Squarespace has the most features for creating a website, including video, forms, contact forms, and a blog. I chose the blog for a variety of reasons, the most important of which was cost. Squarespace offers unlimited blog memberships, contact forms, forms widgets, slideshows, and video for $49 per year. I also opted to use live COs since it allowed me to test in the open market rather than in a controlled environment. I have a few clients who bought a HubSpot site and wanted to replicate the facts I found in my report.
I used the top 15 options in the search engines for SEO and a few other smaller options that I thought Squarespace should offer. I didn’t go for the ‘full’ because it was too restricted for my tastes. I also chose HubSpot COs for my live site because they promised to provide real-time feedback on any changes I made.
I noticed that both Squarespace and Weebly had a clean look when I opened the websites. My preference was for a clean appearing site because I feel corporate sites to be hip and trendy. Squarespace also offers its themes, which is a plus in our book.
I opted with some professional, well-rounded graphics that I thought Squarespace should have, as well as some funky graphics as a fun exercise, but it’s unlikely they’ll be used. My advice is to stick to graphics that are professional, well-defined, and not too unusual. I’d use the best fonts, as well as the most colors, patterns, and other elements to create a truly unique piece.
If you want to design a truly unique website, I would recommend you stay away from wild fonts and graphics. This will make your website look like five others, and it will also drive away visitors. You will have nothing to brag about if you use these elements because everyone will already have a greater site that will place you on his list.
I noticed that the headers on both pages are the same. Squarespace should have used different headings for each page, in my opinion. I think the standard ones would have attracted more visitors if Weebly had used them for the home page.
On both websites, you’ll find certain common elements. Usually, these are navigation links and, in some cases, the logo at the top. The top menu on both sites is typically bold, and the navigation is in a bright color.
The option to download the CSS stylesheet was one of the biggest benefits of using Squarespace as my designer. Now, I know that some designers dislike using stylesheets, but I am not one of them. However, using a stylesheet is vital for SEO purposes, so I went ahead and downloaded one. I’m sure there are many benefits and drawbacks to using a stylesheet, but I went ahead and did it anyway. One drawback is that some visitors may dislike the look of your website. This could happen, but I can tell you that you will get visitors if you use SEO tactics. Other than that, there aren’t many downsides. Others include the potential not to use graphics to make your site appealing since some may disagree. To solve this, you can add a link to your site that they may go to your site by clicking on the images. Other options include jQuery and, if you want to stand out, Flash animations.