I recently had the pleasure of working with a new client, Essence of Life Therapy (EoLT) to refresh their website and improve their optimization. EoLT’s website was created previously in SquareSpace by another company and they weren’t happy with the overall look or performance. When EoLT approached me to redesign their site, I had originally said it would be better for them to start over with WordPress, not only because I was more comfortable building in WP but that they would then have full control of their site, among other things. Full disclosure; I had never built a site in SquareSpace nor even “looked under the hood”. I knew WP and knew what I could deliver.
EoLT understood, they said others had said the same thing, however their budget was tight and they had originally invested quite a bit of money into the site and didn’t want to abandon it, so they asked if it was at all possible for me to redesign the existing site using SquareSpace. I reluctantly said I would give it a go, but made no promises to what I could deliver.
What I discovered, once I got in there and started to muck about was that it was very user-friendly, albeit I couldn’t access the code, I could understand the attraction for anyone who wasn’t savvy with HTML/CSS. The builder was easy to use, and quite intuitive. SEO within the backend is limited however it does exist and it is very easy to add for anyone unfamiliar with optimization. The other downside was the subscription that EoLT pays for didn’t allow for me to clone the site and work behind the scenes so every change I made was on the fly and live upon saving, which was a little daunting, but we got there in the end and they were over the moon excited with the outcome.
Why am I telling you this?
I know this is counterproductive because I am endorsing a solution that takes business away from me, but not everyone can afford to have a site built for them so, if you are interested in building your own site, SquareSpace is a good alternative, and I am more than willing to assist if required.
I read a comparison article following my SquareSpace experience, which inspired me to share. If you would like to read more about WordPress vs. SquareSpace you can find the article here.
