Tom's Favorite Things : @squarespace
I am fortunate to have innovative and supportive Dad. When growing up, he would show us his work in real estate and entrepreneurship. He helped us start our first venture in middle school. The Vranas Brothers Car Wash, including business cards, marketing materials and a loyalty program!
He also made sure we learned how to use computers from an early age. As we soon discovered, there was a whole world available through our 2400 baud modem. First came the BBS- a text bulletin board system for Chicago, named Ripco. Then we graduated to CompuServ and finally got some images and finally on to the famous ding of AOL’s “You’ve Got Mail.”
This is what a website really looks like.
As my brother and I jumped on the young version of the internet, we started to learn how to code and make websites. We got a book and learned the ins and outs of tags, hyper language and styles. At this point images were few and far between, but we could craft the first website. My brother and I used these skills to create websites for fun. As luck would have it the internet evolved and we both turned this hobby into side businesses.
...but the process of coding by hand was painful.
Fast forward through a variety of companies that tried to make the website creation process easier. Wix, Homestead, GeoCities, Tripod. We saw technologies come and go - Flash, animated gifs, php, java. Web design was commoditized but there still wasn’t a killer platform.
About a decade ago that all changed. I found Squarespace and the game changed.
Finally, a company that allow for quick and easy website creation. A platform that would still allow customized coding, but didn’t rely on it.
The first versions were still kludgey, but I started to build sites on Squarespace. They’ve gone through seven platform revisions, and now it’s the best and most powerful website creation tool.
Steve Jobs often told a story about how his father, a carpenter, would care as much about the back of a cabinet as the front. Jobs said this where he learned the importance of craftsmanship and attention to detail. This story reminds me of Squarespace. Everything in Squarespace is polished. Nothing ever feels half-baked. Simply put: Squarespace crafts the back of cabinets.
Using Squarespace like leasing and customizing an apartment in a classy development instead buying and owning your own house. You’re still in control of decor, cleaning, and everything living-wise – but you leave the construction, plumbing, security, and infrastructure to the property owner.
Squarespace is renowned for giving users the ability to create beautiful websites.
Templates have been skillfully crafted in a way that allows you to make personal touches but keep the theme consistent to the way the designer intended. They are one of the more expensive site builders on the market, but the whole experience feels very high end.
With simple point and click functionality, you can build an original website with completely customizable features from start to finish, and every feature mobile responsive without any extra work for you. Using best SEO practices, and linking seamlessly with social media, allows search engines to find your brand easily, and start driving traffic towards your website.
More than anything, it allows a novice to create or maintain a beautiful site. If you are looking for a new website, or to overhaul your existing site, I can’t give a more glowing recommendation - get Squarespace...it just works!