Why You Should Hire a Designer for Your Squarespace Website
There are a lot of reasons I love Squarespace at Going Bold Studio. It has visually-driven designs, it’s responsive, and it has versatile built-in features to name a few. One of my top reasons why I love the platform (and our clients do too) is how user-friendly the back-end is though — especially compared to some of the other options. Afterall, it is this aspect that draws a lot of people to design their websites themselves on Squarespace. So that being said, if it's user-friendly and DIY-focused, why would you want to work with a web designer? I’m taking on that topic for today's blog!
Taking Your Website Beyond Templates
While you can create a beautiful website straight from the templates Squarespace lets you start with, working with a designer allows you to go above and beyond. As a Squarespace designer, I know the ins and outs of the platform making it easier for me to know exactly what features we need or which custom coding we need to use to get the look you’re after. It's more than just selecting a template and filling in the blocks with your content too. Designers can also assist you with optimizing your user experience and helping you organize and make the best use of your messaging and assets.
One of the other key things that can help set your Squarespace website apart from others are custom graphic elements. This is where a lot of people get held up on their DIY designs. Working with a designer will provide you with graphic design assistance and allow you to take your design beyond where you could likely take it yourself. Consider creating custom slideshow or banner graphics, sidebar graphics and dividers.
Last but definitely not least, working with a designer will give you additional options for your website with custom coding. We use custom CSS coding on all of our client websites to tweak the features and get the result our clients are after. This can also be a consideration if you're using programs and other services that aren't directly integrated with Squarespace — like ConvertKit. This is often another snag for DIYers where designers can add a lot of value to.
Maximizing Features & Optimizing Website
Because web design is our specialty, working with a designer will help ensure that you are taking full advantage of the features and uses for your website. You might not know the best way to highlight similar posts in your blog, or how to build an archive using summary blocks.. but your designer will! We can advise on the best setup for what you are trying to accomplish and then make it happen. There's a lot more than meets the eye of the basic features and settings and your designer will make sure you're getting the most out of your website.
Something else that is imperative with your website design is optimizing your responsive design and SEO. Squarespace is great because it’s automatically responsive, which means the designs with automatically adjust for best use whether your user is viewing your website on their desktop computer, tablet or phone. Same goes with your SEO. Squarespace has a lot of great built-in SEO features and a designer will be able to make sure everything is set up to help increase visibility for your business.
Freeing Up Your Time
One of the top reasons to work with a designer on your website is to free up some of your time. You know, so you can focus on running your business! While you can certainly build a beautiful website on your own in Squarespace, it takes time. Often more than some expect!
A lot of times, people will realize they're in a little over their head after going to DIY route, or they're simply not getting the look or feel they're after. Don't be afraid to call in the pros! While there will be a bit of an investment, we've found our clients have felt a huge relief when deciding to work with a designer which will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. Hiring a designer allows you to focus on the things you're best at, and let us take care of some of the heavy lifting to get the features and design where you'd like it.
Then when everything is wrapped up with a nice little bow, we'll train you on the back-end of your website and the features included so you feel empowered to make minor edits yourself. That way, you're still getting the perks of the user-friendly platform of Squarespace that you'll be able to update on your own in the future, while also making the most of your time now.
Need help with a revamp or a full Squarespace redesign? Give us a shout so we can chat about how we might be able to help!
Anna Osgoodby
Founder of Going Bold Studio, Anna Osgoodby is an award-winning designer and social media marketing expert. With over a decade of experience, she specializes in helping small businesses with their social media, branding and Squarespace website design.
