Squarespace vs Wordpress for blogging: Why I’m happy I built my website on Squarespace
There’s a lot of advice out there saying that WordPress is the best platform for blogging, but I chose Squarespace instead. Here’s why I don’t regret that choice.
Common wisdom (or at least, vocal strangers on the internet) would have you believe WordPress is the only viable option for running a profitable blog.
I am here to tell you to ignore the naysayers — there is no reason at all that you should avoid Squarespace for blogging and choose WordPress instead.
I wouldn’t tell you to categorically not use WordPress, because it might be perfect for you and your needs. But I am here to tell you that Squarespace might also be perfect for your needs, if you would prefer to focus on writing and pretty designs, rather than a technically heavy site.
Let’s take a look at the key differences between the platforms, and which one you should, or shouldn’t choose.
Easiest to use: Squarespace
The Squarespace drag and drop editor makes learning the platform and designing your blog much easier and faster to learn than WordPress.
With Squarespace you can be reasonably confident of building a professional looking blog with no prior experience, unlike WordPress which takes a long time to get the hang of (and you might still need professional support to end up with a design you like).
Squarespace is easy to use and can build beautiful sites.
Squarespace provides hosting, domain registration, and website building tools all in one package. This streamlined approach simplifies the setup process and ensures that everything is seamlessly integrated, allowing you to focus on creating content rather than managing multiple services.
The drag and drop, template approach of Squarespace means you can get around the technical aspects of blogging.
Squarespace includes built-in features such as blogging tools, social media integration, SEO optimization, and analytics, which are essential for travel bloggers looking to grow their audience and reach. These features eliminate the need for third-party plugins or additional software, saving time and effort.
WordPress comes with a much steeper learning curve than Squarespace.
I tried to start several websites on WordPress and they all failed. I just couldn’t get past the initial set up stage to get a blog off the ground (everyone who says you can set up a blog in a day is wildly exaggerating. There is a lot of work that goes into a blog — they are just trying to get you to click on their affiliate link for Bluehost, or other hosting providers).
Even once you’ve got the hang of WordPress, the back end is a lot clunkier than Squarespace.
Blogging templates and design: Squarespace
Squarespace is easily superior to WordPress when it comes to templates and design.
All of Squarespace’s templates are free to use — the only time you pay for templates is if you buy one through a third party shop.
An example of the kind of blogging template you can use on Squarespace, for free.
See more Squarespace blog templates
WordPress offers more templates, but you might have to pay for a more premium option.
SEO: Tie
Squarespace is just as good for SEO as WordPress
A lot of people seem to think Squarespace is a poorer performer in terms of SEO, but the truth is you can rank highly in search regardless of the platform you choose — the key is to publish quality content.
I truly do not understand this idea that Squarespace is bad for SEO.
I read in one post that Squarespace is worse for SEO because you don’t have the same SEO plugins that are available on Wordpress.
This is borderline nonsensical. A plugin isn’t going to magically improve your SEO, in fact it can slow down your site and make your SEO worse.
SEO tactics like inserting an exact number of keywords — and putting keywords in templated places like H2s — aren’t ideal anyway.
A lot of the bloggers who followed this kind of rigid SEO advice have been penalised by Google, who identified the patterns between overly optimised websites.
My travel blog ranks first in Google for some highly competitive keywords. How would that be possible if Squarespace is as bad as other bloggers like to make out?
I would like to point out at this point that there are dozens of different platforms on which you can build a website. In my career as a content manager, I have used WordPress, Silverstripe, and Webflow, just to name a few.
The platform doesn’t really matter — what matters is your on-page SEO, and other performance details like broken links, as well as off page signals like backlinks.
Yes, site speed is important, but having a website on Squarespace doesn’t mean you will have a slow site — and having a blog on Wordpress doesn’t mean you will have a fast site.
WordPress might offer more flexibility and customisation options, but that means you need to be more technical
The main benefit of WordPress over Squarespace is that it’s an open-source platform, meaning that you can access the underlying code and modify it to suit your needs. This level of freedom allows you to implement custom features, integrations, and optimizations, giving you more control over your website's performance and functionality.
With Squarespace, you have to rely on the platform to take care of performance, and you are limited to whatever functionality the CMS provides.
So, if you don’t mind playing around with code, WordPress could be the best option for you. Even then, though, you might not find it the easiest to use. I have heard more than one software developer talk about how much they dislike WordPress.
Wordpress is more susceptible to hacks and breaking
WordPress as a platform requires a little more management from your end, and a bit more risk as well.
Price: WordPress costs less (at least initially)
WordPress has lower start up costs, but you might end up spending the same amount on either platform
Blogging isn’t free — it’s always going to come with some overheads if you want to take it seriously.
As far as I can tell, there isn’t a lot of difference in cost between WordPress and Squarespace.
While WordPress itself is free to use, you still need to pay for domain registration, hosting, premium themes, and plugins. The overall cost of running a WordPress website can add up to the same as the monthly/annual fees for Squarespace.
Squarespace offers great customer support
Customer Support: Squarespace offers 24/7 customer support via email and live chat, ensuring that travel bloggers can quickly resolve any issues or questions they may have during the website creation process or afterwards.
Common misperceptions about Squarespace:
it’s bad for SEO
Squarespace websites are slower
So, which should you choose? Squarespace or Wordpress?
The answer, as with all things, is — it depends.
For me, I’m very happy with my Squarespace website. The platform delivers everything I need and has enough features to allow me to grow and develop my site.
If you’re a beginner blogger, I personally recommend Squarespace as an all-in-one platform that will help you get a beautiful website up and running quickly, which you can monetise further down the line.
But, if you want to go with Wordpress, go for it. You can always migrate between platforms later (The Common Wanderer migrated from Wordpress to Squarespace, and in their own words never looked back).
Nothing is irreversible, the most important thing is you just start.
If you’re interested in learning more about blogging on Squarespace, you might like to check these posts out:
