Big Picture Web - Squarespace Website Marketing and Design Tips

The 11 Most Popular Squarespace Cities in the World

Josh Braaten — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Web publishing platform Squarespace is an international hit, both in terms of its customer base and more recently its business operations. Squarespace's Dublin offices were announced in early May, marking the first office outside of the U.S. for the start-up content management system.

While Squarespace offices in Ireland is news, international customers is nothing new. Squarespace has been popular in the U.K., U.S., Canada, and Australia for years.

The Most Popular Squarespace Cities in the World

According to Google Trends, Squarespace's international popularity is greatest in its hometown of New York , but Toronto, Sydney and London all rank among the top great Squarespace cities. Here's the breakdown of the top eleven:

New York City, United States
San Francisco, United States
Los Angeles, United States
Seattle, United States
Toronto, Canada
Sydney, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Chicago, United States
Atlanta, United States
Houston, United States
London, England

What countries will Squarespace expand to next?

Big Picture Web Turns Four Years Old

Josh Braaten — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 15:35:00 +0000

I pulled up Google Analytics to take a look at the web analytics stats for BigPictureWeb.com this week and what did I find? This humble home to Squarespace tips and resources turned four years old on May 27, 2013. That's right. I've been writing articles to help Squarespace website owners with marketing for their websites since 2009.

Big Picture Web turned 4 on May 27, 2013.

The 6 Most Popular Squarespace Resources in 4 Years

What pages and blog posts have been the most helpful for Squarespace website owners over the years? Here are the most popular half dozen pages on BigPictureWeb.com--as measured by lifetime website visits--in the last four years:

Squarespace Vs. Wordpress - Here's a comparison I did in partnership with a Wordpress expert to write a comparison on the two content management systems. Obviously I rooted for Squarespace.
The Squarespace Template Guide - Are you planning a new Squarespace website? This guide contains a complete list of all of Squarespace's current templates, screenshots, and the pro's/con's of using each one for your next website project.
Why You Should Consider a Squarespace Website - Arguably our best resource, this page demonstrates the value of owning a Squarespace website to the potential owner.
My Squarespace Review - All the way back from 2010, see my first impressions from moving to Squarespace from Drupal for BigPictureWeb.com. This review was for Squarespace v5.
Squarespace SEO Secrets You Should Know - Looking to drive more search engine traffic to your Squarespace website? Be sure to reference this handy guide back from 2010 to help your website earn more visits from the Googles.
Squarespace Designer Directory - Our free directory features over twenty professional Squarespace designers that can help you take your website to the next level with Squarespace v5 or Squarespace 6.

Your Favorite BPW Resources?

Are you a fan of Big Picture Web? Then thank you for helping to make this blog a repeat destination for many Squarespace website owners. I'm happy if I was able to help you out in any small way with these how-to's.

What resource or resources have been the most helpful to you over the years? What topics relative to owning and marketing your Squarespace website should I write about over the next four years?

Perspective on Squarespace Pricing: What You Need to Know

Josh Braaten — Mon, 27 May 2013 15:36:00 +0000

You're probably looking at Squarespace as a potential new home for your website and wondering what to make of the fee structure. Squarespace pricing is a steal in almost all cases relative to the value it provides to website owners, but it may not seem that way on the surface if you're used to a free hosted service or through options that allow multiple websites through a single hosting account (e.g., Wordpess).

Read on to find out if you'll find value in one of the three main Squarespace pricing points.

What Squarespace Pricing Options Do You Have?

Squarespace provides three major pricing options:

Standard - $8/month or $96/year ($10/month if you pay month-by-month)
Unlimited - $16/month or $192/year ($20/month if you pay month-by-month)
Business - $24/month or $288/year ($30/month if you pay month-by-month)

The standard account is good for basic blogs and websites, but is a bit light on features and options. Unlimited is the best value because you get unlimited pages, storage, bandwidth, and contributors. The business account includes full ecommerce support including a store and checkout integration.

Squarespace Coupon Codes

There are a few Squarespace coupon codes out there, but they can be hard to find. My best advice is to listen to a few episodes of Tech News Today to get an up-to-date Squarespace coupon code and a discount for your website account purchase.

Best of all, Squarespace comes with a two-week free trial. You don't even need a credit card to get stared.

What Do You Pay for When You Build a Website?

The basic composition of all websites includes hosting it (i.e., storing the files that make up your website on the internet), registering your domain name (e.g., renting the rights to www.yoursite.com), and the tools to manage changes and make updates to your website content.

When you build with Squarespace, you're getting all three at the same time (provided you go with the yearly plan, but more on that later). With other platforms the tools to manage the website are often free (e.g., content management system like Wordpress), but then you often have to register your domain to the tune of ~$10/year and pay for hosting each month ranging from $5-$100/month depending on the quality.

Comparing Website Features to Gain Pricing Perspective

Let's compare Squarespace and Wordpress on the four main building blocks of a website:

Hosting - When you look at hosting, you're looking for reliability and scalability because you want your website to always be there and you want it to be able to handle a lot of traffic if need be. With Squarespace, you get the most dependable hosting you could hope for and shared hosting that can handle spikes in traffic from reddit and the social web. Wordpress hosting is cheap on the low end, but can get expensive quickly if you want to match the scalability of Squarespace's hosting.

Domain Registration - For the most part, this cost is independent of the content management system you choose. You're nearly always going to have to pay around $10/year to register the right to use your domain name. An exception is if you go with the annual Squarespace plan, which comes with a free domain name as a part of the checkout process. Simply add your domain name upon checkout and your Squarespace website comes pre-mapped to your custom domain.

Content Management - The last dimension you should consider when comparing website platforms and their respective pricing models is the content management tools themselves. Squarespace provides their award-winning cloud-based tools standard with every account, while Wordpress needs to be downloaded and installed on your own server. Furthermore, Wordpress requires constant updates while Squarespace automatically installs new features frequently.

Support: Above and beyond the basic components of a website is the ability to maintain and update it without hassles. Squarespace provides 24/7 email-based support which is extremely effective, and they also provide chat-based support during the week. You're on your own with Wordpress which can be a pain if you don't know how to do it yourself.

The Only Drawback of the Squarespace Pricing Model

The only drawback I can think of with Squarespace pricing is if you have a lot of different websites. Squarespace provides the tools, hosting and support for one domain at a time. The math can start to add up after a certain number of websites, after which points a shared hosting account and a solution like Wordpress begins to look more attractive than Squarespace.

What's your opinion on the Squarespace pricing model and the account options available? Do the options available support the needs of websites owners broadly enough and is there enough value in the premium tools to charge $8-$20/month?

How to Add Contributors and Manage Permissions with Squarespace

Josh Braaten — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Managing permissions on a website can be tricky. Some content management systems over-complicate the process of adding new contributors to your website. Squarespace's streamlined permissions and contributor management system provides a balance of granular controls and streamlined experience.

How to Add Contributors to Your Squarespace Website

Adding contributors to help manage your Squarespace website is a breeze. Simply navigate to the Contributors page within the Settings section of your Squarespace website.

Add people to your website's management roster through the Contributors page in your Squarespace settings.

Select Add Contributor to start the simple workflow. Enter the name and email address of your new content manager and then select from one of the seven website roles, which define the levels of access afforded to the new contributor:

Administrator - Administrators have full permission to access everything on your website. Only assign this role to your most trusted team members and those who require the deepest levels of access.
Content Editor - These folks can update any of the content on your website but can't change core settings. This role is ideal for bloggers and copywriters.
Billing - This role is solely for the person who pays for the website to be able to log in and modify billing information, as well as make payments for the website. If you manage a client's website and they don't play a part in the content management, this is likely the role for your client.
Reporting - This role allows the contributor to gain access to your website's web analytics statistics. They don't have permission to edit content on the website.
Comment Moderator - These folks can leave comments on your site, as well as edit and approve other comments. They don't have access to modify content on your site.
Trusted Commenter - These folks don't have access to any of the content on your site, but can bypass moderation when leaving comments if your comments are set to require moderation before publishing
Store Manager - A person with this role receives notifications from your store, which can be very helpful in processing orders or handling issues. They don't, however, have access to change product or store content.

Managing permissions on your Squarespace website is easy.

Standard Squarespace plans come with two contributors standard, while the Unlimited and Business plans include unlimited contributors. All things considered, Squarespace's light-weight permissions settings get the job done while avoiding cumbersome contributors controls. Can you think of any scenarios not covered by Squarespace's contributor settings?

6 Reasons to Use Squarespace for Restaurant Websites

Josh Braaten — Mon, 13 May 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Restaurateurs like you combine entrepreneurial gumption with culinary passion and expertise to bring delicious dining destinations to your communities. These days, building a website to represents your restaurant that is just as eye-catching as your entrees is a must if you want to take advantage of the social/local/mobile (aka "SoLoMo") revolution and drive more customers to your restaurant.

Here's a half a dozen reasons why using Squarespace for restaurant websites is an appetizing idea.

1. Squarespace Offers Image-Rich Templates

There's nothing like full-color photos to tantalize taste buds and drive interest in the items on your menu. Squarespace's award-winning templates are completely customizable, too, so you can achieve a unique look and feel that is both beautiful and effective at driving more customers to your location(s). Check out our templates guide, and be sure to pay special attention to templates like Adirondack, Aviator, Dovetail, Frontrow, Momentum, and Peak.

Adirondack
Aviator
Dovetail
Frontrow
Momentum
Peak

2. Squarespace Restaurant Websites are Mobile-Friendly

Squarespace's website templates are all mobile-friendly right out-of-the-box. Your website are built with impressive responsive design best practices, which means customers will see the a tantalizing website no matter which device they have. Smartphones are where people are when they decide they're hungry these days. Squarespace gives restaurants a leg-up.

Your restaurant's website will look great on any mobile device with Squarespace's responsive design templates.

3. Squarespace Integrates with Google Maps

Squarespace makes it easy to show people how to get to your restaurant by seamlessly integrating with Google Maps. Simply add a map widget to your Squarespace website and enter your address. Squarespace takes care of the rest, bringing you stylish and elegant Google Maps customized for your restaurant's website.

Squarespace integrates with Google Maps.

4. Squarespace Integrates with OpenTable

Provide patrons with an easy way to make reservations with an OpenTable widget that works with your existing account. If you already work with OpenTable for reservations and reviews, simply visit your restaurant's profile page and copy the five-digit "RID" code within the page's URL.

Paste your OpenTable RID into the Squarespace widget to enable reservations on your restaurant's site.

Paste your restaurant ID in your Squarespace OpenTable widget and you've given your customers an easy way to book reservations at your restaurant straight from your website.

Embed a Squarespace OpenTable reservations table on your website.

5. Create Simple Menus with Formatting Options

Squarespace recently released a lightweight menu system with simple formatting options for price, menu item titles, descriptions, and some minor design options to account for variations in products and visual preference.

Squarespace's menu widget allows for lightweight formatting options for your menu items.

6. Squarespace Restaurant Websites are SEO-Friendly

You want your website to show up when people search for food and restaurant options within their area. Squarespace is SEO-friendly and is a reliable platform when used as a part of an effective online marketing strategy.

Squarespace and Restaurants are a Tasty Combination

Are you a restaurateur looking for a website platform for your place of business? Take a look at these awesome Squarespace websites and then check out Squarespace's two-week free trial to see if your restaurant might just be a Squarespace restaurant.

How to Duplicate Pages in Squarespace

Josh Braaten — Mon, 06 May 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Squarespace 6 just keeps getting better and better. Recently Squarespace released the Duplicate Page feature, which makes copies of existing pages on your website so you don't have to start from scratch.

Today we take a look at how easy it is to add new pages to your site based on your favorite existing pages using Squarespace's page duplication feature.

How to Copy Pages in Squarespace

The new Squarespace Duplicate Page feature only works on standard page types (i.e., not blogs, calendars, galleries, etc.), but that alone should satisfy that vast majority of your page copying needs.

To duplicate a page, simply access any page's Page Settings from your website's admin controls and select Duplicate Page.

And that's really all there is to it. Once done, you'll be able to find your copied Squarespace page at the bottom of your website's navigation tree. Edit the page's settings to assign the page title and URL of your choice, then edit the page's content.

Creating and editing new content on your Squarespace website has never been easier. With Duplicate Page for Squarespace, you can now quickly make copies of pages on your website so you don't have to start fresh each time you want to add a new page. How excited are you for this new time-saving feature?

Squarespace Websites Showcase: Spring 2013

Josh Braaten — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Spring cleaning is a common occurrence in many households each year. Homeowners take the extra time to organize their belongings and cleanse behind the hard-to-reach places of their homes. Why don't we look at our websites the same way?

Six Squarespace designers recently performed a deep cleaning on their sites. Check out the fresh new Squarespace 6 sites they produced as we take a look at the Spring 2013 additions to our Squarespace Websites Showcase.

Spring 2013 Squarespace Showcase

Steve Wentworth is the videographer, editor, and web designer for Skinny Boy Weddings, a boutique wedding video agency outside of London that produces custom wedding videos and invitation videos. Steve submitted their beautiful new site.
Eric Jones of CoreGeek.net submitted iPad HQ, a blog dedicated to tips, how-to's, deals, and reviews for iPad and iOS.
Javier Miqueleiz is a photographer from Guangzhou, China who focuses mainly on portrait, fashion, and street photography. Javier's Squarespace 6 website is built on one of their great new portfolio templates.
Christopher Grant is a Swedish photographer working mostly on abstract and impressionalist projects at the moment. Christopher's website is on Squarespace 6.
Joshua Neimark of fix8media submitted their recent work on the new site for Knox Insurance Group, a group of insurance agencies in Florida with product ranging from auto, to home, and more.
Jacki Storey is a UK photographer and visual artist based in the southwest of England, just outside of Stroud, Gloucestershire. Jacki uses scupture, photography, and installation mediums, and Squarespace 6 to showcase it all.

Submit Your Website to the Showcase

Big Picture Web features your new Squarespace websites frequently on our blog and ever-growing Squarespace Websites Showcase. Don't forget to bookmark our submission page and be sure to enter your new creations when they're complete.

We'd be happy to review and feature your work so that others can be inspired to do some Spring cleaning on their own Squarespace websites.

The Unofficial Squarespace Podcast Airs Season Three Premiere

Josh Braaten — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Looking for a great place to get tips and advice about using the Squarespace web publishing platform? Content, Structure & Style, the unofficial Squarespace podcast, is part podcast, part video tutorial, and part nonsense, and might just be what you're looking for.

Last week hosts Alan Houser of Squareflair, Brandon Davenport of OkayGeek.com, and I returned to our microphones (and added our web cams) for the season three premiere of Content, Structure & Style hosted via Google+ Hangout on Air.

CSS: Episode 301 - Season 3, Squarespace 6

In the season three opener of the unofficial Squarespace [video] podcast Alan and I started the show as a duo instead of a trio due to a late arrival by Brandon Davenport. Alan and I discussed our many new projects since season two of CSS and then recapped Squarespace 6 news.

The major items for discussion relative to Squarespace 6 news include ecommerce, calendars, and fonts. Both Alan and I shared first impressions of the three new features and went on to provide a few hands-on tips and insights for each.

Brandon Davenport eventually joined us, which segued into an impromptu ad for Fancy Hands (If you sign up for Fancy Hands after visiting them by clicking this link, I'll receive a discount on my use of the service.), the virtual assistant service that takes your request via phone, email, or iPhone app.

The final segment of the show focused on the first installment of a season-long look at migrating from Squarespace 5 to 6. This episode focused on performing inventories of existing Squarespace 5 content, migrating your site from version 5 to a new Squarespace 6 template, and then pruning your migrated content.

Alan, Brandon and I all equally relished in the simple joy that comes from the weight being lifted off a webmaster's shoulders when starting on a clean template. You get a chance to start some things over and refine your process, your assets, and your entire experience. It's as if your entire brand is reborn and ready to reap new rewards and opportunities.

Yes, migrating to Squarespace 6 from v5 can occasionally be a real pain for people who have built up a lot of custom code or certain types of assets, but the process should be more or less painless for most people. We certainly feel for those of you who will have to spend more time migrating due to v5 customizations.

What suggestions do you have for future Squarespace podcast episodes of Content, Structure & Style?

How to Migrate from Squarespace 5 to 6

Josh Braaten — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:35:00 +0000

It's coming up on a year since Squarespace released the sixth version of its revolutionary web publishing software, and yet there's still a ton of happy customers using version five. Now, I know everything Squarespace releases is great, but if you're still on v5, you're missing out. Today we show you how to migrate from Squarespace 5 to 6 in 3 easy steps.

Step 1: Tune in to Content, Structure & Style

(Click to add to your calendar and RSVP for April 18th at 7:00 p.m. CDT.)

The unofficial Squarespace podcast is back with a new season of Squarespace tips and news with season 3, episode 1 at 7:00 p.m. CDT on Thursday, April 18, 2013. As an added bonus, this season Alan Houser, Brandon Davonport and I will be sharing tips each episode on how to migrate from Squarespace 5 to 6. RSVP now to watch live or watch the archived episode after April 18th.

Step 2: Pick Out Your Squarespace 6 Template

(Click to check out Squarespace 6's ~30 kick-butt, mobile-friendly templates.)

Did you know Squarespace 6 offers nearly thirty amazing new templates, and they're adding more every month? These templates contain all of the same power and configurability of Squarespace 5, and more. Check out the Big Picture Web Squarespace 6 Template Guide to learn about the advantages and differences of each template for designers, photographers, artists, bloggers, entrepreneurs, small, and medium sized businesses.

Step 3: Getting Tactical with the Help of Squarespace

(Click the image to check out Squarespace's step-by-step tactical guide.)

After you've tuned in to the podcast for a dose of strategy and picked out your new template, it's time to get tactical. Squarespace put together a wonderful step-by-step help article that they maintain as they make product updates. Once you've completed steps 1 and 2, head on over to this Squarespace tutorial to take you the rest of the way.

Squarespace 6 is the Future

Squarespace promises to continue to support customers using v5, but Squarespace 6 will be the focus of new features as time goes on. If you haven't made the move yet, consider taking the three easy steps shared today to migrate from Squarespace 5 to 6. If you're still on Squarespace v5, what's holding you back from moving to Squarespace 6?

How to Use Squarespace Calendars

Josh Braaten — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:25:00 +0000

Squarespace recently announced their new complete calendar system, which allows anyone to create a schedule of events, concert dates, appearances and more. This week we take a look at how to set up a calendar of your own in a handy how-to.

Creating a Squarespace Calendar

Squarespace already offered a helpful calendar widget, but the new calendar feature is a full page type. To create one of your own, add a new page type to your navigation from within your administrative controls and select the Events page type. Select a name for your calendar and assign a URL to it.

Add a Squarespace event collection to your navigation by adding a page.

Adjust Your Calendar Page Settings

After your new page is up and running, adjust your Event Settings by selecting the button from your administrative controls for the page.

Configuration options include:

Adjust your page title
Display your events as a calendar or list view
Set template-specific layout options for sidebars
Update your events page's meta description for search engines
Assign tags and categories
Advanced HTML insertion options

Squarespace events pages include the ability to change between list and calendar view for your events.

Creating Your First Squarespace Event

Creating events using the Squarespace calendar system is much like creating a blog post. Click on Add Event from your event page and create a page that tells your fans about the who, what, where, when, and why of your event.

Location options allow you to tell people exactly where your event will be and event map it using Squarespace's Google Maps integration. Your attendees can also add events directly to their Google or iCalendars. (Click on the thumbnails for a larger view.)

Enjoy Your New Squarespace Calendar

That's really all there is to it. When you're through you're left with an excellent option for managing your events. For advanced users, consider adding a contact form to collect registrations via email, a Google Drive spreadsheet, or even a MailChimp mail list. Squarespace's custom HTML code blocks also makes its event and calendar system immediately compatible with Eventbrite, Google+ Events, and just about any other custom events solution, too.

What types of events do you plan on planning with the help of the new Squarespace calendars?

A Squarespace Calendar with a calendar-style, full-width layout.

Visiting the Squarespace Headquarters

Josh Braaten — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:35:00 +0000

Big Picture Web visited the Squarespace headquarters this past week in New York City!

I had the privilege of attending the top-notch search engine marketing conference, SES New York, and popped down to the Squarespace main offices after the sessions ended Wednesday afternoon.

Springtime in New York

I had an appointment near Union Square in Manhattan before visiting Squarespace, and ended up walking nearly a half hour from there to Squarespace's headquarters in SoHo.

The sunshine warmed the buildings and put a Springtime energy into my step as I dodged the never-ending flow of traffic by foot, bike, and car.

The SoHo buildings glow in New York's springtime afternoons.

As with any epic adventure, one does not simply walking into Squarespace. I had called ahead and made an appointment. This was my view as I waited, satisfied with my luck at being on time despite my unfamiliarity with the travel requirements in the bustling Big Apple.

The staff at Squarespace have hands-down some of the nicest digs you could ask for.

After a brief tour, some introductions, and some time with my contact at Squarespace, I was on my way. Guess who I ran into on the way out? None other than Squarespace founder, Anthony Casalena. The great Michael Heilemann snapped this gem just as we were leaving the building. Thanks guys!

I ran into Squarespace founder Anthony Casalena in the elevator.

Squarespace has become a big part of my life. I've empowered friends, family, and clients to build and maintain websites that drive businesses and other causes by teaching them how to use Squarespace. As an affiliate marketer, getting the word out about Squarespace has also helped secure secondary source of income for my family. And ultimately, I believe in Squarespace's vision for its product and respect the growing startup for what they're doing.

Visiting the Squarespace headquarters in New York was a joy for those reasons and more, and I hope to be able to do it again in the future.

Squarespace Mobile Content Strategies

Josh Braaten — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 15:30:00 +0000

Content marketing is one of the most efficient online marketing tactics for busy entrepreneurs. Blogs, videos, podcasts, and more published on your website build both customer engagement and traffic from search engines and social media networks alike.

Finding the time to create and publish content can be difficult, which is why I love having a Squarespace website and using the Squarespace mobile app. Today's post demonstrates how you can create a thriving blog with minimal added time requirements to your already-busy day.

The Squarespace mobile app for iOS is a mobile publishing force.

Blogging on the Go With the Squarespace Mobile App

My days are jam-packed with work, volunteer activities, and other obligations. I don't blog nearly as much as I want to, but lately I've been attempting to leverage my volunteering as a part of my blogging strategy.

Last week I attended a event put on by MIMA (a marketing association). The content of the presentation was a good fit for my marketing blog, ContentScientists.com. I put my Squarespace mobile app for my iPhone to work and rattled out a live blog post recap of the neuromarketing presentation.

Drafting a Blog Post with Squarespace

Mobile blog posts can be edited with text, HTML or Markdown.

The event was an hour-long presentation on the advances of consumer psychology. The talk was given by author and speaker, Roger Dooley. I titled my blog post, flipped my editing interface to Markdown to increase my maximum thumb-typing speed (you can choose from text, HTML, and Markdown), and summarized Mr. Dooley's thoughts as quickly as my thumbs could travel.

I could have done this more easily using the Squarespace mobile app on my iPad, but I chose to use the iPhone instead to demonstrate that content marketing is possible even if the circumstances aren't ideal.

What you see here illustrates how quickly you could record the best moments of any events you attend in the form of a blog post.

Adding Photos to Mobile Blog Posts

Add photos from your mobile device to your Squarespace blog posts.

Adding photos to my mobile Squarespace blog posts was a breeze. I took photos throughout the event using my iPhone camera. At the end of the event, I navigated to the photo tab of the blog post and added the photos to the blog post directly from my phone. The app even let me re-order photos by tapping and dragging them to my liking.

By default, Squarespace adds all photos included in the mobile blog post at the end of the blog post when published. It wouldn't be nice to be able to structure them directly within an article while you're writing, but I can appreciate how this would be difficult.

After publishing the article, it was simple enough to crack it open in a desktop browser and position the images to my liking using Squarespace's LayoutEngine editing interface.

Performing the Finishing Touches

Even tags and categories are a snap in the Squarespace mobile app.

Even the finder details such as publishing date, tags and categories were editable using the Squarespace mobile app. When the event was over, I saved the blog post to my website and joined the crowd in coffee, snacks and networking. An hour later, I was back at my desk and cracked open the draft I created at the event.

A few tweaks later and I published my event recap to my blog and social media networks well before anyone else had a chance to recap the event. As a result, the speaker and many attendees were quick to share my article.

Nimble and Efficient Publishing

Fresh news travels well in social media, so once again the Squarespace mobile blogging app proved to be part of an effective content marketing strategy. I saved time by making my content marketing part of my already-busy day and took advantage of people's excitement for a great event to drive traffic to my blog.

You can become a content marketer for your brand by downloading the Squarespace mobile app for iOS, Ipad, and Android. (If you're not on Squarespace yet, the best place to start is by looking at their awesome mobile-friendly templates).

How to Change the Squarespace Favicon

Josh Braaten — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 16:30:00 +0000

The favicon is the unsung hero of every website. At an average of 16 pixels squared each, it's easy to see why one might overlook the tiny image that represents your brand from the corner of the tab of your web browser.

The default Squarespace favicon

Big Picture Web's favicon is a tiny version of our logo.

Indeed, the favicon is pervasive. If you think about it, the favicon is one of, if not the only part of your brand that exists on every page of your website. The time it takes to change your favicon is minimal compared to the impressions it will see in its lifetime. Take a few minutes to change your Squarespace favicon with this handy how-to.

How to Change Your Squarespace Favicon

Changing your website's favicon on Squarespace is a snap, and you'll feel a small sense of accomplishment when you're through.

Log in to your site's admin controls
Click on the gear icon to access your Settings
Locate the Browser Icon (Favicon) section within the Site section of the Settings
Drag an image from your computer (don't worry about sizing - Squarespace will take care of it)
(Optional) Crop your image using Squarespace's editing tools (powered by Aviary) to make any adjustments to maximize the visibility of this tiny image

Squarespace favicon settings are found within the Site section of the Settings.

Use Squarespace's built-in image editor powered by Aviary to crop your favicon.

Enjoy Your New Squarespace Favicon

You're all set to enjoy your new favicon. Don't be one of the thousands of sites with the default Squarespace favicon. Take a stand, and five minutes right now to make sure your brand is well represented on every browser tab and every operating system task bar it adorns.

Proudly sport your new Squarespace favicon.

How to Use the Squarespace Calendar Widget to Manage Your Events

Josh Braaten — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 15:34:00 +0000

Event are common with small businesses, and yet the necessary website functionality for online event management can be complex and unwieldy. Sometimes you're best off paying for a third-party event solution, but Squarespace has you covered for most everything else.

The Squarespace calendar widget presents a lightweight, yet effective solution to most of your basic and moderate event management needs, and can be combined with other parts of Squarespace to support your entire event workflow.

Step 1: Create an Events Collection

The first step in using the Squarespace Calendar widget for event management is to create a collection on your Squarespace website that will be used to build each of your individual event landing pages. Create an events collection using a blog (free and paid events), products (paid events only) or possibly a gallery (special events) page type.

Gallery, Blog, and Products page types can be used to support the Squarespace Calendar.

In this example we'll create a blog page type called Events to build our event landing pages for an imaginary series of happy hours throughout the month of march.

Step 2: Build Your Event Calendar Page

Next up, create a new page on your Squarespace website to serve as your main events landing page that tells people about all of the events you plan to host. Include text and photo blocks to let people know what to expect at your events, and maybe a social media block to make sure everyone is connected.

This event landing page promotes our happy hour series.

I've created a page that promotes my happy hour series here. Now I'll need to add in the Squarespace calendar and events widgets.

Step 3: Add Your Squarespace Calendar to Your Event Page

Add a calendar block to your main event landing page (the Calendar block is in the Structure tab). In this example, I've located the Events blog page type I created earlier and selected it for use with my calendar widget.

Drag a calendar block onto your event landing page and select the collection corresponding to your events pages.

Position your calendar block to your liking. You can pull in other widgets from the Structure tab of the new blocks interface to your events landing page as well, including the Summary block. Take full advantage of LayoutEngine and your imagination when making your landing page so your events end up looking fun, inviting, and informative.

Step 4: Create an Event

Now we're ready to create individual events. To draft the first event, I created a new blog post within my Events blog and included some text, an image gallery consisting of a few photos, a map widget configured to highlight my event venue, and a custom form with name and email address fields set to display. I set the publish date/time to correspond to my event date/time and then published the blog post.

Now folks have an easy way to register on my blog for free events.

Step 4 Appendix: Capturing Event Registrations

You'll want to send successful registrations to a place where you can use them later (e.g., email reminders and post-event surveys). The Squarespace form block configuration includes options to send your captured submissions to your inbox, a Google Drive spreadsheet, or a custom list in your optional connected MailChimp account.

In this example, I just need a simple spreadsheet to keep track of who is going to my events, so I decided to use a Google Drive spreadsheet.

Send registered attendees to your inbox, a spreadsheet, or MailChimp subscriber list.

Step 5 (Optional): Create a Paid Event

Not every event will be free. Sometimes you'll want to charge attendees, and Squarespace provides you with multiple options here, too. For paid events, simply create another blog post within your Events blog and add in all the vital information. When it comes time to collect payment for tickets, you can either embed registration details from popular services such as Eventbrite, or you can use the digital products product type in the new Squarespace commerce tool set.

Create a paid event landing page using Squarespace commerce digital products for your online tickets.

The Future of the Squarespace Calendar and Events

In its current state the Squarespace calendar widget is versatile and lightweight, but may leave serious event planners wanting more. I hope Squarespace continues to build on to the already neat functionality the Squarespace calendar widget, and think they should completely build out their events solutions over time. A full-on partnership/integration with Eventbrite would be amazing, and isn't out of the question given the existing partnership between Eventbrite and MailChimp.

What needs do you have for managing events and calendar-based content on your Squarespace website?

Squarespace 6 Fact Sheet [Infographic]

Josh Braaten — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:30:00 +0000

Big Picture Web has been built on Squarespace for over three years, and we've put together this handy Squarespace 6 Fact Sheet to help you learn the facts about the web publishing platform. Thousands of websites are built on Squarespace. Check out these facts to learn why:

Squarespace Competitors

As of March, 2013, Squarespace is rumored to have over 100,000 paying customers. Squarespace doesn't have a free version of the product, so it makes sense that they have a smaller, yet growing fan base than some of the other platforms out there. Wordpress is rumored to have over 62 million installs while Tumblr reports 96 million blogs, but these aren't quite direct Squarespace competitors. Squarespace dominates similar content management systems (CMS).

Squarespace Fun Facts

Some of the most compelling reasons to make your website a Squarespace website include:

Squarespace recently released their new e-commerce platform. Squarespace Commerce comes with everything you'd expect to sell physical or digital goods online.
Need reliable hosting? Squarespace provides rock-solid hosting, content management tools, and even domain registration for annual accounts. Even Hurricane Sandy couldn't bring a Squarespace website down.
Squarespace comes with a bunch of built-in design features that make your website look great. Whether you want to design your site using only the drag-and-drop controls, or if you are a CSS pro, Squarespace has your design needs covered.
Analytics are an important part of any website's performance. Squarespace boasts its own robust onboard analytics, and it even integrates with other web analytics platforms such as Google Analytics.
Squarepace integrates with all of the important social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, and more. Post status updates automatically, publish galleries to your Facebook page, and even integrate Google+ authorship.
Search engine optimization is a lot easier with Squarespace's baked-in SEO support. URL canonicalization, title tag customization, and even on-board Google+ authorship support demonstrate the in-depth level of care Squarespace builds into every page of your website.

Have you given Squarespace a try? Start by checking out their broad selection of website templates (which happen to be fully responsive, and mobile-friendly). Chances are you'll end up wanting to start your two-week trial before too long. After that, soon you'll likely be a customer. In that case, come on back for more Squarespace 6 facts and tips.

Squarespace Websites Showcase: February 2013

Josh Braaten — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:15:00 +0000

The Winter months this year have seen Squarespace designers holed up in their offices and design studios cranking out new site after new site on the Squarespace 6 web publishing platform. Check out February's additions, then run along to bookmark our submission page so we can add your new Squarespace site to next month's showcase.

February 2013 Showcase Addition

This month we add ten new websites to the Squarespace Websites Showcase created by eight talented designers, including a website built by Shane Boyce entirely on the new Squarespace developer platform.

Jonny Rowntree is a freelance writer from Newcastle in the UK who works for Shout Digital and Magnate Magazine. He built his website on Squarespace 6.
Professional dry-stone-waller Nigel Goody entrusted his website to Steve Wade, who built this beaut-of-a-Squarespace-5 site.
Jason Winmill appreciated Squarespace's easy-to-use yet elegant platform for website, which he says was a true rarity in his experiencing designing his company website for Argopoint.
Steph Maclaren is a talented illustrator/artist living in Cornwall, England. Check out his portfolio, which was built on a modified Jirick Zine Squarespace 6 template.
Politilady is a female friendly political humor website created by Katie Proctor. Squarespace 6 makes it easy for Katie to blog several times a week.
Shayne Boyce is a pro Squarespace designer, and built Partner Advisors from scratch on the new Squarespace 6 Developer template.
Michele Baer designed the website for Amy's Ice Creams. She integrated social media, maps, and more into this Texas ice cream chain's website.
Magnetic Productions develop and produce cable programming on networks such as Discovery, HGTV, and MTV. Michele Baer created a great website to promote them.
David Sceidt is a traveler and business man who needed a website to represent his broad offerings. Michele Baer built his Squarespace 6 website.
Minimal Wallet hates the "Costanza wallet," and showcases the best in minimal wallets, according to their designer, David B.

Submit Your Squarespace Website

Which of the ten wonderful new sites was your favorite this month? Was it one of Michele Baer's fantastic new sites, were you more impressed by Shane Boyce's skills on the developer templates, or did another one catch your eye?

Don't forget to submit your newly designed Squarespace sites each month to our showcase submission form. I want to feature your work in next month's edition. Bookmark it now and make it a part of your new site publishing process so I can be sure to give your creations some love.

17 Squarespace Ecommerce Features You'll Flip Over

Josh Braaten — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:30:00 +0000

Squarespace Commerce launched on Valentine's Day, and how sweet the powerful new features are! Feast your eyes on Squarespace's hot new e-commerce engine and these flip-worthy features.

17 Powerful Squarespace E-Commerce Features

Squarespace partnered with processing service Stripe to provide an alternative to the traditionally sub-par options customers have had to sell their wares directly through e-commerce functionality. Third-party tools such as Ecwid and Shopify have performed nicely in a pinch, but not until lately did Squarespace users have something to get excited about in the world of e-commerce.

1. Guided Setup Process

The new Squarespace commerce system starts users off on the right foot with a four-step guide that walks through product setup, shipping options, connecting with Stripe for payment processing, and publishing your new store.

Squarespace makes your store setup and Stripe vendor configuration a snap with a simple guided tour.

2. The Squarespace & Stripe Payment Partnership

Squarespace partnered with Stripe for payment processing on any commerce sales on your site. Stripe charges and affordable 2.9% and $.30 per transaction, and configuration for payment through your Squarespace website takes less than five minutes.

Working with Stripe for payment processing is as easy as working with Squarespace.

3. Robust New Product Workflow

Adding new products to your online store through Squarespace's e-commerce platform is as intuitive as creating a blog post. Set pricing, multiple images, product titles and descriptions. You can even schedule and publish new products.

Manage all facets of your product within Squarespace's intuitive user interface.

4. 100% Customizable Product Pages

Squarespace's product pages are just as easy to customize as any other page type in Squarespace. Using LayoutEngine, you can customize the position and appearance of text, images and videos within your product pages.

Squarespace 6, the most current release of Squarespace, comes with drag-and-drop design blocks powered by LayoutEngine.

5. Simple Inventory Management

Inventory management for physical goods through Squarespace is intuitive. Inventory levels change as sales occur, and it's easy to set new levels, change prices, and adjust weights as needed.

Manage inventory levels with Squarespace's e-commerce tools.

6. Sell Digital Products with Ease

Selling your digital works couldn't be easier. Drag-and-drop files into the Squarespace Commerce interface, and buyers will be sent a link to a secure download that lasts for 24-hours upon checkout. Never again worry about a link to your files getting out on the Internet.

Selling digital products such as ebooks, audio files, and videos is a simple drag-and-drop process.

7. Add a Shopping Cart with No Development Costs

The amazing part about e-commerce on Squarespace is that a developer isn't needed to build a product catalog, shopping cart, or checkout process. The entire process is built into the fabric of your existing templates, and are managed by the same intuitive controls that are used to configure any existing Squarespace website.

Squarespace's built-in shopping cart matches your existing template design.

8. A Seamless Checkout Process

Clunky checkout processes can deter customers and potential business. The checkout process with the Squarespace/Stripe integration is smooth, secure, and seamless. Your customers will enjoy doing business with you and look forward to future transactions.

Squarespace's Stripe-powered checkout process is slick.

9. Flexible Shipping Options for Physical Goods

Squarespace provides all of the shipping options you'd expect from any robust inventory management solution, including the ability to set weights per product, flat-fee shipping rules, and weight-based shipping rules.

Squarespace supports multiple shipping options.

10. Offer Coupon Codes Like the Big Boys

Want to give out specials to VIP customers or during certain times of the year? Squarespace offers the ability to give discounts on any order, orders over a certain value, on products within specific categories, and on individual products. You can also set the durations of your promtions so that coupon codes expire when promotions finish.

Offer a wide range of coupon codes with Squarespace e-commerce tools.

11. Squarespace Provides the ONLY SEO-Friendly Squarespace E-Commerce Platform

Third party tools such as Ecwid and Shopify are nice, but they typically work against your efforts in attracting search engine traffic from Google. Squarespace's SEO-friendly e-commerce platform allows you to create a page for every product with its own URL with ease, giving you the chance to put more content for your products on your own website.

Boost your SEO efforts with Squarespace e-commerce tools.

12. Stay Compliant with Uncle Sam with Built-in Sales Tax Support

Squarespace wants you to stay on the right side of the law with your online endeavor, and has built in a sales tax engine with customizable rules. Look up the tax laws in your state, then make a few quick tweaks to make sure you're taxing per federal, state, and local laws.

Calculate sales tax on sales through Squarespace.

13. Customize Communications with Customers

Squarespace continues to promote the balance between ease-of-use and power with customizable order confirmations, shipping messages, and more. E-commerce on Squarespace is going to make many people very happy.

Customize your order and shipping confirmation messages for full control of the shopping experience.

14. Opt Customers in to MailChip Newsletters

If you have an existing integration with MailChimp and Squarespace, why not add an email newsletter opt-in to all of your transactions? Squarespace allows you to easily select your MailChimp newsletter subscriber list to integrate with your checkout process for maximum impact on your email marketing efforts.

Squarespace Commerce integrates seamlessly with MailChimp.

15. Squarespace Products Integrate with Facebook

Did you want to push your entire product catalog to Facebook? Squarespace makes it possible to add any product gallery or page as a tab on your Facebook page in just a few clicks. Get your products some love from social media with this slick feature.

Squarespace and Facebook play nice together with your products.

16. Squarespace Commerce Integrates with Google Analytics

Squarespace confirmed that all transactions that occur with Squarespace Commerce will show up in the Google Analytics E-Commerce reports. This feature alone puts businesses utilizing Squarespace websites on par with many mid-size companies, and allows business owners to track opportunities and transactions to the sources that matter most.

17. Customizable Policies Provide Polish

Last but not least, Squarespace's new Commerce engine provides the abilities to tailor your return policies, privacy policies, and your terms of service to provide you with the legal protection and flexibility your business requires to succeed.

Succeed with Squarespace E-Commerce Tools

What Squarespace Commerce features excite you the most? Have you had a chance to build any products or configure any inventory controls? I'd like to hear your thoughts on where Squarespace really hit the mark on these new tools and where they have a chance to grow their e-commerce offering even further. Be sure to check Squarespace Commerce out, and then leave a comment with your thoughts below.

4 Myths and Realities About Squarespace SEO

Josh Braaten — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 13:30:00 +0000

A friend of mine who builds Squarespace websites wrote to me recently, concerned that his client's search engine optimization (SEO) consultant was trying to persuade the client to change content management systems from Squarespace to Wordpress because "performing SEO work on [Squarespace] could come with some limitations."

As someone who both loves Squarespace websites and also who knows a thing or two about SEO, it frustrates me to see mis-information like this swirling around the web. In reality, Squarespace supports the ability to attract search engine traffic incredibly well, and even includes features most Wordpress developers don't know about or often just plain get wrong.

Today we're bringing to light four myths about Squarespace's SEO capabilities, and the underlying realities you need to know before someone persuades you to switch for no good reason.

Myth #1: You Can't Access Squarespace's System

The first myth presented by the "SEO expert" was that Squarespace prevents SEO success due to its proprietary code base:

"Squarespace has a lot of tools in place that give us access to optimizing your site, however, it is a proprietary CMS so we don't have access to some key code based items. SEO service providers need access to some parts of that HTML in order to write appropriate tags and information so that search engines are able to understand it.

While Squarespace has made a great effort to give as much access as possible to relevant SEO items, and gives more access than most proprietary systems, there are still some shortcomings - such as the XML sitemap, alt tags for images, categories being hidden - that we will be unable to resolve or work around due to the nature of the CMS."

Reality #1: Squarespace's Proprietary System Facilitates SEO

While it's true that Squarespace's code base is proprietary, that doesn't present any major barriers to generating search engine traffic. Squarespace facilitates all the major SEO tasks, and in certain cases, such as with the automatically-updated XML sitemaps, newly integrated Google Authorship markup, and even URL canonicalization standard with every site, Squarespace's proprietary system actually facilitates more search engine optimization success.

Complex SEO tactics such as URL canonicalization are automatically implemented on Squarespace.

Sure, Squarespace doesn't let you do everything an SEO would want to tackle straight out of the box, such as hiding blog categories, but the Squarespace developer platform provides complete code control. Advanced Squarespace designers should be able to tackle even the most sophisticated SEO requests.

Myth #2: Squarespace Limits Where You can Edit

The next Squarespace SEO myth is also often accompanied by encouragement to change platforms to Wordpress for best results:

"Performing SEO work on this system could come with some limitations, and it's only fair to let you know that up front. I am not saying that you NEED to switch CMS, but as we work with the system, we may find there are additional items that hinder our ability to perform the best SEO for you."

Reality #2: Squarespace Takes Care of SEO or Lets You Do It Yourself

There are a handful of critical elements needed for SEO on-page success, including your page's meta title and description tags, image alt tags, and including important phrases within the content of your site.

Important fields such as page title tags can be maintained at a sitewide and page-specific level.

In addition, there are some architectural factors, such as the page's URL, canonicalization meta tags, Google authorship, and XML sitemaps, that contribute to a website's SEO success.

Squarespace either addresses all of these factors automatically, let's you adjust them manually, or a combination of both. There's not an important tag or setting that can't be changed to promote SEO success.

Myth #3: Wordpress is Dramatically Cheaper than Squarespace

Every website investment will consist of your hosting (i.e., where the files that make up your website actually exist on the web), and content management (i.e., the tools required to build your website). The next myth is related to price:

"I don't know what you pay per month to host through Squarespace, but independent hosting can offer you a great deal of savings, and the Wordpress CMS is free. The only real cost involved with going to Wordpress is the design and implementation phase."

Reality #3: Squarespace's Premium Services are Cost Effective

Squarespace's pricing ranges from $8 - 20 per month depending on features and your billing terms. Compare this to a free Wordpress install and a no-frills hosting account at $5 per month and you're looking at a cost savings at $3 - 15 per month by going with Wordpress over Squarespace.

But don't assume you'll get the same level of service. $5/month hosting won't stand up to huge spikes in traffic, while Reddit or even Hurricane Sandy couldn't bring down Squarespace websites. And every Squarespace account also comes with 24/7 tech support, built-in mobile-friendly responsive design templates, and intuitive editing and design tools.

Squarespace comes complete with 24/7 tech support.

Yes, you may pay a few bucks more for a Squarespace website, but consider what you're getting for the extra investment.

Myth #4: Serious SEO Professionals Only Use Wordpress

This next myth comes from the Squarespace designer himself as he lamented to me about his client's wavering faith in Squarespace's ability to meet his SEO objectives:

"After speaking with several SEO consultants and all saying the same thing (i.e., 'move your site to Wordpress for optimal benefit'), the client's confidence in the Squarespace platform has eroded."

Reality #4: SEO is About Your CMS and Your Content

Many of the SEOs you'll talk to will recommend Wordpress because it's a system they're familiar with. Wordpress is the majority player in the CMS marketplace, and so it's only natural that there will be more SEOs in support of it over Squarespace. But that doesn't make one better than the other.

Ultimately, your success with SEO is based on a combination of factors, including the on-page and architectural tactics governed by your content management system, as well as facets that are independent of your CMS, including your content creation and outreach strategy and your ability to attract social media engagement and links from across the web.

Some of the best SEOs in the world cite Squarespace as a fantastic platform for organic search traffic, including SEO tool company CEO, Rand Fishkin, whose SEOmoz is among the most trusted of all resources in the SEO industry:

SEO industry hero Rand Fishkin endorses Squarespace.

And if that isn't compelling enough, this website is built on Squarespace, and our organic traffic has been increasingly steadily each and every year I've owned and operated it:

This website has attracted over 100,000 visits through search engine traffic, including over 7,500 just last month alone.

What You Should Consider Before Working With SEOs

A great SEO will be able to work with clients to create the best plan to support the client's business, not just the SEO's ability to easily implement the plan. Your primary consideration when building a website should be the content management system that helps you best meet the objectives you laid out for your website in the first place.

Squarespace and Wordpress both support SEO efforts incredibly well, and neither present any major limitations that should dissuade you from choosing either platform.

If your SEO is struggling with the Squarespace platform, consider having them provide their recommendations to your website designer so someone familiar with the platform can implement them, or even have your design give your SEO a tour of Squarespace so the SEO can more comfortably implement their strategy.

But if a Wordpress lover insists that you switch from Squarespace, send them to leave a comment here on this article, and I'll be happy to engage in a conversation to help you understand your options.

The Ultimate Guide to Squarespace Fonts

Josh Braaten — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:30:00 +0000

You want your Squarespace website's to stand out from the rest of the Internet, and your choice of typography says a lot about you. Did you know there are now nearly 700 Squarespace fonts to choose from with your account, all at no extra charge?

From websafe fonts, to Google Fonts, to the recently-announced Typekit Fonts, Squarespace now seamlessly integrates with all of the Internet's finest fonts.

Squarespace Websafe Fonts

Squarespace's revolutionary responsive design templates all launched with your standard websafe fonts when Squarespace 6 was released in the summer of 2012.

Georgia, Palatino Linotype, Times New Roman, Arial, Helvetica Neue, Lucida Sans Unicode, Trebuchet MS, Verdana, Courier New, and Lucida Console are 10 fonts that render well on nearly any browser and any device.

Squarespace comes standard with 10 websafe fonts.

Squarespace Typekit Fonts

In January 2013 Squarespace and Typekit announced a partnership between the two companies featuring full integration with paid Typekit accounts and 67 free Typekit fonts for all Squarespace users.

Squarespace and Paid Typekit Account Integration

Squarespace website designers have always been able to use their paid Typekit fonts with Squarespace websites, but never before has the integration been so easy.

Simply add the Typekit fonts you want to a kit to be used with your Squarespace website. Then open your kit using the Typekit editor.

Create a kit for use with your Squarespace website.

Click on the Embed Code to find your Typekit Kit ID for your Squarespace fonts.

Snag your Typekit Kit ID from your Embed Code dialog box.

Take your Typekit Kit ID and bring it to the General Settings menu of your Squarespace website. Paste your Typekit Kit ID in the corresponding field.

Squarespace boasts a simple copy/paste Typekit integration with your favorite fonts using your Typekit Kit ID.

From that point on, your pro Typekit fonts will show up in your Squarespace font menus. Change, add, and remove fonts from your Typekit Kit at any time for easy use with your Squarespace website.

Typekit pro fonts can be your Squarespace website fonts.

Free Typekit Fonts for All Squarespace Websites

Squarespace and Typekit's new partnership also brings 67 beautiful Typekit fonts to all Squarespace websites at no extra charge. You can now bring the best Typekit fonts to your Squarespace templates, including the five most popular Typekit fonts: Adelle, Futura PT, Museo Slab, Proximo Nova, and Museo Sans. Enjoy browsing scores of new Squarespace fonts thanks to Typekit.

In total there are 67 free Typekit fonts on Squarespace.

Google Fonts on Squarespace

Squarespace's support for Google fonts goes back to 2011, and now Squarespace 6 supports over 600 amazing fonts with all Squarespace websites and templates. Try Google sans-serif fonts such as Gotham, Proxima Nova, and Ubuntu, and while you're at it, give serif fonts such as Volkhorn, Lora, and Kreon a try, too.

Use this handy graphic of all 611 Google fonts available on Squarespace during your next website design planning session instead of scrolling through them all in your browser's design interface.

611 Google fonts all integrate smoothly with every Squarespace template and website.

Your Favorite Squarespace Fonts

Now it's your turn. What is your favorite font when designing Squarespace websites? Are there combinations you'd recommend to people? Do you prefer websafe fonts, Google Fonts, or are you more of a Typekit person? Don't be stingy on leaving a lot of comments on this post, Squarespace friends.

Squarespace Themes: 6 Advantages for Creating Effective Small Business Websites

Josh Braaten — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 13:30:00 +0000

Small business owners demand many tools in a content management system in order to build a website that will bring in new customers and keep the ones you already have. And even when you find a platform you can work with, you also need customizable templates that help your business stand alone.

The many Squarespace themes, or templates, are incredibly business-friendly, and offer six major advantages for small business owners considering their web publishing options.

1. Squarespace Themes are Built for Business

Every Squarespace template is different, and each offers a unique combination of highly configurable options to support the creation of web pages, image galleries and portfolios, product pages, and more. Use drag-and-drop controls to build each page with intuitive tools.

Each Squarespace theme supports every standard widget block.

2. Squarespace Integrates with Small Business Tools

You can either invest in a website that requires thousands of dollars in custom integrations, or you can go with Squarespace, which includes simple, out-of-the-box connections with small business tools such as Google Docs, Mailchimp, Google Maps, Google Analytics, Facebook, Twitter, Disqus, Amazon, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, and more.

Squarespace integrations include many plug-and-play connections with popular small-business services.

3. Squarespace Themes are Highly Customizable

No one likes a cookie cutter website. The stale look of stock photography and a theme that induces Internet deja vu will make it challenging to differentiate your small business. Squarespace's templates can be customized infinitely using the unique drag-and-slide interface. Simply click on a section of your website in Squarespace's style mode and make a quick change using the tools provided and you'll be on your way.

The WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) design tools of Squarespace cut down the time and effort required to administer your website.

4. Squarespace Websites are Easy to Manage

If you haven't noticed by the first few screenshots, Squarespace's administrative tools are incredibly easy to understand, which makes maintenance and performing updates less confusing and more manageable. Many small business owners are able to all but eliminate tech support costs related to their websites by going with Squarespace. Just look at how intuitive this page's editing interface is:

Edits take just a few minutes so you can be in-and-out, and back to managing your business.

5. Squarespace Themes are SEO-Friendly

It's hard enough to plan and build a website. You don't want to have to worry about extra steps to make sure you show up in the search engines, too. Squarespace templates are all search engine optimization-friendly (SEO-friendly). You have full control over the important areas of your web pages, including meta titles, descriptions, and even image attributes.

You can configure each meta title in Squarespace for maximum SEO impact.

6. Squarespace Templates are Mobile-Friendly

Everyone knows that mobile devices and tablets are where it's at in this day and age of the mobile web. Every Squarespace theme is built with an approach called responsive design, which means the design of your website responds to each device that loads it separately. Your website looks great on desktop browsers, tablets and smartphones without paying thousands of dollars for mobile-friendly website development.

Responsive design means your business looks amazing on any device.

I personally loved how easy Squarespace made running my consulting business when I was taking on new clients through Big Picture Web. Every Squarespace website comes with a free two-week no-credit card trial, so there's no risk. Start your small business website using one of the many Squarespace themes, and you'll be convinced by the end of the trial.

What are you looking for most in a small business website? What services have you tried that haven't quite fit the bill?