7 REASONS TO CHOOSE SQUARESPACE FOR YOUR BUSINESS WEBSITE
A question often get asked about my services as a website designer is which platform I use to design websites for my clients. I have tried almost all of the popular website builders and first wanted to note that choosing what website platform is right for you all depends on your individual business goals.
While different platforms meet different needs and goals, Squarespace is by far my favorite for so many reasons and a majority of the time is a great fit for my clients. In a nutshell, Squarespace allows me to design completely custom sites that are easy for clients to use and maintain on their own once their project is completed. Let's dive deeper into 7 reasons why I choose Squarespace for small and service based businesses:
SQUARESPACE IS ALL IN ONE
I love that Squarespace is an all in one platform and does not require any plugins to literally do it all. You can choose from a wide range of templates to start out with, purchase your custom domain name directly and create a branded email address, access to e-commerce and selling digital products and processing, access to HTML and CSS code customization, and a free one-year subscription to Google Workspace (formerly GSuite) as a new subscriber. Squarespace makes search engine optimization straightforward by allowing you to add SEO page titles, descriptions, and URLS as well as blogging directly through the platform. Recently they also launched the capability to have gated membership pages that can only be accessed to those who have subscribed or paid a membership fee.
COMPLETE TEMPLATE CUSTOMIZATION
As a Squarespace Designer, I start all my websites by deleting everything in the template to start with a completely blank white page. While I do this for clients to give them a completely custom site, that doesn't mean you have to! Squarespace has an easy set of questions for you to answer when you sign up so that you can get a personalized template suggested that fits the needs of your business. Once you've chosen a template, you can customize everything you see. You can change fonts, colors, sizing, and shapes on every element of a template. You can drag and drop blocks around your page and re-arrange them in just a few clicks.
EASY TO USE AND MAINTAIN
To both build and maintain, Squarespace is my #1 choice. They make the content management system user friendly on the backend so anything from changing a line of text, switching out an image, adding a new blog post, listing a new digital product, updating your prices, or totally redesigning your website, can be done easily!
NO PLUGINS TO UPDATE
Unlike some other website builders, Squarespace does not have plugins that you need to update. For example, common website plugins include SEO assistance, Instagram feeds, video players. But when you choose Squarespace as your website builder, you don't need to worry about any plugins to manage, reinstall, troubleshoot, or update.
SUPERIOR SECURITY
Something you may not think about but because Squarespace controls all their integrations it is very secure and there is an extremely slim chance of ever getting hacked. They have a team that specializes in the security of their customers to ensure your data and that of your own customers are protected. Adding in here they also have great customer support via live chat or email for any issues that do arise with design, billing, or integrations.
PRICING
While there is not a free version of Squarespace, they do have multiple payment plans so you can choose the right one for your business and budget. Their most affordable and basic plan is $12 per month on the annual personal plan, but the most common option that I suggest is the business plan because then you can customize the code and do even more with your website for just a little bit extra. Their premium plan, designed specifically for advanced commerce functions, costs $40 per month annually or $46 on the monthly plan. Affordable pricing, a range of options, and accessibility to eCommerce plans is an important factor to think about as a business owner.
MOBILE RESPONSIVE
Squarespace websites are responsive by default meaning your website will respond to various different screen sizes from desktop to mobile that you're browsing the site from. This is so important because there are so many different devices and screen sizes and a lot of website traffic comes from mobile devices. While sometimes it’s necessary to make tweaks, you don’t have to design a separate mobile and desktop website.
WHEN I RECOMMEND ANOTHER PLATFORM
While I choose to focus on Squarespace website design services, I do work with other platforms on a case by case basis depending on my clients needs and goals. There are certain cases where I do recommend platforms other than Squarespace mainly for e-commerce brands and bloggers. If you’re curious about using Squarespace or need help deciding what platform is right for your business comment below or get in touch and let’s chat about the pros and cons to see what’s right for you!