How To Choose The Right Squarespace Website Template For Your Business
Now that you’ve finally decided to build your website, there is another overwhelming mountain to climb: choosing the right Squarespace Website template for your business. Yikes!
Unfortunately, many DIY designers only consider the aesthetics of a template, rush to purchase the template, and find out that they’ve signed up for more than they expected. Sooner or later, they find out that the template doesn’t have the necessary pages they wanted, doesn’t come with certain elements, and isn’t the best fit for their business needs. Other business owners make significant edits to their purchased templates and realize they’ve ended up with an ugly-looking website they despise.
As an experienced web designer, I have helped numerous small business owners create functional and visually appealing, websites. I would also like to help you make the right decision when purchasing a Squarespace website template. In addition, this article will extensively explain what to look for in every template and specific questions or decisions you must make before buying a template. Lastly, you will learn how to edit your purchased template to give you a million-buck view.
So, stay with me as we go through this guide.
Why You Need To Choose The ‘Right’ Website Template
Hold up! Before we start going into the necessary stuff, we have to understand why choosing the right website template is crucial before you start building.
Nobody wants to waste so much money and spend long hours or days on a template and later find out they’ve made a colossal mistake. Of course, that will hurt. Therefore, choosing a template must go beyond just the aesthetics (even though it also has a huge role to play)
To Save Yourself Time and Stress
When selecting a website template, it's crucial to take into account the website's layout, the placement of its elements, and its included pages. But beyond these factors, it's essential to also consider your business needs and target audience. Don't worry, though - we'll delve into all of these aspects later in the article.
By having all of these factors clearly outlined, you'll save yourself a ton of money, avoid unnecessary questioning, and spare yourself hours of watching unhelpful tutorials. As a busy business owner, you don't need to add "web designer" to your list of titles. Instead, opt for a Squarespace template that suits your needs and can be easily edited within a few days.
Benefits of using a Premium Squarespace Template for Web Design
Many small business owners and DIY designers usually wonder why it is necessary to purchase a Squarespace template instead of using the default template provided by Squarespace. Well, the default Squarespace templates are limited and have been used over and again by millions of websites, which magnifies the chances of your website looking like another random website on the internet. The ripple effect is that it will reduce the authenticity of your brand and business, which can be detrimental.
On the other hand, Premium Squarespace Templates are designed by professional designers and spread across various business niches. So, you’ll always find a perfect template for your niche, and you are not left alone to figure it out. Here are more benefits
Curated Elements and Strategic Layout
A premium Squarespace template makes everything easy for you. One, you already know where to insert all the elements for your design. The templates come with placeholder images that you can easily replace with your brand’s images. They come with Call-To-Action buttons, so you don’t have to worry about designing that from scratch, and you also have an idea of the copy length necessary for each section.
In addition, you get a strategic layout that follows the guideline of website design. The psychology of design tells designers how to arrange each section to lead to a great and positive user experience. Each page, especially the home page, must be designed in a particular scheme to lead to high conversions. Fortunately, if you purchase a premium Squarespace website that professional web designers created, be rest assured that your website is built for the highest conversion.
Marketing/Sales-Oriented Design
The end purpose of each website is to sell, market, or inform. Therefore, the design must work towards that goal. Every premium template works with a sales end goal in mind. They are usually designed to reduce bounce rate and convey a clear, compelling message that entices and retains your target audience.
Follows Design Guidelines
Professional Web Designers must follow specific design guidelines to create empathetic, aesthetic, and functional designs. With a professional website template from our store, you won’t have to worry about whether your website follows the necessary design guidelines because it does!
Elaborate Tutorial and Support
Unlike free templates, premium templates come with a tutorial guide or video that teaches you how to set up and customize your Squarespace website template. In other words, you are not left alone to figure it out. Having this guide makes setting up your website super easy.
Shop on Our Squarespace Template Library Today!
Our templates were designed to make your website convert, attract your right target audience and increase your sales rate. You won’t have to worry about spending long hours setting up your website. They have been carefully designed to contain everything you need. All you need to do is follow the tutorial, add your images, and copy!
How To Choose The Right Squarespace Squarespace Website Template: A Complete Guide
You won’t have to spend days looking for the perfect template, and second guessing on your choice if you follow these steps I have outlined.
There are essential questions and decisions you have to make before you choose a premium template. Most premium templates are well-designed, but they all satisfy various business needs. Therefore, you must know and understand what your business needs are. So, let’s take an in-depth look at choosing the right website template.
Understand Your Business Needs
Identify the Purpose and Goals of your Website
Every business has a specific problem it aims to solve. Therefore, you must understand and note down what the website you are about to build is solving. What is the purpose of making your website? Is it to reach out to more people through blogs or to sell products? If you are selling products, are they physical or digital products? Do you want to create a membership area? Are you aiming at subscriptions? Is it a personal website to showcase your portfolio or to have an online presence?
Knowing the answers to these questions will give you an idea of the website you are trying to build and the template that will satisfy those needs.
Determine the key features and functionalities.
Once you answer the first question, the next thing to consider is the key features and functionalities your website will house. You should think of
The number of pages: The first question to ask yourself is, ‘What are the most important pages my website must have?’. For all websites, a homepage is a prerequisite. However, other pages are peculiar to your business niche. Therefore, you must list all the pages you need to run a successful website.
When doing this, ensure you include the pages necessary for the stage of your business. New pages can indeed be added depending on the growth of your business, but if you are certain that other pages are not necessary, don’t bother about it.
For example, a freelancer just starting may not need a blog page at the moment, and a business selling courses cannot do without a course page.
Important Sections/features: Will you need a menu section? Will a Gallery Section amplify your services? There are significant sections that are not necessarily pages that can significantly help your website. Therefore, it is important also to take that into account. Although the right template won’t come up with all the sections that you desire, at least it is better that you are not designing all the sections from scratch.
Consider Your Target Audience and Their Preference
Purchasing a template is beyond the aesthetics and your business needs; you also have to consider your target audience and their preferences. A typical example is a kid’s themed website template; it has to come with fun, bright colors and spooky cartoons that interest kids. Imagine using a black-and-white, minimalist Squarespace template for the kid’s website. We will both agree that the template isn’t wrong, but it isn’t suitable for the purpose of the website.
If your target audience are females, you want a template with warmer colors, feminine and soft font choices, and a more relatable look. If it is for males, you want a more masculine-oriented template.
Consider The Niche and Layout Of The Template
Each template has a specific industry that it is perfect for. An important factor that gets ignored is whether you like the template layout. Remember, you purchase a premium template mainly because all the work has been done for you, not to start doing another work. Therefore, ensure you find the website aesthetically pleasing and functional enough to fit your business needs and target audience.
Do not purchase a website with the aim of redesigning the whole layout. It is just not worth it. Besides, the end goal is to save time and set up your website quickly.
Examples Of Squarespace Templates For Various Industries
Many premium templates are explicitly designed for various business industries. There are realtor website templates, content-oriented website templates, Estheticians and beauty templates, portfolio templates, etc. Let’s take a look at some of these templates. Note that all the templates listed below are up for purchase.
Alia - Coaching Squarespace Template
Starting with this stunning coaching template, you will realize that the template was designed specifically for coaches and speakers. You can tell through the content, images, and pages included on the website.
There are four main pages on the website template, which are focused on the coaching niche. You have the Services page where you can list your coaching packages/prices and give elaborate explanations on each if necessary. The Portfolio page is perfect for highlighting testimonials from past clients and the experiences and certifications you have as a coach. It comes with extra pages that include a blog, Instagram page, contact, and courses page. The extra pages can be added or hidden from viewers, depending on the stage of your business.
Alia gives any coach/public speaker a professional website that gives them a cutting edge over other coaches. The home page was also designed with sales and retention in mind.
Nothing stops you from having a website if you are a nail technician, a hairstylist, and the rest. Colorful was designed for beauty businesses that want an online presence. You’ll realize that there is extensive use of images in this template because it is super necessary to tell a story and convince your prospective clients through your past work.
Also, since there would be a physical business (or a home service) behind the website, there is a need for a content system (blog) to bring awareness to the website and build trust. Therefore there is a blog page.
Another thing is the CTA button. You instantly see an Appointment button staring right at you, no matter where you scroll, because that is the most important action you want your visitors to take.
This is for you if you are a social media manager or marketer wanting a personal service website. You’ll first notice a strong copy highlighting the person’s skill and unique proposition.
Each page contains a strong copy that keeps the visitor going and comes with versatile pages necessary to seal a deal. Also, take note of the strategic layout that builds up interest as you scroll through the website.
You will realize that each template listed above suits a specific industry and would fail woefully if used outside of its jurisdiction. Therefore, you must choose a premium Squarespace website that suits your business industry.
For more templates, Check out our template shop.
How to Customize Your Premium Template
As important as purchasing the right website is, you can easily mess everything up if you don’t know how to customize your premium template. It is called a template because everything has been designed, so little editing needs to be done.
Curate Your Copy and Images before Editing
The mistake many DIY designers make is editing right away after buying a template. Before you change anything on your new template, ensure that you have already curated everything you need for changes.
For your copy, go through the template and note the necessary copy to input at each section. After that, open a new Google Docs File and write your copy for each section. If you love to add a new section or extra copy, ensure you have the copy written down.
For images, note the style of the images on the template—source for images that go with your website's tone and brand. Going for gray, black, and white photos when your website theme is a fun and spooky look will make it look odd and unauthentic.
In addition, arrange your images into folders and save them as JPGs for a better experience.
If you want to change some colors in the template, ensure that you’re not changing all the colors and that the color to be changed matches the images you’ve selected an your brand color. Also, put into consideration your brand colors when going for your template.
When You Want To Make Edits
If you need to change a particular font or color, ensure that you find a font that looks similar or complements the other fonts used in the template. Changing the font without considering whether it will complement the remaining fonts may pose a big problem. Also, if you are changing colors, ensure that the color complements your images and the other colors used in the template.
Note: Edit as little as possible to avoid issues. The images and copy are the most important things to replace in a premium template. Apart from that, edit only when it is indispensable.
Therefore, picking the template you like that will satisfy your business need is essential.
Don’t Know How To Start Building Your Website? Purchase A Website Template!
What is holding you back from building your Squarespace website? Is it the fear of messing things up? Use a premium template from our library. Is it because you don’t have a design background? Rely on this guide and follow the steps. Is it because you don’t know how to start? Just start!
You need an online presence more than ever, especially at this time. A professional website is the only way to get more customers and exposure. If you want a functional website that converts and still looks like a million bucks, head to our template library right now!
There are tons of templates that fit every business need. Whether you want a portfolio, a social media template for various social media platforms, or an industry-specific template, you’ll find it all in our template library.
..What if you don’t have the time and prefer a web designer to set up the template and get your website ready without you clicking the mouse or dragging an element? Then contact me! I am prepared to help you through this website-building stage!