Watch this step-by-step video tutorial to learn how to make a website with Squarespace or read the full written guide below.
Squarespace is one of the best options for building a website from scratch for your business. From professional templates to fast hosting and helpful plugins to improve site performance, Squarespace is a great choice to launch a new website. This guide will walk you through setting up a Squarespace website in just a few hours.
Step One: Pick a Domain for Squarespace
When creating a new website, choosing the right domain is of the utmost importance. When picking a domain, you should include the name of your business and perhaps the type of business you’re launching. For example, if you have a renovation business, your domain could be [your business’ name] + renovation dot com.
It’s a best practice to choose a .com domain when possible and to keep your domain as short as makes sense. Google Domains is an excellent source for affordable domains.
Step Two: Choose the Right Squarespace Plan
When choosing a Squarespace plan, you have four plan options. Personal ($12 per month) which is best for portfolio sites, Business ($18 per month) which is best for small business sites, Basic Commerce ($26 per month) which is best for new ecommerce sites, and Advanced Commerce ($40 per month) which is best for ecommerce sites with lots of customers.
Match the plan with the main purpose of your site and you’ll be setting yourself up for success.
Step Three: Pick a Template in Squarespace
Squarespace offers 100+ templates to choose from for every type of business whether you’re starting a freelance portfolio site, a realtor business site, or an online store. Squarespace templates are modern and will have the relevant pages needed for your business type, ready to populate with your information.
Once you’ve signed up for Squarespace, you can look through all of the template categories and find the right professional, well-designed template for your business.
Step Four: Create a Logo
Before you get started designing your website, you’ll need a logo for your business or online store to use on your new website. The easiest place to design a logo is Canva, a design tool which is perfect for beginners.
Canva comes with plenty of templates for logos you can make your own or you can design a new one from scratch.
Step Five: Design Your Website
Squarespace offers a drag-and-drop website builder which will help you perfect the look and feel of your website to your specifications. You’ll be able to drag elements like text, images, and information fields to different parts of each page.
For example, if you’re building a photography portfolio website, you can organize a block of different images you’ve taken to show off your work.
Step Six: Optimize Your Website + Creating Content
Now that your website is created, you should ensure pages are optimized by using Squarespace’s SEO tools and checklist which will be presented during the site creation process. Once your site follows their guidelines, use SEO tools to create content and pages for relevant keywords you should target.
Three tools you should use for this process are UberSuggest, Google Trends, and the most powerful SEO tool: SEMrush.
Step Seven: Add Helpful Plugins
Squarespace offers over 30 plugins that will help you supercharge your website with new features from improved marketing to easier ecommerce operations. Once you’ve set up your Squarespace website, you can visit the app marketplace and find the right apps for your unique website needs.
You won’t want to miss out on the useful plugins available through Squarespace as these features will help you gain and serve website visitors with ease.
Step Eight: Set Up Email Marketing
One of the best ways you can connect with your website’s audience is with SendInBlue, a powerful email marketing platform. SendInBlue will allow you to create unique emails using your brand colors and send them to email lists that submit their information on your website.
Syncing SendInBlue with your Squarespace website to collect emails will be simple and set your website on the path to success.
Step Nine: Measure Your Site’s Traffic
Now that your website is set up and you’ve begun optimizing it according to Google best practices, you should set up Google Analytics to measure traffic. Google Analytics will allow you to track how many people are visiting your site, from where, and how they’re engaging with your content and pages.
Set up Google Analytics to better understand your customers and how your website is performing from an organic traffic perspective.
FAQ: Do I Need a Hosting Service With Squarespace?
Some website builders like WordPress.org or WooCommerce require a separate hosting service but Squarespace hosting services are included with all plans. You won’t need to find a separate hosting service and will be able to push your website live when you’re done setting it up.
This is a major plus of using Squarespace as you won’t need to find a separate hosting service or sync it with your website builder or CMS.
Conclusion: Running Your Squarespace Website
Squarespace is one of the best website builders for creating a useful business website that will help you acquire customers and offer a great experience. By following these steps, you’ll set your website up for success but don’t forget to employ as many of these steps as possible to achieve your business aims, like setting up email marketing and optimizing for SEO.
Once you’ve completed the steps, you’ll have a beautiful business website, a complete marketing flow, and multiple ways to engage with your new website users.