How do you set up a blog and start blogging? If you have been thinking about starting your own blog but are still wondering how to get started at all, which platform/site is good for your blog and what you should / should not do, this post is for you! In this post I go through how to start a blog on Squarespace.
What is Squarespace and why is it a good blogging platform?
Squarespace is a really easy-to-use website platform that works in a so-called drag-and-drop style. That means you can easily build a page with the visual editor and add different content simply by dragging it onto the page with your mouse. Unlike WordPress, for example, Squarespace suits beginners much better and requires no technical skills at all. So the learning curve on Squarespace is shorter. Squarespace is one of my favorites for building websites, because sites are quick to build, the platform is easy to use and the results look great.
Read more about building a Squarespace site in this post of mine
If you have read other articles about starting a blog, you have surely noticed that most of them almost always recommend the same things: the WordPress platform, a domain and server through Bluehost, buying a theme from a third-party theme library and so on. Then you are supposed to know how to combine it all into a working whole before you even get to the blog itself. You may also spend days on the site using WordPress, because different features require technical skills from time to time…
Squarespace does not have this problem. Squarespace was originally founded with blogging, visuals and ease of use in mind. It is fully hosted, and you can start adding images and text practically right after signing up. In principle you can get a site live in minutes, but by then you will hardly have had time to add and edit much content.
So how do you start blogging on Squarespace? Let's go through it next.
Start by checking the availability of the site name you want, i.e. the domain
A domain is your web address; for example, this site's domain is henrisilvan.com. I recommend doing this first, because it would be a real shame to spend time building a website only to find out at the end that the name is taken. You do not have to register the domain yet if you do not want to, but it is good to check its availability through Hostingpalvelu, for example.
Squarespace offers a free domain if you pay for a whole year at once. This applies to the first year and to .com domains, but the offer is definitely worth taking. The advantage is also that the domain is automatically connected to your site, and your blog has a professional address right away without you having to get a domain from an outside provider and connect it separately. Please note that you cannot get a .fi domain through Squarespace. I have used Hostingpalvelu.fi myself, but in practice any registrar for .fi domains will do.
If you do not want to pay for the whole year at once, no worries: Squarespace starts from about €11/month. Read more about Squarespace pricing here. In that case, however, the domain offer is not available and you have to pay for the domain separately.
TIP! Check that the name is also available on social media platforms if you want to use the same name for consistency.
Sign up for Squarespace
You can sign up for Squarespace here. Squarespace offers a two-week trial, which gives you plenty of time to test the platform's features and build yourself a great blog / website. Squarespace currently has two versions: 7.0 and 7.1. The latest version, 7.1, is definitely my recommendation.
When signing up, you need to choose a template / theme for your site. In version 7.1 all pages can be customized to be exactly alike, so there is no point spending too much time choosing a theme: pick the one you think best fits the style you want, so fewer changes are needed. Remember that everything can still be changed afterwards, so do not focus too much on this step. Once you have found a suitable template for your site, you will be asked to create an account to get started.
Now you have your own blog, yay!
Your blog's logo or title
The logo / title is one of the first things your readers see when they arrive on your site, so remember to make it easy to recognize and memorable. If you have a logo or want to change the site title (not a logo), you can easily add it on any page by clicking "Edit" in the top left and then "Edit site header". Under it you will find the logo option, where you can add your own logo and adjust its position and size.
Visual edits and content pages
In this article I will not cover editing and using Squarespace in depth; instead we focus especially on blogging and the blog settings (more on those below). Every website should still have a few pages besides the blog, which I briefly go through next:
Editing the home page
In the Squarespace editor, click "Pages" and then "Home" under it. This is the ready-made home page of the theme you chose. When you click the "Edit" button at the top, you can edit the home page's text, images, colors, layout and much more.
It is worth designing the home page so that a new visitor immediately understands what the site is about. I would also feature your latest blog posts on the home page (you can add them by clicking the ➕ button in the page editor and choosing the "Summary" section, then choosing the blog as its content).
Contact page and about page
You can also give your readers a way to get in touch, for example with a contact form on your site. You can write more information on an "about me / about the blog" page. You edit these in exactly the same way as the home page in the previous section.
Adding a blog post
The theme you chose may already include a blog, but if it does not, you can add one like this:
- Go to "Pages" from the home menu,
- Click the plus button next to "Main Navigation" and choose blog.
You can edit the blog page in practically the same way as other pages on Squarespace. The blog page also has a few extra features, such as the layout of blog posts, how many appear on the page and what content is shown before a post is opened.
Squarespace automatically creates a few draft blog posts that you can easily start editing by hovering over the title and clicking "edit". You can create a new blog post with the ➕ button.
What is especially great about blogging on Squarespace is that everything is so simple and straightforward. Come up with a title and type it in "Enter post title". You can start writing your blog text in the "write here" area. Add images, videos and any other elements too. You can add other elements, such as buttons, images, videos, carousels, maps etc., by clicking the blue ➕ sign below the text.
Setting up your blog post's settings
There are a few things to consider and choose in the settings when writing a blog post on Squarespace. You can edit these under "Settings":
Tags and categories
I always recommend adding tags and categories to your posts. They let you organize posts by topic and easily find posts in the future. For example, if you write a post about a road trip in Europe, you can add a "Europe" category to the site navigation, where readers can easily find your other European road trip posts too. You can also organize your posts with tags. The main difference is that categories should be much broader topics and there should be fewer of them. Usually one category per blog post is enough. Tags let you break your posts down in even more detail. Instead of Europe, you could use tags like "Budget accommodation tips in Italy" or "The most delicious restaurants in France".
Comments
I recommend keeping comments switched on unless you have a specific reason to close comments on your post. Allowing comments means your readers can interact with you and comment on your blog post, and comments also help your site rank higher in Google search.
Thumbnail image
This is very important to add, because it appears next to your post in your site's blog listing. Adding an image makes your blog post more interesting, and it gets clicked more often than title text alone. On Squarespace the thumbnail image also works as the default image if your post is shared on social media, for example.
The post's URL
Nobody likes looking at a blog post URL full of number combinations. The good thing about Squarespace is that by default it uses your blog post's title as the URL as well (unlike on WordPress, where this has to be set separately).
SEO title and description, i.e. page title and meta description
I always recommend checking the SEO title (page title) and SEO description (meta description) fields. Both appear in Google search and affect clicks and your site's optimization. The SEO title, i.e. Page Title, is best kept clear and short (about 50 characters). This is the clickable title in Google search. The Meta Description field can hold more text and should be a short (about 150 characters) description of what your blog post is about.
If you leave these fields empty, Squarespace automatically fills them with details from your post. That is not a bad option, but it is not always fully relevant and is often cut off.
Publishing your site and blog
Once you have added the content pages you want (home page, contact), written your first blog post and got the look the way you like it, it is time to publish your website! You do this from the Squarespace main menu under "Settings" ➡️ "Site availability". You will then be asked to choose a plan; you can read more about the differences between the plans here. After choosing, you move to payment, and once you have paid, your site is live immediately!
Please note that by default your domain is Squarespace's default domain (xxx.squarespace.com).
Connecting a domain to Squarespace and changing the primary domain
If you pay for a whole year of Squarespace membership at once, you get a free .com domain directly through Squarespace. I strongly recommend this, since the domain connects to your site automatically and is ready to use right away.
If you do not want to pay for the whole year at once or you want a .fi domain, connecting works like this:
- Choose "Settings" and under it "Domains".
- Choose "Use a domain I own" (connects an existing domain, such as a .fi domain) and type your domain in the address field.
- Choose "Connect from provider" and under it "Other".
- Add the required details, such as the CNAME records and A records, in the fields of your own domain management, after which the domain starts connecting. Please note that connecting an external domain may take a few hours.
Finally
Now you have a ready blog site on Squarespace! Next comes the biggest job, writing the blog itself. I hope this post gave you some ideas and, above all, gets you to explore what Squarespace can do. Having built numerous websites, it is my absolute choice and recommendation for a blog site.
Hi again! 👋 Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, and I really hope you use them. 🖤 Clicking a link costs you nothing extra, so feel free to explore the sites and tools recommended in this post. If you end up becoming a paying customer through my link, I get a small commission.
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