What the heck even is Squarespace?
Okay, let’s start with the basics. Squarespace is a website building tool.
It uses templates that you can customise to create a lovely modern and professional website. All Squarespace websites are automatically mobile friendly.
Their website builder is designed so it’s easy to use even without coding knowledge. You don’t need to be super-techy or have any previous experience making a website.
You can use Squarespace to:
Add pages with the option for banner images and different coloured backgrounds
Create a blog to share news, updates and stories
Sell products or services online, including digital downloads and gift cards
Set up private member areas which you can charge for access to and use to protect premium content such as exclusive update or online courses
Customise your colours, fonts and images to match your brand
Upload your own images, PDF files and audio, or embed videos from services like YouTube or Vimeo
So what's the difference between Squarespace and other tools like WordPress, Wix and Weebly?
Squarespace vs WordPress
One of the biggest differences between Squarespace and WordPress is to do with hosting. With Squarespace, you pay a monthly or annual fee directly to them which covers hosting and security updates, whereas with WordPress you’re responsible for setting up and managing your own hosting.
What is hosting?
Websites are essentially a collection of files and code. And just like you have files stored on your computer, there needs to be a place where all of your website files are stored. That's where hosting comes in. Large and powerful computers store (or "host") your website files and make them available online where they need to be. Having all of these computers costs money so the companies that own them will normally charge a fee for storing your data.
What does managing your own hosting involve?
You need to download the latest version of WordPress and upload it to your hosting
Whenever WordPress make changes to their code you need to update the version on your hosting, as not keeping this up to date can leave you vulnerable to hackers and security risks
This can be a bit daunting if you aren’t very technical, but some hosting providers will help with this for a slightly higher monthly fee. Alternatively you can ask a developer to manage this.
Overall, Squarespace is a great all-rounder, but WordPress might be a better choice if you need something super-customised.
Note: There are actually two versions of WordPress just to add to the confusion (sorry). The one I’ve referred to above is WordPress.org which is well-respected and used by millions of websites worldwide. There’s also a version which is basically horrible and even WordPress people hate it. That one is called WordPress.com. Don’t use it, please.
Squarespace vs Wix and Weebly
Wix and Weebly are similar to Squarespace in that they offer templates for creating a website, and hosting is included in the price you pay to them. They are fine for people on a tight budget, where looking super-professional is less important than providing information. These platforms are often used by small community groups or clubs. Do they always look like premium sites? No. Do they give me the details that I need? Yes.
Is Squarespace good for Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)?
Squarespace does a great job helping you to get found online by translating the information that you provide into a format that makes Google happy.
If you've got a fairly distinctive business name and that's what you expect people to look for, you should start appearing near the top of search results a few weeks after your website goes live.
Within a few months you should start to appear for some of your key words or phrases if there isn’t too much competition.
How can you improve your SEO?
If you want to appear higher up on Google for popular search terms with lots of competition, then it is still possible but you'll have to put in some extra effort (Squarespace isn’t a magic bullet) but this would be the case no matter which website building tool you used.
Squarespace have a guide to increasing your visibility on search engines.
I’ll also be writing an article with lots more in depth information on how to make the most of SEO using Squarespace so sign up to my newsletter 👇 to get notified when that’s ready.
