If you want to build a website, but you don’t have any technical knowledge, then a solution for this is that you can use the website builder Squarespace (which opens in a new tab).
There are hundreds of ready-made templates and various design assistance, that you can easily use to build a website with Squarespace in under an hour—all without knowing a line of code. Below are easy steps to take to build your website with Squarespace.
How to build a website with Squarespace?
- Before you start building the website, it’s important to decide what you’re going to include on your site. Whether you are creating a portfolio, writing a blog, or hoping to launch an e-commerce store? Knowing the purpose of your site before going into creation will help you decide on the best template design and price plan for your needs.
- Once you are clear about what you are creating, make a Squarespace account—head to the Squarespace homepage (which opens in a new tab) and click “Get Started” to begin. Creating an account needs no payment details, so you’re free to explore the platform beforehand.
Step 1: Choose your template and site name
Squarespace offers a stunning range of templates. All designs are created by professional designers, are fully customizable and mobile responsive, and each one has a design that is industry or function-specific—from portfolios and blogs to online stores and restaurants.
Browse and preview what’s on offer—the template you decide on will serve as your canvas, and match them according to your requirements
After selecting your template, enter a name for your site—you can change this later while editing, so doesn’t worry if you have yet decided.
Step 2: Start customizing
After naming your site, start customizing. You’ll see a handy assistant pops up on the right. You can watch the tutorial video provided here, as—although Squarespace is relatively simple to understand—the design interface can take some getting used to.
The assistant also offers a useful design checklist to go through, prompting you to add your site logo, change colors and fonts, and add or delete pages. To start editing the blocks on the page, click on one—this will present a box where you can customize elements like the text, background image, section height and width, and color palette.
Further customization can also be done, move to the left-hand column and choose the “Design” option. Now, adjust your overall site style to ensure consistency with colors and fonts, edit your browser icon, or even add additional CSS code. Choose the “Pages” from the left-hand column to add or remove any pages, or to select an existing one to customize.
If you want e-Commerce integrated into your site, the left-hand column is also where to go—choose the “Commerce” to start, and follow the steps provided to get started. There’s plenty of on-screen help provided while building, but you can find additional tutorials on Squarespace’s knowledge base (opens in a new tab) if you’re unsure of anything.
Step 3: Add some content
The type of website you’re creating will decide the content you add, but it’s a great idea to populate your platform with plenty for visitors to engage with before launching.
For example:
if you’d like to incorporate a blog—the advantage of this is increased traffic to your site—add a specific page for this before publishing. Head to “Pages” in the left-hand toolbar, and click the plus symbol at the top of the list. Select a blog page and begin adding your content straight away. Alternatively, you could also add a portfolio page, event listing, or store straight from the list.
Step 4: Select your custom domain name
A custom domain name is suggested to help your website attract visitors or potential business. Another option is that you can automatically generate the URL that Squarespace provides, it will have branding at the end of your website’s address (.squarespace.com), which can affect your ranking on search engines and make your site harder to find.
To avoid this, all you can do is purchase a custom domain. When on the build page, move back to the left-hand toolbar and click “Settings” and then “Domains”—here, you can either connect a domain you already own or follow the link to purchase one through Squarespace. Prices vary but usually fall around the $20 mark.
Step 5: Optimize your site
Now, optimize your website for search engines. Good Ranking on search engines is vital for attracting clients to your website, and Squarespace’s built-in SEO (search engine optimization) tools make it simple to get started.
In the left-hand toolbar, click “Marketing” and then “SEO”. Here, you’ll see a handy SEO checklist to follow so that you can start optimizing your site, prompting you to add things like a site description, SEO descriptions to individual pages, and links to your social media accounts.
Squarespace automatically gives a generated sitemap, enabling the customization of meta descriptions and image alt tags, and allows you to directly search Google keyword analytics to find out what people are searching for within your niche.
Step 6: Upgrade your plan and publish your site
To upgrade your website plan, click “Subscribe” at the end of the assistant box. You’ll be seeing four options (opens in a- new tab)—the cheapest of which is the personal plan, costing $12 a month if paid upfront for an annual subscription.
Other plans are the Business ($18), the Commerce Basic ($26), and the Commerce Advanced ($40)—the last two of which you’ll want to consider if you wish to integrate e-commerce into your site. You may take a look at our Squarespace promo codes page for discounts.
After choosing a plan and entering your payment details, you can then publish and launch your site.
How to build a website with Squarespace: Summary
Now, your website is live. You must keep adding new content and update your website regularly (opens in a new tab) to encourage both new and returning visitors.
keep sharing news, content, or products on your website so that your visitors are up to date with the latest information about you or your business.