3 things to do before starting to customize your Squarespace template
Templates are amazing for giving you a starting point for a new website, but drafting and brainstorming within the template itself can be more frustrating than helpful. The previously gorgeous and well designed layout quickly becomes jumbled, half empty and disjointed, which is endlessly frustrating! But it doesn’t need to be if you go into it with even a little bit of a plan.
Write out the top 3 outcomes you would like your website to produce
You may have more, you may have less, but start with the MAIN thing you want your visitors to do. Is it to book a meeting with you, to buy a product, or sign up for a course? What is the MAIN objective that you want your website to accomplish? Then write out the next objectives in order of importance to your business.
Write down the types of sections that are included in the template
This may seem redundant, but it will help you process the purpose of each area to see if it applies to you, or if it needs to be changed or removed. By writing it down before you start tweaking the template, you can spot problems before messing with the layout. So for example, the first section is likely some sort of hero image and descriptive text, then there may be an area with three image blocks to display your services. Do you have services? If yes, are they the main thing you’re trying to sell? If yes, you can add your services here and keep them near the top. If not, what high priority information should you include here instead? Maybe you’d like featured products from your shop to show up first, is there a Shop section available in your template? If so, can you move it up to go underneath the header?
Write out your copy in a separate document following the template
Don’t underestimate the power of a first draft. It may seem easier to just type your content right into the template, but it can add pressure by making it feel like it has to be perfect as soon as you enter it in. Since you’ve written down your top 3 goals of the site and the sections that you’ll be using, you can start drafting your content in a separate document following those guidelines. Plus you can proofread and change things before you copy and paste them into the actual text areas on Squarespace. The great thing about Squarespace is that you can edit content inside the website builder at any point, but we’re aiming to keep your momentum going and not get you caught up in the appearance of the site as you’re building. We want to keep the template as in tact as possible while you create your content.
Now that you’ve got these basics down, you can start moving into customization with a clear direction. Stay tuned for a future post that will give some additional guidance on updating the colours, fonts, and images in your template.
