Squarespace is a beautiful, simple, and powerful website platform and I love recommending it to my clients. Most small business owners need a website platform that is easy to use, meaning they can make small updates, blog, add a few digital products or workshops, without needing a developer on call.

Of course, not all businesses are a perfect match for Squarespace, and I will touch on the types of businesses that may be better fit with a different platform.

I will also cover some of the misconceptions about Squarespace, including customizations and SEO.

Overall, I’ve found that Squarespace is a great platform that offers all of the capabilities that most service based businesses need.

Here are my top reasons for loving Squarespace:

1. Simplicity

Squarespace offers an intuitive and minimal back-end user experience. This means that once you’ve become familiar with it, it’s easy to navigate and the clean design interface eliminates overwhelm. I think of Squarespace being like Apple—beautiful design and functionality is at the forefront, rather than feeling like an afterthought.

Another way Squarespace keeps things simple is by offering an all-in-one platform. This means you can manage your domain, get a custom email address, blog, sell products, send email campaigns, offer a subscription or membership, create a sales page, allow clients to schedule meetings or book appointments, and more all in one platform.

And if you already use another email marketing or online course platform, it’s usually simple to integrate those with Squarespace.

2. Easy to maintain and update

With Squarespace, there are no external apps or plugins that need to be updated regularly. You can integrate with your other accounts such as Mailchimp or Quickbooks, but you don’t have to worry about your site breaking because a plugin is out of date.

Platforms like Wordpress offer thousands of plugins and endless options to customize your site with. However, with endless options can also come overwhelm.

Squarespace is built to grow with your business, which means it works when you offer 1-2 services and continues working as you add a blog, digital products, courses, and more.

3. Easy to customize

One of my favorite things about Squarespace is how easy it is to customize. The built-in blocks alone offer tons of options to customize and there’s even more options by using simple CSS code. Squarespace is geared toward DIY builders and comes with a lot of beautiful template options to start from.

Squarespace uses a drag-and-drop editor which means you can see live edits as you’re building. There are plenty of options for making a unique site without needing to use any code.

A note about custom coding: in full transparency, I do add custom code to every Squarespace website I design and build. While I think it’s totally possible to create a unique site without using code, in order to elevate client’s websites even further I like to add a few extra customizations.

4. Mobile friendly

Even with no customization, all Squarespace sites come with responsive design built in. When I build sites for my clients, I do often make tweaks to the layout and design of the mobile site. But, if my clients need to edit or add new pages in the future, I know that they will be automatically optimized for mobile. This is also great for anyone who chooses to DIY their site, because it’s not necessary to get into the weeds with customizing the mobile view.

5. 24/7 Support

Squarespace offers a dedicated support team that is available via live chat and email. They also have an extensive and well organized library of tutorials and guides that are easy to follow. All Squarespace subscriptions include access to the dedicated support team. I personally use the Squarespace chat and refer to their guides when it comes to handling the technical side of setting up or managing client accounts, domains, etc.

Who (maybe) shouldn’t use Squarespace?

Every situation and business is unique. There may not be hard rules for when to use or not use Squarespace. However, there are a few businesses that I would probably recommend a better suited platform.

Product-based businesses with large inventories

If you have a product based business that offers 100+ products (or plan to in the future), you’d likely be better suited on a platform like Shopify. An e-commerce platform is built specifically for your product based business and will have more of the features that prioritize selling physical products.

However, if you are a service based business first and also plan to sell a handful of digital or physical products, Squarespace can easily handle your shop.

In some cases, a hybrid of Squarespace and Shopify can be a great option. This works well for a business that needs a full, beautiful website along with a powerful shop experience.

Bloggers

For a blogger, Squarespace can work, but it doesn’t have as many capabilities as a platform built for blogging, like Wordpress. For service providers or coaches who don’t blog to make money, but to share content and market their business, Squarespace would be a great website platform.