Why I recommend Squarespace to bakers
When you’re looking to build a website for your cake business the amount of options can be overwhelming, and looking in Facebook groups can only add to the confusion because everyone has their own experiences and opinions. The only real way to know which will work for you is to test drive them, but that can take time and a bit of know-how, so today I’m going to run through why I think Squarespace is the best solution for bakers looking to show off their cakes online.
EASY TO USE
The drag and drop nature of how a Squarespace page is build makes it really easy for someone who isn’t experienced with website building. You are able to edit the content live on the page so you always know what your end result is going to be.
STYLE TEMPLATES
Starting with a totally blank canvas can be a bit overwhelming, but Squarespace helps you out by providing lots of templates for you to chose from to get you started. My favourites are (click on the link to see the template in action, and examples of other websites using the template:
If you’re at this stage, have a look at this blog post, where I talk about planning and styling your website.
CONTENT BLOCKS
One of my favourite features of Squarespace is their collection of Content Blocks. These are ready made features which can be dropped in to your page and are ready to use. For example, if you wanted to create a contact form to allow customers to send you an enquiry, you just have to select it from the menu and drag it where you want it to be on the page (see below).
You can also add a newsletter sign up block, that will connect to Mailchimp or a GoogleDoc, links to social media, an Instagram feed, an image slider, videos and a lot more. There is no need to worry about downloading additional plug-ins, like on WordPress, these are all integral to the Squarespace builder.
READY MADE PAGES
There is, of course, the option to start with a completely blank page for you to add your content to, but if you’d like a shop, blog, gallery or cover page Squarespace has build in templates for all of them. This really helps to save you time and research figuring out how to create them.
PRICE
It’s also affordable. Which is always the number one concern of any business owner! You want something that isn’t going to break the bank, but that you can rely on to work at all times. The cost of Squarespace ranges from about £120-180 to $144-$216 per year, but can also be paid monthly - click here for current pricing (you can also get 10% off your first purchase by using the coupon code GIMME10). If you take up the annual plan, your domain name will be included in the price making it a really simple ‘one stop shop’ for everything you need to get going.
For a small business I think Squarespace is a perfect solution, but as I said at the start, learn as much as you can before committing and take advantage of the free trial. It’s quick and simple to use and you will have a gorgeous looking website in no time at all.
If you’d like some help building your cake business website, I have a course that will walk you through the entire process. It also includes PDF guides to help you with planning the style and content, downloadable backgrounds to use on your website to really customise the look and an editable Photoshop file to let you create a pretty slider image for your homepage
