Chapter 6
Creating a Squarespace Blog
IN THIS CHAPTER
Setting up your Squarespace account
Creating content on Squarespace
Customizing your Squarespace blog
In a blogging world that in the beginning was dominated by Blogger and WordPress, Squarespace (www.squarespace.com) has made a splash as another viable blogging platform option. Squarespace blogs come with many of the features that bloggers on other platforms are required to add with special themes or additional plug-ins. For example, your Squarespace account provides you with website analytics (see Chapter 19 to learn more about blog analytics), social media integration, and automatically mobile-ready designs.
If you would like to customize the look of your blog by editing the Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), which are your blog template's style sheets, you can do that with Squarespace. If you just want to select a blog template and get right to blogging, you can do that with Squarespace. And because Squarespace allows bloggers to try its platform for free for 14 days, there's no real danger in giving this platform a try if you read through this chapter and feel that it might be right for you.
Creating a Squarespace Account
Like test driving a vehicle before purchase or dating before marriage, the best way to begin your Squarespace blogging experience is through the 14-day free trial offered by this blogging platform. Should you choose to stay with Squarespace for the long term, however, you should know that unlike Blogger and Tumblr, this platform does not remain free. Prices begin at $12 per month when billed annually and go up to $26 per month for business sites when paid month to month. Your initial trial is risk-free as the platform does not collect billing information until the end of your trial.
To begin the creation of your Squarespace account, visit the platform at www.squarespace.com and click Get Started, as shown in Figure 6-1.
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-1: To create your Squarespace account, click Get Started.
Selecting a template
Squarespace begins the process of creating your blog by allowing you to either answer a series of questions or browse existing templates. I recommend that you elect to answer the questions. Squarespace will use your answers to point you in the right design direction. Don’t fret if you don’t have all the answers quite yet! As mentioned in previous chapters, it’s okay to change your mind down the road. In fact, it’s sort of what bloggers do best.
Although you may select any template you like, Squarespace categorizes templates that might specifically suit the following categories:
- Businesses
- Portfolios
- Personal
- Musicians
- Restaurants
- Weddings
Before selecting a template, you may choose to view that template both as a screenshot and as a live preview, which allows you to dive deeper into the features of the template before making a selection.
After you have shared the purpose of your website, Squarespace will suggest a template that it believes is right for you, as shown in Figure 6-2. You can opt to select that theme or browse other suggested themes.
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-2: Squarespace begins by suggesting the best template for your site.
Selecting a template begins the creation of your Squarespace blog. At this point you will be asked to create a Squarespace account, as shown in Figure 6-3. You can opt to create an account by sharing your name, email address, and creating a password. You can also create a Squarespace account by signing in to your existing Google account, Facebook account, or Twitter account.
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-3: After you have selected a design template, create your free account.
Choosing a site name
Congratulations, you have a Squarespace blog account! To dive right in, simply click Start, as shown in Figure 6-4.
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-4: Squarespace allows you to dive right in with the creation of your new blog.
Now that you’ve selected a Squarespace blog template, it is time to customize your site, including adding a blog title. The left sidebar of your new blog, as shown in Figure 6-5, offers the following menu items:
- Pages
- Design
- Commerce
- Marketing
- Analytics
- Settings
- Help
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-5: Get started with your new Squarespace blog by checking out the home menu options.
The options within each of these menu items will change somewhat based on the template you’ve chosen for your Squarespace blog.
Also, take some time to look around your new blog’s home page, letting yourself hover over different areas. You will find customization options throughout your site this way.
Deciding on the best name for your Squarespace site? Now is a great time to visit or revisit Chapter 3 to learn more about selecting and registering a domain name. Squarespace can also help you with this process!
Adding Blog Content
There are nearly countless customizations that you can make to your Squarespace blog — some of which are covered in the following sections — but you can feel free to dive right into content creation if you choose.
To begin adding content to your blog, select Add Post as shown in Figure 6-6. In contrast to other blog platforms, Squarespace pages are comprised of blocks of content. You can change the look of your pages by adding, removing, and altering those content blocks, as shown in Figure 6-7. Note that different templates may offer different ways to locate and create new content.
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-6: The Add Post menu item allows you to add content to your blog.
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-7: There are multiple options for your new blog post within the post creation area.
You can now title your post and add content using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) format similar to most blog platforms. From this location, you can also elect to do the following:
- Allow comments
- Add tags or categories
- Add a thumbnail image
- Change the author name
- Create a post excerpt
- Choose to make the post featured content
- Link the post title to an external location
- Add your geographical blogging location
- Choose which social media accounts should automatically promote the blog post after it's published
Uploading images
Squarespace allows you to upload images directly to the content where you want the image to appear. For example, if you're creating a Squarespace gallery, page, or blog post, you simply add the image directly to the block or area where you want it to appear rather than having to upload the image to a special location just for media.
To add any content other than text to your blog post, such as images, select the area within the post where you would like to add the content. To add an image to your post, click the Image block icon from the Content Blocks button menu, as shown in Figure 6-8, which is accessible via the plus sign in the lower right-hand corner. You are now able to either drag and drop your image into the content block or upload an image file. When your image has been added, you can choose to do any of the following before clicking Save:
- Add an image caption
- Name the image file
- Change the size of the image
- View the image in a lightbox
- Connect a URL to the image
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-8: The block menus within your blog post allow you to add non-text content.
The drag-and-drop option to add images is becoming more and more popular. If you're used to uploading files to add graphics to your content, now may be a great time to give the drag-and-drop method a try!
Importing content from other platforms
One of the most exciting features of the Squarespace platform is the ability to import content from other blog platforms. For example, should you choose to move from a Blogger blog to a Squarespace site, Squarespace has methods in place to make that happen quite easily.
To import content from another platform, you need to access your settings menu in your home sidebar menu by following these steps:
- Under Settings, click Advanced.
- Click Import/Export.
- Click Import.
Select the platform from which you want to import content.
Here are your choices:
- V5
- WordPress
- Tumblr
- Blogger
- Etsy
- Shopify
- Big Cartel
- Products via .csv
- Follow the steps specific to your particular platform and click Begin Importing.
Should you choose to move your Squarespace blog to a different platform for any reason, you can export your content using the same menu.
Squarespace offers a free, 14-day trial and the option to export your content elsewhere should you decide to move your blog to a different platform.
Customizing and Connecting
One of the best reasons to consider a Squarespace blog is the variety of customizations available to you through the Squarespace sidebar as well as the ease of connectivity to social media. Although getting your blog up and running is clearly your focus, after you've done so you'll want to take a look at both linking to your favorite social networks and utilizing the tools at your fingertips thanks to Squarespace.
Linking your social networks
Social media, covered in more depth in Chapters 17 and 18, provides bloggers with an amazing tool to promote their content and grow their online community. One of the easiest ways to utilize this tool is to connect your blog directly to the social media platforms where you are already active.
To get started linking your social media accounts to your blog, return to your home menu in the left sidebar and choose Settings followed by Connected Accounts. This area is the social media hub of the Squarespace platform and will allow you to connect your site to the most popular social media services on the web.
To choose which accounts to connect to your blog, click the Connect Account button on the left sidebar. A menu of social media sites appears, as shown in Figure 6-9.
Source: www.squarespace.com
FIGURE 6-9: Use the Connect Account menu to select which social media accounts to connect to your Squarespace blog.
Linking your content to your social media channels to promote your content is a great start, but this menu area also allows you to connect beyond just social media. Squarespace allows you to connect to the following accounts among others:
- Tumblr
- ChowNow
- 500px
- Dropbox
- Flickr
- SmugMug
- Foursquare Swarm
Using the Squarespace sidebar
As you may have noticed by now, the Squarespace home sidebar is an integral part of your Squarespace blogging experience. Not only is this where you can go to change everything from your basic account information to your billing preferences, but the sidebar also allows you to customize your website from top to bottom. Some of the features of the sidebar will change based on your website but may include the following:
- Blog Menu: This area allows you to change your blog and page titles, determine how many posts are displayed per page, create a blog description, and more.
- Settings: The settings section is divided into general, website, and commerce. From these areas you can change your billing information, update your blog’s basic information, and change security settings, among other options.
- Metrics: The metrics area of your home menu allows you to monitor your blog’s traffic, track your RSS subscribers, and even find out what search queries readers are using to locate your blog.
- Help: This area of the sidebar takes you to helpful articles and videos as well as an area to search common help topics.