Starting a blog is an exciting process, and you’ve probably stumbled across the various platforms you can choose to host your blog on. This article will answer the question: is Squarespace good for blogging?
We’ll also discuss the pricing, features, pros, cons, how to monetize, and I’ll help you decide if Squarespace is right for you or if it isn’t.
To answer this question as quickly as possible, Squarespace is suitable for bloggers who want an all-in-one platform. Squarespace includes a domain name, web hosting, and responsive themes/templates, so it’s beginner-friendly.
While it’s not as customizable or has as many monetization options as the WordPress platform, it is excellent if you want to build a stunning website quickly.
Anyways, without further ado, let’s further answer the question: is Squarespace good for blogging?
Disclaimer: The article contains affiliate links. I may receive a small commission on web hosting purchases at no added cost to you. You can read my full disclosure here.
What is Squarespace?
Squarespace is a website designer that helps you create and launch a website super quickly. It’s built with beginners in mind and is very easily customizable.
Every aspect of website design is included, like a domain name, SSL, web hosting, site metrics, and more, so it’s an all-in-one platform.
There are over 100 templates for website designing, and it’s perfect for all niches and businesses. These templates and themes are highly customizable and are built to perfection.
While it’s aimed primarily towards creative industries, bloggers can utilize the platform and still monetize from it.
If you hate the idea of coding or having to create a blog from scratch with WordPress, Squarespace is a lot more beginner-friendly and easier to navigate.
Squarespace Pricing
Squarespace has four pricing options that range from $12 – $40 a month (billed annually) or a month-to-month option that costs $16 – $46 (billed monthly).
For most bloggers, the cheapest option (Personal plan) should be adequate. It all just depends if you want to be billed monthly or annually.
The business and commerce plans are built for eCommerce websites, so if you don’t plan to sell products on your blog, there’s no real point in choosing them.
Squarespace also allows you to change or cancel your plans anytime, so if you choose the wrong program, don’t stress; you can change it with customer support.
There is a 14-day free trial for Squarespace (no credit card required), so you can test the features before diving into the paid plans.
WordPress vs. Squarespace Pricing
Squarespace pricing compared to WordPress is a challenging comparison because there are endless options of web hosting, domain names, themes, and more.
Whereas with Squarespace, there are only four options to choose from.
With WordPress, you don’t pay for the platform; it’s entirely free. You do, however, need to pay for a domain name and web hosting at a minimum.
For this comparison, we’ll choose the annual option of Squarespace’s Personal plan, which costs $144 for the year.
With WordPress, you can get a one-year domain name for $5.99 with Namecheap and three years of A2 web hosting for $107.
This comes to a total of $112.99, a savings of $31 compared to Squarespace. If you want a paid theme, it’ll cost you an extra $60 on average.
The first year is always the most expensive on WordPress, and it’ll get cheaper as the years progress.
- Squarespace pricing for three years: $432
- WordPress pricing for 3 years: $193
Domain name: $25.99 ($5.99 first year, $10 a year afterward)
A2 hosting three-year plan: $107
Premium theme cost: $60
As stated, starting a blog with Squarespace is more beginner-friendly, but if you’re looking for the cheaper option, self-hosting with WordPress will save you $239 (55%) over three years.
Best web hosting for beginners: A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting’s Startup plans cost $2.99 a month for a three-year plan. You can get up to 72% off through my link.
With A2 Hosting, you get a WordPress one-click installation, 100GB storage, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, unlimited bandwidth, and a free SSL certificate.
Best web hosting overall: Cloudways (Digital Ocean)
The web hosting I use to run my blog. You can get a $15 credit (1.5 months free) through my link.
Cloudways is super fast, charges month-to-month, 99.99% uptime guarantee, daily/hourly backups, included CDN, and you can upgrade anytime.
It’s an intermediate web hosting plan, but with step-by-step instructions, it’s easy to use.
Squarespace Features for Bloggers
Is Squarespace good for blogging? Well, here are four features that bloggers can utilize when creating a website or writing posts.
Wide selection of templates
Squarespace allows you to create a stunning website in no time.
There are over 100 templates to choose from, and you can drag and drop elements wherever you’d like.
With heaps of different layouts for bloggers, portfolios, online stores, and more, you’ll be able to customize your blog to however you’d like.
As someone who finds website design quite boring, Squarespace helps make the process as quick and seamless as possible.
Schedule blog posts
With Squarespace, you can schedule blog posts to keep a weekly routine.
This feature is convenient if you like to stay consistent with blogging and post on the same days every week.
To schedule a post after you’ve finished it:
- Hover over Done and click Schedule.
- Choose a publication date and use the slider to choose a time.
- Click Schedule.
As simple as that, you’ve just scheduled a post. This feature is also perfect if you’re on vacation but want to keep the same posting schedule.
Mailchimp integration
Squarespace allows you to integrate with Mailchimp for your email marketing.
Creating opt-ins and forms around your website is ideal for building an email list. While you may think it’s a waste of time, email lists can drive traffic and sales to your blog.
I use freebies like printables and royalty-free photos to build my email list. It’s slow at the beginning, but it picks up with traffic.
Mailchimp is free for up to 2000 contacts, so it’s a risk-free option if you want to dabble in email marketing.
Article layouts
There are lots of customization options in the Squarespace posts section.
You can add tags, categories, a featured image, URL slug, SEO title, description, and more to your articles.
You can also add an alternate social sharing image, set the author, add an excerpt, and make it a featured article.
There are also features of content blocks with photo, video, and audio embeds.
How to Monetize on Squarespace
Regardless of what people say about Squarespace’s platform, you can still monetize it in various ways.
Here are three ways to monetize your blog on Squarespace.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing involves getting a tracking link for a product or service and adding it to your blog posts.
You’ll earn a commission if someone purchases through the link, often ranging between 5% to 70% of the final cost.
Any blogger can start with affiliate marketing, and it can be a lucrative option if done correctly.
Amazon Associates, ShareASale, and ClickBank are popular affiliate marketing vendors you can choose from, with millions of products and thousands of stores.
Let’s say you earn a 15% commission on a product; if the product price is $150, you’ll earn $22.50. It’s an easy way to make money without any overheads or risks.
Another way to find affiliate programs is by doing a Google search of: [Brand/Service] affiliate program.
Display advertising
The second way to make money from Squarespace is with display advertising.
Advertising is the most common way to make money blogging, and ads are usually CPC or CPM.
CPC (Cost Per Click): Get paid for every time someone clicks on an advertisement.
Example: Make $1.25 for every click.
CPM (Cost Per Mille/Thousand): A set payment for every 1000 impressions.
Example: Make $35 for every 1000 page views or sessions.
Advertiser Networks:
– Google Adsense ($100 minimum payout)
– Ezoic (no pageview requirements)
– Mediavine (50,000 monthly sessions minimum)
– AdThrive (100,000 monthly traffic minimum)
The best thing about display advertising is that it’s purely passive income. Once you turn on ads, you don’t need to do anything except continue your usual blogging work.
Once you have a backlog of posts and a good amount of traffic (25,000+ a month), you can earn a healthy amount from advertising.
Digital products
Another way to make money on Squarespace is by selling digital products.
Digital products are a great way to make money without having many overheads. This is because the product is created once but can be sold repeatedly.
They’re also excellent to sell due to their high-profit margins.
Digital products to consider selling:
– Ebooks: $3 – $100+ (Recipes, courses, guides, etc.)
– Courses: $9 – $1000+ (Anything niche related)
– Templates: $2 – $30 (Pinterest and blogging templates)
– Printables: $1 – $20 (Budgets, money challenges, sinking funds, etc.)
You can sell digital products on Gumroad, Etsy, or directly through Squarespace if you’d like.
Squarespace Pros and Cons
Is Squarespace good for blogging? Well, here are five pros and fours cons to the popular website builder.
Pros
- Nice templates: With over 100 templates, there are more than enough options to build a professional-looking website in no time.
- Beginner-friendly: No coding knowledge is needed, and it’s very beginner-friendly. While every website builder does have a learning curve, you should have their platform figured out in no time.
- Mobile-friendly: The templates and themes are responsive and mobile-friendly, so you never have to worry.
- 24/7 customer support: Do you have a problem? Well, you can let their 24/7 customer support know. They also have a help center page with step-by-step guides on issues you may encounter.
- Built-in analytics: Much like Google Analytics, Squarespace has its own built-in feature. It reports on page views, users, traffic sources, geography, and heaps more.
Cons
- Quite expensive: Compared to self-hosted platforms like WordPress, Squarespace will cost a lot more money over time.
- Lack of third-party plugins: Unlike WordPress’s collection of 55,000+ plugins, Squarespace has around 350. It’s sometimes nicer to have a wider availability of plugins at your disposal.
- Limited customization options: Again, with WordPress, you can create a blog from scratch. With Squarespace, you’re limited to the design options. If you want a website built quickly, it’s a great platform, but it may be a bit more challenging if you want a website built precisely to your needs.
- No autosave feature: Squarespace doesn’t have an autosave feature. Make sure to repeatedly click ‘Save’ when doing work or customizing pages.
Why you should consider Squarespace for blogging
If you want to launch a professional and clean-looking website quickly, Squarespace can help you achieve that.
It’s a great website builder used by millions and is a big competitor to WordPress.
You can have an entire website built within a day, thanks to their wide selection of templates.
Squarespace is great because it takes all the guessing work out of buying a domain name, web hosting, and themes and lets you focus on creating content instead.
It’s beginner-friendly and is excellent for those who aren’t technical and can’t be bothered learning.
With their fine-tuned and beautiful templates, you can look like a professional blogger from day one too.
You can also monetize on Squarespace through affiliate marketing, display advertising, digital products, and heaps more. So if you want to make an income blogging, you can definitely use Squarespace to help you achieve it.
Why you shouldn’t consider Squarespace for blogging
While creating a website on Squarespace is simple, I don’t 100% recommend it if you’re serious about becoming a full-time blogger.
Squarespace is aimed more towards portfolio sites and eCommerce stores, with blogging as an added feature.
The website builder also lacks customization options for fine-tuning your website.
WordPress is my top recommendation if you want to be serious about blogging.
With WordPress, you can choose from thousands of themes, free or paid. You can download page builders like WP Bakery to help customize your blog to perfection.
There are also tens of thousands of plugins that can add heaps of features to your website.
You can download plugins like RankMath to help you succeed in SEO, WP Rocket to speed up your site, Grow Social by Mediavine to add share buttons to your site.
While there is a learning curve to WordPress, it isn’t as hard as you might think.
I was a complete beginner at the start of this year, and with time and patience, I’ve been able to create a nice-looking blog.
Squarespace is a good option if you want to build a site quickly, but if you want complete control over your site’s appearance, better SEO features, and a cheaper platform, you should go with WordPress.
Which Platform Should You Choose: Squarespace or WordPress?
Quite frankly, the decision of choosing between Squarespace and WordPress is entirely up to you.
If you want an all-in-one website builder that includes your domain name, hosting, and themes in one spot, then Squarespace is a great option.
Or, if you want a cheaper platform that’s highly customizable, a bit more technical, but excellent for monetization, then WordPress is a great option.
Like I’ve stated, the decision is up to you. If you want to have an authentic blogging experience with many monetization options, you should choose WordPress.
However, if you want to create a blog or a portfolio site that’s easy to navigate and customize (with 24/7 support), then choose Squarespace by all means.
Wrapping Up: Is Squarespace good for blogging?
So that wraps up the question of ‘is Squarespace good for blogging?’
I think Squarespace is an excellent option for bloggers who want to create a stunning website in no time. With over 100 beautiful templates, you’ll be able to launch a blog within a day.
While it is a pricier option compared to WordPress, if you want your domain name, web hosting, and themes all in one spot (and already done for you), then Squarespace is a great choice.
Regardless, the choice is entirely up to you, and it is made easier through Squarespace’s 14-day free trial.
Is Squarespace good for blogging? Let me know in the comments below!
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