In today’s post, I will be going over the benefits of Squarespace and why you, as a service-based business owner, should use Squarespace as your website platform!

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Having a website for your service-based business is one of the most important investments you should make.

As a website designer and strategist, I often see service-based businesses asking other business owners or designers what platform they should be using for their business. To me, I truly believe that technology has advanced so much nowadays that any of the popular website platforms you find online WILL and CAN do the job for you. The real question that business owners should be asking themselves is WHAT ARE THEIR GOALS & OBJECTIVES! Without knowing them, a platform can only do so much and won’t be able to help them advance further with their online presence.

For example, here are a few questions to ask yourself before selecting a platform:

• Am I building a content-driven website or an online storefront?
• How tech-savvy am I to be able to maintain a website? How much time do I want to spend on maintenance?
• How important are aesthetics & design for my website?
• Is blogging important to my business? Do I need a reservation system or a photo gallery?
• Do I want to use an all-in-one platform or do I not care?

Over the past few years, I have designed on Wix, Squarespace, and WordPress for a variety of small businesses and passion projects and I ultimately keep coming back to Squarespace. As a service-based creative who thrives on a clean and modern website that converts, I love how easy it is to design and maintain on Squarespace.

To break it down a bit more, here are my top four reasons why service-based entrepreneurs should use Squarespace as their website platform.

Only Pay Once

Before we start designing, let’s talk about billing and payment plans. Squarespace offers a 14-day trial (can be extended for an additional 7 days) for any new websites. Nothing too exciting there since there are platforms out there that offer trial periods. However, what caught my eye initially is the fact that there are SO many features included in each of their subscriptions: Personal, Business, E-Commerce Basic, and E-Commerce Advanced.

Now, what exactly do I mean by “only pay once”? Well, all of the features you will need to create a functional, converting, beautiful website are included in Squarespace’s plans! Whereas the others offer piece-meal options, Squarespace is an all-in-one platform. If you are someone who loves having everything on one platform and not worrying about different billing cycles for different elements on your website, Squarespace is your gold mine!

To name a few as an example:

• Domain URL (www.yoururl.com)
• SSL Certificate (Https)
• Website Traffic Analytics
• Professional Business Email (i.e. contact@yoururl.com)
• Ecommerce Online Shop
• Newsletters & Email Marketing

As a service-based entrepreneur, there is nothing more valuable than time. I love that I can keep track of all of my administrative needs under one roof.

High Security

While there are many designers and developers that love the open-source platform WordPress, I am more inclined to design on a closed source platform like Squarespace.

An open-source platform allows any users to develop tools, plugins, and templates they wish and are uploaded. Users can then download or activate them as they are. While this is incredible in terms of flexibility, it is also unsafe for a website. If you don’t have much knowledge about the back-end of your website and are just downloading plug-ins to “get what you want”, you could run into a situation where you will break your site because two pieces of code aren’t compatible. It could be a huge headache trying to figure out what went wrong! (Believe me, I have been there!)

With Squarespace, I can’t rave about how robust and secure this platform is. Every element is designed by the Squarespace developer team so they are meant to function without bugs or crashes on your website. Automatic updates are done for your website to ensure you are always caught up with their latest features that won’t crash your site. They have been trialled and tested so you can always count on them.

The last thing you want to have to worry about as a service-based entrepreneur is wondering how secure and stable your site is. Let the platform do all of the maintenance so that you can spend your precious time doing what you do best.

Easy to Edit & No Plugins Required

This is a no-brainer! For me, I love having a website that’s easy to understand, design, and maintain. Although many of the other platforms have included the “drag-and-drop” interface in their plans, I ultimately find Squarespace’s templates the most visually appealing to design on. Once you begin designing with a base template, unlike some platforms, you do have the option and flexibility to enhance the look and feel of your website with custom CSS so that your website can stand out.

Additionally, while it may be nice to have hundreds of options to choose from, I prefer designing inside a framework rather than on a completely blank canvas (i.e. Wix, ShowIt). Squarespace design is all about “block structure” whereas you can drag and drop each block next to or on top of one another while ensuring it looks right across all devices. Other platforms offer the blank canvas framework where you can drag and drop elements wherever you like, but might not look as uniform in mobile mode. Sometimes, it also can get overwhelming just placing elements anywhere you want without a clear strategy in mind!

Furthermore, to touch on my previous point, there are no third-party plug-ins that are required for Squarespace users, meaning there is less stress on you! Blogging, newsletters, pop-up windows, e-commerce, and social media integrations are all included and can be used as you wish. Although you can argue there might not be as many options in Squarespace, to me, simplicity is the key to a high converting website.

Related post: The 1 Trick You Need To Make Style Editor Changes Easier In Squarespace

Mobile Responsive

Nowadays, it’s more important to design mobile-first, rather than desktop first, since the majority of us have our handy little device glued to our hands 24/7. Squarespace has nailed this down by ensuring that any website designed on its platform is mobile-friendly AND responsive. There is no need to spend time creating a custom mobile website because it’s already done for you! Every design element has been scaled down automatically to ensure it looks best on mobile so that it’s consistent across devices.

So, there you have it! If the above-mentioned points are important to you and your business, I highly encourage you to use Squarespace for your website to host your website. Personally, it has given me back time in my business and saved me a whole lot of headaches not having to worry about backend tech issues or figuring out which plugin work or doesn’t work. Its ease of use, affordability, and integrations have knocked my socks off and I absolutely do not regret my decision one bit!

However, what matters most when determining what website platform works best for your business is understanding what your needs and goals are. I am more than happy to chat further and help you design a beautiful & functional website that’s unique to you!

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