Editor’s note: Squarespace users often look for a flexible option like WooCommerce to scale their websites. However, migrating from Squarespace to WooCommerce can take a while and is often challenging if done without proper planning. Hence, you’ll need to partner with a best WooCommerce development company that can offer tailored migration solutions depending on the size and complexity of your Squarespace website.
Source: istockphoto.com
With businesses transitioning towards digital transformation, individuals and corporations must focus on creating a strong Internet presence. A website demonstrates credibility and dependability. Besides, promoting your brand is an excellent opportunity to reach a wider audience.
Businesses can look for platforms like Squarespace to build websites simply and quickly. Besides, there are numerous pre-built templates available for Squarespace websites, ranging from portfolio websites to online stores. However, with time, users notice how few customization options the platform offers.
Users looking for a scalable solution will find WordPress an ideal option. WordPress is among the most popular content management systems (CMS), known for its highly flexible capabilities to create any website.
The following post covers everything you need to know before migrating from Squarespace to WordPress. Post that, we’ll walk you through the step-by-step migration process.
Let’s start now!
Prerequisite Before Migrating from Squarespace to WordPress
There’s no denying that migrating a website is time-consuming, even when employing advanced migration plugins. But the actual migration process often doesn’t take very long.
Though, there are some prerequisites before proceeding with Squarespace to WordPress migration.
Here are some of the significant considerations.
1. Opting for a Reliable Web Hosting Plan
One of the best aspects of using WordPress is it offers the freedom to choose any web host per your requirements. This robust CMS works well with any hosting plan and company you can find.
However, with numerous providers, you must narrow your search to WordPress-friendly web hosts.
Paying attention to the following factors will help you select the best web host.
Source: istockphoto.com
Budget: It’s critical to assess your site requirements and decide if you want to start small or anticipate quickly attracting a lot of traffic. Nest, start analyzing every web hosting type and the available cost options. As a general rule, leave room for growth and ensure your website can expand as per the needs and goals.
Server Uptime: This showcases the time your website is accessible for users to engage with. Ideally, you would want your website to be available 24/7. Hence, always opt for a WordPress host that guarantees 99.9% uptime, keeping your downtime to a bare minimum.
Loading Time: It reflects the time your website takes to display content—the shorter your loading time, the lower your bounce rate. Not to mention that Google considers loading time as a vital ranking factor. Remember, a reliable web host will offer features to speed up your sites, such as an unmetered bandwidth plan, an automated caching system, and a dedicated web server.
Security: Opt for a trustworthy web hosting provider to secure all of your sensitive information. A reputable provider offers numerous levels of security features to prevent any cyberattacks. Besides, regular backups and updates are also essential to avoid data loss and bugs from out-of-date software.
2. Back-Up Your Squarespace Data
Your Squarespace website won’t suffer any changes or disappear entirely during the migration process. However, you’ll still have to create a backup of your existing site prior to the migration.
Remember, Squarespace doesn’t offer a routine backup in any circumstance. This means you won’t be able to create a full backup of your website for easy restoration in case of any issues.
You can, however, export your Squarespace website data, which acts as a backup.
Once done, let’s start with a step-by-step guide to migrating Squarespace to WordPress.
How to Migrate to WordPress in Six Steps?
The migration process involves exporting content from Squarespace and importing it into WordPress. To ensure this, you’ll need to install WordPress first, which is much simpler than you might think.
1. Install WordPress
Once you have a web host and a plan, you need to start setting up the WordPress installation. Some managed WordPress hosts offer you the option to install the CMS automatically during this process.
There are, however, additional options if your web server doesn’t provide this feature. Several hosting control panels, like cPanel, feature built-in software installers with numerous choices.
Moreover, you can also manually install WordPress, which is relatively simpler than it sounds. For this, you can get the complete CMS from WordPress.org. Further, you can use the “five-minute” WordPress installer to guide you through the entire procedure, including installing WordPress files on your server.
Source: istockphoto.com
2. Export Squarespace Content
After installing WordPress on your new website host, you’ll need to export the content from Squarespace.
Even though Squarespace offers limited export options, you may be able to export some of the content on your website, depending on the content type.
The remaining content will stay on the Squarespace built-in domain and must be manually exported.
Some of the content that can be exported automatically include:
- Every basic page will be exported as a WordPress page
- One blog page that’ll appear as a WordPress “Blog” page
- Each post under that one blog will be exported as WordPress posts
- Gallery pages
- Text, images, and embed blocks
Here’s the content that you’ll need to export manually:
- Product, albums, and event pages
- Audio, video, and product blocks
- Style adjustments and custom CSS
- Index pages and folders
- Only one blog will be exported; the rest must be moved manually.
Now, you’ll need to log in to your Squarespace account and follow the mentioned steps:
- Go to Settings > Advanced > Import/Export to export your content.
- Click Export once you’ve reached the export settings.
You’ll now see a pop with a WordPress logo. This is because Squarespace exports content in a WordPress-compatible format. Go ahead by selecting the WordPress icon.
The process will only take a minute to convert your content into an XML file. After the conversion, the XML file is ready to download.
Click Download and save the export file on your computer’s desired location.
3. Import the XML File Into WordPress
WordPress doesn’t offer a dedicated import tool for Squarespace; however, it does allow you to import the information in XML format.
Besides, WordPress offers numerous tools that allow you to import multiple content types into the system.
Log In to your WordPress admin panel and select Tool > Import. You’ll find a list of platforms to choose from. However, you’ll need to navigate to the bottom of the page and Click on Install Now under the WordPress option.
Next, if the WordPress import tool is already configured, you’ll see the Run importer option. Click on this, and you’ll be prompted to choose an XML file to upload.
Select the file you downloaded in the previous step and click “Upload file and Import.”
Once the file is uploaded, WordPress will review it to determine whether it is in the supported format.
WordPress will redirect you to the Import Settings page if everything is in order.
You’ll also need to select an author name for the imported content on this page.
WordPress also allows you to import Squarespace users and add them as Subscribers in its system. Moreover, you can also select the existing admin or create a new user account.
Source: istockphoto.com
Click the “Submit” button, enabling WordPress to start importing the data from your Squarespace export file.
WordPress will display the success message once the import is completed. You can now review the content by visiting the page and posts in WordPress.
4. Import Images to WordPress
You can manually import each image to WordPress or use an Auto Upload plugin. The following part demonstrates using the Auto Upload Images plugin to import images.
Simply install and activate the Auto Upload plugin in WordPress; then, you can trigger the auto-upload through Bulk Actions.
Here’s how you can do this:
- Go to Posts > All Posts in the dashboard after installing and activating the plugin.
- Choose the Screen Options menu at the top of the screen
- Update the Number of items per page option to a value that will display all of your WordPress posts on a single page.
- Next, select Apply.
Doing this will help you update all your WordPress posts at once, enabling the plugin to import all the images immediately!
5. Redirect Links to Your WordPress site
After moving your Squarespace data to WordPress, you need to divert the traffic from your old links to the new website. You can easily customize the link structure thanks to WordPress’s SEO-friendly URL structure.
For this, Go to Permalinks > Settings. Next, choose the link structure that resembles Squarespace’s, ideally “Day and Name.”
Post that, go through the links and change them by adding the prefix “/blog-1/” to each one.
In addition, you might still see 404 errors on your WordPress site; hence, installing a plugin that identifies and fixes 404 issues on your website is vital.
6. Familiarize Yourself With WordPress
Now that you’ve successfully migrated your website from Squarespace to WordPress, it’s time to familiarize yourself by tweaking your website.
The first step is to install a WordPress theme that enhances your website appearance and closely resembles your brand.
You can choose from numerous free WordPress themes available. Even though the themes are free, they offer multiple features to improve your website’s aesthetics. Besides, these themes are created while keeping beginners in mind, making them simple to use.
Source: istockphoto.com
To Sum Up
Even though Squarespace may offer a quick and simple way to build a website, it is no longer an option if you want to enjoy the capabilities to scale your website. Migrating your website from Squarespace to WordPress may be the best option in such a scenario.
WordPress allows users to set up any website, with any design and functionality. A Squarespace to WordPress migration will only take a few hours, but the benefits will last for years.