Why I chose Squarespace over Wordpress and Showit?
Recently, I’ve had a few people respond and ask me WHY I chose Squarespace and what were my thoughts on other platforms they were used to like Wordpress or the new trend of Showit websites?
This is probably one of THE most frequently asked questions I get, and also people's biggest dilemma when building a website, because your platform creates the foundation for your blog and online presence.
So ... it's kind of a big deal to choose the right one for you.
If you're still deciding which platform you want to use, I hope I can provide a fresh perspective for you today :)
How I started…
4 years ago, I started a Wordpress website for my photography, which was SO complicated, time-consuming and confusing, that I abandoned that platform pretty quickly.
Half a year later, I hopped over to Smugmug to showcase my photography portfolio and kept that for a year.
Then 3 years ago, I started a Squarespace website for my Travel Blog and 2 years ago, I started building Squarespace websites for clients. Honestly... in all that time, I have never looked back.
What is it about Squarespace that has me obsessed?
I can manage everything in one centralised place:
domain, hosting, templates, design, custom CSS, verified third party integrations, billing & account, SEO, marketing, analytics, e-commerce, email campaigns and so much more! Whereas with Wordpress... you are managing most of these separately, which (for me) was just a headache 🙈The design panel is just SO easy and intuitive to use:
This alone was reason enough for me to convert from Wordpress to Squarespace! I actually ENJOY blogging and designing websites now! Whereas with Wordpress, I always dreaded using the platform coz it was so complicated!I don't need to know much coding to customise:
while I recently learnt HTML and CSS code to make my website stand out even more, I was still able to fully customise my website without coding knowledge. Whereas with Wordpress, I needed more complex coding knowledge to have that same flexibility or freedom.It saves me a ridiculous amount of time:
the intuitive and easy-to-use interface allows me to focus more on the design aspects, creating content and building my business rather than stressing over the headache inducing tech-complications (ahem - Wordpress!)Third party integration have been thoroughly tested for and frequently updated:
by Squarespace, so you know it's 110% vetted and functional (eg. their MailChimp Integration). Whereas Wordpress has many plug-ins that aren't updated or have broken lines of code. There's no one to approve them.Top notch support team!
Honestly, the Squarespace team constantly blows me away with their amazing and fast support. They save me SO many headaches. Whereas Wordpress has Google pages full of blog posts and forums... but they don't have a dedicated, professional support team.
... aaaand, not to mention:
Squarespace saves my Clients so much time, money and stress too!
Because they also learn how to DIY pretty quickly, so they feel confident to make the small tweaks and create new simple pages - which means they don't have to hire a developer/designer every time, saving them money!
On the other hand, they also don't need to wait 2-3 days for any changes to be implemented. They can fix it then and there (the way they like it), saving them time and stress.
You can read my full review of Wordpress vs Squarespace, here.
What about Showit then? How does that compare to Squarespace?
Showit actually integrates with Wordpress and various other plug-ins. The Showit platform is actually just a place for website design and isn't like Squarespace in the sense that it houses everything for you.
However, it is much more flexible in terms of "you can place anything anywhere", which is great! But... you essentially have to create two websites. One for desktop and one for mobile. (Squarespace automatically creates a mobile responsive version for you).
Another thing is the payment plan costs increase as your traffic increases. I currently pay $204 USD annually for Squarespace Business (with unlimited traffic to my website).
Whereas, Showit charges $408 USD annually (its highest tier) but limited to 25k blog visits per month... that's really not much!
When you compare the pros and cons with the prices... I still think that Squarespace comes out on top... by far!
If you're still tossing up between Squarespace vs Showit, here's a great blog post by my friend Paige Brunton on exactly that!
So tell me... which platforms have you tried out? And what were your thoughts? You can also message me here @arohavisuals