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Starting your own business is an exciting and momentous endeavor that should be celebrated every chance you get. We invite you to introduce your business to the community and find out what others are up to in the comments below! Feel free to include interesting business origin stories, noteworthy milestones, or anything else you’d like to share. We’d love to hear it!

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!

Launching an online store can be as easy as choosing your website provider, uploading cool images for your products, setting a price, and selling them or advertising them in a marketplace. However, planning your online store launch thoroughly can help you manage expectations for your business and achieve long term success. To start, some experts recommend: Fully fleshing out your business idea, including researching your business name, target market, and their motivations for purchasing your products. Writing a comprehensive business plan that includes an exit strategy. Creating a budget and researching additional funding sources, like loans or business grants. Following government regulations and guidelines for registering your business as a legal entity. Building your team and creating your branding. Because businesses are varied and have different needs, there really isn’t a blueprint you can follow wholesale. Everyone’s timeline is different! Just check out what these startup founders told The Muse on how they fared when they started their businesses. What do you wish you’d known before launching your online store? Tell us all about it in the comments below.

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!

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!

Google My Business (GMB) is a free tool for managing the address and information that appears for your company in Google Search and Maps. Is it worth listing your business? The short answer is: yes. You can either set this up directly in Google, or within your Squarespace website you can manage Google My Business via the Marketing > Location Management panel. Having an additional avenue for your customers to call, email, visit your website, and engage with your business can help boost your search rankings. You can engage with customer reviews, list your contact and business information, and gain insights into local search performance. You may be asking: what if I don’t have a physical address to list for my business? Well, there are several options available if you want to use Google My Business. You can list “I deliver goods and services to my customers" to hide an address The post office can assign a physical address to a P.O. box upon request You can rent a mailbox at a private delivery company that offers the same option Have you leveraged Google My Business for your own website? Any insights gained from it’s additional analytics? Let us know in a comment below how GMB has worked for you! Note that Location Management is a Premium feature available in Business and Commerce plans. Only site owners and contributors with Admin permissions can make changes to Location Management.

When conceptualizing and creating a website, font choices are often the last thing we think about. However, choosing the right fonts can not only help you aesthetically, but it can also aid in the user experience by having an impact on readability across different browsers; creating a consistent brand identity, and avoiding eye fatigue. Not all fonts are created equal, and it pays to do some research and choose a combination of fonts or a font family for your site taking into consideration the language that you’re writing in (specifically if it has non-standard characters, like those derived from cyrillic), how long your text is going to be, and the personality of your brand. It’s a whole world of fonts out there! From classic and elegant serif fonts, to minimalist sans serif fonts, these choices communicate who and what your business is to the world. Get to know more about choosing fonts in this practical guide published by 99Designs. As an additional resource, Google’s Design library has a great guide to using Google Fonts, which is a popular destination for web safe fonts. What are your experiences choosing fonts for your site or another site you’ve worked on? Tell us in the comments below!

There are a variety of details to consider when setting up your online store, all in service of the ultimate goal: helping your customers find what they’re looking for and complete checkout smoothly. Get a head start by brainstorming tags, categories, and subcategories so customers can quickly find what they are looking for and browse related items. Think early on about which shipping options and potential discount codes might serve you best. These kinds of decisions can have a direct impact on performance. How do you make sure your online store is set up for success? Share in the comments below!

Starting a new business can be an exciting, yet scary, process –from coming up with the idea for your products to drawing up a business plan that works for you, creating your brand, and finally bringing your business to life. There’s no one size fits all method to starting a business, but there are certain steps you can take to prepare yourself to launch your big idea. Forbes recommends considering these questions: Does your business idea solve a problem for you or someone else? Have you researched your potential market? Do you have a defined audience? Have you validated your idea? As an example, Squarespace customers Ergo Chic and Soul Cap considered their own needs and the needs of people around them to create businesses that solved existing gaps in the market. What was the first step you took to make your business idea a reality? What recommendations do you have for emerging entrepreneurs? Share your experiences and learnings in the comments below!

We’re all creating content daily –whether it be through social media posts, forum interactions, voice notes, and blog posts; content is a great tool to reach out to your audience in relatable and useful ways. However, not all content is created equal and, more importantly, not all content serves a purpose. According to Quicksprout, having a clear content strategy and specific benchmarks for success –like increases in traffic, conversions, mentions, likes, or sales– can be a great tool to reach your business goals, create brand awareness, and offer something of value to your readers or prospective customers. In order to create engaging content, they recommend the following: Create content that is unique and unmistakably yours. Don’t skimp on your content marketing budget. Create actionable content. Use the power of storytelling to your advantage. Create eye-catching headlines. Writing this type of content isn’t easy and, more often than not, it requires market research and a trial and error approach in order to figure out which type of content and strategies work for you. Do you have any tips on how you create appealing headlines and content for your site? Share in the comments below!

Sliders AKA slideshows are revolving carousels in a website showing products or photos. Often they’re displayed as a banner at the top of the webpage and occupy the full width of the browser window. They create a dynamic browsing experience and offer visitors a taste of your brand, your work, or offerings. With Squarespace you can create sliders using Gallery Sections, Summary Blocks and Gallery Blocks. While their usage is very popular and they can be helpful to consolidate content so more is visible on one screen, some find them more often distracting than attracting, due to the fact of several messages being delivered at once which can lead to the focus being lost. Deciding if including carousels is the right choice for you will depend on your business, audience, and goals. What are your feelings on using sliders and what are some examples where you feel folks have used them intentionally and effectively? Share in the comments below!

Choosing images for your website can be a fun, yet daunting, task. You need to decide how you want to present your brand to potential customers. You can choose to keep your website imagery focused solely on your actual product, or open it up to some more varied imagery. Showing people and faces in your images can be a powerful tool. They can serve as visual cues so that your visitors will ‘look where they look’, guiding visitors through your website’s information. This kind of image can provide context for your products, or even lend more authenticity to your About or Testimonial pages. Others can find the inclusion of people and faces distracting, particularly if the images are very obviously staged stock photos. Where do you land on using people in pictures? Have you noticed their impact or lack thereof? Share your learnings in the comments below!

Why exactly are logos so important? Logos help set the tone for your business, as they are often your brand’s first impression on potential customers. As we know, our brains can process images more quickly than text, so having a logo helps users identify and remember your brand. Think of it as your company’s ID in your customers’ minds, it’s how you stand out among your competitors. How did you decide on your logo? What do you like most about it? What core message or feeling did you want your logo to convey? Tell us all about your logo in the comments below! P.S. If you’re looking to create a business logo, check out Squarespace’s Free Logo Maker to get started. You can also learn more about logos with our Help Guide: Creating a great logo.

The world of digital advertising can be a complex and exciting undertaking. With so many tools at your disposal –like Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram ads, search engine optimization tools, audience and conversion trackers– deciding how, what, and when to advertise online can become a full time job. However, the tools mentioned above are there to help you succeed and create an advertising plan that works for you and your business. But, how do you start creating an advertising plan for your online business? Quicksprout has a great resource with actionable steps on how to put together an online marketing plan that works for you and your business. Some of the foundational steps include: Focusing on your customers wants and needs Create a marketing framework focused on growth Building a robust social media presence Having a compelling brand story Use free and paid traffic acquisition Leverage some of your content for marketing purposes What tips do you have for getting started in online marketing and advertising? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Call to Action (or CTA) is a buzzword in the Marketing and Web Content fields these days. But, what actually is a CTA? Simply put, you’re inviting your visitors to take a desired action. It can range from two words (“Buy Now”) to two sentences, and its end goal could be anything - getting email subscribers, trial sign-ups, conversions, etc. A well crafted CTA can determine not only whether people take the desired action, but also how many. For an effective CTA, you need to consider both the design and the placement. For the design you can consider questions like how long should it be? How do I want to format it so it pops? When it comes to placement options, you can choose to put it at the top of your website for maximum visibility. Or you might find that placing it after some contextual info makes it that much more impactful. Do these decisions sound familiar to you? Tell us all about your learnings, tips and best practices on how to design powerful CTAs for a website and where to place them in the comments below!

Delicate, understated, and calming? Or bold, exaggerated, and energetic? There are so many options when it comes to packaging design or general branding, each telling its own story. How would you describe your design style? How did you choose what was right for you? Share your tips below!

Launching a website is an ongoing process and it’s important to celebrate the victories, no matter how big or small! We want to know what milestones you’ve hit. Did you: Write your first blog post? Update your custom logo? Land on the perfect color palette? Increase your social media following? Sell your first product? Send out your first email campaign? Something else? Let us know what milestone(s) you’re proud of! And looking ahead, what milestones do you hope to hit in the near future?

When starting an online business, marketplaces and/or social platforms are usually a great option for taking the first steps into the world of ecommerce. They make it easier to find your audience, allowing you as a seller to expand your reach and accelerate customer acquisition. As you find your niche and your business starts growing, seeking an independent online presence could be an exciting next move to make. It’s an opportunity to take control and tell your brand story in a more cohesive and professional way. Squarespace helps make the operational aspects of such a move easier for sellers by offering an automatic option to import products from third-party platforms. From your experience with moving your business from a marketplace toward a more emancipated online presence, what are your top tips for someone starting a similar journey? Share them with us in the comments below!

Choosing a domain name (the address/URL of your site) is a momentous occasion in your journey as a website owner. A domain is your brand’s first impression and coming up with a unique and memorable name is something that often requires some thought. Common best practices include: Use keywords (about what your business is or where you are located) so your audience can find you easily Keep the name short and simple for easy typing and memorization Keep pronunciation in mind to favor word-of mouth Register mistyped domains, so no matter what your audience types, they'll always be directed to your site. If you already have a business name, then you’ve got your starting point. Either way, a decision also needs to be made about what TLD/domain extension (part of a URL that follows the last period) to pick. While .com is the most familiar and easiest to remember, you could consider other common choices such as .net, .org, or even location (.uk, .ca, .au) or business/niche (.yoga, .community) based extensions as an alternative. No matter what, ideally your decision would be a long lasting one. While it’s always possible to change your domain later on, some caution is required to avoid hurting search rankings. How did you come up with your own domain name? What are your top tips on choosing the right one? Share in the comments below!

The “About Us” page can be an important part in turning a visitor into a customer. It’s your moment to tell them your story and emphasize why your product or service is the right choice for them! For personal sites, we find that focusing on your personal statement, achievements and a way to get in touch is most helpful. For storefront businesses, sharing a brief "how we came to be" history, impactful testimonials, and your hours and location are best. What is your strategy for your “About Us” page? Do you pack it with info or keep it minimal? Tell us all about it in the comments below!

A business plan is a crucial step towards bringing your idea to life. It is your roadmap to guide you through the winding road of getting your business off the ground. Beyond establishing your business’ focus, a solid business plan can also help you secure funding and attract top talent. Your business plan should answer questions like what is the purpose of your business? Who is your audience? What needs are you filling? How will you define success? Researching and writing out the answers to these big questions will help you set yourself up for success. How did you tackle your business plan? What resources did you rely on, and what learnings did you gain along the way? Share your tips for developing a solid business plan in the comments below!

As a small business owner, you have an exciting opportunity to personalize the customer experience, like answering promptly or following up on solutions provided, in a way that big companies don’t. You could also have a detailed FAQ page to address commonly asked questions, or maybe a generous return/exchange policy. Having an action plan for every avenue of communication, or potential scenario, from the beginning can help you make sure your customers feel happy and supported. Great customer service can lead to repeat business and referrals! How have you set yourself up for success in providing quality support to your customers? What tools do you use on or in conjunction with your website? What scenarios did you think through? Which policies have come in handy? Share your customer service tips in the comments below!

Keywords are essential for generating traffic from search engines. But which keywords should you use? And how do you brainstorm your ideas? Let’s go through some ways to generate ideas and different types of keywords you can use. To get started, there are tons of organizational note apps that lend themself to a personal brainstorm, so play around and see what works for you! I personally use Google’s JamBoard as my virtual sticky note go-to. This way I can visualize the contents of my site and see what keywords make sense for which pages. For my example photography business, I decided to break it up into the different types of photography I’m involved in and some potential keywords that would relate: Some questions to ask yourself when brainstorming: Who is your target audience? What sets you apart from your competitors? What synonyms can you utilize? For example: New York photographer and NYC photography are two different keywords. And what other words does Google autofill? Type the words you've come up with in Google and see what else pops up! When determining types of keywords, there’s “Head” and “Long-tail”, and there are benefits to using both types. Head keywords are short, usually one-word keywords that catch a wide audience like ceramics, tapestry, and shoes. Long-tail keywords are Multi-word phrases that are more specific, such as engagement photography, NYC shoe designer, and LA dog cafe. Head keywords can catch a more general audience who might not be specifically looking for you, whereas long-tail keywords cater to those who search with the intent of finding a specific product or service. How did you brainstorm your keywords? Any tools or tricks that aided you in the process? Share your thoughts and tips in the comments below!

Vision statements are a powerful tool for companies both big and small. They serve as a North star for where you want to take your business in both aspirations and impact. While mission statements focus on the present, vision statements are all about the future. Vision statements are about finding the balance between simplicity, inspirational, meaningful to you, and most importantly, actionable. You can start developing your vision statement by asking yourself questions like what is the purpose of my business? What are my long-term goals? What are my company values? Then take these answers to craft 1 to 2 sentences that sum it up. Other best practices include using the present tense, and avoid using industry jargon. Some great examples of inspirational vision statements include: Ben & Jerry’s: "Making the best ice cream in the nicest possible way." TED: “We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and, ultimately, the world.” How did you develop the vision statement for your business? What guiding questions did you find helpful? Share your learnings and vision statements in the comments below!

Backlinks are links from one website to another. For example, if a cooking blog references and links to your website in their blog post, that’s a backlink. Growing your backlinks over time can have a significant impact on your website’s SEO ranking, as they reinforce the quality of the content on your site. The question then becomes, how can you generate backlinks to your website? Best practices include writing guest posts on other publication sites or developing shareable content that your audience posts to their social media. With a variety of places to start from, what advice would you give to someone embarking on their backlinking journey? What strategies have you found most successful? Share in the comments below!