Squarespace Websites, Cover Pages and E-commerce Solutions

The advantages of the Squarespace Website Builder

Choosing a Squarespace Service Plan: Website or E-Commerce

Cover Pages For Marketing Automation Plus Multiple Website & E-Commerce Options

Squarespace cover pages, websites, and commerce solutions provide options for branding your firm and distinguishing your work from the crowd of competitors.

Squarespace is a website content management system I use to build websites for commercial and residential design and construction companies. It is a site builder that allows me to build visually extraordinary websites that are more than just another online portfolio. Since launching in 2004, millions of users have created websites using the Squarespace's exceptionally intuitive website builder tools. Squarespace sites use a drag and drop builder something that Wordpress is now finally emulating with its buggy, much maligned Gutenberg project, but I digress. Squarespace templates are responsive design enabled which means the user experience will always be its best no matter what device a visitor is on, phone, tablet or desktop. Click here to learn more about the attributes of the Squarespace website builder.

Squarespace Service Levels and Product Lines

Squarespace has four service levels for building websites. They are two complexity levels of a website builder as well as two levels of e-commerce website builder. Squarespace also provides cover pages for building simple one page web sites and landing pages. All squarespace websites have cover pages, a blogging platform, domain registration, hosting, website analytics that tie to Google Search Console, Google apps for work integration, and 24/7 customer support.

Squarespace features two main product lines: Websites, and Commerce. Each product line allows you to use their site building tools to put your content online. Let’s look at these product lines a little more in depth.

WHAT IS A SQUARESPACE COVER PAGE?

Though not a product line, cover pages are unique and often a good place to build a mini website of one to five pages. A Squarespace cover page is a one-five page website that’s perfect for promoting an event, taking an action like gathering emails addresses or reserving a domain while your website is under construction.

Pages can feature full-bleed images, bold, clear text and can be designed quickly. It’s as simple as adding an image, some text, buttons, media, and then hitting publish and you’re online. Plus, mobile design is built right in so your customers can access your mobile optimized website from their smartphones and tablets.

Squarespace Cover Pages As Landing Pages

Cover pages are useful for creating landing pages on your Squarespace website. Here's a lead generation idea. Create a resource offer called a lead magnet. These are typically guides to your services or costs or a white paper on something more technical like different types of window design and construction. Save this as a designed .PDF file--Canva is great for this--and place it behind the form on your cover page. Request the contact information from a reader in exchange for access to the guides and white papers you offer. This is inbound marketing at its most basic. Here’s a few cover page as landing page Ideas.

Landscape Architects and Designers - If you're a landscape designer or architect, you might provide a guide to sustainable plants used in a coastal environment. Segment the list by existing client location as a way of attracting new clients in the places you are seeking new clients.
Interior Designers - An interior designer might provide a list of furniture manufacturers you recommend and why. Durability, aesthetic and type of home using categories that apply to the work you do. If you are seeking remodels of classic American styles, you might create a list of furniture resources for a bungalow, prairie style, craftsman or southern low country home.
Architects and Design-Build Contractors - Architects and design-build contractors might identify what a high-performance building is and what approach is used to determine a building's LEED qualifications. Use the USGBC as a source of this information and provide your thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of residential LEED certification.

TWO Categories OF SQUARESPACE WEBSITES

Squarespace offers regular websites and e-commerce websites. Website designs include navigation menus, galleries and other diverse pages that can be found in the templates offered. You can even sell a few products on the Website plans so you can build a small online shop without upgrading to a full Commerce plan. Also, you have access to all of the Cover Page layouts available in the Cover Page plan. Squarespace websites come with the foundation needed to create content marketing websites that are structured to take advantage of search engine optimization and most importantly blogging and call-to-actions. They provide four types of gallery pages to exhibit your work, and project portfolios can be custom designed to distinguish your firm from your competitors.

Using e-commerce as part of your website is a good way of increasing the number of pages on your site and adding those all important keyword phrases that attract visitors and keep your search engine rank high. Consider selling house plans, home accessories, consultations as part of your service offerings. Even if you never have a sale, it will help you attract clients to your website.

PERSONAL WEBSITES

The Personal Website Plan is perfect for smaller sites with one or two contributors. If you’re starting a blog, have a single product to sell, or are looking to establish your web presence, the personal plan is perfect. It includes up to 20 pages, galleries, and blogs and offers unlimited bandwidth and storage and like all Squarespace plans, mobile design is built-in.

BUSINESS WEBSITES

The Business Plan is a bit more robust offering unlimited pages and contributors. If you need a lot of content or a team of admins, the business plan is a great way to create and manage a beautiful site.

It’s also a great way to display your work or business and you can set-up a small shop to sell up to 25 products. An example of this might be selling Persian rugs if you’re an interior designer, or selling small project services if you're a design-build firm. The Business plan uses the same store design and checkout as the Squarespace Commerce plans, but with simplified features.

Click here for the most current pricing for Personal Websites, Business Websites and Online Stores.

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TWO TYPES OF SQUARESPACE COMMERCE WEBSITES

Squarespace offers two Commerce Plans, Basic, and Advanced. It’s suitable for small retail operations just getting started online and can be upgraded as you grow. If your primary goal is e-commerce, this is the plan for you. You’ll have access to all of our design templates (Cover Page, Website, and Commerce) and can sell unlimited products.

The Basic Plan is for businesses that don’t need advanced integrations for shipping or marketing. The Advanced option is perfect if you’re processing multiple orders and need advanced shipping and marketing. It also offers state-of-the-art selling tools, Shipstation for label printing, integration with Xero tax tools, and built-in carrier calculated shipping rates to give your customers affordable shipping options.

A Brief Squarespace Website Review

After building websites on Wordpress for years, Squarespace is now our go-to choice for architectural, interior designer, landscape designer, and design-build firm websites. We never need to worry about plugin updates, malware or hacking. Since 2004, Squarespace has provided style and page layout options that Wordpress is only now, in 2018 beginning to offer. We loved the system from the minute we started using it six years ago.

Squarespace Website Design Services

Means-of-Production builds Squarespace websites that will include writing all of the content with keywords, setting up portfolios for photographs that have been color corrected and optimized in Adobe Lightroom, and all of the tools required to capture leads and funnel them into an automated email marketing system. Our pricing starts at cost is $2,895.00 if you provide the content and web ready images and is launched in less than 4 weeks. Squarespace is easy to use, intuitive and elegant. It allows you to concentrate your website maintenance efforts on what's most important, content marketing. Plans are billed monthly or annually and are fully upgradeable. Annual billing costs are lower and include registering a free custom domain for the year.

Additional Topics and Advice on Using On The Squarespace Website Builder

About Michael Conway and Means-of-Production

Means-of-Production builds Squarespace websites for clients throughout the United States. We also provide inbound marketing solutions like blog article writing, email marketing automation, and social media posting. We primarily work for architects, interior designers, design-build contractors and landscape design firms. Why is this important? We spend each day researching keywords and getting to know the built environment business from a marketing and web design viewpoint. Our competitors just don’t have the in-depth knowledge of the residential and commercial design and construction business that we have. I even started out as an architectural photographer. You can learn more here. Contact me for a free-of-charge website review. I’ll give you a fifteen-minute video that looks at your user experience, search engine optimization, marketing efforts and more.