Squarespace
There has never been a time when building websites was much easier than it is today. Website builders like Squarespace have made it possible for even non-technical people to build their own websites without having to hire a web developer. And even if you choose to hire one, the price of building a website using website builders is way too low compared to how it was back then when websites were built from scratch.
Today it possible to get freelancers who can build for you a basic website using sqaurespace for as low as $100. You can then do a couple of changes like editing some features of your theme in order to make your website look different from the rest that used the same theme.
If you were intending to pay lots of dollars to someone to build a website for your business, think twice about it because you can do it yourself with Squarespace or hire someone at a relatively good price. In this article, I am going to share with you everything you need to know about Squarespace and how you can build your own website using Squarespace.
First of all, what is Squarespace?
Squarespace is an American tech company that offers its customers with a platform to build their own websites using already built web templates. It is a privately-owned company was founded in 2004 by Anthony Casalena. He was the only employee for the first two years and till today, he is still the CEO of Squarespace.
You can have everything you need to build your website with Squarespace without having to use any other external tools. This platform has been growing over the years. Some of the major additions to Squarespace happened in 2014 when they added domain registration, eCommerce and analytic tools into their website templates. This made the platform more robust and also capable of building almost any kind of website.
Why Squarespace?
By 2015, over 450,000 websites were built using sqaurespace and there is a reason why all these people trusted the platform. Let’s look at some of the things that make sqaurespace one of the best website building platforms.
Reliable customer support
Squarespace’s customer support is available 24/7 and when you initiate a chat, you will always get someone to help you out within a few minutes if not seconds. They also have written and video tutorials that can guide you in doing some of the most common things that will enable you manage your website better. Their reliable customer support is one of the major reasons why people have stuck with Squarespace when it comes to website building and CMS.
It is very easy to use
Squarespace has a very easy to use interface for even beginners and non-technical people. Their drag and drop tools make it easy to create web pages and sections. That is why even when you hire someone to build for you the website with sqaurespace, the cost may not be as much as other website building platforms.
Mobile-friendly website templates
Most of the website traffic today mainly comes from mobile phone users. That is why having a website that is mobile friendly is important today than ever before. Squarespace website templates are built with this in mind. These templates will automatically convert the content into an appropriate format that makes it easy for someone to browse on a mobile device.
So, you won’t have to edit the website twice. The changes you make for the desktop version of the website will automatically be reflected on the mobile version. This saves you time that you might have wasted trying to change the formatting of your website content on mobile devices.
SEO is automatically integrated into the websites.
When you create a website with sqaurespace, it will automatically be made SEO friendly and you will only have to do a few more things to further improve your website’s SEO performance. SEO is one of the fundamentals you need to perfect if you are to get enough traffic to your website because nearly 50% of website traffic comes from search engines. If ever you need professional guidance on managing your website, try to look for best SEO services Melbourne.
It has simple and friendly pricing plans
Square space has four pricing plans that can accommodate many different businesses based on their size and budget. Their pricing plans are as follows:
- Personal plan $12 per month (billed annually): This plan is suitable for websites and blogs that do not need to have an online store integrated into the website. The $12 per month includes the domain registration fees and hosting.
- The business plan at $18 per month (billed annually): This includes everything in the personal plan but also adds an integration of an online store into the website. They also charge 3% of the price if someone buys a product from your website store.
- Online store(basic) plan at $26 per month(month): This plan is mainly for those who want to run eCommerce stores at a larger scale. With this plan, you don’t have to pay any transaction fees when someone buys a product from your store.
- Online store (advanced) plan at $40 per month: This is for businesses that want more advanced eCommerce features like Checkout Auto recovery, Real Time Carrier Shipping, Flexible Discounts, Gift Cards and Orders API.
These plans are pretty simple and cost-effective for any type of business to find one that works for them.
Blogging features
Squarespace website templates come with the blogging section automatically integrated. You won’t have to add any extra plugins for blogging. As soon as you install a theme, you can start blogging right way. Remember, blogging is one of the ways you can have your website ranked highly in search engine results. This is because most of the search engine marketing love fresh content.
Squarespace has a mobile app
With their mobile app, you will be able to edit almost anything on your website. You can edit pages, your online store, the blog and many other features of your website right from your mobile app. This makes it easy to a add a couple of things to your website on the go especially if moving with your laptop is not convenient.
Step by step procedure for building a website with Squarespace
Step #1: Choose a template
When you head to Squarespace website and click the get started button, you will be taken to the section where you will have to choose a template. But before choosing the template, you will have to answer a few questions like the objective of the website and the category your business falls under.
This enable Squarespace to display only those website templates that would best represent your type of business. So, make sure you choose a template that looks like the kind of website you want to build. This will reduce the amount of work you’ll need to do while editing the website.
Step #2: Sign up and start your 14-day trial
After choosing the template for your website, you will have to sign up either using fresh login details or you can use your existing Gmail account to sign in. After signing up, you will be taken straight to your website dashboard where all the background work of your website is done. Squarespace also gives you a 14-day trial that you can use to build the basic website features before subscribing.
Step #3: Subscribe to any paid plan
Squarespace have 4 paid plans that we have shared above and you can choose one to start with based on the objective of the website. For those who don’t need to do any form of eCommerce on their websites, you can choose to use the personal plan which is the cheapest ($12 per month billed annually). However, if you need to sell some products on your website, you have to choose either the business plan or any of the online store plans depending on the scale at which you want your online store to operate.
Step #4: Choose your website’s domain name
After signing up and starting the trail version, Squarespace by default will give your website a domain name that is normally a combination of several characters. You can change these characters to your business name but still the URL will contain the word Squarespace in it that is; “www.yourbusinessname.squarespace.com”. Such a name does not look professional in the eyes of your target customers.
So, you will have to secure a professional domain name that will give your business the image it deserves. You can either use a domain name you already own, or you can create one within Squarespace. While choosing a domain name, make sure you choose one that your customers will easily read and recall. This is because the complexity of a website name can affect the traffic you get on your site.
Step #5: Add more pages to your website
Now that you have a domain name and the general layout of your website, you can start giving your website shape by adding some more pages. By default, the template you choose will come along with a couple of pages. However, you can remove or add more pages based on how much content you want to add to your website. To add a web page, simply go to the pages menu that is located on the left side of your main dishoard
From the pages menu you can choose to add or remove a page that is already in the template. There are some pages that almost every website needs to have before launching. Some of these include; home page, about us page, contact us page, FAQs, terms of service, etc. Make sure you create such pages before launching your website. You can keep adding the rest of the pages with time but at least make sure that all the information that a customer may need to do to connect with you is available on the website before launching it.
Step #6: Edit the website template
At this point you have done most of the basic things and the website is now starting to take shape. The next thing now is customizing the website to make it look different from the rest of the websites that used the same template like the one you’re using. Editing the template will involve changing the default images that came along with the template and adding your own images.
You may also have to change the colors of the website to the theme colors of your brand. If the fonts used in the template are not the ones you need, you can choose to change the fonts to the ones that you like. The most important thing while editing the template is to have a picture in mind of how you want your website to look like.
You may also want a professional to help you with editing to make the website UI more appealing and intuitive. There are quite a number of freelancers on Upwork and Fiverr that can help you get the job done as long as you clearly describe to them how you want the website to look like. Most of them will charge you between $100 to $300 depending on how many pages you want them to customize and the seniority of the freelancer.
Step #7: Start promoting your website
At this point, your website is ready and you will need to start having people connect with your brand. There are several ways you can promote your website and the choice will largely depend on your target market and the budget you have for promoting the site. There are means you can promote your site without having to pay any money. However, these take some time and will require a lot of hard work to get the website off the ground.
If you really want to have a good number of people to visit your website at the start, you can use some of the cheap digital marketing strategies like Facebook and google Ads. But even if you are running Ads, you need to keep creating some attractive content especially blog posts that will keep your target customers coming back to the site every day. Investing in promoting the site can never replace the significance of great content.
Final thoughts
Squarespace is a pretty straight forward platform for creating websites. Their pricing plans are also fair enough for at least every kind of business to find one that suits their budget. The monthly subscription is even subsidized if you pay annually. For instance, the personal plan goes for $12/month if you pay annually and $16/month if you pay monthly. This platform is mainly appropriate for small businesses that don’t have a big budget for building a sophisticated website from scratch.
You also need to remember that the process of building a website that has all the features you need takes time. If you are to grow your website, make sure you add something small each day. In a few months or weeks, your website will start getting more sophisticated and closer to the ideal kind of website you need. Need more assistance in setting up your Squarespace website? or want to avail our social media marketing services Australia Contact us now!
