5 QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE SWITCHING FROM WORDPRESS TO SQUARESPACE
So you've been thinking about switching from WordPress to SquareSpace, but aren't sure if it's right for you or your business. So how do you know if you should switch things up or stay put? Here are a few questions to help you decide:
So you've been thinking about switching from WordPress to SquareSpace, but aren't sure if it's right for you or your business. So how do you know if you should switch things up or stay put? Here are a few questions to help you decide:
How much do you blog? If you are a regular blogger posting content more than once a week, you may want to stay with WordPress. Not only does WordPress have an amazing database for all that content, but it will also be quite a process to move all of that content over to SquareSpace without messing with the posts' formatting, plugins, etc. If you don't blog as regularly, this is less of an issue. I merge blogs over from WordPress to SquareSpace all the time, so it definitely can be done. You may end up tweaking each post to make sure it works in the new SquareSpace site, but if you don't have hundreds of posts, this isn't a huge issue.
How often will you be adding pages or tweaking your content? If you know you're going to be adding new forms, creating pages for an e-course or anything else that would require you to get in the backend and easily create your own content, SquareSpace is the clear winner. It's user interface is extremely easy to use and it even has pre-made page layouts for the novice web designer.
Do you need a lot of customization?Do you need to be able to tweak a lot of little things or have some crazy-cool functionality like a unicorn that flies across the screen? If so, stick with WordPress. WordPress allows you to create a custom-coded child theme and you can pretty much do anything you want with that (with the help of a developer). SquareSpace's customization is a little limited, mostly because they don't want the novice web designer to break his/her site! But even SquareSpace can be customized to a certain extent , like I've talked about this and this post.
Do you want to be hands-off for the website's maintenance? Then SquareSpace is the better choice. Since SquareSpace isn't open-source, unlike WordPress, they control everything. This means there are hardly any bugs, no need to manually backup your site, and if you ever have an issue, their support team is ah-mazing. I can't even count how many times I've used their live chat option when I have a question about something.
What's your price point? There's obviously no "set cost" for either of the platforms, it just depends on what you need. For WordPress, you have to pay for hosting as well as your domain name, plus any theme you purchase or web designer/developer you may hire to help create the site. If you're creating a custom site, you could be paying upwards of 20K! SquareSpace has a few plans that you can choose from, and most businesses can get away with the Personal plan, which is $12/month. Add that cost to your domain name and it's only a few hundred dollars if you set it up yourself. If you hire a web designer to help you, you will likely still walk away with a brand new site for less than a few thousand dollars.
So what do you think? It really just depends on your answers to these questions, but hopefully you find them helpful in determining which choice is right for you! And hey, if you want to chat through any of this more, I'm here! Just holla at me.
The following information was created for use with templates made with Squarespace 7.0.
Stay tuned for more tips and tricks for the new 7.1 platform!
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THE NEW JUNEMANGO.COM
Perhaps it's a little cliche, but I genuinely believe that a solid fresh start is the perfect way to set yourself up for great things. I love to set goals and re-evaluate where I'm at in both my business and personal life every year in January. It just seems fitting. A whole new year is ahead with 365 days to do and see and discover wonderful things!
In that vein, I thought it was time that I redesigned my website. This is something that I do more often than others, I'm sure, given that I have the ability to do it myself. But it's actually a great goal to include on anyone's list. Websites get outdated faster than almost anything else, so it's important to make sure it's up to date.
I also made a giant change by switching from WordPress to SquareSpace. As a designer, I felt that WordPress was just a bit too clunky. Every time I updated WordPress, pieces of my website would need to be re-coded, and I was always having issues with plug-ins. These aren't make-or-break issues by any means, but I felt like I wanted a platform that wasn't such a hassle. That meant giving up a tiny bit of design freedom, but honestly, not much. Given my background, I was able to code in some custom details on my new SquareSpace website without any trouble at all. This makes it unique to me, but I don't have to mess with all the backend bugs.
