Dubbed as the “Apple of website builders”, SquareSpace offers all the features you need to build an impressive website, including stunning and visually rich designs. This robust Software as a Service (SaaS) based content management system also comes with hosting services, making it an all-in-one website solution for businesses wanting to make an impression online.
STRENGTHS
- Polished mobile friendly template designs - All Squarespace pristine template designs are developed by Squarespace’s world-class design team with the aim to provide a rich visual experience to visitors. They’re also built with modern browsers and mobile devices in mind. Check out their stunning templates here.
- Quick and easy - Publish content in a flash with Squarespace. Its backend user interface is easy to navigate and use, even if you have little or no programming background. You can even customise your website’s design without tweaking the codes.
- Feature rich - No plugins or extensions necessary. Squarespace has everything you need to promote your business online, even Search Engine Optimisation and analytics.
- Plugins developed inhouse - This means all plugins and extensions are reliable, stable and guaranteed to work with your website with no hitch.
- Hosting included - When you purchase a subscription in Squarespace, hosting is already included in the price, making it an all-in-one digital solution for your business.
- 24/7 Support - Apart from an extensive knowledgebase, Squarespace also has a customer care team available 24/7 via chat or email.
- Free SSL - SSL certificates are available to all Squarespace domains, as well as third-party domains pointing to a Squarespace website.
- They got your website’s security covered - You don’t need to purchase and install a security plugin to your website as Squarespace already has you covered in that aspect. It’s part of the subscription you’re paying for.
- Multiple websites, one log-in - No need to memorise multiple account details. With Squarespace, you can access your sites with one log-in account only!
WEAKNESSES
- Steep price - It’s more than just the price per se, but the caps set on each package offered. The Personal subscription, for instance, only offers 20 pages, galleries and blogs.
- Very basic marketing tools - As with anything that offers packaged solutions, you’re only getting the barest minimum in most cases. The same rings true with Squarespace, which only offer all the basic marketing features, plus a few advanced ones. If you’re considering to add in more features, you will need to install a Squarespace plugin to get the feature you want.
- No third party support - Squarespace already has all the bells and whistles needed to build an impressive website. But if you wish to extend the functionality of your website beyond what your base Squarespace website can offer, you can only purchase plugins from Squares Studio, Squarespace’s marketplace for applications. You cannot install third party plugins or extensions
STANDARD FEATURES
Designs
- Squarespace’s pristine template designs are mobile-friendly and built with the latest HTML, CSS and Javascript techniques.
- Comes with built-in custom CSS editor
- Pre-designed structures for default pages like COntact Us and About Us.
- Allows you to download and install multiple templates on one webiste.
- Free Typekit and Google fonts
- Video background
Rich Content Manager
- Drag and drop management of images (You can drag an image from your desktop to your browser window)
- Integrated with Getty images
- Image metadata
- Responsive image loaders
- Image focal point control
- Online image editor powered by Adobe
- Lightbox Presentation
- Gallery blocks that can be added anywhere on your website, with multiple display and transition effects to choose from. Galleries also allow you to create collections of mixed media presentations, including images and video content.
- Audio collections with integrated player and album art display.
Built-in integrations
- Social media integration features allow you to easily display your social network profile links on your homepage, or link your accounts with your website. You can also link your website to your iTunes or Google Play Store.
- Google Analytics, Disqus and Typekit integration lets you connect your website to these services with just your ID. No advanced coding required.
- Dropbox File integration lets you synchronise your image collections with your Dropbox with just one click.
- Amazon affiliate marketing support lets you monetise your website with Amazon Product Blocks.
User Data Collection
- Create forms in a snap with form blocks, which support over 15 different data types to capture data from site visitors. You can save these data to Google Docs, Mailchimp, or Email.
Multiple Access levels
- Add and edit access levels, including contributors, content editors, billing and reporting, comment moderators and store managers
Layout Engine 2
- Custom WYSIWYG Editor
- Automatic Image Scaling
- Podcast support with audio blocks
- Automatic Text Wrapping via drag and drop of image block over a text block.
- Business content blocks, such as galleries, maps, archives, menu and filter or index blocks
Blogging
- Post scheduling lets you schedule entries to be published in the future.
- RSS Syndication and are fully integrated with readers like Flipboard.
- Flexible post display options.
- Social media sharing options for blog posts.
- Customisable URL’s for each blog post.
- Multiple author support.
- Customisable commenting system
SEO and Analytics
- Integrated SEO and analytics feature, including XML sitemaps, automatic redirects, and indexing. No plugins or extensions necessary.
See complete list of features here.
RECOMMENDED FOR
As most of Squarespace’s templates are heavily reliant on high quality images, they’re the best option for small and medium businesses that wish to showcase their portfolio (e.g. graphic designers and photographers). Note that Zeald does not offer e-commerce packages for Squarespace.
GUIDES AND RESOURCES
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