Hey there, fellow non-designers! Micki right here, and I wish to share my expertise utilizing Squarespace to create my private web site.
Confessions of a Non-Designer
Let’s be actual: I’m not a pure designer. I can respect stunning design, however creating one thing gorgeous myself? That’s an fully totally different story. I actually have the design expertise of a potato, and this has adopted me via varied features of life, together with the web sites I’ve tried to construct.
I’ve all the time admired fantastically designed web sites, however as somebody who doesn’t think about herself a pure designer, I’ve struggled to create visually gorgeous websites myself. It’s not that I can’t acknowledge good design after I see it; I merely don’t have the innate capability to craft one thing stunning from scratch.
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Previous Web site Struggles
Charles and I’ve constructed dozens of internet sites through the years together with ones for ourselves, a couple of for corporations and some for family and friends. A few of our hottest embody this web site TheBarefootNomad, our recipe lavatory TheParentSpot, plus a couple of web sites devoted to serving to vacationers select the correct journey insurance coverage (which we’ve since bought or shut down).
Regardless of our greatest efforts and numerous hours invested, none of those web sites turned out as fantastically as we had envisioned. Any design enhancements we tried to make had been met with frustration and felt like an uphill battle. The issue has by no means been technical for us, extra of imaginative and prescient.
Discovering Squarespace
After our previous web site struggles, I noticed that having the best instruments may simply make an enormous distinction. That’s why I made a decision to provide Squarespace a strive for my private web site, MickiKosman.com. I wished an area to share my journey as a journey author, entrepreneur, and storyteller, plus a spot to attach with my viewers in a inventive {and professional} means.
What’s Squarespace, Anyway?
So, you’ve seemingly heard of Squarespace, however what precisely is it?
In a nutshell, it’s an all-in-one platform for constructing web sites. It comes with a bunch of options like skilled templates, a drag-and-drop editor, a content material administration system, running a blog instruments, web optimization stuff, e-commerce choices, and web site internet hosting. Mainly, it’s has a number of the issues it is advisable create a stunning web site, multi function place.
Getting Began with Blueprint AI
Signing up for Squarespace was simple. I began with the free 14-day trial and performed round with the Blueprint AI design characteristic. It provided some useful design recommendations primarily based on my web site objectives.
What actually impressed me was Squarespace’s library of customizable templates. There have been loads of engaging designs to select from.
Customizing My Web site
Customizing my web site with Squarespace was a comparatively clean course of. The drag-and-drop interface and varied options made it simple to personalize the design with no need coding expertise. I may add, take away, and rearrange components on the web page with just some clicks.
Discovering the Proper Photos
One factor that may be time-consuming when constructing an internet site is discovering the proper photos.
Squarespace helped with that by providing a choice of inventory photos along with the flexibility to add my very own photographs. I used my very own photographs, however having inventory photographs readily available may positively save time and trouble!
The Finish Consequence
Inside a few hours, I had an internet site that I used to be proud of. Squarespace allowed me, a non-designer, to create a web site that was each visually interesting and practical. The built-in options like cellular optimization, web optimization instruments, and social media integration weren’t as obvious when designing it however as an internet site proprietor, are all extraordinarily useful.
Templates That Look Fairly Darn Good
One factor that stood out to me about Squarespace was the templates. I’ve bought to confess, they’re fairly simple on the eyes. They’ve bought this clear, skilled vibe happening.
And the cool half is, you may simply decide one in all their templates, toss in your personal photographs and textual content, and your web site will look fairly polished. No design expertise wanted!
One other good factor concerning the templates is that they’re responsive. Meaning they robotically regulate to look good on totally different gadgets, like tablets and telephones. It’s helpful as a result of extra folks browse the online on their cellular gadgets lately than laptops and desktops mixed.
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I used this beautiful Waverly template to create my web site. You may see a demo of the Waverly template I used right here at Squarespace. You may customise types, add options of templates (and extra) whenever you begin a trial.
Customization Choices
In the case of styling your web site, Squarespace has a good variety of choices. You may mess around with the fonts (which is nice should you’re choosy about typography like me), colours, sizes, button types, and all kinds of different design components. And you are able to do all of this with out touching any code, which is a reduction for many who aren’t precisely tech wizards.
However, should you do occur to know your means round code, Squarespace does have a Customized CSS part the place you may add your personal coding magic.
Need to browse some beautiful designs? Get some inspiration from among the finest
designs on the net at their design showcase right here.
Constructed-in Options
One factor to notice about Squarespace is that every thing is baked proper into the platform. You don’t need to go trying to find plugins or extensions. It’s handy, nevertheless it additionally means you’re restricted to the options they provide.
That being stated, Squarespace does have a fairly good choice of options, particularly for bloggers and small companies. You may simply add issues like a weblog, contact kind, e mail signup, photograph galleries, occasion calendar, social media buttons, and even a procuring cart for promoting merchandise or digital downloads.
Let’s Discuss Cash
Now, let’s speak about pricing. Squarespace provides a free 14-day trial, so you may check the waters and see if it’s the best match for you. After that, you may select from 4 totally different plans: Fundamental, Core, Plus, or Superior.
In the event you’re in Canada like me, you may see these plans labeled as Private, Enterprise, Commerce Fundamental, and Commerce Superior, which I consider is solely the outdated branding for a similar packages provided within the USA.
The Fundamental plan begins at simply $16 USD monthly should you go for annual billing, or $23 USD monthly should you want to pay month-to-month. As what you are promoting grows, you may improve to higher-tier plans that supply much more options and instruments that will help you succeed on-line.
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The Backside Line
So, is Squarespace the be-all, end-all of web site builders? It has its strengths, just like the engaging templates and built-in options, nevertheless it may not be the proper match for everybody if you would like excessive flexibility or demand very out-of-the-box designs.
In the event you’re searching for a platform that’s simple to make use of and provides you a professional-looking web site with out a ton of trouble, Squarespace is certainly value trying out.
However hey, that’s simply my two cents primarily based alone expertise. Your mileage might range!
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