A Year with Squarespace: My Wish List for 7 Features & Updates
As a website designer, I've been using Squarespace for over a year.
Squarespace is a platform that allows users to easily create and maintain websites, saving me from the hassle of managing my site while handling client work.
Its user-friendly interface and features attracted me to it over other website builders like Shopify and WordPress.
In this blog post, I discuss some key features I wish Squarespace had and improvements I hope they're considering.
My Website Builder Journey: Pre-Squarespace
Before landing on Squarespace, I tried a few other platforms:
GoDaddy Website Builder: This was too basic for my needs and lacked the functionality I sought in a website builder.
Shopify: An excellent platform for e-commerce, but it didn't deliver the blog post functionality I was looking for.
WordPress: Having worked with WordPress for client work, I knew how intricate it could get.
I needed a platform that was easy to maintain yet allowed me to add new content and update essential design elements easily.
This led me to Squarespace.
What Squarespace Could Improve On
Since adopting Squarespace, I haven't considered switching.
However, there are certain features I'd love to see.
GIF Integration
GIFs can add emotion, excitement, and convey feelings beyond words.
If Instagram allows GIFs, why not Squarespace?
The ability to add a GIF instead of resorting to short YouTube clips would be a great feature.
Text Block Default for New Blog Posts
Squarespace's addition of markdown blocks in blog posts is a boon for those who love coding.
But for me, it's a thorn in my side.
Replacing it with a default text block would simplify blog creation, especially on mobile.
More Accurate Traffic Analytics
One area for improvement I've noticed over my year with Squarespace is its Traffic Analytics.
It would be beneficial to include activity logs in the traffic analytics summary, indicate pages visited per IP address under traffic sources, and refine the keyword section.
Squarespace could show the keywords that drive traffic to the site and suggest keywords that boost organic search.
Until then, I will continue to use the Google Search Console to check more detailed traffic analytics.
Daily Emails to Mailing List Subscribers
One of my favorite daily emails is the Daily Stoic email, which inspired me to start sending a daily email of my own.
Squarespace's email campaign setup doesn't allow for frequent mailing, a feature available for free on Substack.
I'd love to share daily insights and content previews with my audience without running a full-blown campaign.
I hope Squarespace adds this feature so I don’t have to create a Substack account to email my audience.
One-Click Website Theme Changes
The theme layout may no longer fit your vision as your site grows.
A one-click feature to change website themes would simplify site evolution.
More Storage for Videos/Podcasts
Given that Squarespace allows for course and webinar addition, the 30 minutes of video storage currently provided falls short.
This was particularly problematic when creating my course, Growth Mindset 101.
A boost in video storage for business commerce plans would be a welcome feature.
Text Formatting for Blog Post Titles
How often have I wanted to italicize something in a Blog Post title?
The fact that I can adjust the formatting in a post excerpt but not in the Blog Post title is astounding.
I should be able to italicize and bold words as I see fit in the Blog Post titles.
Especially since this feature is available everywhere else when creating a new post.
Final Thoughts
With its user-friendly design and easy maintenance, Squarespace is an excellent tool for web designers.
However, there's always room for improvement.
As Squarespace continues to evolve, I'm hopeful that these suggestions will make their way into future updates.
