If you’re like me, picking your website platform just might be your least favorite part of launching or upgrading a business. They all claim to be the best. As someone who has worked on websites for dozens of brands, I think it comes down to Showit vs Squarespace for most creative entrepreneurs. 

When it comes to the question of Showit vs Squarespace, the right platform for you depends on your needs. I approach the question from the perspective of a content marketing and SEO specialist. If you plan on using your website to grow your audience and drive inquiries through organic traffic, both platforms work. However, Showit offers a level of customization and user-friendliness that I love. In this blog post, I walk you through the pros and cons of both platforms so you can choose the best one for your business.

Showit: Sophistication and Freedom

If creative freedom matters to you in the Showit vs Squarespace debate, you’re going to love Showit. It has a drag and drop interface that allows for extensive customization. Creative business, photographers, and anyone who prioritizes unique aesthetics will love this aspect of Showit. In my experience, the learning curve can be a bit steep. Once you get used to the interface, though, the design elements are unparalleled. It’s also easy to finetune your SEO with alt text, meta descriptions, and other things.

Key Features of Showit

Showit includes:

• A drag-and-drop builder: Users can create gorgeous websites without any coding knowledge. I regularly make little adjustments to Brandcendent’s website and play with clients’ blog formats without any coding experience.
• Good user experience: To some extent, user experience is dependent on your web designer. Showit does allow for a seamless user experience across mobile and desktop, though, because you can easily edit for both. That’s a big advantage of Showit vs Squarespace. 
• WordPress integration: At the end of the day, this is my favorite part of Showit. It integrates WordPress for easy blogging with top-notch SEO capabilities. You can manage content with the ease of WordPress while getting the creative benefits of Showit.

Pros and Cons of Showit

The Pros of Showit are:

• Creative flexibility: You really can design the most visually unique websites to showcase your content.
• WordPress integration: Along with making it easy to manage content, WordPress makes creating alt text so simple compared to other platforms. Yay for accessibility and image SEO! (Need a quick start to alt text? Grab our free guide here!)
• SEO options: Showit offers lots of great tools for SEO, including the Yoast plugin with WordPress blogging. 

The Cons of Showit are:

• Learning curve: Like I mentioned before, there is a steep learning curve for Showit. If you don’t expect to invest in SEO or need much customization, it might not be worth the time.
• Potentially higher cost: The base costs for Showit vs Squarespace are about the same, but some premium plugins and Showit features cost extra.

Squarespace: Beauty in Simplicity

If simplicity is your priority when comparing Showit vs Squarespace, Squarespace will win every time. It’s an all-in-one platform. That means you can host content, sell products, and even track analytics from the dashboard (though I’d still recommend setting up your Google Search Console regardless). For small businesses who want an easy-to-manage solution, Squarespace is it. 

Key Features of Squarespace

• All-in-one platform: Again, you can do pretty much everything from the Squarespace platform, including hosting.
• User-friendly interface: Squarespace’s design is fairly intuitive with a few exceptions. You don’t have to have much advanced understanding of web design to make it work for you.
• Built-in blogging features: The native blogging tools are fairly easy to use. 

Pros and Cons of Squarespace

The Pros of Squarespace are:

• Intuitive blogging: Squarespace makes content creation easy.
• Lower learning curve: Undoubtedly, Squarespace is beginner-friendly. If you’ve never had a website before, this platform is a good place to start.
• Built-in hosting: Squarespace includes hosting, so that’s one less service to worry about.

The Cons of Squarespace are:

• Less creative freedom: Squarespace offers fewer design customization options than Showit. This may frustrate entrepreneurs who want a truly one-of-a-kind website.
• Limited third-party integrations: Squarespace allows fewer third-party integrations than WordPress. Figure out what you’ll need before committing to Showit vs Squarespace.
• Less sophisticated SEO: Entering alt text is more tedious on Squarespace than it is on Showit. Squarespace also doesn’t offer Yoast. It’s not the only SEO solution, but it is very easy to use and effective.

Showit vs Squarespace: Choosing Your Platform

Ultimately, whether you choose Showit or Squarespace depends on your goals for your business and your technical needs. 

Showit is ideal for:

• Creative businesses and entrepreneurs who want design freedom
• Photographers looking to showcase their work in unique ways
• Anyone who wants to make SEO part of their marketing strategy

Squarespace is ideal for:

• Small businesses and startups who want a streamlined, all-in-one solution
• Bloggers and content creators who want a simple, user-friendly platform

Comparing Showit vs Squarespace is nuanced because each offers unique strengths. The right choice depends on your business’s requirements and your team’s preferences. Showit is an ideal platform for entrepreneurs who want lots of creative control. Squarespace, on the other hand, offers a more intuitive user interface. 

Whichever platform you choose, remember that it’s the building block for your business’s online presence. Make sure it’s a comfortable fit for your budget and sales and marketing goals.

Are you looking for support in building your digital marketing and content strategy? At Brandcendent, we specialize in SEO-driven web copy and blogging that connects you with your dream client. Reach out to us here!