Are you interested to grow your business with a website? Then you have probably heard of the easy-to-use Squarespace platform. How good is Squarespace exactly? In this review, we are going to give this website builder a test run to find out.
How Does Squarespace Work?
Squarespace is an online publishing platform created by Anthony Casalena in 2004. The software is popular for building beautiful looking websites that are highly image-oriented, thus delivering a visually pleasing experience for the readers.
There are 3 ways to use Squarespace;
- Create a cover page (which is a single page website).
- Build a website.
- Or set up an online store.
You start by selecting a theme and then move on to edit the web content in a preview screen – just like the typical What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get type of builder. The building elements come in the form of content blocks where you would point a function to execute an action, such as adding text, video, list or map onto a webpage.
Besides the array of tools that you can use for styling, it also comes with an in-house metrics to analyze online traffic and search engine queries.
How Much Does It Cost?
The pricing plan varies according to the type of product you choose. Here is the summary of the fee breakdown.
(1) For a cover page – $7/month or $5/month (billed annually)
In this package, you get a single page website with unlimited bandwidth and storage.
(2) For a website – Personal; $12/month or $8/month (billed annually), Business; $26/month or $18/month (billed annually)
The personal plan limits you to 20 pages and 1 product listing only which will incur 3% sales transaction fee. The business plan gives you unlimited pages and 25 product listings which will incur 2% sales transaction fee.
(3) For eCommerce – Basic; $30/month or $26/month (billed annually), Advanced; $80/month or $70/month (billed annually)
However, the eCommerce feature is only available in the U.S, U.K., Canada, Ireland, Australia, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
At this point of writing, Squarespace doesn’t offer a free account, but they do offer a 14-days free trial for first time users.
How Good Is SquareSpace?
After doing a test run, here are some features that I like about the website builder.
- Although there aren’t many themes (just 30 plus), but they are superbly gorgeous. It looks as if you’ve just hired a professional web designer.
- It has a very minimalist approach. The editing interface is clean and non-cluttered (unlike the others) with only black and white hues.
- Not really a drag-and-drop kind of builder, more like click-and-command which makes navigation less awkward.
- The design editing, especially for images, can be quite in-depth. Hence, it’s great for photography, portfolio and wedding type of website.
- However, apart from the mesmerizing visuals, here are some disadvantages that I couldn’t help noticing.
- During editing, some command functions seem to lag for as long as 10 seconds or more. This continued to happen throughout the day and it was a bit annoying.
- The loading speed also seems to be a bit slow when previewing one page to another.
- While the designs are great, I find that they can sometimes overshadow the importance of a web content due to their minimalist approach. Not very ideal for website with heavy text content.
- The pricing fees tend to have a lot of up-selling. For example, limiting your account to 20 pages isn’t going to make your website rank in the search engine. If you want to monetize more from your blog, you have no other choice but to choose the business plan.
So, Is Squarespace Worthy of Your Time?
No doubt, Squarespace can build a terrific looking website (way better than the average builders) but now, let’s address something more important. Something that will either make or break your business.
How can you get people to notice your online business? Having spent so much time coming up with a beautiful website, how do you get readers to convert into customers? That is, after all, your online goals, right? Besides providing some in-house SEO tips in the knowledge base area, there’s really not much information about this on Squarespace.
That’s why I much prefer to use WordPress when it comes to building a business website. This platform is capable of housing a ton of content (no such thing as limited pages) that can drive global traffic to your site, whether it’s beautiful or not. Many successful blogs and online businesses thrive on WordPress for this very reason. Not to mention, their themes are also capable of making your site look equally professional.
And when you have it hosted at SiteRubix, it gets even better.
WordPress Powered by SiteRubix…
Offers a lot of perks for new business owners and webmasters. Here are just some of the benefits.
- The hosting service offers daily backups, optimum uptime and prompt technical support.
- It lets you buy domains that come with privacy, protection and email accounts (no upsells).
- You get access to the Wealthy Affiliate entrepreneurship training program (you can get started for free).
- Your site is backed by a global community that helps grow your business with feedback and comments.
The foundation and support that you receive will surpass anything that you’ve ever experienced with simple website builders. Once you start using WordPress, you’d never want to use anything else. If you like to know how it works, check out the SiteRubix hosting platform and I’ll personally walk you through the process of creating your very first WordPress website.
Do you have any questions or thoughts about creating a website? Just drop a comment below and I’ll get back to you.
I can see why Squarespace has so many people using their site to create websites as you mentioned about the quality and simplicity of using their website builder.
When you look at their pricing structure to get full access for doing a blog your other recommendation Wealthy Affiliate does not cost that much more and offers far more for the money.
Hi Cathy
That is a very interesting review of Squarespace, thank you for sharing it.
I personally use a WordPress as I need to create content to be able to attract traffic, and with the ability to customize the themes, I find it very easy to use.
I do use the Siterubix WordPress site with all the training which I find awesome. An online university for building on online business and hosting included, with no up-sells (these really put me off).
I think, as you stated to get the most out of Squarespace you would have to be on the more expensive plans. Compare that to what you get at Wealthy Affiliate, the choice of where to spend your money and time becomes very clear.
It is always nice to keep up with options out there as the scene is constantly changing.
There’s a consistent pricing pattern with website builders; 2-3 packages for upgrades, additional fees for extra features, allowing more access as you pay for better services etc. Although they are totally legitimate and fair for conducting businesses online, they are a bit confusing for most of us who don’t know what’s what and the technical aspect that goes behind the scene.
Based on that, I would prefer the SiteRubix hosting plans whereby you get the basics as a Starter and ALL access as a Premium member. The paid membership has all your back covered so that you can focus on building content/traffic that matters for your online business.
Hi, and thanks for showing me other website building platforms in the market besides WordPress.
I never heard about SquareSpace before, but have used a couple of others when I first started doing internet marketing. Some of them are expensive, others are for free, but they are nothing compared to WordPress. For my needs, I would say that WordPress is still the best.
Hi Cathy,
Squarespace sounds like an interesting platform, its not one that I’ve heard of or used before but could see some potential use from an eCommerce perspective.
I’m a site rubix user myself and one thing that stands out is the amount of money Wealthy Affiliate is compared with Squarespace especially when you consider all you get with WA
Do you know if it’s possible to create eCommerce pages using Site Rubix?
From what I understand, SiteRubix does support eCommerce pages if you are using PayPal for your business websites. The process is more complicated if you require credit card information because the hosting is not built for that function – yet. Hope this helps.