Move your website to Squarespace to make it beautiful
Updated May 2023 to reflect that website “moves” when working with me are new websites on Squarespace with my full-service design package.
A fair number of my clients come to me already having websites on platforms like WordPress, GoDaddy, or 1and1. The websites are often very outdated and the business owner has no idea how to make changes because the website was created by someone else. Often the designer or developer who created the website is no longer in business or the cost to hire the designer to make easy changes is prohibitive. The frustration about not knowing how to update their sites to make important changes has these business owners looking around for other solutions.
If you find yourself in this situation, it may be time to create a new website on Squarespace. I chose to specialize in this platform because it’s one of the easiest do-it-yourself website builders, has beautiful design features, and includes add-ons for mailing lists and scheduling.
Moving means re-doing
Moving a website to Squarespace is the time to rewrite and redesign your website, add newer pictures and updated content that reflects your latest services, and organize the navigation and the pages in ways that help visitors find clear pathways to the information they’re looking for.
That’s why I now tell potential clients that thinking about moving a website to Squarespace is like creating a new website. For that reason, the steps for moving a website are similar to creating one from scratch and your text and images will mostly likely be new. However, you may be able to re-use some of the text and images you used on your original site. And, like changing your address with the post office, there are a few things to do after your website is moved to make sure customers can still find you.
This blog post explains the steps my clients and I take to go from our first talk to a successful move to Squarespace. The end result gives a boost to my clients’ online presence and their business outlook.
Step 1: Free consultation
I call you for your free 30-minute consultation.
Step 2: Questionnaire
If you decide to work with me, you email me answers to a questionnaire I’ve sent you. Your answers help me understand your business goals, the features you may want to add to your new website, and the type of people you want to appeal to with your website. You also send me a link to your existing website so I can see what your online presence looks like now.
Step 3: Content creation
After determining how many pages are needed for the website and the features it will have, we start our work together, you fill out additional questionnaires that I then turn into written website content for each page, optimized for SEO and conversion.
Step 4: Branding and design/color
To set the tone of the website and your business, I work with you to select colors, fonts, and possible Home page images that support the goals of the website and reflect the personality of your business.
Step 5: Create a trial Squarespace website
I create a first draft of the new Squarespace website with the content that’s you’ve approved. We also choose images during this time. This trial website serves as a review copy, not available to the public yet.
In the meantime, your current website continues to be active and accessible while we’re creating your new website.
At this point, I also make a note of all the URLs for the page names on your soon-to-be-closed site. We’ll need those to make sure that people who try to go to an obsolete page from your old site automatically see the appropriate page on your new site.
Step 6: Website review
You review the first draft of the website, letting me know through email or phone calls what you like and what you want changed, and we collaborate in that way until you’re happy with the design.
Step 7: Website is connected to a domain
When you’re ready to launch the website, you buy a Squarespace web hosting plan. I then connect the domain you already have and connect it to your new Squarespace website. The transition from old website to new one can take a few days, but your old website continues to be active until the transition is complete and your new website is public. After the domain is connected and the new website is working, we cancel the old hosting account that used to host your website. If your business email is connected to your domain name, that continues to work as it always did.
If you have more than one domain, you choose one domain as the primary domain. The other is called a secondary domain. People who type in that secondary domain name are automatically redirected to the primary domain. With a Squarespace website, you’re able to add a secondary domain.
This blog post clarifies the difference between your domain and your website:
Your domain and your website are best friends, but they’re not inseparable
Step 8: Change-of-address wrap-up
Although the domain name remains the same after you move your website, individual pages on your new website may not be named the same as they were. People might find links to these obsolete pages through searches, on social media, or on other websites. For example, if you had a website page named “More Information” and now have a similar page called “Resources,” you’ll need to make sure people see the page “Resources” when they click a link for the old page named “More Information.”
When the new website domain transfer is completed, we add markers called “301 redirects” to your new website that equate obsolete page names with their equivalent new page names to prevent confusion.
Step 9: Website final steps
I finish other administrative and SEO setup tasks both on your website and on Google to help it to be found in search results. It’s important to set up Google search properties, submit a sitemap, and request indexing for any website, but it’s urgent to do so after a website move, so Google can find all the new page names on your site quickly and display updated search results.
It starts with a free consultation
Does this list make the process seem less intimidating? While each website build is unique, the steps for a move are predictable. I’ve done this many times and would be happy to introduce you to Squarespace, a website platform that will give you a beautiful online presence. And I’ll teach you how to update it yourself, which will be an ongoing cost savings for you.
