Everything You Need To Know About Choosing Squarespace Blog Templates

Choosing a Squarespace Template For Blogging

How To Choose a Squarespace Blog Template By Page Layout

Squarespace is an incredibly flexible template-based platform. With literally thousands of free templates to choose from, as well as a huge selection of third-party pay templates available, choosing the right template for your Squarespace blog can be a challenge.

Templates define your site's style and functionality, and although every template is customizable, each offers special style rules and functionality. Many of these features are shared by, and unique to the template's family. For those of you who aren't comfortable writing code and using plugins, Squarespace is an excellent option

If you're planning on creating a blog as a major component of your website to further develop your brand, and boost your websites SEO, every Squarespace template offers the option to include blog pages on your site. Each template family offers specific design elements and layouts for the blog pages. Certain templates offer special features like the ability to post thumbnail images that display in the blog list, sidebars, and featured posts that create page banners.

Let's take a look at some template families how you can choose your Squarespace template by looking at the blog page layout features.

Terms You'll Need to Know

When you're searching Squarespace templates specifically for the blogging component, there are some terms you should be aware of. Here are some definitions.

Blog Page vs Blog Post: Your blog page is your blog's landing page. You'll see multiple posts in either a list or grid format. Click any title and go to the post. Blog posts are individual articles.

Promoted Blocks: A promoted block is the first block in a blog post. Certain promoted boxes will display differently in some templates.

Featured Post: You can mark an individual post in blog post settings. All templates support filtered posts with the summary block.

Excerpt: Add an excerpt in post settings to create a “Read More” teaser link in the blog list.

Sidebars: Some templates include blog specific sidebars in their design.

Category Navigation: If you post blogs by category, category navigation allows your viewer to click on a link and filter posts to only see those in that category.

Share Buttons: Some templates feature advanced customization options.

Infinite Scroll: In some templates, blog posts continually load as visitors scroll through the page.

Related Posts: In some templates, this feature enables related post thumbnails to appear below the blog post,

Standard Grid / Stacked Blog Pages: Some templates use the same Blog Page, which allows you to choose between stacked and grid layouts.

Familiarize yourself with these terms before searching for templates. You need to determine how you'd like your blog to appear to your readers and each template treats these functions slightly differently.

Defining the Scope of Your Site

While your blog is obviously an important element of your website in terms of driving traffic and SEO, you need to consider the overall function of your website. Are you an interior designer looking to show off your portfolio? Are you selling products or booking client work? Is your site blog specific or are you promoting a cause?

Defining your site parameters can help you to narrow down your focus when searching for a template. It's easy to get overwhelmed when checking out templates. By defining the scope of your site ahead of time, you can seek out the best fit.

When browsing categories you have 3 main categories to choose from.

Cover pages – are single page sites that can be used as a standalone page, or added to an existing site as a landing page.
Websites– consist of multiple pages and can include galleries, blogs, landing pages etc.
Online Stores– Have all of the functionality of a Squarespace website but also allows you to sell products online with e-commerce and payment features included.

Each of these categories features multiple template families. You can navigate through them all at the same time to compare features.

Once you've chosen your template family, Squarespace includes template filters to make choosing easier. Depending on the features you've chosen in step one, you can filter templates to find the options that meet your needs. For example, templates under the Portfolio filter include more advanced capabilities for designers and photographers, while those listed under Restaurants are better suited for accepting reservations and displaying menus.

Common Template Family Features

Templates on Squarespace are grouped into families. Each offers certain design features that can help you to create a blog that promotes your brand. If you'd like an in-depth overview of blog styles and options, check out Squarespace's template guides. Here are five of the most popular template families and the features they offer.

• Brine Family

With over 40 templates in this family, it's a very versatile group. Features include:
Standard grid/stacked format
Page thumbnail is displayed as a banner above the blog page
Post thumbnails display above individual posts on the Blog Page when stacked, or become thumbnail navigation in grid view
Excerpts are available if you enable them in the site styles
Customizable share buttons

• Farro Family

Related Posts– two or more display below blog posts depending on the browser width
Customizable share buttons
Infinite scroll
Author Profiles

• Five Family

List format
Page thumbnail displays as a banner above the Blog Page and all blog posts
Post thumbnails display in the excerpt
Sidebar displays on the blog page and all blog posts. Enable from blog settings

• Ishimoto Family

List format
Post-Thumbnail displays in the excerpt unless there's a promoted block
Promoted blocks display above the post title on the Blog Page and blog post (gallery, video and image blocks)
Sidebar appears on Blog Page and blog posts

• Skye Family

Grid format
Sidebar appears on blog posts only
Related posts, three display below blog post
Customizable share buttons
Infinite scroll
Author profiles

These are just five of the most popular families of templates on Squarespace. There are many, many others, but this can give you an idea of the functionality of Squarespace blog pages.

Squarespace is a flexible, easy to use platform, with a lot of depth that can allow you to create a website quickly. With thousands of native and third-party templates available, you need to start by defining your needs, and then browse through templates, features, and functionality to narrow your focus.

By defining your needs, and the scope and focus of your website, you can effectively choose a Squarespace blog template that will help you to develop your brand, and increase traffic. Because Squarespace templates are customizable, you can choose the fonts, colors, layout, and style of each template that works best for you. If you'd like to know more about blog functionality, explore the blogging guides in the Pages and Content section on the Squarespace help site.