Can you make money with a blog on Squarespace?

If your business has an online presence and it's not a website or product but rather a series of blogs about topics that interest you, then there's probably a good chance you've been considering using Squarespace to run the site(s).

Squarespace offers many different pricing plans depending on how much functionality they offer, where you're located (if anywhere), and what kind of web app you need. But if you're interested in starting a blog, here are some things to consider before choosing Squarespace over other platforms.

First off, does Squarespace even have blog templates?

Yes, absolutely. You'll find plenty of great starter blog templates on Squarespace's main page. There are several themes specifically designed for bloggers and content creators like writers, photographers, designers, etc. If you're looking for something simple and sleek, I highly recommend checking out their Blog theme. It looks exactly like any regular WordPress installation when viewed from the frontend.

But let me ask...are all these people who use this platform going through every single step just so they could post pictures and write about whatever interests them? Do they really think anyone would care about their latest project? My guess is no. And neither should you.

Here's why...

The reason most people choose Squarespace is because it feels more professional than Tumblr. With Squarespace, you get to set up a beautiful domain name, pick your own hosting service, and enjoy unlimited bandwidth and storage space. All without having to worry about making sure everything gets uploaded properly. Plus it doesn't matter whether you know HTML code or CSS code -- Squarespace will do it automatically.

And while you don't necessarily need a designer to create a pretty design, Squarespace makes designing easy as well. Just click "Design" under the dashboard menu item at the top left corner of your screen. From there, select either the freebie option or one of their paid designs. They also provide access to tons of premade layouts that look fantastic right out of the box. In fact, they give away thousands of dollars worth of premium items each month for free.

So now we understand why Squarespace isn't made for everyone. Let's talk about why you might want to start a blog on another platform instead.

Is Squarespace best for blogging?

No, definitely not. Why? Because you won't be able to customize anything unless you hire someone else to help you. That means if you already have a logo and branding, you're stuck with those. Also, once you publish posts, you lose control over which pages show up first. On Squarespace, you can only add new posts in categories and tags. Once published, you won't see any changes until the next time you log into your account.

On a Squarespace blog, you can only upload images within albums (i.e., you cannot embed photos directly or resize image sizes). This is fine if you plan on creating photo slideshows, but if you want to include videos or links back to sites/articles outside of Squarespace, you must install a third-party plugin called Jetpack. Yes, you read correctly. Squarespace forces you to pay $199 per year to avoid installing plugins yourself.

Another thing to note is that unlike Wordpress, adding comments to your posts requires registering a separate user profile. When publishing a post, you may notice it says "Anonymous," which means this person didn't register a Squarespace account and therefore did not sign in during creation. So yeah, anonymous users aren't allowed to comment. Pretty lame.

As far as analytics go, Squarespace provides basic stats such as total number of visitors, average visit duration, referral sources, and traffic trends. However, Google Analytics integration is limited to certain countries and regions. For example, in North America, you can only track visits originating from Canada or the US.

It's important to remember that if you decide to move forward with setting up a blog on Squarespace, you may encounter problems later down the road. As mentioned above, Squarespace keeps tabs on the stuff you're doing within its system. What happens if you delete a post, change category names, remove sections, or otherwise mess around with things too drastically? Well, they keep track of all of that data for future reference.

In short, Squarespace is good for building static websites, but bad for dynamic ones. I'm sorry, but I'd say stick to Squarespace if you're planning on selling products. Otherwise, try blogging elsewhere.

Which template is best for blogger?

For starters, you can always opt to use the default Blog layout. Or, if you feel creative, you can build your own custom blog from scratch by selecting one of Squarespace's pre-made templates. Either way works.

To view all available options, head over to the Template Gallery section on Squarespace's homepage. Then simply scroll down to find your favorite style. Of course, there are dozens upon dozens of awesome choices ranging from modern minimalism to vintage glamour. Pick one you love and follow along below.

Once you settle on a specific template, you can begin editing it further. To edit a particular element, hover your mouse over it and select Edit Templates & Design Elements. Alternatively, type in /templates [your chosen template] in the search bar.

Now, I chose a few different options since my budget was small. First, I decided to use the same color scheme throughout my entire website. Next, I tweaked the header banner slightly to match my brand identity. Lastly, I added two rows of icons underneath a large picture near the bottom of my webpage. These were meant to represent additional services offered via my blog. Now, whenever readers come across my articles, they'll immediately recognize that I am capable of offering them similar services.

Of course, this is optional. Feel free to adapt my ideas however you wish. After all, Squarespace gives you complete freedom to modify elements as long as you stay within the confines of your selected template.

Lastly, if you're curious about how to integrate social media buttons into your Squarespace blog, take a peek at our guide.

Which Squarespace template is best?

Honestly, there's nothing wrong with any of them. Each template comes equipped with features such as unlimited email addresses, password protection, RSS feeds, and more. Some are better suited towards photographers, others focus on writers. Choose whichever fits your needs best, as long as you meet their minimum requirements.

For instance, the Traveler template includes built-in SEO tools for optimizing your title and description. Additionally, the Writer template allows you to easily manage multiple accounts from one location. Another cool feature is that you can schedule posts ahead of time. Want to release a bunch of fresh material at once? No problem. Simply hit Publish and watch your audience grow.

One last tip: If you haven't noticed already, Squarespace uses a grid format for displaying information. Therefore, if you're used to tweaking your word count manually on WordPress, you're bound to struggle with that aspect on Squarespace. Fortunately, you can adjust article length using a slider found beneath each entry.

Does Squarespace have blog templates?

Absolutely! Check out Squarespace's blog templates under the Template Gallery tab on their home page. Again, you'll find hundreds of gorgeous options that range from classic to trendy. You're guaranteed to find something you like regardless of your niche.

Like I said earlier, I went with Blog since I wanted something clean yet colorful. At least Squarespace lets you tweak colors quite extensively. Unlike other platforms, changing font size, background color, text alignment, spacing between paragraphs, bullet points, and margins takes very little effort.

Is Squarespace expensive?

Compared to other platforms, Squarespace is actually fairly affordable. Their cheapest package starts at $8.95 per month, whereas Microsoft Hosting costs $21.99 monthly.

However, if you want to host your own website, you'll end up paying extra. Not only is it costlier compared to a managed solution, but you also end up giving up certain functionalities such as SSL certificates, ecommerce capabilities, and 24/7 support.

With that being said, Squarespace is a great place to start if you're still undecided. Try out a trial subscription to see if it suits your needs. If you decide to continue beyond that period, it's cheaper than paying full price annually.

Still confused? Take a closer look at what Squarespace offers versus what you currently use.

I've been using Squarespace for years and years -- they're great. But it's not just me... their community of loyal users also love them to bits. If you have an online business or hobby site that needs hosting (and who doesn't these days?) then there's probably no better option out there than Squarespace.  They offer everything from personal websites to e-commerce stores, all in one easy-to-use platform. They even come with built-in analytics so you know what's working well.

But does this mean everyone will be able to monetise their sites easily too? Will your content get enough views to cover the costs of running your blog? And how exactly are you supposed to earn anything if you don't put up ads anywhere on your site? Well, we'll take a look at some possible options below.

Does Squarespace pay you?

Squarespace has recently started offering Bloggers as part of its "Pro" plan. This includes being able to add custom domains to your posts, edit pages without needing a login, upload images and videos, create galleries, etc., amongst other things. It might seem like most people would already be paying customers by now but, let us explain why adding bloggers isn't quite the same thing yet.

The main reason Squarespace offers paid plans over free ones is because they need the income to keep their lights on. While Squarespace itself may not be making much profit, the company still has to pay its staff salaries, rent, taxes, insurance, etc. Plus, Squarespace wants to keep giving away premium services until the end of time -- after all, they'd rather have happy clients than annoyed ones.

So while Squarespace may not be profitable right now, they are definitely looking into finding more revenue streams to help support themselves, including potentially incorporating advertising on blogs hosted within the service. That said, Squarespace won't actually start charging you unless you upgrade to Pro yourself, which means you're taking Squarespace's word for it that they'll eventually charge you. You could always try contacting customer support and asking about the possibility of adding adverts to your site, but chances are they won't say anything definitive either way.

That said, Squarespace isn't going to stop you putting banners on your own domain name. In fact, Squarespace recommends doing this anyway. Just search for "squarespace blogger", click Create Site & Design, scroll down past the different themes available, find Blogger, select Custom Domain, and follow the instructions provided. Then simply sign up for Google Adsense and begin generating ad earnings.

If you decide to go ahead with this method, bear in mind that your blog mustn't contain adult material, illegal drugs, gambling, weapons, pornography, hate speech, etc. Also note that having a link back to your Squarespace blog on your Google Adsense account will result in losing your entire page view count.

Can you monetize on Squarespace?

Now here's where it gets interesting. As mentioned above, Squarespace only allows you to place adverts on your Squarespace blog if you purchase their pro package, meaning anyone else trying to run a similar blog on Squarespace will be unable to generate additional income through a combination of adverts and subscriptions. However, Squarespace does allow advertisers to target specific demographics based upon location, age group, interests, gender, etc. And unlike Facebook Ads, you aren't limited to only showing your advert once per day, week, month, year, etc.

This gives Squarespace an advantage over many traditional web hosts when it comes to placing ads on blogs. Instead of relying solely on monthly subscription fees, Squarespace lets you set each post's price individually. What's more, the minimum amount of visitors needed to stay listed on the frontpage is significantly lower compared to other platforms such as HostGator, GoDaddy, Dreamhost, BlueHost, WP Engine, etc.

However, despite this flexibility, Squarespace does restrict certain types of advertisements. For instance, you cannot advertise affiliate products, nor sell physical goods directly via the platform. Neither can you include links in your articles pointing towards external resources, though you can embed YouTube videos within your posts. Finally, you cannot display banner adds next to your article titles, instead opting to stick with standard sidebars.

Also worth noting is that Squarespace makes all of its profits off of providing Premium Services such as unlimited bandwidth, email accounts, private SSL certificates, 24/7 live chat support, priority server response times, extra storage space, dedicated IP addresses, and more. Therefore, squandering your allotted disk space or bandwidth allowance by uploading large media files will cost you dearly.

In short, Squarespace is really good value for money, especially considering how affordable it keeps its prices.

Here's another tip regarding selling digital items using Squarespace. A couple of months ago, Squarespace released a new feature called Digital Goods. Simply log into your Squarespace dashboard, navigate to Settings & Digital Goods, check Enable Digital Goods, and enter your payment details. Once you've done this, whenever someone purchases something from your store, you will receive 70% commission.

You can also choose whether to send Digital Good receipts straight onto buyers' credit cards or wait until you reach $100 in total sales before cashing out. Either way, you should see those commissions show up on your bank statement sometime between 8am - 10pm EST every month.

Can you use AdSense on any website?

One last question: can you use AdSense on any website? Yes you can! All you need to do is head over to Google Adsense's Help Centre [No Longer Available] and complete their simple 5 step guide detailing how to setup your first AdWords campaign. After setting up your Campaigns, you can then proceed to creating your Ad Groups and selecting relevant keywords.

Once again, however, remember that displaying a single banner across the top of your webpage will reduce your overall traffic drastically. Try sticking to small image sizes and high quality content to increase the likelihood of clicks.

And finally, don't forget to enable automatic updates. When enabled, Squarespace automatically inserts preloaded adverts into your pages and archives. You can manually remove them if necessary.

How do I promote my Squarespace website?

As previously stated, Squarespace encourages bloggers to host their sites on their own domain names. Not only will this give you greater control over your blog's appearance, but it will also prevent any potential harm caused by cross-browser compatibility issues.

To achieve this, simply visit your Dashboard, click Sites, hover over your chosen theme, click Show Menu icon, then Edit Page Name. Now input the correct URL address for your blog (e.g. http://yoursitehere.com) and save changes. Repeat steps five and six for each individual page, ensuring to change the title bar accordingly.

If you'd prefer to retain full ownership of your blog, Squarespace provides several methods of promoting your site. Firstly, you can submit your blog to social bookmarking websites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Reddit, Delicioid, FaveIt, Delicious, Technorati, MovableType, WordPress, Tumblr, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, Google Bookmarks, Yahoo Bookmarks, LiveJournal, MySpace Directory, Squidoo Lens, Weblinks, Bitly Short Links, SocialMention Topical Charts, and FeedBurner RSS feeds. Secondly, you can write guest blog posts on related websites, plus mention your blog within your bio section. Thirdly, you can consider getting involved with SEO techniques such as submitting your site to keyword research tools, building backlinks, writing meta tags, etc. Lastly, you can contact fellow bloggers and ask them to review your posts.

Hopefully our tips helped clear some confusion around how Squarespace works. There's nothing stopping you from pursuing your passion project and turning it into a successful blog on Squarespace, provided you're willing to work hard and learn the ropes. Oh, and don't feel bad if you haven't upgraded to the Pro version just yet -- Squarespace wouldn't exist today were it not for a lot of passionate individuals sharing their knowledge through independent tutorials, forums, message boards, and blog comments. Take a leaf out of their book and share yours!

Have you tried running a blog on Squarespace? How was your experience? Do you think Squarespace will ever incorporate adverts on regular user blogs? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.

Squarespace vs. Wordpress: which platform should you choose for your next website or blog? There's no doubt that WordPress has become the most popular content management system (CMS) of choice for many bloggers and online publishers. But why do so many people still opt to go with Squarespace instead? Is it better value for money? And if not, how does Squarespace compare in terms of security? We investigate...

Is Squarespace as good as WordPress?

The main reason Squarespace remains popular even today -- despite its limited features and services -- is due to two factors: simplicity and ease-of-use. In fact, Squarespace's user interface (UI) is said to be "strikingly similar" to Apple products such as Mac OS X and iOS devices like iPhones and iPads. It also resembles Google's Material Design principles. According to Business Insider, one reviewer described their experience using Squarespace as being akin to having an iPhone running Android.

In contrast, the UI of Wordpress looks outdated by comparison. Despite updates over the years, there have been some major changes since 2003 when the first version was released. For example, at present, only 5% of all websites worldwide run on Wordpress according to W3Techs. This means that 95% of users don't get access to any of those advanced features we take for granted today. Instead they're stuck with basic functionality like adding posts, pages, categories, tags, etc. With this limitation, it makes sense that so many would prefer something simpler.

Another advantage Squarespace boasts over other CMS platforms is its integration with third party apps. You can connect Squarespace to Slack, Trello, Asana, GitHub, Zapier, Mailchimp, PayPal, Uber, Facebook Pages, Twitter Cards, and much more. While this may seem overwhelming at first glance, once you learn about each app's benefits, it becomes apparent that these connections will prove invaluable.

For instance, connecting your email list with MailChimp allows visitors to subscribe via email without ever leaving the site itself. Connecting your Stripe account gives readers the option to pay directly from within the web page. Or perhaps you'd rather integrate your social media profiles into your site? That's possible too using tools such as Social Oomph, Buffer, Hootsuite, TweetDeck, Klout, LinkedIn Pulse, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Dribble, Storify, SoundCloud, Foursquare, Yelp and others.

With Squarespace, you'll never need to worry about installing plugins or worrying about whether your theme supports widgets. They've got everything covered.

Is Squarespace cheaper than WordPress?

Yes and No. If you purchase Squarespace through our link here then you could save up to $50 off the monthly subscription fee. However, depending upon what you plan to build, Squarespace might end up costing more per month. To see just how much more, check out Dave LeClair's article on exactly how expensive Squarespace really is. He breaks down the costs associated with hosting, domain name registration, themes, design, marketing, and SEO.

If you decide to host your own site with WP Engine, expect to spend anywhere between $20-$30/month based on traffic levels. On top of this, there are additional fees for things like SSL certificates ($99), CDN service ($29), custom domains ($59). All told, it'll cost around $250/year to run a single medium size website hosted by WP Engine. Not cheap at all.

But let's assume you already know what kind of site you intend to create and stick solely to Squarespace's offer. Then you could potentially save yourself hundreds of dollars every year. After signing up, you'll receive a free 15 day trial period during which time you can start building your site. Once you've completed your project(s), you can cancel your Squarespace subscription before paying the full price. Alternatively, sign up for a 12 or 24 month subscription after completing the trials.

On average, Squarespace's prices vary across different countries. Prices range from £6.95/mo to €15.00/mo. What's interesting though is that while UK customers pay less per month overall, US residents actually end up spending more because of higher taxes. By contrast, Australian citizens enjoy lower pricing but benefit from GST charges applied to goods purchased abroad.

Note: Don't forget that Squarespace offers multiple plans for businesses and individuals alike. These include business accounts ranging from Starter, Standard, Plus, Premium, Enterprise, Developer, Education, Agency and Professional. There's also a Squarespace Classroom where teachers and students can share resources and collaborate easily. Lastly, if you're looking to publish eBooks, magazines, catalogues, greeting cards, or posters, look no further than Squarespace Print.

Is WordPress more secure than Squarespace?

WordPress' biggest strength lies in its robust plugin library. Today, anyone who wants to customize their site beyond the default options can find thousands of quality plugins available to download. Plugins extend WordPress capabilities far past what's offered natively. For example, did you know that you can add a contact form to your homepage using a simple widget? Or maybe you'd like to replace your current sitemap with a new one written in XML format? Both of these tasks require nothing more than a quick search in the WordPress Plugin Directory.

As of 2014, WordPress boasted over 80 million active installs. At least part of this success stems from the open source nature of WordPress. Anyone can contribute to the core development team. Furthermore, there's a dedicated support forum for tackling problems. Like with Squarespace, you won't need to install anything extra on your server besides the standard PHP, MySQL & Apache software stack. Security patches come automatically.

While both systems provide excellent security, keep in mind that neither company actively monitors sites for malicious activity. Hackers often target known vulnerabilities to gain unauthorized entry into databases and compromise sensitive data. A skilled hacker could theoretically disable critical security measures and steal passwords right out from under you.

To prevent hackers from getting inside your site, ensure that you update your WordPress installation regularly. Also, consider upgrading to the latest versions of both WordPress and WooCommerce.

Does Squarespace use WordPress?

No, but Squarespace uses Woocommerce. Woocommerce is a proprietary application built exclusively for Squarespace. Unlike WordPress, Woocommerce doesn't allow you to modify code. Rather, it provides pre-built templates designed specifically for Squarespace. One way this differs from regular self-hosted WordPress blogs is that the latter give developers complete freedom to alter template files.

Nonetheless, all Squarespace templates are fully customizable. Your site can feature whatever layout you desire including columns, sliders, carousels, galleries, banners, headers, footers, and more. Best of all, unlike Wordpress, your designs aren't locked behind a login screen. Anybody with HTML knowledge can edit them themselves.

So, now you understand the advantages and disadvantages of both Squarespace and Wordpress. Hopefully, you're able to pick whichever suits your needs best. Which ones have worked well for you? Do you rely on specific Squarespace or Wordpress plugins? Share your thoughts below.