Squarespace is one of the most popular website builders available for creatives at the moment. It has some great features like the ‘fluid engine’ drag-and-drop page builder that makes moving text and images on your site a breeze even if you’re not techy or feel like a bit of a dinosaur. But is Squarespace right for you if you’re a painter, photographer, ceramist, printmaker, or crafter?

The answer depends on what you need your site to do for you and your preferences. But I argue yes Squarespace is good for artists.

Do you already have a Squarespace website? - Some of the below information might not be relevant to you. I’d recommend concentrating on optimising your site so you can get found online. Also if you have an older 7.0 version of Squarespace I’d recommend moving to 7.1 because it’s so awesome to use.

Who is Squarespace best for?

First up revisit your goals as an artist because they then inform what you need in a website. Do you want to sell more art, get dealer gallery representation, or become an authority in your community so you can teach?

Let’s say you want to sell your art online, you can easily upgrade to a business or commerce plan and add a e-commerce shop to your site. Squarespace websites are mobile-friendly, look great on all devices and don’t require any coding from you. Whoohoo!

Squarespace is great for:

Selling original or print artwork online (connect Stripe or PayPal for easy online payments)
Showcasing your portfolio
Sending out emails to your collectors' aka your mailing list
Building a community through a course
Scheduling appointments
Non-techy people who can't be bothered with HTML/CSS code
SEO - it’s mobile responsive and you can edit your easily optimise for search engine optimisation
Blogging
Collecting information via forms.
Looking really professional and building your

What kind of website can you build on Squarespace?

If you're looking to build a modern, clean website aesthetic that you can maintain yourself Squarespace is a good choice. You can get started with no coding experience on a free trial right away. However, if you want to add e-commerce functionality or do more advanced things like process payments or create membership areas, then Squarespace can also do those things for you. So it can grow with you if you decide to start teaching or tutoring online.

If you have over 100 products—then Shopify may be a better option for you rather than Squarespace because it offers more in-depth analytics tools. In saying that I still think Squarespace is a great platform for artists even if they have heaps of listings and most people connect google analytics for this anyway and that’s free.

What separates Squarespace from competitors?

Squarespace is a complete website-building platform. It’s easy to use, offers a variety of templates and themes, and has a wide range of tools and features. Unlike WordPress, Show it or other content management systems(CMS) platforms that require you to install and manage plugins, Squarespace does everything for you under the hood. There is nothing to update or break your site.

With Squarespace, you get an SSL certificate for your site at no extra charge. This will make it easier for visitors to find your site in search engines like Google, yahoo, or Bing which will increase your visitor traffic.

You can edit the mobile version of your site easily so it presents well on a phone or desktop.

How do I start building my site on Squarespace?

There are three ways to start building your site. You can:

Start a free trial choose one of the templates and add pages, blog posts and images. Or, if you're feeling adventurous, design your own custom site from scratch.
Purchase a template from a designer and pop your content in.
Finally, if you don't feel ready to go the DIY route you can hire a designer to set it up a custom site just for you.

If you’re interested in my design process for building websites for artists find out more - Websites for artists

What are some of the challenges of using Squarespace?

It can seem expensive at first especially if you don’t live in the United States. Our conversation rate here in New Zealand doesn’t do us any favours for this however when you include the costs of an SSL certificate and web support it can be worth it. Remember your website is a business expense so it’s tax deductible. (I always suggest HNRY to all my creative friends, it’s so easy to use) If you’d like to try out HNRY I have a referral code you can use to save on your HNRY fees.

As a circle member, I can offer a 20% discount on my client's first year of Squarespace so hiring a designer can also sometimes save you money.

If you’ve been pinching your pennies by going the DIY WordPress route but every time there's a plug-in update your site breaks….well it might be time to switch to Squarespace. If you’re not tech-savvy or have no experience in this field at all, then it might be easier to hire a designer to make your site first then you should be able to update your site yourself.

Unfortunately, you can’t accept bank transactions via Squarespace (in 2023). However, you can put a form on your site and send people an invoice the old-fashioned way. Also, the in-person options of selling are not available to clients in NZ.

Is there a way to get help if I encounter an issue while using Squarespace?

If you have any questions, there is an active community forum where you can ask for help with anything related to Squarespace. Plus there are so many videos on youtube for every little thing you could possibly want to do. Or you can always hire an expert to help you out. If you hired a designer you can always reach out to them with any questions you may have.

If you’re looking for a straightforward, easy-to-use tool to build a portfolio site or sell your art online, then Squarespace is definitely worth a look.

The templates are beautiful and their tech support is excellent.

The pricing is fair, especially if you're on the cheaper end of their hosting options. If you need a more custom look than what Squarespace offers with its templates or base design you can use code to further enhance your site.

In Conclusion

While there is a learning curve to using Squarespace, it’s less than a lot of other platforms. It's one of the most popular options for artists who want a simple site with a lot of flexibility and room for growth. It has been shown that users who build their websites on Squarespace tend to stick around longer than those who use other platforms like WordPress, Showit or Wix because they don't feel overwhelmed by all the features available and they can update their site themselves. They’re adding new features to Squarespace all the time so it’s always a good time to switch over.

If you have further questions about if Squarespace is good for artists, send me a message.

Is Squarespace good for artists?