Why I choose Squarespace for myself and as a web designer
When I tell potential clients that I design websites exclusively on Squarespace now, many of them are surprised. Many small businesses and nonprofits have been on Wordpress, Weebly or Wix for years, and the idea of switching concerns them.
And honestly, I get it. For awhile I really thought that using Squarespace would somehow lessen my website, and as a designer, I needed to pack it up and head to Wordpress to be more… “Professional”. Let me tell you what happened when I did that.
Why I thought I needed to switch to Wordpress
When I first started Stanley Creative, I specifically came with the intention of designing easy to use websites for small businesses and nonprofits who wanted to take care of the site themselves. I saw a lot of owners and directors locked into a contract with a developer who didn’t answer emails and didn’t keep up with the maintenance of the sites, leaving them with an out-of-date website that didn’t reflect them at all.
What I saw on Squarespace fit the bill. I saw that it was intuitive, it was modern and it would solve a lot of problems for clients who wanted the control of the site themselves. I knew that for almost all of my clients, it would be exactly what they needed - no complicated plug ins and updates, just a simple, easy to update site they could rely on.
So, I built my own site on Squarespace, tricked it out like I wanted it, and was happy with it.
Until I started to look at the other side of the fence… maybe there was something on Wordpress I was missing.
I saw tutorials on YouTube and saw that I could do a little bit more with Wordpress. I could customize a little bit more.
I thought that if I built on Wordpress, it would be way cheaper than Squarespace (spoiler alert: you think it will be… but it’s not.)
I thought if I go to Wordpress, my site will be more “legitimate” as a designer and it will be exactly how I want it
Why switching platforms didn’t go as planned
I got everything signed up and ready, and… well… it was a LOT of work. A lot more work than signing up for Wordpress, that’s for sure.
I got it ready to go, and started designing. First I had to research and learn a TON. Like, weeks. And I thought, it’s okay, I can pass this on to my clients. But I knew deep down, I was straying from my original mission. I knew my clients could never handle this, all the extra steps, all the updates and the stress of core updates.
But whatever, I could still have my website on it Wordpress. “Because it will look so much nicer.”
I worked. I hustled on my design. I made my site do cool little images that slid and popped and hovered. (All of which can be accomplished on Squarespace now too). I completely customized the mobile view of my site. (which took WEEKS, but it was worth it right?) I bought additional pro plug ins to do more. I customized and customized until I realized I had slowed my site down I had customized so much. So I had to uncustomize.
I trouble-shooted. (Trouble-shot?) For weeks. I tried to figure out why this one thing wouldn’t do exactly what I wanted it to. Google-ing, YouTube-ing, wasting hours trying to figure things out about my backend. Making sure it was secure, fast, beautiful….
Why I came back to Squarespace for my website design
And I kept it for a few years. I realized I needed to rebrand, and I knew it would take me an eternity to rebuild it. So I pretended it didn’t need it. Once and awhile I would sneak to Squarespace and set up a fresh site on a trial just to try it and play with the features. It was fun, easy and simple to build. But I couldn’t switch now… it will be so much work!
I finally realized I was going against the exact advice I was giving my clients.
I was locked into a website I hated, the only difference was that I was my own developer. I was fighting with things that I didn’t need to fight with, I needed it simplified.
So I bit the bullet. I redesigned, and switched over, and let out a sigh of relief. It’s done, it’s so much easier to work with and expand, and it’s all in one place.
Why I recommend Squarespace to my Small Business and Nonprofit clients
I’m back and I love it - you can love working with your site too!! Why do I believe Squarespace is exactly what your business needs? Let’s see a few points:
Intuitive
Believe me - majority of the sites I build, prospective clients ask me repeatedly “Are you sure I can learn this?” It took them years to learn how to edit and use the back end of their website, so understandably, they want to know if this is a good idea.
A few weeks later, after their 1 ½ hour live training session, they exclaim “That’s not bad at all! I can do this!” Yes, they can, and you can too.
I pride myself on sitting with my Mum and helping her learn how to work Facebook etc, and that is part of my services. I know most business owners do NOT have the time to fiddle with a website to figure it out, and Squarespace is not only very straight forward, but if you do get snagged on something, they have amazing help resources, including articles, videos, and step by step guides. It’s so helpful.
Modern
Squarespace makes it so easy to walk away with a beautiful, modern site that represents you well and displays well on all kinds of screens.
You don’t need to be embarrassed to send someone to your ©2013 website anymore - it’s possible! In a few short weeks, I build out a client’s sites with everything set up and ready to go, and then… they run their online store, they click and drag, they change events on the calendar. It works, and it looks SO good.
Integrations that work
Squarespace is continuously adding more integrations and Extensions that work with other well known websites or applications making it easier to stay inside Squarespace and get things done. Think of these as the replacement for “plugins” in many ways. A few of the Extensions include:
Social Media - Pushing content to your channels or pulling from your channels to your site.
Embedding your videos and music from YouTube, Vimeo, Spotify, and SoundCloud
Commerce Integrations, like Apple Pay, Google, UPS, PayPal, FedEx
Restaurant Bookings
Accounting and Invoicing
Printing on Demand Services
There are lots of options to create exactly the site you need, and most small businesses can get away without adding any of these anyways.
In-House, All in One Features
Let’s get real - NO ONE wants to have to log into multiple different websites for hosting, domain, this, that… let’s keep it together!
Within Squarespace, it’s easy to:
Purchase your domain, and your hosting is in the subscription plan. You don’t have to stress about remembering all the logins.
Blogging - Your blog is part of your website, and can I just say - it looks AMAZING. It has more than enough features and customizations to help you hit the ground running.
Portfolios - Artist? You’re already half done building your site if you’ve already got your images ready. There are so many beautiful features to highlight your collections, and help you to...
Online Stores - SELL ONLINE, and easily. Keep track of your inventory, and make a site that shines and sells.
Email Marketing - Now you can even manage your mailing list from within Squarespace. Especially if you have an online store, this is a slick way to keep everyone in one place.
Analytics - No extra plugins - just right there in your dashboard. See where your traffic is coming from, and which pages are really getting clicked so you can grow your site strategically.
Scheduling - Accept bookings for appointments online so you don’t have to email back and forth finding the perfect time for both of you.
Professional Email - If you’re making a new GSuite account, you can connect your professional email through Squarespace as well.
Members Areas - Need a place that your members can log into? Think online course, or portal for your members. This is a new feature that again minimizes having to leave your site
It won’t be long before this post is out of date - check the latest features here!!
No Updating/Maintenance
I had one client ask me four times because she really didn’t believe that she wouldn’t have to hire someone or make updates on her site every month. Eventually she realised it was that simple - she wouldn’t need to do this with Squarespace. Because Squarespace handles everything - the security, the SEO, the image resizing… all the plugins you have to check for weaknesses and if they’re still relevant - it’s taken care of. That right there is a MAJOR plus.
So, have I convinced you yet? Let me know what you think of Squarespace, or what your concerns are about switching!
