Showit vs. Squarespace
Learn the pros and cons in each service.
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The Philosophical Differences Between Showit and Squarespace
Philosophical
While both Showit and Squarespace make it easy to build a website, they differ quite a bit in their approach.
Squarespace makes it easy to build a website through limiting the control one has in the building process. This is a good summary of their approach taken from the Squarespace website:
Showit, on the other hand, provides their users with almost total creative control over their websites so creative entrepreneurs can create beautiful, high-performing websites that showcase their work.
"You can customize any template’s style to make it your own and showcase your site’s content. However, templates are like your body’s DNA—there’s a lot you can change about your site's appearance and functionality, but there are style parameters and special features built into each template that can’t be changed. These parameters are carefully chosen by our Design Team to help you create a beautiful, professional-looking site without hiring a designer."
- Squarespace [emphasis added]
"Showit makes it possible to build a truly custom & branded website with zero coding knowledge. Any design you dream up is possible."
Lauren
Photographer
At our core, we believe that technology is best when it enhances creativity
Todd Watson
Showit co-founder / CEO
WEDDING & FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER
WEDDING & FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER
Lauren
Choosing a Design
Both Squarespace and Showit provide a library of design templates for users to start with as they build their websites.
Squarespace, however, forces users to start with a website design template from their design library. While there are businesses that sell templates, the set-up process for these templates is very manual.
Showit not only provides access to a library of free and paid design templates, but also allows users to purchase templates from other designers. Installing templates and custom designs from outside the Showit library is super easy.
Showit users can also design a website from scratch using Showit’s “Simple” template.
WEDDING & FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER
The differences in the design builder will also be apparent in many of the other features we explore in this article.
Nearly any aspect from fonts and colors to images and layouts can be customized, regardless of the template you decide to use.
Squarespace and Showit both provide access to a drag-and-drop website builder that allows users to customize their website designs.
The Squarespace builder is easy to use, but limits what customizations can be done to the template. This can be overcome if you have advanced knowledge of tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
The Website Builder
“I can create whatever I want to create.”
Elle Danielle
Showit’s website builder makes it easy to drag images and text exactly where you want them.
Squarespace doesn’t allow for the mobile version of a website to be customized. The mobile layout will be determined by the template you choose. This is great for people who don’t want to deal with the mobile version of their websites, but it may make for a less-than-ideal mobile experience.
Showit provides the ability to edit the mobile version of your website so that it’s optimized for mobile visitors. This means that specific elements of your website can be turned off in case they’re not great for a user’s mobile experience.
This can be done in the Showit builder by selecting the mobile view of your website. You can even see your desktop and mobile versions side-by-side.
Mobile Optimization and Design
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Squarespace gives users the option between four gallery block layouts: Slideshow, Carousel, Grid, and Stack.
There are countless ways to incorporate a Showit gallery into your website, and each gallery was built with creative entrepreneurs in mind.
Showing off your work is the point of having a website, right? Well Squarespace and Showit provide various gallery options that can be used to show off your work.
Galleries and Showing Off Your Work
Even though Showit users blog on the WordPress platform, the blog is designed using Showit’s website builder and the blog will still live at the same domain as the Showit website for a seamless
end-user experience.
This integration also allows for Showit users to use SEO plugins like Yoast for extra help optimizing their website for search engines.
Showit users will use the WordPress platform for blogging. WordPress is widely considered the best platform for blogging, and this integration allows Showit users to take advantage of the tools available in the WordPress eco-system
Squarespace users will blog within the Squarespace app and can optimize SEO page titles and meta-descriptions, too. While this provides an easy way to blog, Squarespace limits control by forcing users to use their platform.
It’s easy to blog on both Squarespace and Showit, and both platforms provide built-in tools for search engine optimization. But each platform approaches these features a little differently.
Blogging and Search Engine Optimization
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Mackenzie Sales Page Template By:
Northfolk Co.
Elizabeth McCravy
Sara sales funnel Template by:
Showit’s WordPress integration, in particular, opens up a wide range of integrations through WordPress’s plugin library. WordPress plugins make it super easy to add features to a website without the needs for advanced code or development.
While some might prefer the convenience of an all-in-one tool, Showit’s approach has been to focus on being really, really good at what it does while enabling users to focus on the best of other tools.
Showit doesn’t have built-in ecommerce tools, but allows users to integrate with their favorite ecommerce tool, whether that be WooCommerce or Shopify Lite. The advantage is that users get total creative control over their website while being able to use platforms that specialize in ecommerce.
Squarespace’s native ecommerce tools make it convenient for selling products—both physical and digital—using Squarespace.
Ecommerce, Selling Products, and Other Integrations
In addition to a responsive support team, Showit also has active Facebook communities for both users and designers. Business and support questions are often answered quickly and by multiple users. It’s become a great place for advice, collaboration, and, of course, additional support from other users.
Both Squarespace and Showit are known for having outstanding support teams and help documents available.
Showit’s support team can be reached via email or live chat. They’re super friendly—don’t be surprised if they respond using GIFs. Showit’s focus on creative businesses gives them an advantage when interacting with users because they better understand the needs of their community.
Getting Support For Your Website
TREVOR
"Customer service is amazing, especially Trevor!"
- Johanna White
showit support pro
Showit provides a 50% discount for each additional website, which makes it more affordable to manage multiple brands on the same platform.
An additional perk of using Showit is being able to easily create Plus Sites that can be used for things like private pricing pages. These sites can even have a different design than your primary website, and can be managed under one account.
If you own multiple brands, managing multiple websites can get expensive. At Squarespace, you’ll pay a subscription for every website want to launch.
Building Additional Websites
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You live for 1 on 1 support and a supportive community.
You love using WordPress as a blogging platform.
You want complete creative freedom.
Best choice if:
less expensive if your subscription is billed annually
/mo
24-39
Showit
vs.
You don't need 1 on 1 support.
You don't mind having little control over the layout and design of your site.
You want a super simple website
with no bells and whistles.
Best choice if:
3% transaction fee with products sold on site
/mo
16-46
Squarespace
Pricing
$
$
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Frequently Asked Questions about Migration from Squarespace to Showit
Absolutely! You can use your current domain and keep it hosted wherever you choose. We simply point your DNS records to our servers to display your site. Check out this doc for more info on Showit hosting.
It couldn't be easier, all you need to do is submit a blog migration request and our team will handle the rest! Once everything is moved over, we will contact you and let you know you're ready to start blogging with Showit!
Generally 2-4 days. The length of the migration process can vary based on the quantity of content you have. Learn more about blog migration here.
Our blog team will assist you with the migration of your Squarespace blog to Showit. You can find instructions on how to request a blog migration here.
Yes, there is. It's a 14 day free trial in which you get full access to the Showit platform to test it out and see if it's the right fit for you.
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