Moving My Blog From Wordpress to Squarespace
I started my blog back in 2016 and at the time I hosted my blog on Wordpress. Wordpress has long been the industry standard for blogs and websites of all types. I started in a free theme and over time upgraded to different paid features. That is one of my favorite parts of Wordpress, that you can start with no budget, grow to a shoe-string budget, and then when you are making money with your blog you can easily upgrade to best in class tools. I hosted my blog in Wordpress until 2021, when I finally made the switch to Squarespace.
From the beginning of my work in digital marketing I always suggested either Wordpress or Squarespace to clients. The way that I would differentiate between which tool would be best for them would be by asking:
Would the client be updating their website or would they need me to update it?
If I would be responsible for updating the website going forward, I’d put them in Wordpress. If the client would be updating the website themselves, I’d put them in Squarespace. I always found Squarespace to be a little easier to make simple content changes.
Does the client need e-commerce functions?
If I client does not need e-commerce, I’d put them in Wordpress. If I client does need e-commerce, I’d put them in Squarespace. Yes, there are plug ins that allows for payments and such on Wordpress. But again, I’ve found Squarespace’s e-commerce features to be easier to manage.
Truth be told, over the years it has become harder and harder to manage Wordpress websites without having full website coding knowledge. I am self-taught and without working in the industry full time I quickly fell behind. Also, I’ve found that when you get too many different tools working together on a Wordpress website, it’s hard to ensure they are all working at the same time.
But even with all that information, I still hosted my blog in Wordpress for 5 years. So, what made me finally make the switch over to Squarespace? The fact that I could log into once place to access and update all my content. As my blog grew the type of content I offered started to diversify. It wasn’t just blog posts anymore, it was podcast episodes, digital downloads, physical products, courses etc. Squarespace has a way to host all of those things!
Also a big factor was when Squarespace started offering email marketing. With Wordpress, the new blog post emails were automatic and not customizable. To send custom emails I was having to export subscribers into Mail Chimp and send blasts that way. With Squarespace I am able to send email blasts directly to subscribers from the same panel I do all my other updates in. Not to mention the fact that analytics, payments, orders, etc. are also all accessible on the same panel. Squarespace saves me time and money by being an all in one solution for digital marketing needs.
So, if you are looking to start a blog remember my steps full blog post on starting a blog here):
Choose a blog name
Choose domain and social media handles
Choose a blog theme - you can browse Squarespace themes here.
Choose a blog schedule
If you are already in a Wordpress website and want to try Squarespace here is a tip for you: you can download an XML file of your blog and upload it into Squarespace. Not every single page of your website will carry over, but you won’t have to re-write all your blog posts. You may want to look at them and make sure the formatting is clean, but it will save you a ton of time!
Disclosure: I am part of Squarespace Circle, which is a group for professional Squarespace developers. If you need help getting a Squarespace site set up or would like training for you or your team on using Squarespace, you can hire me! I can also get you a 20% discount on new Squarespace websites. :-)
Holler if you have any specific questions, otherwise until next time,
XO - Olivia
