Why Squarespace?
Did you know that 71% of businesses have a website in 2023? Every single day there are people searching the internet for the product or service you offer which makes having a website vital for your business.
There are many website building platforms out there that can give you a beautiful and functional website quickly with Squarespace being one of them. Today, we will learn what Squarespace is and why it could be a good option for your business.
Introduction to Squarespace
Squarespace is known for its drag-and-drop building platform that allows users to create unique designs without needing to know how to code. They also provide beautiful templates making it a great option for t business owners that want to DIY their website.
Some key features of Squarespace are:
Drag-and-drop - making custom website without having to use code
Templates - Don’t want to start from scratch? Start with a template!
Free images within the platform from Unsplash - TIME SAVER
Asset library - Do you love organization? Upload all your assets into folders
Mobile friendly - Ensure your mobile customers are having a great user experience
Domains - Host your domain right in Squarespace, never forget to pay that bill again
Commerce - Wait, I can have a shop in Squarespace? Yep!
Blogs - Drive traffic to your site with a built in blog
And so much more…
My personal experience with Squarespace
In my corporate marketing roles, I used WordPress and another platform called Octane. When I decided to start my own business as a web designer I knew from the start that WordPress wasn’t for me. Which led me on a hunt for a platform I loved and enjoyed using. My goal with my business is to be able to create custom tutorials for my clients following the launch day that allows them to update and manage things on their own.
I am a tech savvy person, and I worked on the backend of websites for years and still felt Wordpress to be cumbersome at times. When I came across Squarespace I watched a bunch of Youtube University and eventually signed up for a free trial. After a few weeks of building out a site and exploring the platform, I knew this was the right one for my business goals.
Next, let’s break down a few of the benefits of using Squarespace as your website platform.
Drag-and-drop Platform
Because Squarespace is a drag-and-drop building platform, it makes for a customized design without the code. This will not only save you time, meaning you’ll launch the site of your dream faster, it will also save you from going back and forth with a developer that likely isn’t speaking the same language as you… Because not all of us understand code speak, right? Explain like I’m five, please!
Squarespace 7.1 also works on a grid system which makes it easy to snap things into place and line them up perfectly. The only time this gets tricky is as the screen sizes scale. The desktop grid is 24 columns while the mobile is 8. What this means is until you get to a mobile size screen all the other sizes, like tablets and small laptops, are taking the same 24 column grid and compressing it down. This forces items to wrap which can look unappealing, but as long as you are aware of how it works and check multiple screen sizes you can avoid that!
Mobile Responsiveness
Over 50% of all website traffic comes from a mobile device making it necessary for your website to be mobile friendly. Squarespace makes it simple to see the mobile view of your website, with just one click you can compare the desktop and mobile views.
Once you are in the mobile editor, you can easily move things around using the same grid, drag-and-drop system or you can use the built-in up and down arrows to quickly shift items above or below one another.
Squarespace makes it incredibly easy to ensure a mobile responsive design.
SEO Optimization
Once upon a time people questioned whether using Squarespace was harming your SEO, which has been proven to be a myth.
Squarespace has built-in SEO which means right there in the platform you can see what keywords are driving traffic to your site, update your title tags, metadata and alt text. They also provide an SEO checklist so you can cross reference their recommended best practices with your site to ensure you are checking all the boxes.
Should I choose Squarespace?
In my opinion, Squarespace is a powerful platform for small business owners. You can work with a designer to achieve a beautifully customized website, or work your way up to that by starting with a DIY template. Either way, Squarespace provides all the features you need or could hope for in a website builder. The best part is, once it’s launched it will be easy to update keeping your website fresh which will help you continually stand out among your competitors.
Now that you know more about Squarespace and its ease of use, I’m sure you want to envision what your site could look like. If that sounds like you, check out some of the projects I’ve worked on in my portfolio, here.
