Why I Recommend Squarespace for Small Businesses

With more people than ever before going digital, it has never been more imperative to have an online presence for your business. But why Squarespace? Is it worth the money? And does it deliver the promises they state on their website? Let’s delve in and find out what Squarespace is all about and why I recommended it for small businesses.

What is Squarespace?

Squarespace is a drag and drop website builder tool, meaning that you don’t need to know code to create a sleek, sophisticated website.

Squarespace is one of the top three website builders and is marketed at bloggers, freelancers, and small businesses.

Why do I recommend Squarespace?

Squarespace offers an easy-to-use interface and its CMS (content management system) means you can create a polished e-commerce or portfolio website relatively quickly. I also find that while WordPress is free initially, Squarespace costs clients less due to the hidden WordPress costs required to run your website effectively. With Squarespace, hosting, security and even domains are all under one roof, meaning less hassle and less to worry about. One account, one monthly or yearly payment and you’re good to go.

Read on to discover many more reasons to choose Squarespace for your next website.

Squarespace websites always look great

Each Squarespace website begins as a template, and there are plenty to choose from. Each template is customisable and is a great starting point for creating something new and unique to promote your business. You may be thinking, “if it’s just templates, why can’t I just do it?!” Starting off with basic templates still needs a lot of work to turn into a fully functioning, visually appealing website catered to your particular business. They are a starting point only and still require time to build, design practical pages and layouts, implement social media, contact forms, booking forms, SEO (see below) and ecommerce products. This simply is not in everyone’s expertise and of course one of the main issues is businesses lacking time. Using Squarespace also allows me to offer much better pricing than if I used WordPress for example, as I’m not building from scratch and means I can generally complete your website in a shorter timeframe. Squarespace is beautiful! It is the best website builder for artists, designers and ecommerce stores wanting to create stunning visuals with little fuss. This makes it a huge benefit to small business owners that want a visually appealing, professional website but may be lacking budget or know-how. It’s well known that there is a learning curve if you haven’t used Squarespace before but once you understand how it works it is incredibly user-friendly. Of course, you could always hire someone else to turn your website dreams into reality and this is where I can step in!

What about SEO?

Building a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing website is one thing, but does it reach your audience organically via Google? The SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools within Squarespace have been underrated for some time.

At its most basic level, it has a clear and structured interface for each page which has boxes for information and SEO to be added. For the more advanced user. Squarespace allows you to add apply code, meaning you can strive for that top spot on Google whichever way you decide to add SEO optimization.

When creating a website, I provide basic SEO minimum in all my offered packages which includes suitable URLs, page titles and image labels including relevant keywords to your business.

Squarespace Pricing

So what do you pay for the benefits of Squarespace?

• Personal – £10 per month billed annually
• Business – £15 per month billed annually
• Basic Commerce – £20 a month billed annually
• Advanced Commerce – £30 a month billed annually

Squarespace may not be the absolute cheapest web builder out there, but I think it’s more than reasonable. Bearing in mind all you need to run the website including hosting is under one account, the stunning websites you can create due to the fantastic template starter points, and the ease of use, I really think it’s a no brainer and well worth the monthly or annual cost.

Exciting features you couldn’t live without

Below is an extensive list of marketing tools to help you create an outstanding website that sets you apart from your competitors.

Features include:

· Blogging and podcasts

Create and share relevant content with your readers in both written and audio formats. Add affiliate links or promote your latest product or service in an enticing, familiar way while at the same time boosting traffic through brand trust and familiarity. These avenues make your customers feel like they know you and are sharing the whole journey of your business.

· Complete social media integration

Connect your social media profiles and share content across multiple platforms with ease. Embed familiar logos as well as your Instagram feed directly into your website to help visitors easily access your different social media accounts.

· Promotional popups and emails

Build an invaluable email list with promotional pop-ups that help retain customers and grow your brand. Send out professional emails funnels using the email newsletter feature to build customer engagement and trust.

· E-Commerce to create those all-important sales

The e-commerce options in Squarespace are endless. You can take credit card payments, create sales, issue refunds, and again completely customise your customer’s experience while in your online store. Squarespace also offers an integrated point of sale feature so you can sell your products in person as well as online, making it extremely versatile and giving you time to focus on other aspects of your business.

· Online booking system

For an extra cost, you can add online booking features to your website. This can be hugely beneficial if you frequently take bookings from customers for classes, webinars, meetings, or tutoring, the list is endless.

· Analytics

Tracking how your customers, use, find, and navigate your website is hugely important. Analysing this data help find trends in customer behaviour. Understanding their demographics and when they visit your website will enable you to make improvements to your marketing strategies and help you grow. Squarespace includes a basic analytics package and the ability to embed Google Analytics.

So now we know all the amazing features Squarespace has to offer, how easy it to create your website, and can you do it yourself?

How easy is it edit your website?

With Squarespace’s intuitive drag and drop website builder, the days of learning in-depth HTML and website code are over. With a little patience and work, anyone can edit their own website once built.

The back end of your website, the upkeep, is easily learnt so you can change photos, copywriting, or products to keep your website fresh and up to date without the need to hire a website manager full time. This saves you money in the long run.

If requested, I can provide a video tutorial on how to manage your Squarespace website so you are able to make future changes. Of course, I’d be delighted to help you out in the future if this is your preference and make any updates you wish for you.

Should you make your own Squarespace website?

As discussed previously Squarespace’s drag and drop design features are user-friendly, once you have learnt how the site works. But do you have the time and money to develop these skills? Are you a complete technophobe? Is your energy best spent building your business and letting someone like myself build your website for you?

A customer’s first impression of your website can be their lasting impression. In the fast-moving digital world, it can take seconds for customers to leave a site that isn’t properly optimised. This can cause revenue loss and long term damage to your brand.

After working with Squarespace on numerous web design projects and knowing the features they offer, it’s hard to disagree with why Squarespace is my go-to choice for website design, especially for small businesses.

I create websites with unmatched attention to detail, organic SEO and offer competitive rates for my service. With Squarespace, everything is in one place. It takes the stress out of having an online presence. Its customisable features continue to expand and quite simply let you get back to focusing on what matters, growing your online business. So what are you waiting for? Contact me here and I’ll get a proposal sent over to you.