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Why Squarespace Is Great For Small Business Owners by Sierra Kellermeyer

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As a business owner in 2018, you know you need a website for your business. But there are an overwhelming amount of options out there for someone wanting to build their own website. It can be hard to figure out how to pick a platform.

If you’re trying to figure out how to get your business online, let me suggest Squarespace.

Let me tell you why.

IT’S COST-EFFECTIVE

If you’re a small business owner, you have to make smart financial decisions to keep your business running. This means balancing cost with functionality. Squarespace may not seem like the cheapest option at first glance, but it will save you money in unexpected ways.

Domain Hosting & Design In One Spot

You can purchase your domain name (www.exampleofadomainname.com) from Squarespace as well as design your website from the same login portal, which means you only have one monthly (or yearly, depending on how you choose to pay) bill for your website. You can also purchase your own email address using Google’s G-Suite through Squarespace for just $5/mo. So a basic website, with a custom domain and custom email address could cost you as little as $21/mo.

Customizable Templates

Custom-designed websites cost an arm and a leg, but you don’t have to muddle your way through a boring template in order to have a budget-conscious website. Squarespace templates are beautiful, with many options for customization, so you don’t have to choose between paying thousands of dollars for custom code or have a generic-looking website.

Mobile-Responsive Templates

In 2016, mobile users surpassed desktop users in overall internet use. (Source.) To create a mobile-responsive website usually involves a lot of extra coding, which means spending a lot more money on a web developer. However, ALL of Squarespace’s templates are already mobile-responsive, which means no extra costs for you! (Bonus! Mobile-responsive sites also rank higher on Google.)

IT’S EASY TO LEARN

Clean and Simple Backend

What I’ve found with website hosts cheaper than Squarespace is that while you may pay less out of pocket, their backend is so confusing that you waste hours of your life just figuring out how to change or update one thing on your website. In contrast, Squarespace’s layout is a toolbar with simple categories on the left-hand side of your screen with your website on the right. On top of that, any change to make to your website you can see in real time.

Excellent Tutorials

If the rest of the benefits hadn’t sold me on Squarespace, their tutorials would have. Their instructions are clear, thorough, and incredibly easy to follow. They even has specific tutorials for each template, so if you’re running into trouble with your website, you don’t have to follow generic instructions – you can find some directly related to your template and problem.

IT HAS EXCELLENT SUPPORT

I could have added this as a point under #2, but this is such a big deal in the website industry I thought I’d call special attention to it.

Every time I’ve made contact with the Squarespace support team, they’ve been courteous and efficient, and my issue has been resolved within 48 hours of my email. I find this especially important as a business owner, because having my website go down at all can cost me significant time and money. I never worry about that happening with Squarespace support just an email away.

No other website hosting platform has impressed me nearly as much as SquareSpace has, and they continue to add new templates and features. If you’re looking for a website solution for your business that won’t waste your time or money, I cannot recommend SquareSpace more.

Sierra Kellermeyer who helps business owners who are tired of their marketing efforts pulling “okay” results. She helps them stand out online by designing a noteworthy visual brand that attracts their ideal clients effortlessly. She says, “My favorite part of brand design is the marriage of creativity and strategy. I’m not simply creating something beautiful, I’m creating something beautiful that works and has a purpose.”

There’s a lot of misconception about visual branding, with people thinking it’s just about looking good, but it’s more than that. “Your visual brand is a communication tool, and if you’re only trying to make something that looks nice, rather than telling your audience about your business, you’re missing out.”

Sierra will be sharing her visual branding tips in February, May, August, and November. In the meantime, you can find her online at:

https://www.skellermeyerdesigns.com/
https://www.facebook.com/skellermeyerdesigns2014/

The Importance of Content in Social Media Marketing (via The Social Ms)

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FREE MARKETING!

That’s essentially what social media sites provide – an opportunity to promote events, share information, and connect with your clients all without having to pay for the service.

But is free worth it if it doesn’t work?

Suppose you own a flower shop, and someone volunteers to work for you for free, but she spends all of her time making sandwiches. Are her free services worth it?

Unfortunately, that happens all the time with social media. People set up accounts and start sharing information, but they don’t attract new customers or increase their online traffic. At that point, you’re not paying anything for the service, but you end up wasting time on something that isn’t benefiting your business.

So what’s the secret to successful social media marketing?

Content. Not just well-written content, but shareable, valuable content.

Susanna Gebauer at The Social Ms puts it this way:

If you do not have great content to build your social media marketing, what will happen is the following:

  • People will not follow you, because they don’t get anything useful from you
  • People will not help you build your brand and share your posts, because there is nothing to share
  • Your accounts will not grow
  • Your results will not be what you were looking for

Are you still not sure that content matters? Click here to read Gerbauer’s thoughts in “The Importance of Content in Social Media Marketing.”

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ABOUT ME

Editor. Teacher. Novelist.
A passionate lover of fiction, Karin doesn't just write novels, she helps others write their best stories! A certified substantive editor with the Christian Editor Connection, her goal is to help authors to put her out of business by equipping them with the tools they need to become better writers.

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