Why I choose to use Squarespace over Wordpress (and other website building tools).
Each web designer usually has a preference of platform based on what they are used to working with. There are many reasons why I choose Squarespace over Wordpress. Chiefly, one of the main reasons I use it is because of its usability. Because I create and build your website and hand it over to you, rather than charge a monthly maintenance/update fee, I want to feel confident that you can use it yourself once the build is complete that you will easily be able to operate the ‘back end’.
What is Squarespace?
Squarespace is a ‘software as a service’ (‘SaaS’) website builder — you pay a monthly fee to use it, but everything you need to build and maintain your site is provided as part of that: templates, a content management system, hosting, e-commerce, support and (depending on your requirements) a domain. There’s even a built in email marketing tool.
The Squarespace model is based around templates that you customise and design to create a lovely modern, professional website, that can easily grow and develop as your business does. You are not limited to an original design if your business model changes in the future. All Squarespace websites are mobile and tablet friendly and there are even some great features designed specifically for people browsing on their phones, which is becoming more and more popular. Unlike Wordpress, Squarespace provide their own hosting and security updates, so you don't need to worry about the technical installation process.
A few of the highlights:
It is possible to include a huge range of content types including images, galleries, videos, contact forms, blog posts and podcasts
You can sell digital downloads, services or physical products online .
Preview your pages in a visual content editor so you can immediately see how your website is going to look - rather than Wordpress where you have to edit the ‘back-end’ and hope it looks good on the live page. This can be time consuming going back and forth.
Seamlessly link your social media accounts so you can display your own tweets and Instagram feeds on your website
Easily and automatically post your new blog posts or events on social media when they’re published on your website
Talk directly to someone from Squarespace via email 24 hours a day by email or live chat - they are brilliant.
Squarespace also now offers its own, fully integrated email marketing tool so you can build beautifully designed email marketing campaigns, manage your marketing lists and view campaign analytics.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Just having a website (even a very beautiful one) isn’t enough anymore. It’s like having leaflets made to advertise your business, leaving the box unopened on the kitchen table and wondering why no-one is getting in touch!
Squarespace does a great job helping you to get found online by translating the information that you provide into a format that makes Google happy.
‘Search engine optimisation, or SEO, is the process of improving your site's ranking in search results. While the factors search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo use to rank sites are kept secret and change frequently, we build all known SEO best practices into every Squarespace site.
As the host for millions of websites for over a decade, we’ve implemented various strategies to help your site appear in search engine results. Squarespace has the technical side covered for you—there's no need to search for plugins or get under the hood.’ read full article
What's the difference between Squarespace & WordPress?
Wix and Go-Daddy (or options like the website tool that comes free with your domain) are a good for people with little budget, who are just getting off the ground.
WordPress is probably the best known alternative to Squarespace, and it's great if you're a developer or you have someone technical that can provide ongoing support. The difference between WordPress and Squarespace is convenience and how easy it is to use if you aren't technical and have no desire to be so!
In my opinion, the most notable difference between Squarespace and WordPress’s approach to content management is to do with on-page editing.
With Squarespace, you can just go to the page you’d like to tweak and click on a bit of content to edit it: you’ll then see your edits in context on the page, as you make them.
With WordPress — out of the box at least — you have to edit the page in the back end and preview / publish it before you see your changes.
Costs:
No matter who you choose to host your website with there will be a cost involved somewhere along the line. It is unavoidable.
Squarespace:
Simple plans. Simple prices. Only pay for what you really need. All plans come with award-winning 24/7 customer support. Change or cancel your plan at any time.
You can find out about Squarespace hosting fees here
A few of the basics from Squarespace:
How long are your contracts?
Squarespace plans are paid monthly or yearly. We make it simple to start — and stop — your service at any time.
Is there a discount for yearly service?
Yes, we offer discounts on up-front long-term commitments. You will also receive one year off of a new domain registration with your annual purchase.
Do I need another web host?
No. All Squarespace plans include our fully-managed cloud hosting, ensuring your website remains available at all times.
Hosted WordPress
Hosted Wordpress - available at wordpress.com — is, like Squarespace, a software as a service (SaaS) tool. As with Squarespace you pay a monthly fee and you get access to a broad range of features which enable you to build and maintain a website.
It’s slightly less of an ‘all in one’ solution than Squarespace however, as users need to use third party tools like Ecwid or Shopify to add e-commerce features, and using the most attractive themes involve an additional fee.
WordPress costs
“Hey, WordPress is free” I hear you say. Well no, not exactly, because to get it working properly you need to pay for other stuff.
There are five things that will generally affect your costs:
Hosting (server space on which to install WordPress and store your site)
Themes (the design for your site)
E-commerce integration (addition of tools that will let you sell products online)
Plugins (apps that can be added to your site to add more functionality)
Whether or not a developer is involved in your site build.
The one thing you'll always have to pay for hosting: without it you have nowhere to install WordPress. There are a wide range of options available on this front, but the key choice you’ll have to make is whether you’d like to use a ‘shared hosting’ company like Hostpapa or a ‘managed Wordpress’ provider such as WP Engine that specialises exclusively in WordPress hosting (faster, more secure — but more expensive).
You need to make sure that every time WordPress makes changes to their code, it gets added to your version of it on your hosting. Not keeping this up to date can leave you vulnerable to hackers and security risks.
With Squarespace unlike Wordpress, there is no back-end maintenance to worry about. Squarespace is cloud-based and as such you do not need to download, back-up or update your website to the latest software version. All of that is taken care of for you. With WordPress you can also add lots of functionality with little bits of code called plugins. Most of these aren't made by WordPress themselves, so you have to a) make sure you're getting your code from a reliable source, and b) make sure that the plugin code is also kept up to date. If the plugin isn't updated, it can start to break your website when you update your WordPress code.
With Squarespace, nearly everything you could need is there, right from the start, straight 'out of the box'. Because your website is hosted, updated and supported by Squarespace you don't need to worry about having to do anything technical yourself. And there's loads of functionality built in, so most people don't need any extra plugins.
Is the monthly or annual fee for Squarespace higher than cheap hosting for WordPress?
Yes. But if you want someone to manage your WordPress site (and you really should if you don't want security issues) then the cost for paying a developer (or for premium, managed hosting) soon makes Squarespace a very good value option.
Squarespace is designed for marketing your business. Squarespace is easy to integrate with marketing tools e.g. social media accounts and email marketing tools such as MailChimp. It’s also easy to add lead generation forms and to set up promotional pop-ups (not available in the personal plan), announcement bars and EU (European Union) cookie and privacy banners.
In summary.
I like using Squarespace because the end result is beautiful and functional. The ‘back end’ basics are straightforward enough for my clients to manage on their own after some training. Everything a small business needs is included (depending on your needs (ie ecommerce) and the plan you choose) - I rarely need to use code or a third party plug-in. I like the integration with Unsplash when I need beautiful stock imagery. There is no ‘back end maintenance’ to worry about. The customer service is great and it seems that it is always evolving to continue bringing great service.
If you would like to discuss your website needs, please get in touch
