Putting the finishing touches to a Squarespace website

We've been building quite a lot of Squarespace websites recently. They're very popular because they give our clients full control of their website. For more information check out our Squarespace web design page.

Once you've finished the design and build, proof read the text, checked your links, etc. there are various "good housekeeping" procedures to follow and sometimes these can be difficult to keep track of, so I thought I would list them for you. This will be useful not only to people who specialise in Squarespace web design, but also to those who may have built their own websites and want to check that they have done everything they can to optimise them for the search engines. Your SEO is obviously essential! I'm going to use our client Big Blue dive centre in Dahab, South Sinai as an example.

Website description and search indexing

This is crucial for SEO as this will be used by search engines that catalog your Squarespace webpage. Go to Website Management, and then Website settings/search indexing. Look at the screenshot below for guidance on the settings. The description I used for Big Blue is: Big Blue Dahab is a leading PADI Five Star Dive Resort in Dahab, South Sinai, Egypt.

Page descriptions

Once you've changed the search indexing settings as above, you can add a page description for each page of the site via the Squarespace Structure mode (the cubes on the top right), then Configure Page. Again this is very important for SEO as the search engines will find it.

For example on the Big Blue homepage I have entered: Want to dive in Dahab, Egypt? Look no further. Big Blue Dive Centre has all the equipment you need plus the support of skilled guides and instructors who will show you the wonderful underwater world in the Gulf of Aqaba.

For the Why Dive With Us page I have written: Read all about Big Blue Dive Centre, Dahab and why we're the only place you should consider for your diving holiday.

Locale

To set the time and date for your blog entries, go to Website Management, then Website settings/locale - for Big Blue I set it to Egypt, English, and Eastern European Time (Egypt).

Meta tags and code injection

I can't stress enough how important this is for your SEO! There are so many Squarespace websites that I have come across with no meta tags so if you haven't got them you're definitely missing a trick.

Go to Website Management, then Website settings/code injection. See the screenshot below for the option to choose and the code I used for Big Blue is: <meta name="keywords" content="Big Blue Dahab, diving Dahab, diving South Sinai, diving Egypt, diving Dahab, PADI, PADI Dahab, PADI Egypt, PADI South Sinai, camel safari Dahab, boat safari Dahab, Blue Hole Dahab, Bells to Blue Hole Dahab, Canyon Dahab, Eel Garden Dahab, Golden Blocks Dahab, Island Dahab, Light House Dahab, Moray Garden Dahab, Ras Abo Helal Dahab, Ricks Reef Dahab, The Caves Dahab, 3 Pools Dahab, Um Seid Dahab" />

Favicon (or that pretty little picture you can put next to the URL in the browser)

Use this URL to generate the favicon, based on either your logo or a good visual element of your website that will work in a small, square shaped format. The size should be 16 x 16. Download the .ico file, don't rename it, and then add it to the file storage area in Website Management. After that go to website settings/advanced/favicon and look at the screenshot below for what to do next.

Contact form

Check the contact form configuration goes to the right person (i.e. the correct email address and not the default example that Squarespace supply) and that it has nice friendly messages rather than the default ones. You can access this via the cube icon on the top right, and then "configure page".

Member accounts

Check the account names and email addresses in the Website Management are correct. Remember that if you send a support ticket to Squarespace they will use the email address you have listed to reply to you, so it is vital that this is accurate.

Labelling images for screen readers

This one can be time consuming but is good standard practice for all websites. You need to consider people with sight problems who use screen readers. That means you should really describe each image on the website (apart from the Gallery pictures). Go to the HTML area of the page (access this via the A symbol on the top right, then Edit page, the HTML on the top right), and look for where the image path code is. You will see alt="" there. You need to add a small description between the speech marks. For example: alt="boat on the sea".

Footer code

If you'd like to add a standard footer message and include a link to your own website as a designer, go to the Website Management area on the top left, then website settings/header and footer.

Copyright &copy; 2011, Big Blue.  All rights reserved. <a href="/display/Login"> Log in.</a>  Website design by <a href="http://www.managemywebsite.co.uk/">Manage My Website.</a>

Custom domain

And finally, in order to use your "proper" domain name and not have a standard Squarespace one, there are various steps you need to follow. You can find all the details you need here.

I hope this article has helped you! If you have anything to add or ask, just get in touch or leave a comment below and we'll be happy to speak to you.