Ready to standout with a clean, contemporary, easy-to maintain website?Why I design websites in Squarespace
“Millennials cite internet search and vendor websites as their top means of researching products and services”
Antonia Wade, Global Chief Marketing Officer at PwC - Transforming the B2B Buyer JourneyYour website is the PR, marketing and information hub for your business. It has the potential to:
build rapport
demonstrate credibility
showcase your expertise.
For this reason, before setting up Bright Avenue, I spent a lot of time researching the best platform for my future web design clients, who I knew would be primarily small service-based businesses looking to scale in the future.
What is a website platform?
A website platform is where you build and manage your website.
In the same way as you would use PowerPoint or Google Slides to create a presentation, you use a website platform to create a website.
There are a couple of extra components you need to make your website ‘live’:
A domain (i.e. www.brightavenue.co) which is your online address: you can purchase domains directly from most website platforms or through separate domain companies which can be connected.
Website hosting that literally ‘hosts’ your website on the internet and makes it available for people to search and visit. Most website platforms include integrated hosting with your monthly payment which makes life easier.
Which is the best website platform for your business?
A quick Google search will uncover a huge volume of information about the various platforms available to design a website.
Most search results will reference the leading website platform providers including Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress and Shopify.
I’ll run through some of the main reasons I chose Squarespace in this article to help you decide if it’s the right option for your business. It really saves time and hassle further down the line if you make the right decision about your website platform early on - so please read to the end, as I’ll mention a few caveats where other platforms might actually better suit your needs.
Reason #1
Beautiful Design ⇨ make the best possible first impression
According to a study by WebFX, 75% of users judge a business's credibility based on its website design.
Great first impressions are crucial.
If you’re looking for a beautiful website that looks clean, professional and sets you apart - then Squarespace is a fantastic option.
Squarespace allows you to create a unique, contemporary site to connect with your clients and showcase your brand and services or products. As a web designer, I use a blend of Squarespace in-built functionality and CSS code to customise every aspect of your website and create a design that is completely unique and reflects your business.
This includes typography, layout, colours and engaging interactive features to deliver the exact website look and experience you would like for your visitors.
“Squarespace is great. I really like the platform as it's all very intuitive. I used to work with Wix in my previous job - but Squarespace feels more contemporary, professional and looks more expensive than it is” - Stef Woof, Bright Avenue Squarespace Web Design client
Reason #2
Easy to Maintain in-house ⇨ Take full control of your website as it will be incredibly easy to update
I want to empower businesses to take ownership of their new site.
This means maintaining all aspects yourself after I handover the finished website.
If I had to pick, this would be the biggest benefit of Squarespace - the user-friendly interface makes it fast and straightforward to:
update - make small changes or amendments
create fresh content and pages
Because time is limited for small business owners, this was an absolute dealbreaker for me.
With Squarespace, you don't need to be a technical expert or hire a developer to keep your website current for your visitors.
What’s more, when you make any changes or updates - Squarespace automatically updates how your website looks across all devices (including mobile and tablet) so that’s one less thing to worry about. Especially as over half of your website visitors are likely to be viewing your site on mobile devices (2023 statistics here).
An exciting new feature has just launched which makes updating your Squarespace website even easier. This year Squarespace introduced ‘Saved Sections’ to speed up the process of creating new pages and content.
What is ‘Saved Sections’? In a nutshell: Squarespace websites are built in sections (usually screen height). The Saved Sections feature allows you to save and reuse existing sections across your website. Just look at the video below to see how easy it is to create a new web page using saved sections on the Bright Avenue website. Once you’ve created your section layout, you replace the images and copy and you’re good to go!
reason #3
Ongoing Squarespace specialist support included as part your monthly payment ⇨ It’s like having an in-house IT department 🎉.
Squarespace Help Centre help is available via live-chat or phone. So you’re never (technically or figuratively!) on your own.
On the occasions when I’ve used their support I’m so impressed with the help they offer and have never had a problem they haven’t dealt with straight away.
reason #4
Integrated options for courses, email marketing, e-commerce, classes, scheduling, memberships and more ⇨ This means you can future-proof your website as your website can grow as your business does.
Because where your business is now, may well not be where you would like it to be next year, or in five years time.
It makes sense to get a website platform that easily scales with your business, and offers extra functionalities when you’re ready.
reason #5
Robust Security ⇨ Protecting your website and customer data is essential in today's digital world
Squarespace provides robust, reliable and proactive security measures including SSL encryption, protection against malware and hacking attempts and regular updates to ensure your site remains safeguarded.
When you’re busy running your business the last thing you need is the worry and time-consuming task of security.
With Squarespace you can relax knowing that Squarespace is taking care of your site security. For comparison, on Wordpress websites, you need to regularly update plugins or pay someone each month to do this for you in order to keep your site secure - it’s not unusual to pay £50+ a month for this service.
reason #6
Affordable Pricing options ⇨ Squarespace looks more expensive than it is (quoting a previous client!)
The personal and business plans on Squarespace, ideal for brochure style websites offers incredible value for money. For up-to-date pricing please visit here. Plus, as a Squarespace Circle member, I can provide you with 20% off annual plans.
Other platforms:
At the start of the post, I mentioned that I’d share a few Caveats where Squarespace might NOT be the best option for your business which I’m sharing with you below:
Wordpress - for ‘all singing, all dancing’ websites
If your budget is larger, and you’re looking for an ‘all singing all dancing’ website with a TON of bespoke features, animations and specialist capabilities, then Wordpress might be a better option than Squarespace. Squarespace is set up to offer professional, contemporary, easy-to-manage websites but it’s more difficult to include the breadth of technical features offered by Wordpress.
Wix - for cheaper integrations
I recently spoke to a potential who is currently on Wix and reluctant to move across to Squarespace because integrations on Wix are cheaper
They appreciated that this came with a compromise, and their site design in Wix wouldn’t look as good as in Squarespace.
Shopify for e-commerce
If the core focus of your business is on e-commerce (especially physical products) then I would recommend Shopify over Squarespace. Quite simply, Shopify is superior in handling complex product catalogs, payment processing and order management.
So that’s it…
Squarespace stands out as a versatile, user-friendly platform that empowers businesses to create beautiful, easy-to-maintain, secure websites with ease and truly stand out in the marketplace. Even better - Squarespace offers lots of additional features which means it’s a fantastic choice if you’re looking to scale and grow. The sky really is the limit!
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Hi, I’m Rachel
BUSINESS SUPPORT + WEB DESIGN SPECIALIST
Founder of Bright Avenue - and passionate about offering small businesses and charities high quality, effective support services driven by your needs.
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