How to Use Squarespace: 11 Easy Steps (2022)

Squarespace is a design lover’s dream – and it’s crucial if you want to swiftly develop a website in the creative business. Why? Because it has the most diverse set of creative tools available. The nicest part is that anyone can use it.

We’ll show you how to use Squarespace in this Squarespace lesson, with lots of screenshots and videos to help you along the way. The following are the 11 steps we’ll go over:

In 11 Easy Steps, Learn How to Use Squarespace

-Begin now (for free!)
-Select a template
-Create a username and password.
-Insert/delete pages
-Change pages
-Adjust the design and include branding
-Configure essential parameters and add site information.
-Check out your website.
-Select a pricing strategy
-Integrate marketing resources (optional)
-Include ecommerce functionality (optional)

Before we begin, why not check out our Squarespace Review?

Check out our Squarespace Pricing breakdown for more information on plans, pricing, free trials, and other features.

1) Begin Now (for Free!)

If you haven’t already signed up with Squarespace, this is the first step.

Squarespace’s monthly fees range from $12 to $40, or a bit more if you pay on a rolling month-to-month basis. (You can get an extra 10% discount with the code WBE, or 50% off if you’re a student!)

But you don’t have to worry about it yet! Squarespace provides a 14-day free trial, so go to squarespace.com to get started. For the time being, you don’t need to submit any information — simply click the ‘Get Started’ button to go to the next stage! Simple.

It’s simple to get started with Squarespace; simply go to the homepage and click the “Get Started” button!
Are You Prepared to Begin Construction?
Start designing your own website with Squarespace’s 14-day free trial. There’s no need to provide any payment information!

Select a Template

After you click ‘Get Started,’ you’ll be asked to choose a design for your website:

The first step in creating your website is to select a design. To view Squarespace’s templates, click the picture.

You may search by industry (from ‘Online Stores’ and ‘Restaurants’ to ‘Weddings’ and ‘Photography’) or popular designs.

To assist you in making a decision, you may sort templates by category and preview designs. To select a design, click on the image.
Hover over a template and click ‘Preview’ to try it out.
The template you choose will serve as the design springboard for your website, so it’s worth previewing a couple to find the one that seems most ‘you.’
Good to know: Have you found the perfect design, but it’s lacking a page or function that your website requires? Don’t be concerned! Squarespace 7.1 allows you to customise your design by adding additional pages and elements. Sure, it saves time if your template has everything you need – but this doesn’t have to be a deal breaker!
At this point, I’d like to offer some advice: Squarespace’s designs are lovely. They’re actually rather nice — the nicest we’ve ever tested! This is obviously beneficial, but it may also make it difficult to settle on a single template — you’re spoiled for choice, and it’s easy to become overwhelmed and give up entirely.

However, do not do so! Here are our top templates-selection tips:

1.Stick to your sector – this is a simple method to reduce your alternatives while also ensuring you’re adhering to industry standard practises.
2. ‘Favorite’ your favourite templates by clicking the heart – they will be preserved in the ‘My Favorites’ category for you to revisit with fresh eyes.
3.Simply… choose one! — You may change your design in any way you like, so don’t get too caught up on your choice at this point.

When you’ve decided on a template, hover over it and click the ‘Start using [template name]’ button. We’ll use the Atlantic template from the restaurant category.

Are You Prepared to Be Creative?

Squarespace has a variety of beautiful designs that you may personalise. Browse the designs, pick your favourite, then get to work!

Make a Login

You’ll need to sign up using an email address or check in with your Google account at this point:

Squarespace registration takes simply an email address and a password; no financial information is required. To visit the Squaresace homepage, click on the picture.

After that, give your website a name. This will appear at the top of your website, but it is editable.

You may give your website a name during the setup process.

Squarespace will then walk you through a few simple slideshows on how to update your site. You may skip through them because you already have (possibly) the greatest instruction on the internet as your trusted guide!

This is your primary Squarespace menu, and it is from here that you will complete all of the tasks necessary to bring your site to life.

Squarespace’s editing menu is where you make changes to your pages.

Pages Can Be Added/Removed

If you moved into a house that needed a lot of work, you’d make sure the main items were in place first – bathrooms, kitchens, etc. – before you started painting the walls.
The same is true here. Don’t get drawn into design just yet; instead, concentrate on the structure of your site.
-Inserting Pages
Navigate to ‘Pages,’ where you’ll see a list of all the existing pages on your website:

The pages of your website may be viewed on the left-hand side of the editor.
Click the Plus sign and then choose ‘Blog’ from the drop-down menu.

You may select which pages to include on your website. Navigate to the “Blog” page.

Then, select your favourite layout:

Which of the following layouts is your favourite? Examine each one and select the one that best matches your design!
After you’ve decided on a layout, click on any of the four ‘dummy’ blog entries to insert your own material, and delete those you don’t need for now.
Constructing a Submenu
Too many pages for your site’s menu? Put your pages in a folder to make them easier to find.
Go to Pages, then click again on the cross above the list of pages to group them together in a submenu. Select ‘Folder’ from the menu.

Go to Pages, click the Add symbol, choose ‘Folder,’ and then give your menu a name.
You may then give this menu a name and insert pages within it.
-Removal of Pages
Do you want to delete a page or a folder? Not an issue. Simply hover your cursor over the page in the menu, and a rubbish emoji will appear on the left. Click on this icon, then on ‘Confirm.’
Have you mastered the fundamentals?
Squarespace isn’t the quickest builder out there, but with a little practise, you’ll be constructing like an expert in no time. Take a chance and give it a go!

Pages can be edited.

Once you’ve established the correct pages, it’s time to tailor their content to your business. This includes removing the placeholder copy, reordering parts, and introducing new ones.
To enter editor mode, navigate to the page you want to edit and click the ‘Edit’ button in the upper left corner.

Squarespace’s editing menu is where you make changes to your pages.

In this situation, we’re making changes to the homepage. Squarespace operates in’strips’ or’sections.’ Check out the video below to see how this appears in real life, where we experimented with adding sections and switching the content.

To summarise, you can change any part by hovering over it and then clicking the pen symbol. Hover between two parts and click on the blue ‘+’ symbol in the middle to add another segment.

Here are some examples of parts you can include:

There are several parts to pick from, and you can even change the order of your pages once you’ve added new sections to your site.
You don’t like the page order? Simply click and hold to choose a portion, then drag it up or down the page.
When you’re finished adding, altering, and rearranging parts, be sure you click ‘Done’ in the upper left corner, followed by ‘Save.’
Have you mastered the fundamentals?
Squarespace isn’t the quickest builder out there, but with a little practise, you’ll be constructing like an expert in no time. Take a chance and give it a go!

Design Changes and Branding

Now that your page layout is basically in place, we’ll adjust your design and add some branding to make your site appear more ‘you.’
Navigate to ‘Design’ from the main menu.

Change your stylistic settings, such as colours and fonts, by going to ‘Design.’

Modify the fonts and colours

Enter the ‘Fonts’ area to select a font ‘pack’ (basically a font pairing) to roll out throughout your site, as well as to adjust the default font size. Click into any text type (headings, paragraphs, etc.) under ‘Global Text Styles’ to change the weights and spacing of a typeface. Then, beneath Fonts, select ‘Assign Styles’ to assign various fonts to different places of your site.
Good to know: Squarespace Version 7.1 (the most current version) does not accept custom Adobe fonts.
Squarespace includes a number of pre-made colour palettes to pick from under the Colors area, as well as the opportunity to upload a colour (through six-character HTML code) or even a picture and have Squarespace pull out the main colours from it.

Animation and Design

You may set animations to show on your site under ‘Animations.’ When content seems to ‘pop,’ ‘fade,’ or ‘fall’ into place, it is referred described as an animation. It’s a terrific and fashionable approach to spruce up your website!

Do you want to add animation effects to your website? Not a problem!
You may make modest changes to the spacing and alignment of your content sections and pictures under Spacing and Image Blocks. You may also change the design of your CTAs under Buttons.
Top tip: By 2020, mobile devices will have accounted for slightly more than half of all online traffic worldwide. Make sure you switch to the mobile version of your site on a frequent basis to ensure that everything functions as well on desktop as it does on mobile:

To check how your website looks on different devices, go to the mobile view.

The Finer Points

Your website is looking nice at this point. Content? Check. Images? Check. Colors and typefaces that are on-brand? Check. Animations that are entertaining? Check.
A great website, on the other hand, should be consistent across all conceivable touchpoints, which is why it’s critical to sweat the tiny stuff:
Design > Browser icon — Also known as a favicon, the browser icon is what appears next to your site name when it is opened in a new tab. Currently, ours is the default black cube — most firms would rather submit a logo here:

Design > 404 page – This is the information that will be displayed if visitors attempt to reach a page on your site that does not exist. There is some default copy here, but we recommend replacing it with something more on-brand. For example, here’s our 404 page:

To keep people on your website longer, you may customise your 404 page to fit your brand.

-Product Items and Checkout Page

Customizing your product pages and checkout pages is the focus of these sections. You don’t have any items to sell yet? For the time being, ignore these!

-Inserting a Logo and a Social Logo

Under Design > Social Sharing, you may submit a social logo (the picture that symbolises your content when shared on social media).

Return to the homepage’s Edit mode to submit a logo that will appear across your site. Hover over the header and select ‘Edit Site Header,’ then ‘Site Title and Logo,’ where you may add your logo.

Configure Key Settings and Add Site Information

Before we can proceed with paying for your site and publishing it, there is some administrative work to be completed. In the Choices area, you’ll discover a plethora of various settings – we’ve covered the necessities for each website below, but you may find that others are applicable to yours!

-Language and Business Knowledge

To select a location, language, and time zone, go to Settings > Language & Region.
Fill in your contact information, location, and business hours under Settings > Business Information (if applicable).

If you’re creating a business website, you may put contact information, location, and business hours here.

-Domain Title

Your domain name is the address of your website; ours is websitebuilderexpert.com. When it comes to obtaining your own domain name, you have several options:

1.Buy a domain from another registrar and transfer it to your Squarespace site. Squarespace will guide you through the procedures of doing this if you go to Settings > Domains > Use a Domain I Own.

2. Squarespace can help you get a domain name. This will cost around $20 each year (so slightly more expensive than buying elsewhere, but a bit more convenient). To discover an available domain, go to Settings > Domains > Get a domain.

3.Buy a yearly Squarespace subscription and receive a free domain for the first year. We’ll go through plans in more detail later, but if you’re willing to commit to an annual plan, you’ll get a domain name for free for the first year, as well as a discount on the ‘core’ fee. Sign up for a paying account, then head to Settings > Domains > Get a domain to claim it.

-Social Networking

Go to Settings > Social Links to connect your social network accounts. Unless you delete them, any accounts you put here will be available via icons in your header.

Configure Key Settings and Add Site Information

Your site will be private by default if you are still inside your two-week Squarespace trial term. That means no one will be able to find it just by Google your company’s name. Even if you have a domain name configured and provide a direct link to someone, they will only see a login page.

However, allowing friends and relatives to view your website is a vital step in ironing out any issues before it goes live. As a result, we recommend creating a site-wide password. Anyone who has access to this password will be able to view the most recent edit to your website. At the very least, this may be a valuable tool for you to preview the site ‘in real life’ across several devices.

-How to Configure a Site-Wide Password

Go to Settings > Site Availability from the home menu. Then, switch the default option from ‘Public’ to ‘Password Protected,’ and enter your password. Just remember to change it back to public once you’ve subscribed to a premium subscription!

Select a Pricing Strategy

Squarespace offers four pricing options. To compare each plan on Squarespace’s price page, click on the picture.

Make sure you subscribe to a premium subscription before your free trial expires. Squarespace offers four pricing options:

Personal – $16 per month (or $12 per month if payed annually)
Business – $26 per month (or $18 per month when billed annually)
Basic Ecommerce – $30/month (or $26/month payable yearly)
Ecommerce Advanced – $46 per month (or $40 per month payable yearly).

Of course, the plans range in terms of the things they offer (the following two steps of this guide are only possible if you have a business plan or above, for example). If you join up for a yearly plan, you may save between 13% and 30%.

But what do they offer? As you might guess, paying more gets you more. For example, the Personal Plan is ideal for portfolios and blogs, but it is not suitable for users with commercial goals because it cannot sell products on your behalf. It also lacks third-party connections such as Mailchimp and OpenTable, as well as commercial pop-ups.

The two ecommerce options have no transaction costs, whereas Business charges 3%. So consider your budget and what you want your website to be capable of.

Your site is now active once you’ve chosen a plan and paid for it. Your work on some websites (portfolios, for example) may be finished. There are a couple additional optional stages for anyone on the Business plan or higher, which we’ll go over below.

Include Marketing Tools (Optional)

To begin, you must be on the ‘Business’ plan at the very least to add marketing tools. How do you improve? You won’t be shocked to learn that Squarespace has considered this — there’s a ‘Upgrade Now’ button strategically positioned at the bottom of every page during your free trial.
These technologies, of course, aren’t required for every website. Steps 7 and 8 can be skipped if you do not intend to sell online.

During your free trial, you may easily increase your Squarespace subscription.
You can find everything you need to promote your Squarespace site by choosing ‘Marketing’ on the main menu. The marketing choices are depicted in the graphic below.

Squarespace provides a plethora of fantastic marketing options.
With a few clicks, you can add pop-ups, display social media icons, connect your Facebook page, link your Instagram feed, and more. Squarespace Email Campaigns also allows you to build a new email campaign. Squarespace doesn’t scrimp on the business aspect for such a creative website builder.
With the ‘Analytics’ option on the main panel, you can even monitor how your site is functioning. It allows you to examine traffic, search for keywords, and generally monitor the performance of your Squarespace website.

Include Ecommerce Functions (Optional)

Ecommerce may be something you want to add to your site because 62 percent of US customers now purchase online more than they did before the epidemic.

To sell anything, you’ll need to be on at least the ‘Business’ price plan, which is similar to adding marketing tools. Having said that, we would still suggest the ‘Commerce’ options for larger web companies.

So, once you’ve updated (by clicking the blue ‘Upgrade Now’ button), go to the home panel and choose ‘Commerce,’ and you’re ready to sell.

You may now incorporate the following sales features:

-Orders placed online
-Inventory control
-Look at your consumers.
-Include discounts

Before you can manage your goods, you must first create a ‘Products’ page. But don’t worry; simply return to the ‘Adding pages’ stages and repeat the process. It’s quite simple.

Squarespace has a partnership with Square, the payments processing behemoth. This lets you to accept card payments both offline and online — all you need is the Square Commerce app and one of Square’s compact card readers ($49) to get started.

Offline payments will be subject to Square’s own transaction and processing costs. This varies according to a number of factors (including geography), however in the United States, you may expect to pay:

For swiped/dipped/tapped transactions, there is a 2.6 percent transaction fee plus a $0.10 processing fee.

For keyed transactions, there is a 3.5 percent transaction cost plus a $0.15 processing fee.

Although it’s always a good idea to double-check this on Square’s website. Squarespace will not charge you any additional fees if you sell offline or online through its Commerce options.

Are you getting ready to sell online?

You’ve had a brilliant idea, and you may even have things ready to launch. All you need now is a Squarespace store, so get started right away!

During your free trial, you may easily increase your Squarespace subscription.
You can find everything you need to promote your Squarespace site by choosing ‘Marketing’ on the main menu. The marketing choices are depicted in the graphic below.

Squarespace provides a plethora of fantastic marketing options.
With a few clicks, you can add pop-ups, display social media icons, connect your Facebook page, link your Instagram feed, and more. Squarespace Email Campaigns also allows you to build a new email campaign. Squarespace doesn’t scrimp on the business aspect for such a creative website builder.
With the ‘Analytics’ option on the main panel, you can even monitor how your site is functioning. It allows you to examine traffic, search for keywords, and generally monitor the performance of your Squarespace website.