Introduction
I’ve been a blogger for over ten years now, and I love it. Blogging is an easy way to share your thoughts with other people and create a platform for yourself. However, if you’re just starting out, it’s not always clear what the best way to set up your blog is—especially if you’re using Squarespace as your web host (which is what I recommend). So here are some tips from my experiences with blogging on Squarespace:
Decide what kind of blog you want.
Before you start a blog, it’s important to think about what kind of blog you want. This will help determine your goals and how best to achieve them.
- What kind of audience do I want to reach? Do I want my audience to be mostly local or international? Is it specific by age group, gender or location (like “parents in New York City”)?
- How often should I post new content? Should it be daily, weekly or monthly–or even less frequently than that (like once every few months)?
- What kind of content am I going to publish on my site: text only or images/videos too?
Think about how often you’ll be blogging.
The more frequently you post, the more opportunities there are for readers to find and engage with your content. A blog that has new content every day will attract a larger audience than an infrequently updated one.
The same goes for building an audience: More frequent updates mean more opportunity for people to subscribe via email or RSS feeds, which in turn can lead directly to increased traffic from search engines like Google as well as social networks like Facebook and Twitter (both of which often show posts from other users). And when it comes time for making money from this site (which we’ll get into later), having consistent posting schedules makes things easier on advertisers who want their ads displayed alongside certain pieces of writing–they know exactly when these ones will appear!
Write down a few ideas for your first few posts, and try writing them out.
If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, try writing about what you’re interested in. If that doesn’t work, consider writing about a topic that is familiar to you and that others may also be interested in.
If neither of these approaches has yielded any results, try choosing a popular topic as your first post.
When you’re ready to dive in, set up a Squarespace account.
Once you’ve decided to go ahead with a Squarespace blog, sign up for a free trial. This will give you access to the platform and allow you to create an account without spending any money.
Once you’ve signed up, choose one of their templates–the design template that best fits your needs and style is important! You’ll be able to customize it later on in the process (more on this later). Click “Create Site” when ready.
Then add your content: text posts written by hand or through WordPress; images uploaded from Flickr or Google Images; videos from YouTube or Vimeo (which can also be embedded into posts). To make sure everything looks good together on screen before publishing, click “Preview” at any time during this process until everything looks perfect! Then hit Publish To Live Site so people can see what all those hours spent planning were worth 🙂
When Logging Into Your Account:
When you log into your account, choose the “Start with blog” option.
This will take you to the blog page where you can customize your site and add content.
Pick a template that has the same general look as what you want your blog to be.
When you’re searching for a template, look for one that has the same general look as what you want your blog to be. You can change the look of your blog later if necessary, but it helps to get started with something that’s similar in style and feel.
If you’re not sure where to start, try searching by category: there are templates dedicated specifically for travel blogs or fashion bloggers (or really any kind of blogger). These templates will give you an idea of what other people have chosen when setting up their sites–and might inspire some ideas about how much customization is right for your needs!
Fill out all the details that are prompted for in each section.
Once you’ve finished setting up your blog, it’s time to fill in all the details that are prompted for in each section. Make sure to check the privacy settings (you can do this by clicking on “Settings” at the top of any page). You want people who visit your site to be able to see all of your posts, but you also don’t want them seeing every single post from other blogs or websites that have linked back to yours. This will help protect both yourself and anyone else whose content may have been posted on another site.
Also make sure that when entering an email address for Squarespace marketing emails, it’s correct! If not, then don’t worry–they’ll let you know after submitting an order form and asking them about it again if something looks off about where they’re sending their emails from so long as we get back in touch within 30 days after purchasing our domain name through them.
Finally: remember! Once everything has been set up properly (and double checked), use this opportunity wisely by adding some personal touches like taglines/bios into each section where possible; otherwise there will only be generic information shown instead.”
Go through each prompt until they’re all done (this is your home page).
Now that you’ve got your blog set up, it’s time to get started. The first thing you’ll see is a prompt asking for the name of your blog. This isn’t something that’s permanent–you can change it at any time by going into Settings > General > Title and altering the text there.
Next up: choosing an image for your homepage! This can be any photo from your collection or even one from Google Images (which is what I did). Just click on “Choose File” and choose an image file from either device storage or Dropbox. If Squarespace asks if they can resize the image before uploading it to their servers (it will only do this if they think there might be problems with resizing), say yes!
Create a new page for your blog and then go back to the Home page to add a link to it.
- Click on Pages in the left sidebar, then click on Add page.
- Add a title and click Create page to create your first blog post!
- Go back to Home Page, then enter your new blog post name under Categories and click Save changes when you are done (or just click Publish if you want).
How To Add A Post:
To add a post, click on Blog Posts in the left sidebar and then the Add button on the right side.
- Enter a title for your post. This can be anything you like–it’s just there so you can identify it later when editing or searching for posts by name.
- Write your post! You can use Squarespace’s editor to format text and insert images (if applicable).
- When finished with writing and editing, click Publish at the top of this page to publish your new blog post immediately or save it as draft if you want to come back later and make changes before publishing.
How To Change Settings On Your Blog:
If you want to change some other settings about your blog, like when posts appear on social media, go back to Blog Posts in the left sidebar and click settings. You’ll be able to customize a lot of different things here:
- The title of your blog is what appears at the top of every page (it’s also used as an alt text for images). You can edit this by clicking Title under Site Info.
- The description is what shows up below an image when someone shares it on social media or adds it to their feed; it’s also used as an alt text for images that have no text associated with them (like logos). You can edit this by clicking Description under Site Info.
Share Your Blog!
The best way to do this is by sharing on social media and inviting friends and family. You can also reach out to other bloggers or websites that cover topics similar to yours, as well as any organizations or companies in the industry (if applicable).
Once someone has clicked through, make sure they know what they’re getting into before asking them for money or time–and don’t expect too much from them right away!
Conclusion
If you’re looking for help getting started with Squarespace, check out their beginner’s guide. They have lots of helpful resources and information at your disposal!