WordPress or Squarespace…
How do you choose the right platform for your blog?
Need to build a brand new website or just do a makeover of your existing site?
With so many great website builder options like WordPress or Squarespace available how do you know which is the right solution for your business?
Confusing or maybe just plain overwhelming isn’t it?
I’ve been discussing the decision of whether to use WordPress or Squarespace with one of my buddies Megan Krause. She’s currently in the process of building a new site to support her online business.
She’s been going back and forth between whether she should use WordPress or Squarespace to build her website for the long haul.
We had a really great discussion and in this article, I want to use our discussion to help you choose the best way to build or update your website by going over the pros and cons of 2 of the most popular options.
WordPress or Squarespace:
How to make the right choice for your business
Okay so you are probably wondering why I didn’t include more options…let’s tackle that question first and then we’ll dive right into the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision.
I’m in a lot of online forums and Facebook groups where people ask questions all the time about websites. And the two most frequently asked questions are regarding WordPress or Squarespace.
According to a PC magazine recent review, the highest rated website builders are Wix, Duda (never heard of anyone using Duda) and Squarespace. I could have included Wix but again not many online entrepreneurs I’ve come into contact with are using this to build a website.
So based on my research and my conversation I choose to keep the comparison relatively narrow by addressing WordPress and Squarespace in my review here.
Let’s start with the pros and cons of WordPress
WordPress is currently the #1 most popular website builder in the world and accounts for one-fifth of all sites according to recent statistics. WordPress is our choice for building websites for our clients due to its flexibility and ease of customization, powerful features and ability to grow with their businesses.
Many times, we work with brand new clients and start with a smaller version with only 1-3 pages. Doing this allows them to not have to overbuild and add on as their business needs grow.
Rarely do I suggest to new clients to build a site using Leadpages or Click Funnels as it just gives them a solid foundation for their business.
Why do things twice? And often building a site on those platforms can cost the same as building a simpler site using WordPress.
Pros of using WordPress
• You can use WordPress to easily build any kind of website you are looking for 1000´s of Premium Designed Themes
• You have a wide range of sophisticated SEO plugins available – We recommend using Yoast SEO to optimize your content for more organic traffic WordPress is optimized for mobile browsing
• Creating / Editing Your Own Content is Easy
• Customizable Design and Layouts
• Also allows you to edit HTML & CSS
• Lower setup and maintenance costs
Cons of using WordPress:
• Can be confusing at first to navigate and learn WordPress
• You need to maintain your site at least 2x/month to keep it running efficiently and securely
• Not all plugins are great… you need to choose carefully
• Can be expensive to create a bigger site
The pros and cons of Squarespace
A lot of entrepreneurs are attracted to Squarespace because they are on tight timeframes and budgets.
That being said it, gets praise for its simple and powerful customization tools and classy templates that make it super simple to launch a new site in a very short amount of time.
Megan told me that one of the reasons she loves Squarespace so much is not just that it is easy, because as she works on her site she can see how the site will look live as she’s building it.
I mean…how cool is that?!
Pros of using Squarespace:
• Beautiful templates
• Easy to set up and create a great looking website
• Fast to build and you can see how it looks each step of the way
• All in one platform meaning they handle the hosting for you
• Great customer support
But let’s talk about why you might want to not be lured into building a site using Squarespace and instead go the WordPress route…
Cons of using Squarespace:
• Less flexible to customize than WordPress
• Squarespace limits you to two levels of navigation so if you are looking to build a more complex site in the future you will want to avoid it.
• Squarespace offers limited integrations (they don’t offer plugins)
• Their e-commerce plans only allow Stripe, Apple Pay, and PayPal for payment processing. You cannot add additional payment gateways.
• You cannot export your content if you decide to switch platforms
• It restricts where you can send data you capture on your site…meaning you are limited to what email provider you can work with.
• You cannot create a single form and insert it on any page you like
• If you are looking to get organic traffic Squarespace is much more difficult to optimize for SEO.
After an in-depth conversation weighing the pro’s and cons, Megan and I concluded that it was okay for her to get started using Squarespace due to her budget and time constraints.
WordPress or Squarespace
Here’s what we decided…
After fleshing out the pro’s and con’s of WordPress and Squarespace, we agreed that long-term she would be better served building her site using WordPress because of these things:
1. More functionality and customization available with WordPress
2. Able to build a more complex site
3. More integrations available with things like leadpages which becomes more important if you want to maximize your list building efforts
4. Ability to perform better on page SEO with WordPress resulting in more organic traffic.
Here’s my advice… if you are considering either using WordPress or Squarespace and want to build a website that is going to grow as your business does, it makes sense to take a little more time and build your site for the long haul using WordPress.
You can start smaller and build it up over time…and it is possible to do a lot of the work yourself! We’re getting ready to launch an all-new WordPress Bootcamp where you can get your website built with our help for as little as $697.
Interested in learning more about the WordPress Bootcamp?…get your name on the waiting list and we’ll notify you when we open enrollment!
