How To Get Started With Squarespace
I design custom websites using Squarespace as a tool and platform, but it is also possible to use a template to make a basic website for yourself. Creating a good website, even with a template, is still a lot of work and takes a lot of specialized knowledge. If hiring a designer isn’t in your budget right now, or you want to do it yourself to expand your skillset, I’ll be sharing the many steps of how to do it correctly in this Squarespace Basics series.
If you’ve decided to DIY a website using Squarespace, it’s worth doing right. You’ll save yourself a lot of time and frustration down the line by building a strong base, before you even click that tempting “Get Started” button.
Before you begin:
Know that without a lot of time spent on Squarespace, some knowledge of other design tools like Illustrator, and a basis in HTML and CSS, there will be things you can’t change or control on Squarespace. (If you want a custom design in a fraction of the time, you know where to find me.)
Know that Squarespace won’t build your website for you. It’s still going to take a lot of time to learn to use it, and until you really know the tool, it will likely take you a lot of time to build your website if you want to change anything about the template. I love Squarespace, but a template is not a guarantee that your site will work well or look good. (There are some very broken Squarespace websites out there…) Be sure to follow these steps, take your time, and get some feedback along the way. You can ask your friends and colleagues, and you can hire many designers, myself included, to take a look your website and give you some feedback and ideas.
Know how to use the tool! I highly recommend reading and watching the videos through most of Squarespace’s overview. The guide will take quite a long time to get through, and parts of it may be difficult to understand without an existing knowledge of Squarespace, but just read over the parts that don’t make sense yet, and it will save tons of time and frustration down the line. Start a trial website and play around with things for a while. Let me know in the comments if anything is incomplete or leaving you frustrated, and I’ll focus on that next! If you’d like some training on Squarespace, reach out!
Know where you are going! Spend a few hours looking at websites you like, websites in your field and websites very far out of your field. Never, ever copy another website! (Or anyone’s work for that matter.) However, you can learn so much when you are getting started from studying how a variety of websites arrange their information, place their images and guide users through their navigation. Don’t just look at what they do, ask why. (Asking why is a huge part of design, so you should start now, since you’re going to be designing a website.)
Make notes on all of these elements for at least five websites:
Where do they have their logo? Why?
What is the tone of the overall website? (Corporate? Artistic? Academic? Sales-focused?)
How do the colors and fonts tie together?
How does the overall look support the content and the tone?
What is on their home page? Why?
How do you get from one page or piece of content to another? Why?
Did you have a hard time finding information you needed? Why?
What elements take up the most space and least space on each page? Why?
Is anything missing from their page? Why?
Is anything confusing? Why?
What do you like? Why?
What do you dislike? Why?
Know your business! What are your goals? What do you need your website to do?
Know your brand! Grab your brand document and files that were provided by your designer, and have them handy. Although, since you have decided to DIY a website, perhaps you are going to DIY your brand, as well? That’s a pretty big conversation, but here a few questions to ask yourself before beginning, just as a very basic starting point:
What is your website’s raison d'etre? (We ask the big questions in branding.) To announce a wedding? To promote a charity bike ride? To sell your hand-knit scarves?
If you could describe your brand in three words, what would they be?
What are three elements that would make your website look like it fits those words? A traditional-looking font? A retro font? A lot of white space? A bright background?
Who is your audience/target market?
What kind of look do you think they’d like? Something bright and colorful, something traditional with muted tones? A lot of text? A lot of photos? Bonus points if you reach out to a few people in your audience and ask them directly.
Know that your website will include! Now is the time to gather all the photos and written content you want to use. Write down the pages you want. A home page? An about page? A contact page? An events page?
Which page is most important for the purpose of your website? How can you make it look and feel like the most important?
For each page, decide what will be included. Which images? What will the text say?
It may help if you write each page you want on at the top of a separate sheet of paper, and fill in what each page will include.
How will people find your website? Do you need to include anything from your marketing strategy?
Do you need to fulfill any legal requirements on your website? Do you need to display any license numbers or terms? Will you have any customers or even website visitors from the EU? You’ll want to research the GDPR.
Once you have all of this together, you’ll be in a much better place to begin a Squarespace site, or any website.
Do you have any questions? Let me know in the comments below!