Are you ready to create a stunning website but feeling overwhelmed by all the options out there? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. Many creative professionals face this challenge when they first start out.

You might be wondering where to start, how to choose the right template, or how to make your site stand out.

That’s why we’ve created this comprehensive guide to help you get started with Squarespace 7.1 in 2024. Follow these step-by-step instructions to simplify the process and build a website that not only looks great but also functions perfectly.

Why Squarespace?

If you’re looking to build your website as a creative business or individual, you’ve probably heard great things about Squarespace. It’s an all-in-one, easy-to-manage platform ideal for creative professionals and small businesses. But why exactly should you choose Squarespace?

Let’s go over a few of their features:

• Beautiful Templates: As of 2024, Squarespace has 174 professionally designed templates that can be customized to fit your brand’s aesthetic.

• User-Friendly Interface: With their drag-and-drop tools, you can easily customize templates with your content without needing technical skills.

• Integrated SEO Tools: Squarespace comes with built-in features to help enhance your site’s search engine visibility from the start. Check out our blog Key SEO Tasks Every Squarespace Website Needs for helpful tips and tricks.

• Helpful Community: The Squarespace community is amazing, filled with experts ready to help and a wealth of resources available in the Squarespace Forums.

Let’s Get Started

If you are new to Squarespace, take some time to browse the platform. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube to help you along the way. The Steps below will help you customize your template and publish them. I have laid down action steps after every section to make the process easy for you.

Practice Step: Browse the platform and play around with a template (any template will work for this step).

Step 1: Choosing a Template

With Squarespace 7.1's Fluid Engine, all templates can be customized and altered as needed. However, some customizations might require moderate to complex coding. If coding isn’t your forte, selecting the right template initially can save you a lot of time and effort since it sets the foundation for your website’s design and functionality.

Here are a few questions to help you find the right template:

Q. What’s the purpose of your website?

Are you building an online portfolio, a blog, an e-commerce site, or a personal brand page? Understanding your goals will help narrow down your choices.

Q. What functionalities are you looking for in your website?

Do you need an online store with e-commerce capabilities, a portfolio to showcase your work, a blog for sharing your thoughts and updates, or scheduling tools for client appointments? Identifying the specific functionalities you require will help you choose a template that best supports these features.

Once you know what type of template you are looking for, browse through Squarespace templates and choose one whose structure aligns with your vision. Consider aspects like navigation style, header and footer layout, and how portfolios or galleries are displayed.

To make things easy down the road, here are a few other things to keep in mind when choosing a template:

• Mobile Responsiveness: Ensure the template you choose looks great on all devices.

• Test Multiple Templates: Don’t be afraid to experiment with a few different templates before making your final decision.

Action Step: Go through the template-finding process and choose a template that aligns with your vision.

Step 2: Content Planning

2.1 Mind Mapping: Plan the pages and their URL names (trust me, this saves a lot of time and redirect work!).

Tip: This is also where you should find keywords you want to target throughout your website (check our SEO Optimization Blog for more details).

2.2 Content Organization: Gather all your content – your logo, pictures, copyright text, videos, and anything else you’ll need for your website.

• Homepage: Craft a strong first impression with a clear headline, engaging visuals, and a concise description of your services.

• About Page: Share your story, mission, and what makes your business unique. Personal anecdotes and professional achievements can build trust with visitors.

• Portfolio: Display your best work in a visually appealing gallery. High-quality images and detailed project descriptions can captivate potential clients.

Action Step: Come up with the main pages you want on your website and decide on URLs for these pages. Then gather all the content for your website (logo, pictures, videos, text, and everything else you want to include).

Step 3: Customizing Your Template

Now it’s time to customize your template. If you have a knack for design, this will be the most exciting part of your website journey! But don’t worry if design isn’t your strong suit – I’ve outlined the steps below to guide you through the process. Additionally, there are plenty of free resources available to help you along the way.

3.1 Starting with the Template

Once you choose the template, Squarespace will give you a sample color preset. You can choose any color you want for now – we will change the color theme later in the Styling Your Site section.

Action Step: Choose the template and start the design process.

3.2 Styling Your Site

Just below the Pages section, you will find the Style option – your primary tool for customizing your template. From here, you can make changes to fonts, colors, buttons, form styles, and other site-wide styles.

3.3 Page Structure & Layouts

With Squarespace 7.1, managing your pages and layouts is easier than ever. Once you navigate to the Pages section from the main menu, you will be able to add, move, copy, or delete pages.

All the pages you have in your Main Navigation section will show on your Site Header Navigation.

Pages in the Not Linked section are internal pages that will not show in the navigation but can be linked wherever you want (e.g., Terms of Use or Privacy Policy pages – you don't want them in the site header navigation).

Action Step: If you are following the steps, by now you have a mind map of all the pages you want and their names. Go ahead and add your pages and their URLs.

Action Step: Choose your fonts for headings and paragraphs, site-wide colors, button styles, and form styles (if you are using forms).

3.4 Site Header & Navigation

Squarespace is evolving and making things easy for users. You can easily change the design of your header and add elements simply by navigating to the header of your page while in edit mode and click on Edit Site Header.

Action Step: Customize your header and add your site logo.

Step 4: Adding Content

Now that you have finalized your template and customized site-wide styles, you are ready to add the previously prepared content to your website. Following these steps will make your site creation process easier.

• Homepage: Craft a strong first impression with a clear headline, engaging visuals, and a concise description of your services.

• About Page: Share your story, mission, and what makes your business unique. Personal anecdotes and professional achievements can build trust with visitors.

• Portfolio: Squarespace’s provides one of the easiest portfolio management for creative individuals and businesses. Display your best work in a visually appealing gallery. High-quality images and detailed project descriptions can captivate potential clients.

• Blog: Blogging can drive traffic to your site and improve your SEO. Regularly publish posts about your process, industry insights, and updates.

PRO TIPs:

• Customize the image sizes

• Do not use more than two to three different fonts in your website. The more consistent you are the better it is

• Use Best SEO Practice like using relevant key words in your website to increase your visibility on google

4.1 Using Blocks vs. Sections

In Squarespace, you have two options for adding content: adding a new block to an existing section or creating an entirely new page section.

• Blocks are elements like text, images, videos, and forms that you can add to your existing sections. They allow you to insert specific types of content within a predefined area of your page.

• Page Sections provide a new section for your website. You can choose from many pre-styled sections with blocks already included, which you can customize with your content. Alternatively, you can add a blank section and include blocks to fit your vision. You can adjust the section height, content width, and content alignment, and add background images, videos, and custom colors specific to that section.

Tip: If you want to maintain the same background and style, simply add a new block to an existing section. However, if you wish to change the background, font styles, or colors, it’s better to create a new section.

Action Step: Add content blocks or sections as needed to fit your content.

4.2 Adding Forms

Adding a contact form to your site is beneficial because it helps you avoid spam, boosts your email list, gathers important customer information, and helps you keep track of messages. To add a page with a contact form:

• Add a page using the + icon in your Page Navigation.

• Go to Page Layouts.

• Choose "Contacts" and add the contact page you like.

Alternatively, you can add a contact form block to any of your existing pages.

Action Step: Add a contact form (if needed) either as a separate page, a section, or a form block and customize as required.

4.3 Integrating Social Media

• Social Links: Add buttons that link to your social media profiles, making it easy for visitors to connect with you.

• Sharing Options: Enable social sharing on your blog posts and portfolio pieces to increase your reach.

Action Step: Link your social media to you website

4.4 Footer

The footer follows you on all of your pages, so it’s important to optimize it. Many people add their logo, final call-to-action, social links, or any other important elements they want to appear on all pages.

Action Step: Customize your footer.

4.5 Mobile Responsiveness

Once you have added your content to the page, preview it in Mobile View mode to ensure your site looks good. If you are using a template and pre-made sections, Squarespace should automatically make your website mobile-friendly. However, if you are changing content placements, you might need to tweak the content in Mobile View.

Action Step: Go to Mobile View and check if any adjustments are required.

4.6 Advanced Customization (optional)

While Squarespace templates are beautiful and versatile, sometimes you may need more customization. For this, you can add your own CSS codes. If you know the codes and want to add further customizations that are not inherent in Squarespace, you can use Custom CSS or Code Injection (for HTML or JavaScript).

Adding Codes:

• Go to Website Tools under the Utility section of your website settings.

• There, you will have the option to add Custom CSS or Code Injection (for HTML and JavaScripts).

Step 5: Pre-Check & Launch

By now, you should have a website almost ready to publish. However, there are a few important things you need to check before you hit that glorious publish button.

• Connect to a Domain: Ensure your website is connected to your desired domain.

  You have options to buy and connect to a new domain from squarespace. If you have a domain already purchased from a third-party provider Squarespace has specific tutorials for each one.

• Activate SSL Certificate: Go to the advanced settings to check your SSL certificate status. Make sure it says active! You can change your security preferences under these settings.

• Double-Check SEO Settings: Hide any pages from search engines that you don’t want to rank, and ensure all your buttons and links are connected properly.

• Add site Favicon: Favicons are the small icons (your logo or a symbol to represent your company). You can add favicon from Stetting > Websites > favicon

• Remove Passwords: Make sure any development passwords are removed from your website, and confirm that your domain is connected correctly.

Action Step: Complete the pre-launch checklist and go live with your website!

Step 6: After Going Live

Launching your website is just the beginning of your journey. Now you need to ensure Google can easily crawl your website.

6.1 Search Console

Google will eventually crawl your website, you can speed up the process by submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console. Open your Google Search Console account and submit your sitemap.

6.2 Google Analytics

While not absolutely necessary, it’s a great idea to connect your website with Google Analytics. Through GA4 (the latest version of Google Analytics), you can get detailed website analytics and optimize your content for better results.

6.2 Ongoing Maintenance

Regularly updating your content not only keeps your site relevant and engaging but also signals to search engines that your site is active, which can positively impact your SEO rankings. Be sure to:

• Add new blog posts, projects, or products.

• Update existing content with new information or images.

• Check for and redirect any broken links (301 Redirect Guide).

• Ensure all software and plugins are up-to-date.

Conclusion

Congratulations on launching your Squarespace website! You've taken a significant step towards showcasing your talents and services to the world. Remember, building a successful website is an ongoing process. Regular updates and maintenance will keep your site fresh, engaging, and optimized for search engines. Don't hesitate to explore the numerous resources available within the Squarespace community to continue improving your site.

Ready to elevate your online presence?

Get started with Squarespace today and transform your creative business with a custom website designed to captivate and convert.

For more detailed guidance, feel free to contact us.

Happy designing!