Squarespace websites are easy to maintain & update
If you have a small or medium-sized business in need of website that looks great and sets you up for success, one of the best choices out there is Squarespace. Whether you have a yoga studio, a restaurant, natural products you’d like to sell online—you get the idea, Squarespace can pretty much handle it all. A professional website designer will set you up for success with a beautiful, effective website that you can easily maintain yourself after the launch.
If you’ve never heard of it before, Squarespace is an online website platform with a long feature list. Though some people opt to DIY, a professional designer will help ensure that your Squarespace website not only looks amazing, but also functions properly behind the scenes. Once your site is up and running, it will easy for you to maintain it yourself as long as you keep some tips in mind. I’ll elaborate on some of Squarespace’s great features and tips to keep in mind below.
Reasons for choosing Squarespace
Look professional from the start
Easy to use and maintain
No need to learn code
Mobile-optimised
Affordable
SSL security is included
Makes it easy to use SEO best practices
All-in-one platform with features like
Easily integrating social accounts
E-commerce
Blogging
I’ve been designing websites for more than a decade. From designing sites in Photoshop to be coded by custom developers, to using online WYSIWYG platforms, I’ve used many paths for building websites. Among the many options available, my favourite is Squarespace—for many reasons. Most importantly, I love that it provides the means to build beautiful, strategic sites that can be maintained easily by clients after the site is ready to hand off.
Let me share some of the great things about Squarespace that make it more straightforward for clients to take over site maintenance one a site is launched.
01.
Custom branding
Squarespace offers a long list of customisation options, allowing nearly every aspect of your website to be uniquely yours. From fonts and colours to layouts and sections, you will have a unique and visually captivating site.
When I design your website, I incorporate the colour palette and fonts associated with your brand identity. This will be built right into the site. That means that when you add new elements to a page after launching, you don’t have to worry, your brand colours will already be at your fingertips.
03.
Adding new sections & images
You may want to add your own images and videos when you start updating your website. High-quality visuals can be the key to engaging your audience and leaving a lasting impression. They hook your visitors before anything else, as they can instantly engage the senses. Squarespace offers a range of features to showcase your images and videos in a visually appealing manner.
Want to add a gallery? It’s easy to do! A new section with text or visuals can easily be added, especially if using the Saved Sections feature that’s available Using a saved section from another page also helps maintain consistency across your website.
It’s easy to experiment with different gallery styles, such as grid layouts, slideshows, or full-screen displays to find the one you like best. Ensure that your images are high-resolution and optimised for web to maintain visual quality. Use professional photographs, product shots, or captivating videos to showcase your offerings or tell your brand's story. Just be sure to keep file sizes small so your page and site don’t take forever to load. Saving photos as JPGs under 500KB in size is best.
04.
Clean & Simple
This is where your design sense comes into play… Customisation is fun, but it's nice to maintain a clean and simple design aesthetic. A cluttered website can feel overwhelming to visitors and make it challenging to navigate. So be sure to embrace white space and a strategic use of elements that lend themselves to a harmonious and balanced design once your start updating your site yourself.
Fluid Engine (the name given to Squarespace’s layout editor) makes it easy to add and move content around in a section, to duplicate blocks, and to create unique compositions. Whatever the situation, Squarespace empowers you to continuously keep your site up-to-date with new content.
Organise your content logically, grouping related information and using clear headings and subheadings. Consider the flow of information and guide visitors through your website intuitively. Use visual cues, such as buttons or arrows, to direct users to important sections or call-to-action buttons.
05.
Mobile Responsiveness
In this mobile-centric world, having a website that looks stunning on all devices is non-negotiable. Thankfully, Squarespace makes this a straightforward process. Since mobile responsiveness in built in, it’s easy to edit pages in Mobile View to ensure that your website looks fantastic whether it's viewed on a laptop, tablet, or smartphone.
Though Squarespace makes mobile responsiveness pretty easy, it's essential to double-check and fine-tune the mobile experience to ensure a flawless user experience. It’s not uncommon to have image or text blocks show up in unexpected places in mobile view. Thankfully, you can make simple edits to get it looking as it should.
Preview your website on various devices and pay attention to the responsiveness of elements, readability of text, and ease of navigation. Make adjustments if needed, such as resizing images, adjusting font sizes, or repositioning elements to maintain a pleasing aesthetic across devices.
Built-In Features
Once your website is launched, you may want to upgrade certain aspects. No need to spend hours searching for third-party plugins and tools. Squarespace has lots of built-in features that'll take your website to the next level. From modern image galleries to powerful e-commerce functionality, there are many possible additions to choose from. Add in features like a contact form or a new social media integration quickly. It all keeps the website maintance process less complicated, which is always appreciated
Integrate Social Media
In today's interconnected world, integrating social media into your website is a must. If you need to add a new social media account after your website has launched, Squarespace makes it seamless to connect your social media accounts and display them on your site. Add social media icons or widgets that link to your profiles, allowing visitors to connect with you and share your content easily.
Consider embedding social media feeds or integrating social sharing buttons on your blog posts or product pages. This encourages visitors to engage with your content and share it with their own networks. Building a strong social media presence alongside your website can help expand your reach and foster a sense of community around your brand.
E-commerce offerings
Squarespace has some robust e-commerce capabilities and is well suited for selling products and services online. It’s ideal for businesses with fewer than 500 products, where brand presentation matters as much as the product itself. The great news is that it’s easy for you to update and add new products and services as your offerings expand, so your listings are always current. Site visitors can purchase digital products and on-line courses, as well as physical products. In additional, if you’d like to have a Members Only section of your website, this can be behind a paywall or free to join, which expands your offerings.
Squarespace has built-in scheduling software, Acuity Scheduling, which means you can have folks sign up for classes and events right through your website. You can use it for booking meetings, too—basically any service that would benefit from online registrations.
Squarespace’s built-in payment processor can now be used to accept online payments, which means you can easily keep track of transactions within your Squarespace account. If you decide to add a shop to your site after your initial launch, you can upgrade your Squarespace subscription to a higher tier. That reduces online transaction fees for purchases, digital products, and memberships.
Get Creative with Blogging
Blogging is a powerful tool for building your online presence, establishing yourself as an authority in your industry, and driving traffic to your website. Squarespace offers robust blogging features that make it easy to create and manage your blog.
Experiment with different blog layouts to find one that suits your content and aligns with your brand's style. Customise the design elements, such as font styles, colours, and headings, to ensure consistency with the rest of your website. Take advantage of Squarespace's built-in SEO features to optimise your blog posts for search engines, using relevant keywords and meta descriptions.
Regularly update your blog with high-quality content that provides value to your audience. Share insights, tips, industry news, or personal stories that resonate with your target market. Encourage reader engagement by enabling comments and responding to them promptly. A well-maintained and engaging blog can drive traffic to your site, increase your brand's visibility, and establish a loyal following.
SEO Features
Search engine optimisation is super important to ensure your site is found from among the many. Most web designers will design your website with SEO best practices in mind from the start. Even after your site is live, the good news is that Squarespace has powerful SEO tools that'll help boost your website's visibility. With these tools built right in and easy to use, you can make sure that even if you add new pages and content, your site will get found in searches.
Optimise your website by focusing on some key areas with SEO in mind if you add new items:
Page Titles and Meta Descriptions: Craft compelling and keyword-rich page titles and meta descriptions that accurately describe the content of each page. These elements appear in search engine results and influence click-through rates.
Content Optimisation: Create high-quality and relevant content that aligns with your target keywords and audience's interests. Incorporate keywords naturally into your headings, subheadings, and body text.
URLs and Navigation: Use clean and descriptive URLs for your pages and ensure logical navigation throughout your website. This helps search engines understand the structure and content of your site.
Image Optimisation: Optimise your images by providing descriptive alt text, compressing file sizes, and using appropriate file names. This improves accessibility and search engine visibility.
Next steps
There are many features that make Squarespace a powerful, user-friendly website builder that would meet the website needs of most businesses. Hiring a professional website designer is a great way to ensure the most polished, effective website experience for your site visitors. Once your website is live, you should feel empowered and ready to maintain it yourself, if you so choose. Squarespace makes that aspect of having a website straightforward and simple!
Hiring a professional designer is the best way to ensure your Squarespace website is looking and working its best.
A skilled designer will help you stand out with a custom, on-brand web presence that will get you noticed while connecting with your target audience. A strategic online presence is integral to a successful business, and it’s good to start off right! So, when you’re ready for your own beautiful Squarespace website, connect with me!
Highlights
Reasons for choosing Squarespace
Built-In features
• Integrate social media
• E-commerce offerings
• Get creative with blogging
SEO features
Next steps
