Squarespace Pros and Cons?

[JamesMason67]

Hey guys
I am about to get a site built for a new joint venture. I am looking for something glossy and modern and came across a small local firm who builds sites on SquareSpace with exactly the kind of look I'm after.

However he only uses the squarespace platform, nothing else. What can you guys tell me about Squarespace from an SEO point of view. The guy informs me that a Squarespace site is at no disadvantage to say a Wordpress site in the serps. What are the members thoughts on this?

I have had many sites built on Wordpress, but they just don't seem to have the same "pop" as these do. Maybe its down to the designer, I don't know.

Any pros and cons you could give me to come to a decision would be much appreciated.
Thank you
James

 

[makeusvisible]

Hi James,
You mention some Wordpress sites not having the same 'pop'. Wordpress has absolutely no impact on visually how the front end of the site looks.....thats totally 100% down to the design stage.

The choice of CMS you go with should be based on how easy the site is going to be to manage for you, and of course how strong a platform it is overall. Obviously you need to choose the right platform for the job....for example you wouldnt choose Wordpress if you wanted an ecommerce site holding 10k products.

From what you have told us, the one major advantage that Wordpress will offer above SquareSpace, is the fact is the most popular. If you want to do something with Wordpress, a little out of the box....9 times out of 10 you will find someone has already coded a plugin for it....which will save you time and money. The same is very unlikely to be true of SS because it is far less popular.

6 months down the line.....if you fall out of bed with your developer, how easy is it going to be to find another developer familiar with SS.....nowhere near as easy as it would be with Wordpress.

In terms of usability in the back-end....I'm not very familiar with SS, but from what I read it's a solid platform and easy to use. My big concern would be how many agencies and freelancer will tell you the same as I'm telling you "we are not familiar with it".

hope that helps.

 

[UKSBD]

I have had many sites built on Wordpress, but they just don't seem to have the same "pop" as these do. Maybe its down to the designer, I don't know.

I would say it is almost definitely down to the designer.

Edit to add: Also down to the quality of the photos/images/graphics the designer has before starting the project

 

[garyk]

There's other options, ghost is a real slick looking blogging platform which is open source, there's simply go live http://beta.sgl.io/ which is similar to squarespace and you might want to look at https://mobirise.com/ which can also make slick looking sites and is free.

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks guys, that is helpful. I just really liked the look of his examples and assumed that was down to SquareSpace. Its not a 10k page ecommerce site, maybe 20 pages or so.

Would you say it is gaining ground as a platform? If so serviceability might get better with time. I liked the idea Squarespace would fix any niggles that cropped up with site etc and keep it updated.

Are there any members currently using this platform? What are your thoughts?
Thank you
James

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks very much Gary, but it will be Wordpress or Squarespace I will be going for on this particular build.

 

[fisicx]

I liked the idea Squarespace would fix any niggles that cropped up with site etc and keep it updated.

Wordpress does this as well. Set to autoupdate and it's worry free.

The other major advantage with WordPress is you can host it yourself. Which means you can add email, storage, sub-domains and hove full control over everything.

And you can make it look as smart as you want. In fact I'd put money on the squarepspace themes also being available for wordpress (or at least something very similar).

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks Graham. So if I said to a Wordpress developer I wanted it exactly the same as these SquareSpace sites then it could be done ? I always thought Wordpress had a look ie a bit dated looking. Thanks for that.

 

[Xtm_Mike]

I've never come across a Squarespace developer before, it's not like WP that still requires some technical skills... I thought SS was to remove the need for a developer. I'd be very cautious moving forward with a 3rd party for SS - if you have no access or you fall out, you'll struggle to find someone to take over this for you. Their templates are already developed, you just add content.. why not try it yourself?

SS offers lots of benefits you would get from a self hosted platform, potentially better.. SS sites comes with domain name, SSL and free G Suite email (far better than cPanel) if you choose the more expensive package.

My advice: If you want to hire a developer to do the work for you, choose Wordpress. If you want to use SS maybe try it yourself.

The platform has absolutely no overall impact on the design. I actually found SS templates quite bland, the SS themes are ten a penny on WP.

 

[UKSBD]

I always thought Wordpress had a look ie a bit dated looking. Thanks for that.

This is Wordpress - http://www.sim64.co.uk/uk/blank-canvas/

 

[JamesMason67]

Succinctly put UK, thank you

 

[JamesMason67]

Thanks for that too Mike. I would love to be able to do such things myself but I am just hopeless at such things. Same with SEO. I know a fair bit but cant implement a damn thing. Frustrating

 

[fisicx]

Thanks Graham. So if I said to a Wordpress developer I wanted it exactly the same as these SquareSpace sites then it could be done ? I always thought Wordpress had a look ie a bit dated looking. Thanks for that.

I looks like anything you want.

I did this one recently for a local lad: http://edinburghdriveway.co.uk/

And this is a theme I'm fiddling with: http://onepage.aerin.co.uk/

Or these: https://1stwebdesigner.com/parallax-scrolling-wordpress-themes/

Or these: https://www.webcreate.me/the-most-creative-wordpress-themes/

There are thousands to choose from

 

[garyk]

For WP if you want a slick looking theme then this one is cool https://themeforest.net/item/salient-responsive-multipurpose-theme/4363266

To be honest I would make sure your hosting is secure, I find WP is getting more vulnerabilities and my host (a2hosting) sends me emails weekly about possible threats and the need to patch it. To be honest its tiresome and I can only see it getting worse.

 

[Elliottc26]

Hi James,

You can also spend a bit and get a bespoke theme created for you. However the costs can be fairly high.

This is wordpress: https://www.dreamdoors.co.uk/

Or choose a theme, and get a designer to create some new images. Just replace the theme graphics with the new ones.