10 Reasons Why You Should Host Your Small Business Website With Squarespace
Hint: A major reason I chose it for my website is because it's an all-in-one platform (more on that later)
Does this little scenario sound familiar? You decided it’s time to invest in that fancy new website you’ve been putting off for a while now or maybe you’re new to being a small business owner and know exactly what you want your website to be (kudos to you if either of those situations rings true to you) I’ll be the first one to admit I’m here for that and I’m here to support you 10000% of the way.
So you’ve done a teeny tiny bit of research on which platform might be right for you but really, you’re a busy business owner >> I get it - and need someone else to tell you the cold hard facts about why Squarespace is right for you. Hey-o! Let me dive right in and dish some seriously juicy details on why I chose Squarespace and why I think you might just want to too (but seriously, I think you going to be sold by the time you’re done reading this. So…. let's get started!
All-in-one Platform
Ok, so let’s get into the nitty-gritty of what it means when it’s said that Squarespace is an all-in-one platform. Basically, this is how it made sense to me.
Squarespace offers everything that goes into hosting and having a live website with virtually no additional effort by you (the user's part). Hallelujah, this alone was a huge positive for me. I very briefly played around with other website platforms and honestly being a busy mama to three and a small business owner, time and using my time wisely are my most valuable assets. I couldn’t be bothered to learn the ins and outs of coding and paying separately for hosting, templates, plug-ins, you name it.
Shocked that I just admitted to not coding as a designer? Well, let me tell you my little secret, I still use a little bit of code when I want to achieve a certain design feature that’s outside Squarespace’s standard capabilities but my focus is on designing a website that does the heavy lifting for you, because I know, you’re days a packed full and one major plus to having your own website is to automate your workflow and sign new clients with a tried and true process that is already completed on your website.
As a small business owner, this is something we all dream of and aspire to achieve. The picture of a mom at the park with her kids. Pushing them on the swings and then chasing after them in the grass, all while effortlessly signing clients. This is what I’m here to help with because I want that for you!
With that being said, Squarespace is amazing at keeping its platform user-friendly and small business owner friendly without the need to constantly download new plug-ins and keep up with the latest version and updates - it’s already done for you!
Industry-Specific Templates
Squarespace makes it easy for small business owners to choose a free template for their new website.
The Templates are sorted by ‘TYPE’ and ‘TOPIC’. I always start a new website build by heading over to the popular designs option. When I’m with a new client and we are choosing a template for their new website what I guide them to look at are:
The design features of the template - the location of the logo at the top, is it centred, to the left or to the right?
The shapes and location of the buttons, are they easy to spot?
The layout of photos and text. Is the template more photo or text-based?
What’s great about getting started with Squarespace is that there is a mini-quiz for you to take before choosing a template, this quiz guides you through what templates could fit what you're looking for.
Make sure to check out: How to Pick A Template in Squarespace
When I work with clients choosing a template is something that we do together. I’m able to match the needs of the website and the business to the right template by going through a quick questionnaire where we identify my client's top website goals and critical information that needs to be on their website.
When looking for a template, my 5 quick tips for what to look for are:
Choose a template with similar colours to your own brand colours
Look at the placement of buttons, logos, and sections. Then choose a template that matches the design aesthetic you want to achieve.
Pay attention to the layout. Does the template already include the sections you need to display your business’s important information?
Choose a template that has the desired amount of pages you need. Most often you’ll need a Home, About, Services/Products, Contact and a Blog page if you are focused on creating consistent content for your audience
Take some time to preview the template and test out the template's features. This is also your chance to test out how the template displays on desktop and mobile devices.
Whether you have a physical business location, work from the comfort of your own home or while travelling abroad, I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to find a template that works for your business.
It’s easy to create a stunning website that is easy for your client to navigate with just the click of a few buttons.
Squarespace Support
Being lost in the midst of building a new website is overwhelming. You aren’t alone when you choose Squarespace!
The support features that really made Squarespace an easy choice for me, and why I build Squarespace websites for fellow small business owners are:
24/7 support
Support via email & chat
Squarespace Help Center - guides, webinars & videos
Squarespace is known for its exceptional customer support.
Their Help Centre is amazing for all things Squarespace, from Webinars to guides to community forums they also have 24/7 customer support through live chat or email to help you with any issues you encounter on your site.
Whether you need help picking a template, connecting your domain or simply want a tour of how to use the different blocks within Squarespace, you are not going to be looking for a long time before finding your answer!
Check out Squarespace Help Center
Squarespace Tutorials and Blogs
I don’t know about you, but I’m a total sucker for tutorials, blogs, and vlogs that teach me how to do something myself. By watching YouTube videos and a little practice, I learnt cut my two boys' hair at home, and I have to say, I think I’m pretty good at it!
Anytime I get stuck with how to do something in Squarespace, off to the Squarespace blog I go (you can find it here), and I have everything I need to know right at my fingertips! This has saved me countless times as I get stuck on small issues like the logo showing up super duper tiny despite meeting all the guidelines.
Easily Connect Third-Party Apps
When you run a small business, it’s almost mandatory that you have at minimum 5-10 monthly subscriptions that help you seamlessly (well as close to it as possible) run your business.
Connecting your website to all these apps means you can create a seamless experience for your clients. You can welcome them to you and your business, show them your work and give them the opportunity to connect with you.
For the majority of the websites I build, I always add these three things:
A scheduler link using Calendly, Acuity, Honeybook or Dubsado
A form to collect important information that triggers an automatic sequence for collecting leads (forms created in a platform like Honeybook or Dubsado then connected to their website)
A pop-up with a freebie opt-in that helps my clients build their email list. With Squarespace, you can connect to popular email marketing software, including ConvertKit, MailChimp, & Flodesk
Squarespace’s Built-in SEO Features
Yes, for Squarespace’s SEO features! I think for a lot of business owners, SEO is overwhelming and is a full-time job in itself. When I started to learn about SEO and how Squarespace keeps up with today’s best SEO practices, I was pleasantly surprised that Squarespace has excellent SEO capabilities and is built in - are you sensing a theme yet?
The SEO features that Squarespace takes care of with EVERY Squarespace website:
Creating clean URLs, headings, tags, and a site map that helps websites rank higher in Google’s search engine
Mobile-enabled websites rank higher in Google results, and all Squarespace websites are already mobile optimized
SEO best practices are automatically generated with all websites built on Squarespace meaning no code on your end!
In addition to those awesome built-in features, all photos and blog posts can have customized SEO titles and descriptions that are crazy good for your SEO.
You can also attend a free webinar hosted by Squarespace to learn more about SEO and your Squarespace website.
When I work with a new client, I want to make sure SEO is one less thing they have to worry about. So, in custom website packages, the Simply Website, I include all the basic SEO setup, which means I handle the additional SEO factors like:
Resizing and optimizing all website photos
Assigning all photos and pages SEO & keyword rich titles and descriptions
I enable additional SEO features like AMP or Accelerated Mobile Pages for a lighter and quicker version of blog posts (this helps with your Google Ranking) and I ensure SSL Certificates are turned on (another feature that helps your new website rank higher in Google)
One Easy Monthly Payment - Email Campaign, Gmail, Scheduling etc…
If you’re tired of constantly keeping track of all the different apps and platforms that help you run your business, Squarespace offers (almost) everything you need to run your small business in one easy location!
With Squarespace, you can
- Create an email campaign with Squarespace Email Campaigns
- Add client meetings and maintain your schedule with Acuity Scheduling
- Score a free domain for your first year
- Hosting your website
- Setup Google Workspace
- Create a custom email with your domain name
You also get a two-week free trial to test out Squarespace and build your site.
Are you thinking to yourself? Can I even build a website in two weeks?
The answer is yes! It’s totally possible. All my website builds are completed in 2 weeks! I curated my two-week process to fit with the busy schedule of small business owners.
Highlights of my two-week websites are:
I walk you through the process of finding inspiration for your website
I offer unlimited revisions
You receive your brand new website at the end of our two weeks together!
Websites Are Highly Customizable and Don’t Have to Look Like A template
Building a website from scratch can feel overwhelming.
Instead of staring at a blank white screen, Squarespace offers a great starting point for your new website. I always start a new website build-off by heading to the template gallery. I’m always looking for three things:
A template that already has a layout that is pretty close to what I’m looking to create
Design features that are in line with what I’m trying to achieve - for example, rounded buttons, a logo centered in the middle of the page, a simple-to-navigate footer
Sections that have a good mix of text and photos
I then customize from there!
Mobile Optimized!
Have you ever gone to a website from your phone, and it looks well ter-able! Words are trailing off your screen, and you can’t get rid of that annoying pop-up!! Pheww. Ya, I know we’ve all been there. It’s frustrating.
And do you know what happens when a dreamy client lands on your site and can’t navigate it? They’re going to go ahead and hit that back button pretty quickly.
We need to ensure you’re website is easy peasy lemon squeezy, that’s super simple for your dreamy new clients to navigate. Did you know that globally 60% of website visits are done via mobile devices? That’s a lot, and we don’t want you to miss out on that traffic!
Squarespace offers different views in its editor. So after you do your magic on the desktop version of your website, the magic Squarespace fairies work behind the scenes and automatically create a mobile version of your desktop website.
You’ll need to tweak a few photos and watch out for spacing, but seriously it’s super simple, even for a beginner at web design!
Remember, Google ranks websites higher when they are mobile-optimized!
BONUS: User-friendly LOVE the new drag-and-drop editor (7.1)
So I kinda love how user-friendly Squarespaces drag-and-drop editor is. Gone are the days you spend waay too much time trying to fit a photo onto your page by adding a multitude of spacers >>> man have I been there. I would much rather use my spare time binge-watching the latest episode of Selling Sunset and Love is Blind and going on adventures with my three little munchkins!
BONUS: Make Quick Updates & Track Your Website Analytics with the Squarespace App
I completely love that Squarespace has an app! You can make a small update on the app - like edit pages, add a new blog post and add photos to a gallery block.
The feature I hands-down use all the time is the analytics feature. Analytics tells you how many unique visitors have visited your site in a set time frame, and you can see what buttons and links visitors are clicking on.
What I look for when utilizing the analytics feature:
The type of device people view your website on. For my website, the majority of my visitors visit the desktop version. How I use this information is, when I’m designing a new page for my website, I can tailor it more to the desktop experience because I already know a majority of my visitors are viewing my website on their desktop.
How visitors are coming to your website. Squarespace Analytics takes note of the source of how visitors land on your website, and then this information is broken down into Direct, Email, Referral, Social and Search. This information helps me know what marketing strategies send visitors to my website.
The pages and buttons visitors are interacting with. By keeping an eye on the most popular pages and buttons visitors interact with, it’s easier to identify when adjustments need to be made and where to make new changes.
