The pros and cons of using Squarespace for a blog
My honest experience of using Squarespace for my travel blog
If you’re dreaming of starting a blog, you might be weighing up the benefits of the various platforms available.
You can start a blog on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, or pretty much any other website builder out there.
But, they aren’t all created equal. Each platform has unique pros and cons. Most bloggers recommend Wordpress; it’s the industry standard and people love the fact it’s open source.
For me on the other hand, I hate how clunky and difficult it is to use. I always had the intention of building a beautiful travel site that felt more like a digital magazine than a travel blog, and to get that effect on WordPress I would need to learn a lot of code.
With Squarespace, I could achieve the site design I wanted and easily publish content.
I now have a thriving travel blog which makes up most of my income.
No website platform is perfect; no matter where you choose to launch your blog, you’re going to run into ups and downs. These are the pros and cons of using Squarespace, that I have encountered at least — I’m sure some people have more complaints, but so far this is my experience.
The benefits of using Squarespace for a blog
YOU CAN BUILD A WHOLE WEBSITE WITHOUT ANY TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE
When I worked as a digital content manager for a website that had upwards of 50 million visitors per year, we had an entire team of digital content experts. We also had a whole team of developers, who worked constantly to make improvements, fix bugs, and generally troubleshoot.
Hosting, domain management, SSL certificates, and templates are all included in Squarespace plans. You don't need to juggle different service providers for your blog setup.
You also don’t need to worry about things like manually creating a sitemap or worrying about markup — if even reading that sentence is making your eyes go glassy, Squarespace might be a great option for you.
The platform handles software updates, security patches, and maintenance automatically, so you can focus on content creation rather than worrying about technical details.
The blog editor is easy to use. It’s really that simple, it’s just so clean and straightforward.
Squarespace provides 24/7 customer support via chat and email, which is helpful for bloggers who might encounter issues.
If you plan on selling products through your blog, Squarespace has built-in e-commerce functionality, which allows you to add a store without switching platforms.
SQUARESPACE DESIGN ELEMENTS ARE IMPECCABLE
Squarespace is known for its intuitive, drag-and-drop interface, making it easy for beginners to create professional-looking blogs without needing coding skills.
Squarespace offers a wide range of modern, responsive, and visually appealing templates that are optimized for blogging and adaptable to mobile devices.
I have been able to get the sleek, magazine-like look I wanted without needing to essentially build developer level skills.
ALL-IN-ONE PRICING
A lot of people list the pricing of Squarespace as a major drawback, but I actually appreciate the simplicity of the pricing structure. With one annual payment, I know what I’m getting and don’t have to do the math on multiple service providers.
There are SEO features built into each post
Squarespace comes with built-in search engine optimization (SEO) tools that help you manage meta descriptions, alt texts, and more, which can improve your blog’s visibility on search engines.
The downsides of using Squarespace for a blog
Most of the downsides of using Squarespace for a travel blog are related to the constraints of the platform.
Limited Customization
Although you can use code injections, the customization options for advanced users are more limited compared to platforms like WordPress, especially for those who want full control over their blog's design and functionality.
THERE ARE SOME CONTENT MANAGEMENT LIMITATIONS
By this I mean that features like post scheduling, bulk editing, and advanced content management are more basic compared to other platforms specifically designed for bloggers.
While Fluid Engine means Squarespace pages can be easily customised, blog pages are still somewhat limited, like the 7.0 editor.
You can’t save draft changes to a blog post before publishing, which means you end up editing published posts in real time.
There are some niggles that mean Squarespace really isn’t efficient for publishing a lot of content. For example, you have to add alt text individually to image blocks each time you use an image — there’s no way to make sure the alt text of an image asset automatically populates when you use it.
YOU NEED TO BE ON A BUSINESS PLAN OR HIGHER TO MAKE THE MOST OF YOUR BLOG
To easily add affiliate links, you need to be on a Business Plan (there is a plugin you can use, but it requires a custom code injection, a Business Plan feature).
YOU WILL PROBABLY NEED TO LEARN AT LEAST BASIC CSS
You can go pretty far with an out of the box Squarespace website (by which I mean not adding any extras through plugins or CSS), but at some point you will probably want to make some CSS tweaks to customize the style of your site.
It’s surprisingly easy to get the hang of CSS, especially with the help of tools like ChatGPT, but it can be intimidating to start off with.
Limited Scalability for Large Blogs
Squarespace is better suited for smaller to medium-sized blogs. Larger blogs with thousands of posts or heavy traffic might find the platform less efficient due to limited scalability options.
By this I mean that Squarespace probably isn’t the best platform for a massive media company that handles thousands of web pages and millions of visitors.
There are travel bloggers who make more than $100,000 a year with sites with only 120 pages. I believe in the quality over quantity approach for a few reasons — the main one is that all of the content you publish you are going to have to maintain over time.
More content means more resources directed just to maintenance.
So, if you plan on having a whole team of writers and editors, Squarespace might not be the one for you.
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