REVIEW: Squarespace Website Building Software
Note: I am NOT an affiliate for Squarespace and receive no remuneration for this review.
Summary
Squarespace is one of the best options for do it yourself business owners to create a professional looking site with minimal tech skills for around $15/month.
Review
I have been talking up Squarespace with friends this week and realized I have been pitching this company for months now. I decided to write this summary of why I chose Squarespace and how it may be worth considering for your business.
What I like about Squarespace
- Fairly intuitive interface based on WYSIWIG's (What You See Is What You Get)
If you can create a word document you can do 90% of what you need to build a site on Squarespace - Templates that don't look like templates
Most do it yourself websites look the same. Squarespace has enough variety and customization to make your site look unique and professional - Administration in one place
Your website, hosting, analytics, files and everything else are all located on the Squarespace site. You don't have to FTP files or try to remember where items are located - Robust hosting
If you do get a lot of traffic to your site it will likely stay up as Squarespace will automatically give you the resources you need to handle the extra load. - Great tech support
I have asked several questions via email and received answers in a few hours at most - Decent price
Not the cheapest on the market, but definitely within my budget. You can start for $8/month, but I usually use the $15/month for a few extra features - Discounts for multiple accounts
Since I have several sites with Squarespace I get a bulk discount - You can customize anything
You can even tweak the CSS if you know how - Website and Blog in one place
Squarespace has a nice blogging engine built in, but it includes the tools you need for creating standard web pages so you can choose how to use it
What I don't like about Squarespace
Confusing interface
While you can change just about anything, it is not always clear how to get to it's controls. I gave up on the first site I built, but I returned to Squarespace after getting frustrated with WordPress and wanting to have a more professional looking site. I have now spent enough time that I know how to tweak most of the settings, but there is a bit of a learning curve. However I think it easier than using WordPress.
Here are the sites I have built using Squarespace so far
Dr. Ray's Treetop Chiropractic
Agrusas Italian Restaurant
Bud Frank's Lawn Care
Philanthr.org
MichaelDaehn.com
If you use the code "twit" when you sign up you can get 10% off your bill for life. This code comes from the This Week in Tech show of which Squarespace is a sponsor.
So what do you think? Are you going to give Squarespace a try? They have a 14 day free trial. If you do
try Squarespace please leave a note in the comments about your experience and a link to your site.
