How to Set Your Blog Up for Success

Squarespace Basics

May 18

If you found this video, you're likely wondering how to set up your blog on Squarespace. As a Squarespace Expert, I’m here to walk you through some of the most essential steps to set your blog up for success.

In this beginner-level tutorial video, I'll walk you through my step-by-step process for planning your blog content strategy, creating a dedicated blog page with the perfect layout, and properly setting up each blog post for best SEO and engagement practices. We'll cover all the important settings like titles, featured images, SEO, using categories vs tags to organize posts, and more. I've even got some bonus tips for integrating your blog into other parts of your Squarespace website and marketing too.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 Welcome intro
0:39 Step 1: Plan Your Content
2:52 Step 2: Create a “blog” page on your Squarespace website
4:46 Step 3: Customize your blog “overview” page
10:11 Step 4: Add your blog posts and customize their settings
28:05 Step 5: Optional ways to integrate your blog into your website and marketing
28:14 Display previews of your blog on other parts of your website by using a summary block
32:53 Connect new blog posts to your Squarespace email campaigns
34:19 How to change your blog author profile photo and information
36:06 Wrapping up & outro

ADDITIONAL INFO ✨

Step 1: Plan Your Content (Before you start building out your pages)
Pro tip: I like to use Google Docs for this, in addition to Grammarly Premium or Jasper AI.

The purpose of a blog is typically to share your thoughts, advice, and free resources with your audience that might help them solve a problem.
As you start writing content for your blog, think of the different topics that your ideal audience might be Googling, and write your content with that in mind.
For example, if you’re a wedding venue located in Southern California, you might want to write posts with topics such as:
- Best Wedding Photographers in Southern California
- How to Prepare for a Flawless Wedding Day - Essential Do’s and Don’ts for Brides
- 5 Things You Need to Know When Choosing Your Dream Wedding Venue

Step 2: Create a “Blog” Page on Your Squarespace Website

Choose whichever layout best suits your style and needs.
Double-check the overall blog settings to make sure the blog title, URL slug, and SEO settings are correct.

Step 3: Customize Your Blog “Overview” Page

Add a search bar if you like!
Later on, you can also add links to categories here.

Step 4: Add Your Blog Posts and Customize Their Settings
Important settings to keep in mind:

Note: The blog layout uses Squarespace’s “Classic Editor” instead of “Fluid Engine” for the page sections, so there is not as much flexibility with overlapping images and customizing the mobile view.
- The desktop view will automatically convert to mobile view.
Main blog post content to include on the blog page:
- Blog post title
- Blog post content (images, text, the author name, any calls-to-action at the bottom like your contact info or an email sign-up)
Blog post settings:
- Content:
  - Featured image
  - Excerpt
  - Post URL
  - Author
- Options:
  - Status
  - Tags
  - Categories
    Note: The difference between tags and categories: Categories can display as Primary Metadata or Secondary Metadata at the top of posts or below the post excerpt. Tags can't display on the blog landing page. Tags always display on blog posts [source]. Categories allow you to broadly group post topics, while you can use tags to describe your post in more detail [source].
  - Comments (enable or disable depending on your preference)
  - Featured post (helpful if you have a summary block)
- SEO
  - Blog post title
  - Blog post description
- Social Image
- Share
- Location
- Pro tip: Duplicate old blog posts when you’re creating new ones so that you don’t have to start from scratch
- Note: your blog posts will appear in the order of the date they were published - newest first & oldest last

Step 5: Optional Ways to Integrate Your Blog into your website and marketing:

Display previews of your blog on other parts of your website by using a summary block.
Connect new blog posts to your Squarespace email campaigns.
More detailed blog settings on Squarespace with comments & approvals.
How to change your blog author profile photo and information [more information about how that’s set up].