Why Squarespace is Great for Blogging + 3 Tips for Maximizing Your Posts
You know you need to blog, but you might still be waffling between deciding on a few platforms. Do you choose Wordpress because you’ve heard it’s the blogging giant? Or do you choose Squarespace because you know it’s easy to edit? Do you even know how and what to blog when you finally choose? To get all of these answers, you’ve come to the right place!
In this guide, we’ll talk through:
Wordpress vs Squarespace for Blogging and Posting
The Anatomy of a Good Blog Post in Squarespace
3 Tips for Maximizing Your Posts in Squarespace
Answer client questions
Add branded imagery and cross promotions
Sharing your post
Can you really blog successfully in Squarespace, and how does it stack up against Wordpress?
Wordpress vs. Squarespace for Blogging is a question that gets asked often!
The answer is YES, and it compares just dandy! This blog you’re reading is on Squarespace, and so is my entire site. I use Squarespace for my website and my blog. I call mine “articles,” as I think that captures more of my goal (to provide great content). Other clients call theirs journal or musings or other creative names.
Here is Bold August Design Studio’s breakdown of Squarespace vs Wordpress:
| Task | Wordpress | Squarespace |
| Basic Formatting | ✓ | ✓ |
| SEO | Intense and Comprehensive | Basic |
| Ease of Editing | Easy | Extremely easy |
| Easy to add into Newsletter | ✗ | ✓ |
| Addings Images Within Post | ✓ | ✓ |
| Styling the Blog Page | Extremely Flexible | Basic Layouts |
| Categories + Tagging | Heavily Customizable | Basic |
| Social Sharing | ✓ | ✓ |
As you can see, we believe they’re pretty comparable. It’s true that Wordpress has many more powerful tools when it comes to SEO, categories, and getting into the nitty gritty. There’s a reason so many sites are built with Wordpress, and we’re not knocking it as a platform, but you should do your research on each platform to see which is the best for you. Wordpress has many tools, plugins, and optimizations available for SEO and blogging in general, but it is a beast and has a steeper learning curve. We recommend Wordpress for mid-sized businesses who juggle a lot of content and need a powerful tool. We recommend Squarespace for DIY users who need a lighter solution.
They both handle blogging well, and regardless of the platform, blogging is a key component for generating content and strengthening your brand. Don’t let choosing a platform keep you from starting your web design project. Having something is better than nothing or only having the idea!
When blogging, after really settling on your platform, you then need to focus on great blog content and making the most out of your post.
Why does Bold August Design Studio use Squarespace as a Platform for Blogging?
Because we love the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) and the simplicity! Squarespace is excellent for our small studio, because we can visually see our post as we’re working within it AND it’s just so danged simple. Using our SEO Toolkit, we optimize every post, and do quite well even without the powerful tools that Wordpress has.
In fact, we didn’t become huge believers of blogging in Squarespace, much less blogging at all, until a few of our blog posts started SKYROCKETING in analytics! We were surprised to see the numbers soar this year, and it truly prompted our passion and research into blogging with Squarespace. Now we’ve learned a lot about blogging and are excited to continue writing researched posts!
How to Make the Most out of Your Post: The Anatomy of a Good Blog
You know you need to blog, and you might have a great idea, but you open up your document to write your post and you blank. Where do you even start? When blogging, be sure to think through the basic essentials of a good post. The anatomy of a good blog has everything from a thoughtful headline to images to categories.
Use this blog post as an example. We have headlines, a table of contents, images placed throughout, and keywords everywhere! Blogs should also reach as many words as you can, aiming for 600 words, but it’s best if you can get anywhere close to 2,000! This is considered a great amount to fully detail your content and make sure Google is noticing you.
Your optimized blog post should have:
A detailed, keyword-focused headline. Too often I see whimsical posts that have a quote or something vague as the title, and then they elaborate their meaning within the blog. The issue here is that the title of your blog should say what’s inside, which will entice users more, and should try to prioritize keywords. Titles shouldn’t be coy or artistic (unless you don’t care about SEO or anyone reading them, that is!)
An image as the thumbnail and within the blog. Images are important! We humans love reading with imagery rather than words. Don’t only add an image thumbnail; be sure to add images within your blog as well. When adding images, be thoughtful about where they’re placed. Don’t break text in weird areas or upload images with poor titles. Be sure to fill in the Alt Text with good information.
A structured post. What do I mean by structured? Well, don’t write large, long paragraphs. Write with bulleted lists, headlines, and 1, 2, 3s. Use this post as an example! Outlining your blog first really helps. Users don’t love being met with a wall of text, and actually will sometimes scan headlines and images only for relevant information. Bulleted lists are ESPECIALLY successful - like this one!
Categories and tags. Does your blog fit into a category? It probably should! Categories help you stay focused an on task with your blog. Categories are ways to organize your posts into coherent themes, so that if your users enjoyed a post, they can then read more blogs within that category. Tagging helps you add in relevant keywords into your posts, and drive specific traffic to them.
If you follow those basic four things, you’ll have a detailed and high performing blog!
Three Tips to REALLY Maximize your Blog on Squarespace
Now that you know that Squarespace is great for blogging, how it stacks up against Wordpress, and the basic anatomy of a good blog, it’s time to really maximize and take your post to the best it can possibly be. This goes way beyond simply writing the post, and takes it across your brand and business.
Answer Client Questions with Your Blog
Use your blog as an FAQ! We bet you get a lot of questions, and might even have an FAQ page. But some FAQs need longer explanations, so it’s a good idea to answer things so your users and clients have more knowledge. An example of our posts is What Business Card Type Should I Order and How to Choose an Email Service.
FAQs are great for blogging because most users go to Google to get their questions answered. Think back to your past week and how many times you’ve Googled a question or two.Add Thoughtful and Branded imagery and Cross Promotions
Your brand. Your business. It’s all a part of a greater whole. Your business should be one giant wheel that functions smoothly. Your blog is a chance to not only add some branded images, but also to cross promote to other places. Use this as a chance to show off your brand color palette and all of the other great content that you have. At the end of every blog, or even within the blog, be sure to provide links to other content as well as promotions to your services so that your users have a journey they can follow throughout your brand!Share! Share! Share!
Did you know that, when posting, there is a “Share” tab on Squarespace where you can link your post up to platforms? It’s HUGELY helpful! See the screenshot below on this extremely useful feature in Squarespace. If you constantly worry about having to share your blog post across all of your platforms, worry no more with Squarespace! Simply connect those accounts (Settings > Connected Accounts) and then check the boxes to auto-post your content across these platforms. This makes it very easy to be sure your post reaches multiple avenues and multiple eyes!
I have Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter all connected. It’s amazing! (Unfortunately, Instagram does not allow for this. It’s very stubborn!)
Blogging should be much more than just, well, blogging. It’s an opportunity to generate content for your brand, share your voice across your channels,
So there you have it - Blogging for Squarespace, the Anatomy of a Good Blog, and some great tips for really maximizing your individual posts!
