Squarespace / Brochure sites
Whether we like it or not the simple fact is that no one Content Management System (CMS) fits every conceivable client requirement, but nevertheless the vast majority of those available – off-the-shelf or Open Source – are loaded with far more functionality than most clients are ever likely to need.
This of course adds bloat to both the project lifecycle and cost and so for a long time 3B were actively looking for a simple, elegant, rapid-fire and cost-effective CMS that we could exploit for the many instances where enterprise level platforms were just not appropriate.
What we needed was a beautiful & lean CMS upon which we could deliver “brochure sites” quickly & cost effectively.
Our lead developer brought Squarespace to our attention – a beautifully configured (but thankfully not hugely configurable) cloud-based CMS that has proved revelatory to both us as well as the many clients already benefiting from it.
Squarespace main features are:
It is extremely reasonably priced, and the relationship between the client and the technology can be, once the design / build project is complete, direct. This saves costs (in terms of any mark-up we might have added to paying maintenance fees) as well as meaning that a client can easily take their site and “run for the hills” if they don’t wish to be tied to an agency service contract.
Delivering a Squarespace site requires very little / no involvement from our Development Team; with the odd exception when we might need a code snippet from the Dev Team these sites are pretty much left to the Design Department to design, build & deliver. This means that in most cases we can jump on a project immediately and deliver new websites often within days.
The sites are immediately - and beautifully - responsive “out of the box” - again saving enormous development costs.
Squarespace offer 24/7 direct support included in the subscription fees.
Squarespace has a small but broad range of templates available in their library from which we can always choose the most appropriate “look & feel” with very little adjustment from us - again saving huge design and development costs.
Squarespace sites are perfectly optimised for SEO and we have an established list of Best Practice tasks that we carry out with every deployment to make sure that we’ve optimised the site as far as possible pre-launch.
