Why Choose Squarespace for Your Website?

With a million and one online platforms to choose from, why should you use Squarespace to host your website? There are plenty of articles and charts comparing Squarespace to other web hosting tools, but I wanted to share my personal insights after using the platform for over ten years– and share why I keep coming back. 

User-Friendly Website Building

First and foremost, the most obvious reason I started using Squarespace to build websites is that it is easy to use. Their drag and drop format is extremely clear for even the non-tech inclined folks to understand and use. 

No coding is required to make a gorgeous and functional website on Squarespace– though I love to use some code to customize elements and make my sites unique, so I appreciate the option.

The mobile editing feature is incredibly useful for making sure your site is mobile-responsive, which is increasingly important for how people are accessing your site. Their automatic mobile re-design of your page is usually solid enough to leave it as is, but if you are doing funky things with your design, you have total control of making the mobile version of your site its own experience. 

When I’m building websites for clients, I like to make sure that they feel they have ownership over their own website. I get everything set up for them to hand off and make sure they feel empowered in being able to have control over their brand’s online presence. Even if they choose to stay hands off and have someone else handle their ongoing maintenance and updates, I think it’s important for a small organization or artist to know they have that control of their own website for long-term sustainability.

Keep Your Website Secure

Squarespace’s robust security and support team make me feel like my website and content is safe being on the world wide web— because it is! Sites on platforms like Wordpress are more vulnerable in how they are set up and are often targeted by hackers because of this.

Affordable and Hassle-Free Website Management

Because Squarespace handles backend updates and seamlessly makes sure your site works with these updates, it’s not only more secure, but it takes a lot of the technical issues off your plate. You don’t need to worry about web hosting maintenance to keep your site online.

I also appreciate the realistic pricing of Squarespace’s website hosting. Even the basic level subscription offers so many features to make your website powerful. You can get your website built and ready for free before you launch, and only need to pay for a subscription when you’re ready to launch. Most other free website platforms I’ve used are clunky, glitchy, or block so many features that you end up needing to pay for a subscription anyway to achieve what you need from your site. A Squarespace plan is worth the small investment. 

Beautiful, Customizable Templates for Any Brand

There is a whole world of Squarespace templates available to kickstart your website. Even Squarespace’s stock templates are a great, aesthetically pleasing place to start from. There are plenty of third party designers creating templates with specific niches (like me 😉), too, so you are sure to find a website template that fits your specific goals.

This is a major reason why I think Squarepace is the best website builder for small businesses– you can get your brand online fast and you don’t need a huge team of developers to create a good experience for your target audience. 

Built-In Features: E-commerce, SEO, and More

Now, I don’t always use or suggest the built-in add-on features like email marketing, because the tools in Squarespace don’t always fit everyone’s needs and there’s no reason to not connect another tool you’re more comfortable with. But if you’re looking to keep things all in one place, they do have great add-ons and tools!

The built-in Squarespace SEO features are extremely helpful to get your website in the ranking for searches without you needing to do much. This isn’t even an add-on, it automatically optimizes your site and pages on the backend for SEO. There is more you can and should do for your SEO performance, but these features are a great baseline to make sure you start off on the right foot with search engines. 

The e-commerce functionality in Squarespace is also something I’m excited they’ve added to their features. Being able to keep people on your site to make a sale really helps retain visitors and make sales, ensuring the user experience is seamless and boosting trust with your customers. Re-directing people to another platform with a clashing user interface creates a confusing experience, slower loading times, and puts one more step between the customer and their purchase. Setting up my shop on this platform was unbelievably easy and I’m looking forward to seeing how they grow the shop features and customization.

Customer Service

Honestly, Squarespace’s support team is a dream and feels like a luxury. They are accessible 24/7, respond quickly, actually listen to me, and will make sure your problem is solved to your standards before closing a ticket. 

Their knowledge base/help center is also a robust resource and their guides are clear and easy to follow. I usually check there first if I need to figure out how to do something or use a new feature (but sometimes I just ask them so I don’t have to search 🤫).

So... Is Squarespace Right for You?

I encourage you to continue your research on the details and specifics of features and pricing that you’re looking for in your website platform– sometimes Squarespace isn’t the right fit, but I have most often recommended Squarespace for my clients and friends. 

Squarespace is a great choice for small businesses, nonprofits, artists and photographers looking for an easy website builder or place to host your portfolio. It’s great for the visually inclined and makes it easy to translate your vision onto the page. Since it’s been around for a long time, there are so many resources created for this platform; you can usually find someone else who has already faced and solved your issue. Plus, if you choose Squarespace you can work with me to make your site fabulous! 

If you’re ready to create your site, reach out to me and let’s chat! Or if you are sold by the autonomy the platform gives you– check out my templates to get your site started.