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It can be scary for small businesses to invest in paid social media as the results of each campaign can vary and are not guaranteed. However, according to Sprout Social, paid social can support your organic social media in the long run, guarantee that you reach the target audience you’re marketing to, and put your brand or product in front of the right customers. A well crafted social media campaign using paid posts can have some immediate results leading to increased brand awareness, more traffic for your web presence and even lead generation. When is a good time to use paid social media? There’s no clear cut answer to this, but Sprout Social recommends you do so when you have an established following and understand the idiosyncrasies of the social media channel you’re targeting. They also recommend creating a budget and tying your ad campaigns to big picture business goals. How did you get started using paid social? What have the results been? We’d love to hear your stories! Share in the comments below.

Squarespace Scheduling lets your clients book appointments or classes using the scheduling block or through a separate scheduling page on your site. Scheduling is a versatile tool if your business is appointment based (like a nail salon, tutoring, or fitness class), as it gives more autonomy to your clients when it comes to setting appointments with you, deciding which service to purchase, or seeing if their favorite professional is available. How have you used Scheduling? Are you using it in a non-traditional way? We’d love to hear your stories! Let us know in the comments! If you are interested in learning more about Scheduling, register for a free Squarespace Scheduling 101 webinar or watch it on demand.

Successful SEO strategies depend on many factors and are usually the product of a lot of time spent on market research, competitor analysis, and social trends. Once this work is done, search engine algorithms will still need to crawl your site and determine its rankings. It’s a long, steady process that requires trial and error, and lots of patience. What happens if your main strategy doesn’t work how you expect? In this case, do what the pros do: experiment! According to the SEO and marketing blog, Search Metrics, SEO experiments will help you answer the question, “will this tactic work for my business?” Here’s a few of their recommendations on experiments you can try: A/B Tests Font, color, and CTA (call to action) changes Tweaking your website copy and metadata Targeting search keywords with low search volume The site Semrush also has some innovative SEO experiments you can check out. How did you get your SEO strategy in shape? Share your insights and experiments in the comments below!

Real community engagement is a long term game, according to the writers at The Social Shakeup. This especially true of social media, as holding the attention of your audience and having them contribute positively to your community takes time, effort, and showing up with interesting and useful content daily. Clicks and shares are important, but more and more social media algorithms are prioritizing interactions and saved posts in order to surface the most relevant content for audiences. So, how can you engage your community and promote your brand at the same time? Here are some tips from The Social Shakeup: Get to know your community and interact with them on their preferred platforms Ask questions and ask for feedback Promote user generated content Host contests Connect with them emotionally Tailor your content to your audience’s interests How do you engage with your community? We’d love to hear your stories! Share them in the comments.

When it comes to putting your brand in front of your audience, it’s easy to rely on the tried and true methods for marketing –a website, an ad campaign, maybe an email campaign and some social media posts. However, these methods are not enough in 2022, as most consumers have adopted new communication and social media channels, such as TikTok, affiliate marketing, influencers, and paid social media, among others. Here’s where multi-channel marketing comes in. Reaching your customers in the different channels they tend to gravitate towards helps you build a cohesive brand experience, interact with your customers, and find new leads. According to Business2Community, matching your customer’s journey and across multiple channels will go a long way towards realizing your sales goals. Some strategies you can try are: Combining email campaigns with social media efforts Content marketing Partnership marketing (influencers or other brands) Social media activations The site Fool.com also has a great blueprint on how to diversify your marketing channels. How have you used multi-channel marketing to boost your business? Share your tips and experiences with the community below!

Designing your site header is an important step as it plays such a big role in how visitors navigate and interact with your content. It looks the same throughout your site and typically includes your navigation and title or logo display. It can also include social or shopping cart icons, or even a call-to-action button! With style options like Gradient, the ability to use a custom color for the background, adding borders and drop shadows, you can create a unique design that fits your brand and makes your website stand out. You can read more about styling options in our Building a site header guide. How did you choose your header’s design? Have you played around with the new options? Share the results and your experiences in the comments below!

Email Campaigns are a great tool in your arsenal to engage your existing and potential customers alike. From announcing sales and events to sharing behind-the-scenes footage, there’s an opportunity there for all kinds of businesses and organizations. Once you’ve chosen your catchy subject line, written your content, and landed on an exciting call-to-action, the time has come to pick the right imagery to tie it all together. Best practices include keeping within your brand identity and making sure you are using the optimal file size for clarity. Choosing images that are impactful and relevant to your needs, can have an effect on your conversion rates. How do you choose the images for your Email Campaigns? Do they differ from the ones on your website? Share your tips and learnings in the comments below!

Not linked pages are live pages of your website that don’t show in your site’s navigation menus. Your visitors can still view them through a variety of ways including text links, buttons, and linked images. These handy pages can be used for all sorts of purposes. You can use a Not linked page to host a price sheet to send to prospective clients, your freebie or giveaway event, or even a form for client intakes. Possibilities are endless! How do you like to use Not linked pages on your site? Do you have any great examples or learnings? Share in the comments below!

Whether you update your site’s look frequently or stick with one evergreen look, it’s likely you’ve spent quite some time designing every corner of your website. Which visual element of your website are you most proud of? Which do you think makes your site stand out the most? Share in the comments below!

Have you ever heard of the term “mobile-first design”? It’s a common concept among web designers who want to stay ahead of the curve on the technologies that we use every day to view sites on the Internet. The philosophy contained within mobile-first design is called “progressive advancement,” which dictates that you should design your web presence with smaller screens in mind first, which in turn makes it easier for you to progressively move on to larger screens. According to data shared by the AdobeXD Ideas blog, two billion people currently access the internet on their mobile devices, and that number is expected to jump 72.5% in the next three years. That’s a lot of people to think about! In essence, thinking about mobile-first design forces you to strategize and prioritize your content so that it is leaner and more to the point, to use headings strategically in order to create a visual hierarchy, reduce the number of links in your navigation to fit a smaller screen, use fonts that prioritize readability, and to use white spaces to your advantage for a cleaner layout. What are your best practices for designing more mobile friendly sites? Share your ideas below!

Accordion or collapsible menus are considered one of the workhorses of web design for good reason. They’re a versatile tool for text heavy pages on a website, like those showcasing a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), and they also help keep your pages short and reduce scrolling fatigue for your readers. They can solve potential design problems, like too much content or too little real estate on the page, and they can provide an intuitive direction for users to explore the information that they need and collapse the information that they don’t. In Squarespace, if you’d like to add an accordion menu to your site you would need to use an Accordion Block. Accordion Blocks have their own styling options that you can customize to get the look and feel you want for your site. If the available customizations don't cover your needs, our community member Tuanphan created a handy list of useful code for the Accordion Block. Are you planning on using the Accordion Block? Do you already use one on your site? What are your best practices for the effective use of an accordion menu? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

There are many ways to advertise your business online. Whether it be through Facebook Marketplace, Instagram Shopping, or paid search, there are no shortage of ways to get your name out there. One of the biggest tools online marketers use to great results is Google Ads. With an average of 3.5 billion searches per day, Google Ads offers a way to get your product in front of many sets of eyes. Because it is such a robust platform with so many different settings, options, budget trackers and rules, starting out can be intimidating. According to Hootsuite and Semrush, you should consider doing these things before starting: Define your goals and target audience for the ad Optimize the landing page where the ad will link to Think about catchy headlines (but no clickbait!) Make sure to use a negative keywords list Test multiple ad copies Do you have any tips for using Google Ads effectively? Any tricks on how to get the most out of Google Ads? Tell us in the comments below!

An important part of growing your business successfully is taking the time to understand your customers and their journey. Knowing their motivations for buying your product offerings, how they found your business, which communication channels they prefer, and what your competitors are doing to lure them, is key to being able to retain your customers and develop products that they need and want. Additionally, market research will help you better understand where your resources and marketing budget should be directed in order to get a better return of investment. Best practices include: Defining your buyer persona Checking out how customers behave in stores that offer similar products Individual interviews and/or focus groups Processing the data into actionable steps Learning how to ask the right questions can be tricky, and there are resources like Hubspot and Hotjar that provide information that can guide you along the way. What are your tips for conducting market research? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Anchor links or page jumps are a vital component to any website, but specifically important for those websites that are text-heavy or have a lot of content on a single page. In essence, an anchor link is a special URL that takes you to a specific place on a page. They’re useful for letting your visitors skip to the parts of your content that interest them, and they’re a great organizational device that aids readability. As an added bonus, they help with SEO too. In Squarespace, there are two types of anchor links you can use, depending on the version of our platform you’re using. For example, if your site is on the Squarespace 7.0 platform, you can create anchor links on Index Pages using the steps in the guide Adding index page anchor links. If your site is on the 7.1 version, you can add a small custom code snippet and create an anchor link on Layout Pages. Check out our guide Creating anchor links. Before stuffing your Main Navigation with anchor links, there are some considerations you need to take into account. For example, too many items in your navigation can be aesthetically overwhelming and become a hindrance to readers. Links that are too close together can be a problem on mobile, specifically for visitors with limited hand mobility. How do you use anchor links on your website? Do you have any special practices or tricks? Let us know in the comments below!

Throughout our lives we learn that colors can signify warnings and practical instructions (like the red for “stop” signs and green for traffic lights) or convey emotions and feelings, like blue and green for comfort and clarity; and orange and yellow for energy, youth, and warmth. This is part of what is known as color theory, and it can be a great tool to use when it comes to designing your website and choosing your color palettes. When choosing the colors that will represent your online presence, it is recommended to start with colors that are on brand for your business. You can then consider using pop colors, which can elicit certain emotions and responses in your target audience, and can highlight calls to action or important information. Balance is key to a successful color palette, so it is also recommended to use some neutral colors to balance out your color palette and avoid eye fatigue. Coolors is a great tool to get inspiration or even generate a color palette for you. How did you choose your site’s color palette? Did you use color theory or perform research? What advice would you give to others considering their color choices? Share your experiences and learnings in the comments below!

Welcome to the Resources category! Here you’ll find an assortment of Squarespace-related plugins and resources, made or recommended by fellow Squarespace users. To submit a resource* Create a New Post that contains: A straightforward title that describes the basic functionality of the resource. For example: Before and After Image Slider A (brief) description about the resource, its application(s) and how it’s helpful A link to the resource Click on Submit Topic when you’re ready, and it will be sent to the Squarespace Community Team for approval. Please allow 24-48hr for the approval process. *Only one post allowed per individual resource.

These days, you probably have several social media accounts all relating back to your website and content. Most of these social accounts only allow for a single “link in bio”. How are you utilizing that real estate? Unfold’s Bio Sites can be the perfect hub for your website, social media accounts, and even an email link for your visitors to have easy access to the accounts that suit them. Better yet, you can customize your Bio Site to match your site’s brand, making this a clear extension of your website. Are you currently using Unfold and their Bio Site tool? Show us your designs and share your experience!

Hi all, For websites on Squarespace version 7.1, you can upload videos from your device directly to section backgrounds. To learn more about your options and ideal specs, read our guide Adding videos to your site.

Hey Ahmeid, It seems like you're looking to upload videos as thumbnail images. This is currently not possible. You can, however, upload a video as a background video, directly to your site. We have some further information on how to achieve this in our "Adding videos to your site" guide.

Hey MaelleDion44, For all websites on the Squarespace 7.1 platform, you can upload background videos directly from your mobile device! To learn more about your options and ideal specs, read our guide "Adding videos to your site."

Hi all, For websites on Squarespace version 7.1, you can upload videos from your device directly to section backgrounds. To learn more about your options and ideal specs, read our guide Adding videos to your site.

Hey all, It is now possible to delete a Customer Account! Site owners and contributors with Administrator or Store Manager permissions can can delete an account holder's customer account from their profile in the Profiles panel. You can take a look at further information in our "Customer Accounts" guide.

Hey there Neilc, You can now add text and modify style settings for customer email notifications per product type, which means that you should be able to change some of the built-in text. You can check out our guide "Customer Email Notifications" for further details

Hey there GlassVial28, You can now add text and modify style settings for customer email notifications per product type. For example, if you want to include a download link in the confirmation email for a Service Product, you can certainly do so. You can check out our guide "Customer Email Notifications" for further details.

Hi all, While it is still not possible to send customer notifications per product, you can change some of the text and style of the "Customer Email Notifications" with our new editor.