Squarespace vs. WordPress
People often ask me why I only work on Squarespace. I have 2 degrees in art and design as well as professional web development experience, so why would I choose to build my business around Squarespace? Great question! More importantly, is Squarespace right for you? I’ll tell you.
First, a little history. When I started designing websites in 2001 there were no template websites. There were no online repositories of code. There were no online forums for web developers. We had big fat books on our desks! For real. It seems hard to believe now, but we learned how to code from books and from other people in our immediate surroundings.
Clearly, times have changed. Millions of people call themselves web developers or designers. Some have degrees or professional experience in the field, most don’t. Anyone can whip together a template website in a matter of hours. Some of those sites are good, most do not include solid tech, strategic User Experience design and effective visual design, but that’s a topic for another day. So which platform should YOU choose?
The most popular platforms are Squarespace, Worpress and Wix. In this article, I am not going to focus on WordPress and Squarespace. I may do a future post on Wix.
Let’s compare Squarespace and WordPress.
WordPress has come a long way since I first started using it in 2008. But Squarespace has also come around and offered a fantastic platform for a wide range of uses. The major difference between the 2 platforms is that Squarespace is an all-in-one platform, while WordPress is a platform that works with templates and widgets built by a variety of independent developers.
Here’s how Squarespace’s all-in-one platform affects you as the website owner:
Your Squarespace website stays up to date without you doing anything or paying a developer
When WordPress updates their platform or the template that you are using gets updated, all the 3-party widgets on your site need to be updated by the developers and by your website administrator. This means your web developer has to continually monitor your site to make sure everything is current. If they don’t, your site may suddenly stop working. Squarespace does not have any of these problems because it is an all-in-one platform. That means the team at Squarespace is constantly maintaining all of the functionality the company offers. You do not have to pay a developer a monthly fee to keep your Squarespace site running because the team at Squarespace does that.
Some of the built-in functionalities of Squarespace are:
Accepting Donations
Accept Payments for Services
Full E-commerce Stores
Online Scheduling
Email Marketing
Photo galleries
Built-in Stock Photography
Social Media Integration
Form Builder and Integration
Newsletter Subscribe Forms
One of the major improvements in WordPress templates, like Elementor, in recent years is that they offer many widgets that the template creators maintain, and they have created a drag and drop editor. Essentially, WordPress has become more like Squarespace. However, setting up your site on WordPress is still much more complicated than on Squarespace.
Building a Squarespace is approachable for everyone
When I started teaching college students to create their own websites I had them custom coding so they could learn how to code in addition to learning User Experience Design. In recent years, I have switched to allowing students to use templates. The first couple of years I let students choose whatever platform they wanted. Every time, students who chose Squarespace got better results. So this year I required everyone to build their site on Squarespace. And it was amazing! EVERYONE came away with a fully functional website they were really proud of. I even had one grandmother in the class who at the beginning of the term had difficulties logging into her computer and doing computer basics. By the end of the term, SHE HAD BUILT HER OWN WEBSITE! If that isn’t a testament to how accessible Squarespace is, I don’t know what else to tell you.
Squarespace websites grow with your business
When starting a WordPress site you need to shop around to find the template that is the best fit for your needs and research what widgets are included. Then you need to learn how the platform works. Squarespace 7.1 offers a modular approach. There are templates available on the Squarespace website (and I offer one especially for coaches), and the cold thing about all the templates is that they can each be reconfigured in any way. So, say you choose a template that Squarespace recommends for Personal & CV then later start a company you do not have to change templates, you just rearrange the elements on your website to suit your needs! Every Squarespace template has access to all the same features.
Squarespace websites don’t get hacked
Another reason you need a website administrator on retainer if you have a WordPress website is hacking. Wordpress websites regularly get hacked and go down completely. This does not happen to Squarespace websites. Maybe it is possible, but in the years I have been using Squarespace I have never seen or heard of a site getting hacked.
Who should not have a Squarespace website?
There are cases where WordPress is a better solution than Squarespace. The first one is databases. If you need a website that hosts a database of information, you can do that on Squarespace, but it isn’t ideal. A case for this would be a real estate listings site that people outside your company need to edit. Secondly, if you are building an app that crunches numbers and spits out results to users. Thirdly, if you need many people to create accounts on your website. Squarespace launch Member Areas in 2020, which is a start to having user accounts on Squarespace websites. However, the features of Member Areas are very limited and do not meet the needs of companies. (Stay tuned for a future article about Member Areas.)
Takeaways
For startups and solopreneurs Squarespace is the best option for getting a user-friendly, attractive website with robust functionality up and running for a reasonable cost.
