarespace and believe it’s the best web platform out there, I do wish they’d improve upon these things:
• Product variables. If you sell products with variables such as size and color, Squarespace does not have the capability to include those in product listings.
• No draft feature. All changes are made live as soon as you save, and if you don’t save, changes are lost. However, there is an undo button if you make a mistake. And if you make a bunch of changes you don’t like, you can exit without saving. (This is why I recommend saving when you know you nailed something. That way if you add a bunch of modifications that you don’t like, you can exit and the website will revert to your last save.)
• Responsiveness can limit design. What’s so great about Squarespace can also be a con. Because websites adjust based on the device they’re being accessed on, certain elements are squished together on smaller screens. For example, full-width photos are cropped and any text overlays shift to the center, blocking out the photo. I wish Squarespace had the ability to place a block exactly where you want it and not have it move based on the device accessing your site. I’d be okay with my site appearing smaller on a mobile device to accommodate this.
Despite these shortfalls, I still find Squarespace the best platform and totally worth using, unless your e-commerce business has product variables. Squarespace is innovative, so I’m expecting them to adapt to these shortfalls at some point.
Psst! Check out the 7 Mistakes DIY Squarespace Websites Make - And How to Fix Them.
Ready to get started on your Squarespace website? Enroll in Self-Employed School. There’s an entire module dedicated to website design, and it will take the confusion out of what you need to include on your website, as well as how to make it an effective 24/7 sales machine!
