Time and time again Squarespace makes our lists of best website builders. Creative Bloq writer Tom May compared Squarespace to the best art galleries designed with the care and attention necessary to display art in the best possible light in our list of the best websites for artists. However, artists aren’t the only professional creatives who will find Squarespace places their work in the best possible light. It’s also our best website builder for photographers and the website builder that will produce the best-looking websites for small businesses. Squarespace creates, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the most stunning and professional looking websites and it has tons of tools to make the process painless. However, making a beautiful site to showcase your creative work is just the tip of the iceberg.
Building a stunning website with Squarespace
Squarespace is best known for its absolutely gorgeous templates. These sleek and professional designs are not only fantastic on their own, but also fully customisable. You can have a stunning website that is also incredibly unique by using Squarespace’s wide range of design tools. You won’t need to know the first thing about web design to take your pick from a wide array of colour palettes and over 1,600 fonts. Each of these templates is designed to showcase your content, from photos to products, in the best possible light.
Start your free trial today and get 10% off your first purchase with the code: “CREATIVEBLOQ”.
If you’re still in the early stages of setting up your business, or just feel like your business needs a facelift beyond a beautiful website, Squarespace’s free logo maker will let you design a crisp, clean logo with a huge catalogue of images.
On the more technical end, whether you register a new domain or transfer an existing one, every domain added to your Squarespace site is automatically protected with an SSL certificate and nearly all Squarespace domains automatically come with WHOIS privacy as well. You’ll also be able to keep track of multiple sites through the streamlined account dashboard.
Running your shop with Squarespace
Once you’ve built a stunning and secure website with Squarespace, turning it into a profitable shop is also super easy. Squarespace has tools to help you sell physical products and digital products alike. Whether you’re an artist looking to showcase a handful of months long projects or looking to sell hundreds of different products, you’ll be able to keep an extensive catalog of your products, with no limitations..
For those with brick-and-mortar stores or who sell at events, it’s easy to manage your inventory across both your website and physical locations. Squarespace has even taken steps to secure your digital products as well, generating a unique link for every purchase which expires after 24 hours. There are also tools to sell services, subscriptions, and gift cards through your Squarespace store.
When it comes time to create and ship products, Squarespace has dozens of APIs and integrations to create a smooth sale from start to finish. There are third-party extensions for all your commerce needs. If you want to sell your designs on apparel, use the Printful extension for a wide variety of print-on-demand products. Need to get products to your customers quick and easy? The ShipStation extension can do just that, saving you time and money, on top of keeping your customers happy.
Are you a whiz in the kitchen, but struggle with the bookkeeping end of your small business? The 1-800Accountant extension will keep track of every sale and every business expense, all with the backing of a team of professional bookkeepers.
When it comes to sales analytics, you won’t find better than the Squarespace Sales Panel. Squarespace will crunch all the numbers for you, so you know what is working for your business and your customers, and what areas you need to improve upon. Broken down into six key performance indicators, you will be able to see how much money you’re making, which products are selling best, how much each customer is ordering, and more. Fine tune your business model without the guesswork.
Marketing your business with Squarespace
As any professional creative knows, a huge part of what drives the success of your business is marketing. You might craft some of the best beauty and self care products on the market, but if you can’t get traffic on your site, your business won’t thrive. Fortunately, Squarespace offers a wide variety of tools to get your name out there and build excitement in your potential customers.
Starting with search engine optimisation, Squarespace has guides to walk you through the complex and often confusing world of SEO. While these guides are thorough and extremely helpful, Squarespace doesn’t stop there either. There are dozens of easy to use, built in tools to assure your site has the best SEO possible. Once your site is up and running, you can also use the Google Search Console, a free service offered with all Squarespace sites that shows you exactly how your customers are finding your page, giving you even more tools to optimise.
For those who’ve already put in the work building a social media following, you won’t lose your progress. You can link over a dozen types of social media accounts directly to your Squarespace site, including all the big names like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as well as some less common ones. Once connected, you can automatically post to your social media accounts when you update your site and display your social media posts directly on your site.
Once you’ve started getting traffic, Squarespace has tools for adding in banners and pop ups, advertising promotions and getting visitors to sign up for your mailing list. Speaking of that mailing list, remember all those beautiful templates used to design your site? Squarespace also has beautiful and customisable layouts for email marketing and, just like the website templates, every single email layout is designed to look great whether your customers are on their computers or their mobile devices.
Make sure your website is working for you with Squarespace
Even if you’re not selling a product, Squarespace also offers a ton of really useful tools to make sure your site is performing. As you try to build yourself as a brand, the analytics panels show exactly how people are finding your site, whether they clicked on an ad on Facebook or searched in Google. You’ll know precisely what search terms are working to get people to your site, enabling you to increase your traffic. You can also track the geographical regions responsible for your traffic so you can better speak to your audience. Best of all, these tools can be accessed on your desktop or through the mobile app, so you’ll always have this information at your fingertips.
Beyond traffic, Squarespace has tools that can help you increase sales and even save lost sales. The Purchase Funnel analytics will show you exactly where visitors to your site drop off before making a purchase and Abandoned Cart Recovery will automatically email customers who put items in their cart without completing their purchase, encouraging them to return to the site to complete that sale. There is even a tool that breaks down how successful these emails are and how changes to your site impact abandoned carts and the recovery efforts.
What are you waiting for?
There are dozens of other tools and supports Squarespace offers, from integrated professional and personal calendars to guides and tutorials. What’s more, every single Squarespace plan includes round the clock access to its award-winning tech support team. Squarespace also offers plans with the help of experienced designers, developers, and even dedicated account managers for those who would prefer to just focus on their work and let someone else handle managing their online presence.
Beyond all the incredible tools and services offered, Squarespace is incredibly affordable. Starting at just $16 a month, Squarespace has a plan for everyone. Whether you’re looking to start your very first blog or build your business’ online presence, you can pick the plan that fits your goals and change it at any point. Start your free trial today and get 10% off your first purchase with the code: “CREATIVEBLOQ”.
