You have worked hard to get where you are. You have gained clients, placed candidates and are looking to grow your business with a new or updated website. But with so many options out there, where do you start? 

Don't panic; we're here to help. 

Design is super important—trust us, but if you don't have the right platform to aid in your search engine optimization (SEO), those looking for your services may never find your website—which means you are likely losing money to a competitor. 

What is SEO?

SEO is what gets you found on search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. If your website is not optimized for search, it could stay hidden on page 20—which is almost as bad as not existing at all. With good SEO, the goal is to show on the first page of search results. 

Sadly, no one wakes up one day as an SEO expert. That's why choosing the right website platform can help. To understand the two systems, let's break them down.

What's the difference?

Squarespace is a simplified website builder that doesn’t allow for much customization. Similar to a paint-by-number picture, you fill in the blanks to complete your website template. Even if you have coding knowledge, there is no access to the backend for style changes—which can be a significant downside to your site’s design and function.

WordPress also allows you to build your website easily, but it's not just a website builder: it's an open-source content management system with themes (templates) that you can customize but also, unlike Squarespace, gives you the ability to easily add custom coding to get the exact design elements you want. There is no limit on what you can build with WordPress, which makes it extremely popular. Thirty-five percent of websites today are built on WordPress. 

Monitoring performance

Squarespace’s built-in analytics are user friendly. This helps keep track of your work and what has made an impression on those visiting your website. You can search relevant keywords and connect it to your Google Analytics to keep your data all in one place. 

WordPress doesn't have a built-in monitoring system, but there are free and paid plugins you can load on the backend of your site to monitor your traffic. We recommend using Google Analytics for more insights on what your audience traffic and site usage.

SEO tools

Squarespace has all the tools built-in, so you don't need to download anything extra. It's relatively user friendly, but you may have some issues if you aren't familiar with keywords and basic SEO setup. A benefit is that Squarespace has a customer service department to help if needed. 

WordPress helps you create an SEO-friendly website and you can boost your reach even more with the addition of plugins. Yoast is one of the most popular tools to aid in your SEO practices, helping you perfect your key phrases and meta descriptions. With WordPress, you get a very hands-on SEO experience to achieve a specific SEO strategy. 

Which one will you choose? 

Now, hopefully, you see the primary differences between these two website platforms, but which do you choose? That choice is up to you. WordPress has more SEO power, but Squarespace is already set up for beginners. However, it is essential to look at the system as a whole and how it fits your digital marketing strategy. Whichever you choose, you won't be falling into the white noise of Google's search results. 

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SEO can be time-consuming and complicated and understanding search trends can be a struggle. We help take the guesswork out of website design, development and optimization so you can focus on running your business. For more information about how we can help you optimize your website for the best performance, contact us today.