This post is to help persuade you to choose WordPress as the web platform to build your business on, but know that we’re very biased about that. I’ve been designing and developing on WordPress since 2006, and while I’ve worked with many other platforms, WP is still the one I trust – for the reasons you’ll find below.

Who is this post meant for? A quick caveat before we dive in… When comparing one web platform to another, it’s important to know from what relative perspective you’re reading from. Someone without design or development skills looking to quickly build a website for themselves should consider different features than a business/organization looking to hire a professional should. This post is directed towards small businesses and organizations who’ve committed to hiring a professional web team and are considering the pro’s and con’s of WordPress vs Squarespace.

This isn’t meant to blow Squarespace off as a poor service. I’ve even written up a post about when Squarespace might be a good choice.

Okay, let’s get into it. Here’s the full list, click on the links to read more.

10 Reasons Why WordPress Beats Squarespace

1. Full ownership of your website
2. Independence
3. Growth and Scalability
4. 100% Design Flexibility
5. Full SEO Control
6. Limitless Functionality
7. Security
8. Community
9. Trust
10. Full, 100% ownership of your site

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A more comprehensive explanation of each:

Full Ownership of Your Website

This is our number one reason for choosing WordPress over any other SAAS based web platform. Ownership of your site means it can never be taken away or turned off without your knowledge or consent. This is the spirit the internet was grounded on, and we’re big supporters of independent publishing and the Indie Web.

Independence from Corporate Networks

When Squarespace goes down (and it does go down periodically) there is not much you can do about it. If they were to go down for any length of time you’re stuck waiting for them to fix it. Armed with a recent backup, a WordPress site can be migrated to a new host in less than an hour.

Ability to Grow, Expand, and Scale

WordPress offers a huge variety of plugins and functionality. There are no limits to the number of pages, posts, or custom content types you can add. E-commerce, memberships, and subscriptions are all possible – whether it started out as part of the plan or not.

Design Flexibility

While Squarespace does have some nice templates and the ability to add ‘custom CSS’, it’s no match for the pure blank canvas of possibility that WordPress offers. In the hands of a skilled designer, nearly anything is possible with WordPress. Living up to your brand guide will be no problem.

Superior SEO Control

WordPress has unmatched control over how Google sees your site. You’ll have full control to optimize page titles, meta descriptions, headings and readability of your content. A skilled developer can build your site to be search engine friendly, and semantically marked up.

Nearly Limitless Functionality

If there is a unique or specific function you need your site to perform, it’s unlikely Squarespace will serve your needs. With WordPress, the answer likely is “there’s a plugin for that.” And if there isn’t a plugin for that, the unique functionality can be custom built.

WordPress is Secure

There is a narrative that Squarespace is inherently more secure than WordPress. This is not the truth. Any platform can be broken into, and WordPress is no less secure than the rest when you’ve got a good security team or plan in place. Side note: We started Cinch Web Services for just this purpose.

WordPress Designers and Developers Abound

Sometimes a site will be built by someone who eventually moves on. The WordPress community is large and supportive, and finding a new developer is as easy as looking up your local WordPress Meetup group. These same meetups are a great way to get help and support for everything WordPress. And meet a few cool people too.

Trusting a Platform that Others Trust

You won’t see companies like CNN, TechCrunch, or Walt Disney switching from WordPress to Squarespace, because they want independence and to control their own content. Much like Facebook, if Squarespace changes things up on you, there won’t be much you can do about it. With WordPress, you own your site and your content.

100% Ownership

What did we say this twice? Yes we did. It’s simply that important.

Yes we’re biased but…

Our preference for WordPress is based on years of designing and developing long lasting, effective websites for businesses and organizations here in Park City and across all of Utah (and beyond). Early on we worked with a variety of web platforms and we’ve worked with Squarespace as well – but nothing has offered a system as robust, independent and scaleable as WordPress.

Give us a shout if you’d like to find out the value of working with Spigot on an independent, WordPress powered website for your business or organization.