I love looking at other websites for inspiration, particularly Squarespace websites that really push the boundaries of design as they reinforce my belief that you can really do pretty much anything you want with a Squarespace website. Obviously I don’t always know that I am on a Squarespace website, although there is a quick way to find out - in Chrome go to View - Developer - View Source and you’ll quickly see if it’s a Squarespace website or not.

Sometimes I just know, straight off the bat, when a Squarespace site has been built by a non-designer and usually the tell-tale signs are super easy to fix.

Here are the ten most common tell-tale signs of a DIY site on Squarespace that you can remedy on your own DIY site without calling on a professional:

Add your own favicon or browser tab.
“But what is this favicon thingy that you speak of?” I hear you ask. Well, you know the way when you have a series of tabs open in your browser each one has a mini logo on it, or something to identify the website? That’s called a favicon or browser tab. The Squarespace one is a grey cube and it comes with every Squarespace website, until you change it.

How to change the favicon in Squarespace?

The first thing to do is create a favicon of your logo. I do this by uploading a png of my client’s logo, ideally in a square format, to https://favicon.io/ where is says PNG > ICO:

This will automatically create a zip file to download to your computer. Open the zip file and there will be a number of files within it. You’re going to upload one of these to your Squarespace site. To do this, go to your website in editing more, click on Design - Browser Icon. Upload the favicon-32x32png file from the folder you downloaded from favicon.io

Note that, while you are in editing mode for the first while you won’t see your favicon in your browser tab, but you should see it if you load the site in incognito mode or a different browser. After a few days/weeks, you will see your favicon even in editing mode.

2. Footer giveaways!

The second giveaway sign that your Squarespace site is non-designer built is leaving Designed by Squarespace or Built by Squarespace in your footer. Get rid of this, you don’t need it as it doesn’t do anything for your own brand to show that you built your site yourself using Squarespace.

3. Update the urls that come with the dummy Squarespace pages

When you first hopped onto Squarepace.com and chose a layout for your site (note I am not using the word template as all Squarespace 7.1 sites are built on the same template), there will have been a certain number of existing pages for you to work with to get started. These are dummy pages with dummy content and each one has its own url such as www.dummydomain.squarespace.com/donate for a page about donations for a charity say, or www.dummydomain.squarespace.com/team for a page about the team. Sometimes it makes sense to keep this url, but oftentimes it doesn’t. So, if you like the layout of the /donate page for one of your services pages, by all means use it as a guide but do remember to update the url from /donate to something in line with the service you are promoting on that page. Your page urls should be reflective of the content on that page and are also important for Search Engine Optimisation as they help Google capture key words that it can match with your clients searches.

4. Hyphenate your urls

Another sign of a diy site is having urls with multiple words all stuck together. This goes for webpage and blog posts. It is good practice to separate the words in your url by a hyphen. So it should look something like this: www.yourdomain.com/blog/top-tips-for-getting-a-good-nights-sleep or www.yourdomain.com/my-team Note the hyphens between each word after the .com This makes the url more legible for the search engines and also the person reading the article, as our eye does tend to glance upwards to the browser bar when we are reading the internet.

5. Avoid centring long paragraphs of text

This one is easy to do but it is a no-no from a design and legibility perspective. Long paragraphs of text that are centred are harder to read and should be avoided. By all means centre your headlines for extra emphasis but anything beyond two short sentences should really be aligned to the left for legibility.

6. Don’t use the stock images that come with Squarespace layouts

Obviously I see a lot of the stock images in the layouts you are offered when you go to create a site, given that I am starting new Squarespace websites all the time. However, Squarespace also use these stock images in their own advertising materials so we begin to associate them with the Squarespace brand. We also see these stock images (usually from the fantastic unsplash.com) on many thousands of other websites, so they become ubiquitous. I do believe there is a place for stock photos on a website, but ideally you want your own on-brand photography, to help you stand out from the crowd, align with your brand values and reinforce your brand identity. If you stick with stock, it’s going to be harder to make yourself heard.

7. Update the page titles in the SEO section

A bit like your page urls, each page on your site has its own page title and description which you will find in the SEO section of each page. Most pages will have its own Page Title already - which you need to change. Often it says something like Blog 2 or Gallery 1, depending on the page layout you choose when you first create the page. It’s a shame not to update these settings as they matter for Search Engine Optimisation. Search results typically show your SEO title and description. Use a Page Title or SEO Title that is different to the name of the page in your navigation, using alternative keywords. And complete the SEO description section too. Two sentences at most, ideally including a call to action to entice the reader to click on it.

8. Update your image file names

This is about SEO again and accessibility. Google cannot read the pixels in your images on your website, but it can read an image file name and image alt text or description. So it’s best practice to rename all your images before you upload them to your DIY site. Also, people with visual impairment use screen-readers to read the internet to them and they rely on image file names and descriptions to explain the visual elements on the page to them. So, if your image file names are dsc1000899220.jpeg, rename it to something relevant that actually describes what’s happening in the picture.

9. Ensure your website represents your brand, with a consistent colour palette and choice of typography that are chosen as part of an intentional brand design.

Of course one of the massive benefits of using Squarespace for your website is that by simply using the out-of-the-box layout, imagery, typography and one of their suggested colour palettes, you can built a site that looks pretty good, if not fantastic. But will it truly represent your brand? Will it help you connect with your target audience? And if you think it will, how do you know it will? Brand-design starts with a deep dive into your positioning, your mission, your values, your goals, understanding your target audience, their problems, whey they need someone like you, what sort of brands they like to align themselves with and so on. It’s deep, reflective work that is also strategic. And your strategy will define the essence of your brand, what your brand stands for and what it should feel like. This is not something that can be powerfully visually communicated when you use an out-of-the-box template for your website. To stand out from the crowd in a very busy internet marketplace, you must be unique. Squarespace templates are not unique.

10. Use your own custom domain, not www.yourdomain.squarespace.com

To be fair I don’t see this that often, but it does happen. When you first start a Squarespace website, the site comes with an in-built domain that looks something like parrot-pineapple-6imc-squarespace.com You have the option to personalise the parrot-pineapple-6imc part and keep the -squarespace.com at the end. Or you can use your own domain with no mention of Squarespace. For example mine is www.designsforgrowth.ie This is a lot more professional than having Squarespace in my domain name. I still have the original gobbledegook in-built domain that comes with every site, but my primary domain is www.designsforgrowth.ie To connect to your own domain and make it your primary domain, go to Settings/Domains/Connect a domain I own and follow the steps. Depending on who is hosting your domain, you will probably need to log in to your domain host (Blacknight, Letshost, Register365 etc) and update your DNS records with the records Squarespace gives you.

I hope this is useful advice in how to move your Squarespace site from DIY to a more professional look. If you are tired of trying to make it work yourself and would like the help of a professional, do get in touch for a no-commitment discovery call to see if I can help.