Why You Should Use Squarespace for Your Blog
Something I get asked a lot is.. Is Squarespace a good platform for bloggers? And our answer is always HECK YES! How do I know? Well for 1.) We spend quite a bit of time utilizing the blog feature for my business website and 2.) I’ve actually been using the platform for years for my personal blog. That's right, outside of Going Bold Studio I also write a lifestyle blog! The truth is, well before I launched my biz (or even thought about launching a biz for that matter) I've been using the platform personally. In fact, it was my experience with the platform that actually inspired me to further my web and graphic design skills -- yes really!
So today I'm sharing some of the reasons I think Squarespace is a great platform for bloggers.
It's User-Friendly
The first thing that sold me on the platform was the user-friendly back-end. As with any platform, there's a little learning curve, but I really liked the setup because frankly it was organized in a way that just made sense to me. What you saw, was exactly what you got. There weren't any hidden widgets or plug-ins that I had to try and track down. If I inputted a photo gallery block, it was right there on the page and I knew exactly how to make edits. The features are consistent throughout too so once you learn how to use them, they are easy to add to your blog posts or any additional pages you want to create.
Need a little help along the way? I should also note their customer service is on-point! If you find yourself backed into a corner on something or need a little help with a feature their team is available around the clock to help you out.
Less Time Spent on Coding
One of my favoritteeee things about the platform is I can spend less time coding than I did on some of the other platforms. In my earlier days, I remember spending hours upon hours just trying to get my sidebar to look how I wanted. One of the reasons I love Squarespace is because it's so visual and has drag and drop design features. More design, less coding FTW! I can easily make my website look just the way I want by utilizing the options right inside the platform. This is KEY for me because Going Bold keeps me super busy so when I spend time on my blog I want it to be an easy peasy process.
The great thing about the platform is there's so much flexibility no matter what your skill level is. Are your web design skills minimal or non-existent? That's okay! When you decided you wanted to start a blog, chances are you didn't also decide you wanted to become a web designer. That's why Squarespace is great, you can easily make minimal updates to your style editor and use their templates fresh off the site for a professional look.
It Has a TON of Great Features for Bloggers
Another reason why I love the platform is there are so many awesome features relevant to bloggers. It's also very visually-driven which is such an important part about blogging!
Here's a look at some of my most-used features throughout my blog:
Summary Blocks: I use these ALL over the place. My landing page is essentially a summary block party. I use these features to highlight different categories of my blogs, as well as including similar blogs at the bottom of my posts. This feature is also how I have created category pages.
Affiliate-Friendly: Adding custom code for affiliate programs is really easy with the code block. Just copy and paste and your affiliate program is ready to roll.
Syncing to Google Drive: I love that you can automatically have forms, or newsletter data automatically sync to your Google Drive.
Forms: I use this more on our Going Bold blog than my personal one but I love the option to create customizable forms for people to fill out.
It's More than Just a Blog
Squarespace really is an all-in-one platform and I love this because my blog is more than just a blog. It’s a full-on website where I also have capabilities to build out other pages, landing pages, and even add in e-commerce capabilities, scheduling features and membership features. The added capabilities really allow options for scaling and I think this is super important for any blogger or content creator in today’s ever-evolving industry.
Always Improving
One hesitation I hear about taking the plunge to Squarespace is.. "well what if Squarespace disappears one day… what happens to my blog?" I'm going to be really blunt for a minute... I think this statement is kind of a cop-out. I just don't find much merit to this argument and think it's often just used as a scare tactic to those who don't know much about website design. While Squarespace may seem like a "new kid on the block" because you've probably been noticing more of their ads, it actually launched in 2004 and went public in 2021. That being said, the company is constantly looking for ways to improve and offer more options to its customers, which is a good thing! Plus, being a designer I think the trend of making web design more user-friendly is only going to increase.
I've experienced this first-hand during my time on the platform and because I’m a part of their Squarespace Circle community, and I get regular updates on all the cool things that are in the works and Beta testing access. The truth is, the developers at the platform are always looking for ways to improve and they take community requests seriously! That being said, the platform isn't going anywhere anytime soon. Being an innovative and growing company is actually a really great thing and a perk for its subscribers.
Responsive and SEO-Friendly
Then last but definitely not least. I love that Squarespace websites are automatically responsive which means they are designed to look awesome on desktop and mobile. Plus, with the new Fluid-Engine editor, you have even more control over what your website looks like on mobile. Considering more than 50% of my web traffic comes from mobile, especially referrals from Instagram that's super important to me and it should be to you too!
The platform is also really SEO-friendly which makes the whole process.. wait for it... more user-friendly! User-friendly all the way around! Really though, it's super easy to add image titles, adjust your blog url and input descriptions throughout making the whole process easy to do without having to think about it too much.
I hope you've found my insight helpful! At the end of the day it's all about finding a blogging platform that you are comfortable with that does exactly what you would like and Squarespace has definitely been that platform for me both personally and in biz!
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.
