Building a Squarespace Website: The Content You Need

5 essential elements when building a Squarespace website

Amid the creation of any digital home, there’s always 5 essential elements when building a Squarespace website I always consider. These specific elements must balance and harmonize in order to enhance the overall experience of your brand.

Here are the 5 elements we’ll contemplate or develop during the strategic creation of your site:

1. Branding 

   Branding is the bedrock to any website. It’s the visual and emotional anchor for your identity, informing the way users perceive your products/services and interact with your site as a whole. This includes aspects like your logo, your typography, and your color scheme. All of which foster a sense of connection to who you are and what you stand for.

   When building your new Squarespace website, I use your branding to help you develop brand recognition, differentiation, and consistency. It’s important to note your branding should be a strategic decision that reflects your brand and vision. 

   For example, if you are down-to-earth and calming, you may want a colour palette of olive greens and autumn reds rather than bright, bodacious pinks. Or if you’re courageous and bold, you may want fonts with a more modern and distinct appearance rather than a generic Arial or Times New Roman.

   For those who want to work together but do not have any current branding (or only have a logo), I also offer a mini branding service which gets you set up with all the basics.
   

2. Images

   Images are an essential part of a website and can have a significant impact on how people perceive your brand. They not only help to create an immersive narrative that tells your story, they also make your site more functional by breaking up long walls of text, organizing the structure of your content, and driving traffic with SEO tags and descriptions.

   Here’s what I personally look for when assembling the images for each page:

   • Relevance
     Every image needs to be relevant to the content and purpose of the page. For example, I would never recommend adding a picture of a cat in the sunshine to a website for therapy simply because “it looks nice”. Every image should enhance the message you're conveying and not just serve as decoration.

   • Purpose
     Your images need to illustrate points, explain concepts, or evoke emotions. They serve as a strategic webpage element to add to the understanding of your brand, create a fully-immersive experience, and optimize your site for search engines.

   • High Resolution
     I’ll only ever implement high-quality images that are sharp and clear. Blurry or pixelated images can make your site look unprofessional and deter clients or customers from taking action with you.

   • Professional Photography
     Wherever possible, I always suggest clients receive a brand photo session. Custom photography is a great way to reflect who you are and create a unique look and feel. It also ensures a cohesive online experience. For any brands looking for professional photography, I offer headshots and lifestyle images for your Squarespace website in Squamish, and in Madrid or Lyon once per year.

     If this isn’t possible, I recommend high-quality stock images. One addition to my web design service is stock photo research and photo editing to help keep your images aligned and on-brand.
     

3. Copy

   Design and copy work together interchangeably on any website. You can not have one without the other, and for a great user experience, both need to be carefully considered.

   Many of my clients who are artists, entrepreneurs or small businesses prefer to write their own website copy themselves. To assist in this process,  I've developed a comprehensive workbook that serves as a guide for providing the necessary information and text for design purposes. This includes sections like above-the-fold headings and introductory body text.

   If you are writing for yourself, it’s important to think about quality, tone of voice, and SEO optimization. This means ensuring your copy is well-written, free of grammatical errors, tailored to your audience, and consisting of relevant keywords to help you get found on search engines.

   To note: I am also very happy to work alongside a copywriter of your choice to deliver a premium user experience. If you would like a recommendation, don’t hesitate to contact me.
   

4. Strategy

   The preliminary process that goes into every one of my projects is what makes my service unique. When your website design is infused with a comprehensive strategy, it ensures every decision you make is intentional and reflects your brand, your customers, and your market share.

   When building a Squarespace website, I work with clients to deep dive into their competitors, vision, and long-term goals. Identifying your website's purpose guides the design, content, and functionality of your site. 

   Here’s a few important elements to discuss and define:

   • Benchmarking: Analyze competitor websites to understand industry standards, trends, and best practices.

   • Differentiation: Identify ways to differentiate your website from competitors. This could involve unique features, superior usability, or a distinct visual style.

   • Business Goals: Clearly define the primary goals of your website. Are you looking to generate leads, sell products, provide information, build a community?

   • User Goals: Understand what your users want to achieve when they visit your website. This could include finding information quickly, making a purchase, or engaging with content.

   • User Journeys: Map out user journeys to understand the steps users take to achieve their goals. This helps identify key touchpoints and opportunities for improvement.
     
     

5. Design

An essential part of your website is, of course, the design. Your visual narrative impacts your success from first impressions to user experience and brand identity. By investing in quality design, businesses are able to create a compelling and user-friendly online presence that helps them connect to and convert visitors. 

Working alongside my clients, I carefully consider a number of webpage elements from your headings to your CTA buttons, and how each element interacts with one another to create a harmonious experience.  I also ensure your Squarespace website design is responsive, functional, and easy to navigate.

The Full Checklist for Building a Squarespace Website

If you’d like to collaborate on your next project together, please fill out my intake form. There are many essential parts to a website, but these are the 5 I believe are most important to your success. I’d love to connect to hear more about your business and goals.