How to Migrate From Squarespace to WordPress? (Step-by-Step Guide)

Squarespace is surely an excellent platform for those seeking a beautiful website with minimal hassle. It’s perfect for anyone who doesn’t have coding experience or extensive design knowledge. But what if you crave endless customizations and functionalities?

Perhaps you want to install unique plugins to enhance your site’s features, or maybe you crave more design freedom beyond Squarespace’s templates. Well, that’s where WordPress comes in.

Web development services prefer WordPress as the best CMS when it comes to extensive customizations. So let’s see how you can migrate from Squarespace to WordPress effectively.

Why Migrate from Squarespace to WordPress?

Squarespace is a fantastic platform for those starting out or prioritizing a user-friendly experience. But as your website evolves, you might find yourself craving more. When you compare Squarespace with WordPress, it’s just a matter of customizability. Here’s why you might consider migrating from Squarespace to WordPress:

• Limited Customization: Squarespace offers beautiful templates, but their customization options have boundaries. With WordPress, you have endless possibilities – from code tweaks to plugin integrations – to tailor your website to your exact vision.
• Scalability: If you plan on growing your website with new features or an online store, Squarespace might not be the best fit. WordPress, on the other hand, offers a vast library of plugins for scalability. So can transform your site into a full-fledged eCommerce platform, membership site, or anything you can dream up.
• SEO and Control: Squarespace manages your website’s back-end, limiting your control over Search Engine Optimization (SEO). WordPress grants full access to the code and allows you to install SEO-optimizing plugins, giving you more control over your website’s ranking in search results.
• Cost-effectiveness: Squarespace charges monthly fees, and some features require upgrading to a higher plan. With WordPress, you can potentially pay less for website hosting and have more control over your budget.
• Ownership and Freedom: Your Squarespace website ultimately resides on their servers. Migrating to WordPress gives you complete ownership of your website’s files and data, offering more freedom and flexibility in the long run.

Basically, if you are feeling limited by Squarespace’s capabilities, choose WordPress for more control over your website’s future.

How to Migrate From Squarespace to WordPress?

Migrating your website from Squarespace to WordPress involves preparing your current site, exporting content, and importing it into WordPress. And even beyond that, you need to configure the new site to look and function the way you want. Here’s how the process goes.

Step 1: Choose a WordPress Host

Unlike Squarespace, WordPress is a self-hosted platform. That means you have to choose the best WordPress hosting according to your preferences and technical expertise. Make sure you factor in the storage space, bandwidth, security features, uptime guarantee, support, and more.

Step 2: Install WordPress

After choosing the hosting service, it’s time to install WordPress. Many hosting options offer one-click WordPress installations, simplifying the setup process. If your chosen host doesn’t offer this feature, fret not! WordPress installation is typically straightforward and well-documented by most hosting companies.

Step 3: Export Your Squarespace Content

Squarespace provides a way to export your website’s content, including blog posts, pages, comments, and even categories and tags, into a convenient XML file. This file will be instrumental in importing your content into WordPress during a later stage.

1. Log in to your Squarespace dashboard and navigate to the Settings > Advanced  section. Here, you’ll find an Export option.
2. Click on Export, and Squarespace will present you with various export formats.
3. Select the “WordPress” format  to ensure compatibility when importing into your WordPress website. Squarespace will then generate an XML file containing your website’s content.
4. Download this file and save it in a secure location on your computer.

Having this file readily available will streamline the import process into WordPress.

Step 4: Import Squarespace Content into WordPress

WordPress boasts a built-in importer tool that streamlines the process of importing content from various platforms, including Squarespace. We’ll guide you through this step-by-step process, ensuring a smooth transition of your posts, pages, and comments.

1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard and navigate to the Tools > Import section. Here, you’ll find a list of importers for various platforms.
2. Select the “WordPress” importer and click “Install Now” if it’s not already installed. 
3. Once activated, click “Run Importer” and choose the XML file you exported from Squarespace. The importer will walk you through a series of options, such as assigning authors to your imported content.
4. After confirming your selections, click “Submit” to initiate the import process.

WordPress will notify you upon successful completion. Then you can review the imported content within the Pages, Posts, and Comments sections of your dashboard.

Step 5: Import Your Squarespace Images (Optional)

While the importer tool imports your written content, it doesn’t handle images. So to import the images, you can go for the manual method or plugin.

For the manual method, you can navigate to the WordPress media library and add the images downloaded from Squarespace website. Then you can add them to your WordPress pages and posts.

You can also install a WordPress plugin like “Auto Upload Images”. After the activation, you will be able to use the images on your contents. But make sure you optimize the images for WordPress before use.

Step 6: Point Your Domain Towards WordPress

Once your content (and optionally images) are migrated, change your domain name or update it to point to your WordPress website. Consult your domain registrar’s instructions for this process.

Step 7: Update Your WordPress Permalink Structure

For SEO purposes, it’s recommended to use a structure that includes your post/page title. Update your permalink structure in WordPress settings.

Step 8: Choose a Theme for Your WordPress Website

One of the significant advantages of WordPress is the vast selection of free and premium themes. By installing a theme, you can have control over the overall design and layout of your website.

When choosing a WordPress theme, consider factors like design style, responsiveness (mobile-friendliness), and compatibility with popular plugins.

That concludes a successful migration from Squarespace to WordPress. To get a better idea of this process, you can opt for our WordPress migration services.

What After Squarespace to WordPress Migration?

After successfully migrating from Squarespace to WordPress, there are several important steps to ensure your new site functions smoothly and effectively. Here’s what you need to do:

• Check Pages and Posts: This goes beyond a simple visual check. Preview all your pages and posts on different devices (desktop, tablet, mobile) to ensure proper formatting, layout, and functionality.
• Fix Formatting Issues: Squarespace and WordPress have different formatting approaches. You might encounter issues like broken layouts, missing images, or misplaced content. Meticulously review your website and address any formatting inconsistencies.
• Install Key Plugins: WordPress has thousands of plugins that can help with a range of features and functionalities like SEO, backup, security, performance, etc. Choose the best WordPress plugin according to factors like required features, user reviews, active installations, ease of use, etc.
• Optimize for SEO: Implement WordPress SEO practices like XML sitemaps, SEO plugins, schema markups, internal linking, meta titles and descriptions, etc. That will help improve the site ranking and visibility on the SERPs.
• Test Website Functionality: Meticulously test all aspects of your website, including navigation menus, forms, contact functionality, search functionality (if applicable), and page layouts. Ensure everything functions as intended on desktops, tablets, and mobile devices. This is crucial for a positive user experience.
• Optimize Site Speed: Website loading speed is a critical factor for user engagement and SEO. Use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to identify areas for improvement. Consider factors like image optimization, Core Web Vitals (CWV) optimization, caching plugins, and efficient hosting plans to optimize website speed.
• Update Your Analytics: Set up website analytics using Google Analytics or a similar tool. This will provide valuable insights into website traffic, user behavior, and content performance. Connect your WordPress site to your analytics tool to track website performance after the migration.

Use A/B testing to see what other elements make a difference to your website. If you need help with that, hire our WordPress development experts.

FAQs on Migrate From Squarespace to WordPress

Conclusion

While Squarespace offers a user-friendly platform for building websites, WordPress provides greater flexibility and control. Plus, you can better optimize the WordPress websites for SEO and scalability in a more cost-effective manner.

Here’s how you migrate your Squarespace website to WordPress:

1. Choose a WordPress Host
2. Install WordPress
3. Export Your Squarespace Content
4. Import Squarespace Content into WordPress
5. Import Your Squarespace Images (Optional)
6. Point Your Domain Towards WordPress
7. Update Your WordPress Permalink Structure
8. Choose a Theme for Your WordPress Website

If you need help with this process and after-migration procedures, consult with our WordPress experts today!