1166 9:38 Q&A

Q&A: Is it okay to use Squarespace for my new website?

A listener is getting ready to start his project, but is wondering which website platform to choose. He’d like to use Squarespace, is that a good idea?

9:38

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What It's About

A listener is ready to launch a website. Is Squarespace a good platform?

Notes from Chris

Episode 1166
Over the past twenty years I’ve probably had 30 or more websites. This number is websites that I’ve actually made for some kind of project that was publicly revealed, not just failed ideas, false starts, domains I registered that I never did anything with, etc.

Even though I don’t build websites myself (I don’t do design and I do only very basic coding), I’ve learned a lot along the way through trial and error. The good news about choosing a platform for your website is that there aren’t many mistakes you can make, at least not many that you can’t easily recover from if you decide to switch to something else later. It falls into the category of what I call reversible decisions.

Still, there are some things you should know on the front end that might make it easier later. If you’d like to save time and work more efficiently, you might appreciate the question we have today from Ryan.
"You’ve talked about using Wordpress a lot, and I think you’ve mentioned some other service as well. I’ve been looking at Squarespace, and it seems easier to me. Is there any reason why I shouldn’t use it to for my new business?"
Listen to today's episode to learn more...

 

 

SEE ALSO: Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

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Read the full transcript

This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.

[Music]

26 days to go until the Money Tree is live. Go check it out at MoneyTreeBook.com. And this week we have two questions about building websites. Over the past 20 years, I probably had 30 or more websites. I have no idea what the total count is, but it's at least 30.

And this is the number of websites I've actually made for some kind of project that was publicly revealed, not just, you know, failed ideas, false starts, domains I registered that I never did anything with, et cetera. And even though I don't build websites myself, I don't do design, I only know very basic coding, I have learned a lot along the way through trial and error. The good news about choosing a platform for your website is that there aren't many mistakes you can make, at least not many that you can't easily recover from if you do decide to switch to something else later. That kind of falls into the category of what I call reversible decisions. If a decision is reversible, there aren't many consequences, you know, for realizing that you want to do something else later, then it's not something you need to spend much time worrying about.

Still, there are some things you should know on the front end that might make it easier later. So if you'd like to save time and work more efficiently, you might appreciate the question we have today from Ryan. - Hi, this is Ryan from Fort Collins, and I've been listening to the show for a couple months after our friend recommended it. I'm hoping to launch my side hustle soon, and I'm wondering if it's okay to use Squarespace. You've talked about using WordPress a lot, and I think you've mentioned some other service as well.

I've been looking at Squarespace, and it seems easier to me. Is there any reason why I shouldn't use it for my new business? Thanks, Chris, and I look forward to hearing from you. - Ryan, thank you so much for listening, Fort Collins, I believe you said, and short version is it's totally okay. There is absolutely no reason at all that you should not use Squarespace if it seems easier to you.

If you like it, go for it. Squarespace has helped a lot of people, including many of our listeners, and a number of the featured case studies that I have brought to you over the years. So no problem there whatsoever. I've heard some people say they've had a couple of issues with migrating between different Squarespace sites. That's probably the only concern I've ever heard.

And personally, I prefer WordPress, partly because I've been using it for a decade myself. That's what many of my websites have been built on. And also because a lot of programmers are familiar with building on that platform. There's also a lot of free plugins that allow you to do all kinds of stuff and thousands of free and low cost themes that you can start with and then customize. That said, there are competitors and Squarespace is one of them.

They have really focused on creating a visually appealing and also visually functional in terms of just being able to kind of move things around without getting into a lot of code, just a whole process that some people do find more intuitive. There's also Wix, they've been a sponsor of the show, by the way, in the past, just to be transparent. But wix.com promo code hustle, I've heard good things about them. So I think kind of what it comes down to is when it comes to choosing the best platform for your website, like a lot of things, the best advice is if you're really stuck, if you're really kind of vacillating back and forth and spending a long time trying to decide, just pick something because it is a solvable problem. It is a reversible decision if you change your mind later.

And it's more important to think about your idea, your offer, your market, all that kind of stuff. [Music]

So Ryan can proceed with confidence and I hope that you proceed with confidence too. Whatever it is you're working on, if you're trying to make this kind of decision or if you're a bit further along or if you're still trying to figure out, hey, what am I gonna do? You know, it's all right. We were in the beginning part of the year still.

And my hope is that with everything that's coming throughout the rest of the year, it's gonna help and support you to make progress on your goals. All right, if you got a question, come to sidehustleschool.com/questions. As you may have noticed, we'll be featuring them throughout the year. This has been episode 1166. Tomorrow we've got a special throwback Thursday coming your way.

And of course, much more to come. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]

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