Welcome to Day 4
Today we will talk about the blogging platforms you can use to host your website. There are many out there and this image below sums up pretty well what you can expect from each one of them.
It is really up to you to find the one that fits with your needs. I personally use Squarespace and I will break you down the reasons why.
Note: This is NOT a sponsored post. This is just my genuine opinion of this platform as I have been using it since 2016.
1. Simple user interface
I am not a web developer and I don't want to be spending hours and a lot of money to build my website.
What I want is an easy to use platform on which I can upload my photos and write articles as simple as possible.
Squarespace is a content management system or CMS. It is a software application or set of related programs that are used to create and manage digital content.
In simple words, no coding knowledge needed, all you need to do is drag and drop the content and the rest is done for you.
2. Design
Are you struggling to find the right design for your website?
Websites are usually tailor made. The content needs to be relevant and match with your style. That's the reason why I love Squarespace templates.
They are divided by categories (Photographers, bloggers, online shops, etc...).
All you need to do is to select the template you like, click install and customise the content as you like.
And if for whatever reason you would like to change the look of your website, you can select a new template and install it in just a couple clicks. You won't lose any of your content!
In 3 years blogging, my style has changed a lot and I changed the look of my websites at least 4 times without any coding knowledge!
3. Logo
As a brand you will need a logo. You have several options, either ask for a freelancer to design your logo as I mentioned yesterday or do it yourself.
If you decide to do it yourself, Squarespace has a dedicated section on their website for you to create your logo and have an idea of what it would look like on a business card, clothing or other products.
4. Domain name, hosting and professional email address
You can improve name recognition by replacing your xyz.squarespace.com URL with a custom domain.
You can get a free domain with an annual plan, purchase a domain with them, or connect one you already own. The choice is yours.
They also offer an email address with your domain name.
If you want to look professional, you will need one. An xyz@yourdomain.com email address increases credibility and creates a seamless brand experience for everyone who interacts with you.
5. Mobile friendly
With Squarespace, every design automatically includes a unique mobile experience that matches the overall style of your website, so your content will look great on every device, every time.
If desired, you can disable the mobile view from Website Manager. Having a mobile optimised website will increase your chances of getting at the top of the search results on Google.
6. Multi-device Access
As a travel blogger, I am always on the go and do not always have access to my laptop.
Squarespace application allows you to manage your website on the go from your mobile device.
This way, I can still write and edit the content of my future blog posts from my phone or tablet and publish it or take care of the page layout on my laptop later once I arrive home or at my hotel.
Their apps also offer analytics so that you can track the number of visitors on your website or the number of sales you made directly from their application.
7. SEO - Search Engine Optimisation
As a blogger SEO is the most challenging thing you would need to take care of if you want to be found online. There are two types of SEO.
On page SEO - You take care of making each post something people will find on google by using the most researched keywords for your blog posts. But one good thing to know is that Google ranks pages of your website and not your whole blogs. So you want to make sure each page has a targeted content for what you want it to be found on google.
Off-page SEO - This is the thing that separates bloggers. You need to create back-links so that publishers or other bloggers would link your content to redirect to your blog/page/content.
Most blogging platforms would advise you to add plugins to your blog to increase your chances of being discovered.
But Squarespace takes care of your on page SEO so that you do not have to worry about it and can focus on improving your brand awareness and collaborate with other influencers in your niche.
8. Marketing
When it comes to marketing you will need to set up several tools like an autoresponder, social media integrations and your website analytics. Most blogging platforms won’t offer all of these under one roof and you will have to use third party applications to cover these needs.
But guess what? Not with Squarespace!
They launched their integrated email marketing platform in Summer 2018.
What about Social Media sharing? With Squarespace and their social integration, you can update your content once to share it simultaneously across your social media channels!
Also, as a blogger the analytics play a big role in order to know what articles are popular or not, how many visitors and page views you have per month, how many sales you have made, etc… All of these metrics will be essential once you will want to start collaborating with brands to earn some money!
No need to be tech savvy to install Google analytics tag on your website. Everything is provided so that you can focus on what matter for your business!
Finally, Squarespace released since November 2018 their mobile application that allows you to edit your website on the go!
This was a huge update I personally was waiting for a longtime. Their customer service is one of the best, very reactive and always ready to go the extra mile to help.
Squarespace is a great all-in-one platform in my opinion as it answers to all my needs and match with my lifestyle.
I do not know much about the other platforms but I heard great things about Wordpress, even though you need to be a bit techie to learn how to use all the plugins.
I would advise you to find the blogging platform that matches with your lifestyle rather than looking for the best one on the market to use.
Which blogging platform are you going to choose? Don’t hesitate to send me a message to let me know.
Chat to you tomorrow.
