Blogging Paltform Reviews: Why Squarespace is My Place

I like to play around before I settle with a program or web place and so blogging was no different for me; and when I decided I was ready to dip a tentative toe into the Blogoshpere I spent some time experimenting with Blogger, Wordpress, TypePad and others.

Of the freebies I liked WordPress the best and found myself fiddling with sidebars and templates for hours trying to get the look and feel I wanted.

Then, one day I stumbled across a blog that I really liked the look of, so I scrolled to the bottom of the page to see if it was "proudly hosted by WordPress" and to my surprise found that it was hosted by a company called Squarespace. And so began my first, and only, relationship with a paid for blogging service.

Over the last three years my Squarespace blog has changed colour, shape and size more times than I care to remember, it's grown with me, expanded, and morphed into what now feels like a very desirable online writing residence. Somewhere I'm happy to write and post and hang out with others.

But you could get a Blog for Free!
Yes, Squarespace cost me $7 a month, but it's worth it - here's why:

- flexibility

- customisability

- automatic SEO (search engine optimisation)

- superb RSS handling

- excellent statistics reports

- and rock solid reliability

Yet, Squarespace is so much more than a blog. It's an online web site building tool par excellence (and I've tried a few of those too). It has generous bandwidth, image and file hosting. Excellent technical support - friendly, personal and they have always responded within 24 hours so far.

You can add countless pages, or folders, host multiple journals (i.e. blogs) my site has two so far each with their own RSS feed, and it even has built in Amazon listing pages for those who are after setting up for some Amazon affiliate income.

Adwords? Tip Jar? Sure!
Some have noted that SquareSpace doesn't support Google Adwords, but that is not strictly the case, with the fully flexible sidebar you can easily insert adsense code as you would on any other website, I also have a sidebar block set up for my own "tip jar" a feature that attracted me to TypePad before I realised I could easily make my own in Squarespace.

Pimp your Blog...
Squarespace comes with a wide range of stylish themes and templates, all of which can be tweaked and customised to the point that it looks like you had an expert build your blog for you. This works so well that I get emails from people asking me who designed my site.

My answer is a mere two letters "me"!

With SquareSpaces comprehensive, yet unobtrusive, tutorial mode you get a lot of hand-holding and tips as you go. The interface is unique which might feel unfamiliar at first, but once you get used to it, design and sidebar changes are a breeze, as is adding new content which can be done from within Squarespace or by using third party desktop blogging applications like Ecto (my current choice).

Try Before you Buy
Squarespace has a free 30 day trial which asks for minimal personal details before giving you access to your own fully functional Squarespace place to experiment with. By the end of the second week I was convinced and had no hesitation in signing up when my trial was up.

In conclusion
Andy Wibbles book Blog Wild nearly got me hooked up with TypePad (though I hear he's now switched allegiance to WordPress!). Steve Pavlina nearly got me hooked up to word press - and though I love his writing, (and it's evident that WordPress is nurturing his bank account) his blog is, in my humble opinion, plain looking.

And so it was that I was tempted over to SquareSpace by finding a well written blog with an outstanding design, and I'm pretty sure it's where my blog will stay.

Final Verdict: highly recommended 5/5