Why is Squarespace so.... AARGH!!
So, you’ve decided to make your own website, rightly choosing a cost-effective platform that gets rave reviews for being great for DIY websites. Good choice.
And then you find it’s not as easy as it seems…. Here are the top 10 most hair loss-inducing things about Squarespace, with an answer:
Why is Squarespace so slow?
Why is Squarespace so expensive?
Why is Squarespace so hard to use?
Why is Squarespace cropping my images?
Why is Squarespace not working?
Why is Squarespace down?
Why is Squarespace better than WIX?
Why is Squarespace bad?
Why is Squarespace good?
Why is Squarespace not loading?
Why is Squarespace so slow?
If slowness is a problem you’re experiencing on your own computer or phone, it could be that your device or browser is a little too old to cope with modern web pages. It may also be worth checking your broadband speed.
To see if your site loading problem is due to a central issue at Squarespace, have a look at the Squarespace Status page.
Why are Squarespace page speeds so slow?
Squarespace pages are slower to load than Wordpress pages because the complex content management features that make Squarespace websites easy to build also slow them down.
Historically Google has penalised slow websites because people hate slow-loading pages (they’ll click back to Google in milliseconds if made to wait). In the olden days the only way they could measure this was to time how long it took a whole page to finish loading. Although this is relatively long for Squarespace, it delivers the most important content first while the rest continues to load in the background, which means your users can start to interact with a page before it fully loads.
In May 2021 Google plans to change the way it ranks pages based on their speed, but it’s difficult to know how this will affect Squarespace websites. It’s thought that these more complex loading time measurements (called ‘core web vitals’) could be used to specify the order of pages with very similar content - the faster page will win the race - but not to remove otherwise useful pages or sites from search. Personally I can’t see all the Squarespace websites in the world being suddenly demoted, but I’ll be keeping an eye on my rankings in the Spring.
Whatever happens, you should still keep your pages nice and small. The images you load into Squarespace should not be more than 1MB in size. An image you’re going to use in a banner should be no wider than 2000px. An image you know will only appear in a small image box, even on a large screen can be much smaller. I recommend limiting the total width of your website to ensure your images don’t get stretched beyond their capacity to look good.
Aim for a total page size of no more than 5MB. If a page is too big, consider cutting it into two or three pages.
Why is Squarespace so expensive?
Squarespace charges one fixed fee for hosting, updates and security. Included in the fee are free templates, features such as galleries and newsletter blocks, and software updates which happen behind the scenes.
In theory Wordpress is free and its users only pay for hosting, but costs soon escalate when you add on essential security and traffic management products like Cloudflare. Wordpress users have to search out and sometimes pay for each additional feature (plugin) they add to their site. These plugins are produced by different developers and soon become a headache of compatibility issues and customer service emails.
For usability, security, and ease of building/editing, a Squarespace website is far less expensive than the equivalent in Wordpress.
Why is Squarespace so hard to use?
Remember the first time you tried to drive? Or the first time you used email? Everything is difficult before you learn it, and then it becomes easy. In the meantime: frustration.
If you want to build a website that reflects the very you-ness of your business, there are no cheap and easy solutions, no matter what people tell you.
However, there are industry-specific alternatives to Squarespace that contain the features you are most likely to need and allow you to upload information quickly and easily to a generic website. This may be all your business needs. Try googling “[your industry] website builder” and see what comes up. Look out for hidden costs though. Some of these systems will claim to be free but then charge for an essential feature such as linking your website to the payment provider.
For those of you without the technical aptitude, the time, or the patience to learn a whole new system, there are people like me who are happy to lead you through the process.
Why is Squarespace cropping my images?
Squarespace has to crop images to allow your website to work on a small phone or a large TV screen in portrait or landscape. The payoff is that your images won’t always look the way you want them to on every type of screen. Most people view websites on phones these days, but desktop browsing is still very common.
If you load up a wide banner image with a person on the left and a person on the right, both people could be cropped off the edges on a phone. To get round this, move the image’s focal point right or left, or choose a different shot that has a person in the middle.
If Squarespace is cropping both top and sides from your banner, try tweaking the banner settings in the style editor. Switching auto smart crop or parallax scrolling on or off can affect how Squarespace crops your images.
If you are desperate to show every detail of the image you have selected, prepare for disappointment. Screens come in all shapes and sizes and you can’t control how everyone sees your site. Patterns work well, as do large landscapes. Trial and error are your friends. Test your site on different screen sizes and do the best you can.
Why is Squarespace not working?
Here is my Squarespace diagnostics process:
See if there’s a problem with Squarespace via their Status page.
If Squarespace isn’t reporting any issues, check your internet connection by browsing the web.
If your internet is fine but Squarespace is still glitchy, try opening Squarespace in a different browser or on a different device.
Try switching your device off and on again.
Go to bed and try again tomorrow.
Why is Squarespace down?
Read the Squarespace Status page or follow my 5-step diagnostic plan, above.
Why is Squarespace better than WIX?
Squarespace is better for DIY users because it limits the positioning of items on the page to a grid layout. Text boxes and images are automatically lined up, vertically and horizontally. Our brains find symmetry comforting and trustworthy. Squarespace maintains it effortlessly.
As a professional designer I like the way WIX allows me full control of the layout of items on the page, but I also find it fiddly. Squarespace feels like a slicker, more modern experience.
Why is Squarespace bad?
Squarespace isn’t bad, but like any other system it works better for some setups than others. Squarespace is good for most small websites that need to describe your products, encourage people to buy into your business, and get them to join your mailing list or contact you.
If you need your website to perform a specific function such as gathering product requirements and sending them on to a manufacturer, you will need a developer to build a system that collects and sends the appropriate information.
If your website is your product, such as a dating site, you will need a bespoke build or a generic dating site (or anything else site) system that you can customise with your brand and USP.
In some situations, such as specialist products (for example, takeaway food or hotel rooms), you can buy additional software and integrate it into your Squarespace site. This is usually done via a monthly fee. For advice on this option, contact a Squarespace specialist.
Don’t struggle or pay for Wordpress if you only need a small commerce site without any fancy features. Use the system that best fits your needs and capabilities.
Why is Squarespace good?
Squarespace’s personal, business and commerce packages cover the vast majority of needs for your average small business. It is good for any business that needs a website to describe their benefits, sell their products, manage memberships and connect up with email marketing. Compared to Wordpress, it is easy to use. Its templates are of exceptionally high quality, with each one providing not just a structure for your website but a structure for how you communicate your value to your potential customers.
Squarespace works well for SEO, as long as you are willing to put in the work - and no system does SEO for you. I get all my new customers from SEO. I spend zero money on any other type of marketing, but I do spend time keeping my site up to date.
In my opinion, Squarespace works exactly how a simple website builder should work and has enough features to be useful but not overwhelming to your average DIY website builder.
Why is Squarespace not loading?
I’m not sure. Try following my 5-step Squarespace diagnostics plan, above.
