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What are common mistakes people make when designing for Squarespace?
I’m a MailChimp girl myself–I’ve used it a long time, it plays nicely with the platforms I use most (Squarespace and Shopify) and I just know it. I am confident designing for MailChimp and have mastered the automation nuances of that platform.
With that said, The Chimp is not the be all and end all of email marketing. In fact, nothing is. (I know, annoying, right?)
Because I’ve been around the block a time or two, I thought I’d do a bit of a candid brain dump for you folks who are thinking about email marketing and your platform specifically.
Digging these back out, I found three that my students referred to over and over again.
I love this all-business approach to websites for creative folks. With this outline, we put the work at the center of the site, using it as the key visual on the homepage. Here’s what this site outline, sweet and simple, looks like:
There’s a lot to think about and since I have taught who knows how many students in my online portfolio class, trained loads of DIYers and created Squarespace portfolios for many artists, I’ve learned a lot about the dos and don’ts of creating a professional web portfolio.
Ages ago, I worked for the City of Portland, and one of my projects was public relations and promotion of the city’s skatepark project (which Portland has, sadly, let go by the wayside). This was one of the most gratifying projects I worked on during my time in the public sector, so it was awesome getting back to a subject I’d been passionate about so long ago. (Fun fact: my last day on the job at the City, then Mayor Tom Potter invited me to join him in cutting the ribbon for a new skatepark and I may have cried a little at that generosity.)
Chill had a nice Wordpress based website but it didn’t have the storytelling vibe that they needed. It wasn’t edgy or boundary-pushing. It worked, it looked nice, but it didn’t match their work. My team and I were excited to re-envision what Chill.org could be, complete with a fab hero video (created by Vitae Sessions), vibrant colors, some edgy-feeling iconography, an interactive map and an awesome infographic created by my frequent graphic design collaborator, Ashli Hughes of Cascade Creative PDX.
One of the things I talk to my clients about a whole lot is what their sites can and cannot do. This depends on a whole lot of factors, including template choice, technical skills and, yes, the platform you’re working with. One thing I’m very clear with each new client who’s fallen in love with Squarespace thanks to the ease of creating content is what the system cannot do.
Want to start a blog using Squarespace? Here are some tools to make your Squarespace blog better!
I couldn’t be more excited to launch a new online presence for my client Canby Rental & Equipment. CRE is a three-generation family owned business in my small hometown on Canby, Oregon. It’s a business focused on sales, rentals and service of small equipment–everything from Stihl chainsaws to tractors to weed whackers. I’ve know the now-owner, Matt, for many years, thanks to high school English class and it was a blast taking their website in a brand new direction that you’re unlikely to see from another small equipment company.
Their previous site was functional, but didn’t represent their growing business and wasn’t mobile friendly (a common story). Also, because the business had grown, it didn’t represent the breadth of sales/services/rentals the company offered, nor did it allow them to grow the site as needed (also a common issue). Using a simple content management system like Squarespace was a big step forward for CRE, and I’m excited to see where Matt takes his website and business in the coming years!
And, despite really liking Squarespace, I do think that it’s not the best choice for all blogs. It’s possible that Wordpress or even Blogger (which I personally do not care for–it’s just not pleasant to use) are better solutions for you. I’ll cover that topic in a future post in this series. I’m assuming that if you’re reading this you either already have a Squarespace site or you’ve settled on this as the platform for you. And as a result, you’ll be considering which template is right for your blog.
While Squarespace has many beautiful templates to use as starting points, just a handful are appropriate for blogging- and publishing-focused sites.
Remember the post I wrote about the snazzy temporary website we set up for the lovely folks at GreenSavers?
I thought I’d revisit that finished product of that project, which we wrapped up late this spring. This final website was really inspired by that temporary website–more than I’d imagined it would be, actually.
As Squarespace has grown like wild over the last couple of years, my inbox is flooded with folks who want to launch online stores on the system. As a Squarespace Specialist and someone who’s launched loads of stores on this system, this is good news for me. However, as often as I receive inquiries that are a good fit for Squarespace’s commerce system, I receive inquiries from folks who would be better served by a system other than what Squarespace offers in terms of Commerce.
Yes, I said it: Squarespace isn’t the best solution for all online stores.
Squarespace Website for Maui’s Hui No‘eau Visual Arts Center, a non-profit site with a class catalog, custom fonts and parallax scrolling.
Not to brag, but it’s pretty awesome when a restaurant specializing in homemade pie asks you to re-imagine their website. Because, obviously, in order to really get the creative juices flowing, you’ve got to sample the wares, am I right?
Pie Spot is a neat little bakery just down the street from my office here in northeast Portland (they’re actually across the street from my other clients, GreenSavers), and while I’d been a customer for many years, I was introduced to them formerly by my frequently graphic design collaborator, Ashli Hughes of Cascade Creative PDX. Ashli has been Pie Spot’s social media manager for some time, and saw their frustrations with their old Wordpress site first hand. It was time for something that really showcased all the yummy goodness the restaurant offers, and would make it easy for them to manage their ecommerce during business seasons, when they prefer to disable online ordering in order to best serve their customers.
Founded in 2008, Sarah Moon & Co is a Portland, Oregon-based boutique SEO-first marketing & business strategy firm that helps audacious change-makers, thought-leaders, and transformational causes get found and make an impact. SM&Co is one of the original Squarespace Specialists, and the original marketing studio to optimize SEO services for Squarespace users.
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