How to Create a Therapy Website (using Squarespace Clove template)
About this Squarespace video tutorial
Using the Clove Squarespace template, today I'll be showing you how to customize the template and turn it into the perfect website for your therapy business. I'll teach you how to customize your branding and home page to get you started with everything you'd need to know for your therapy website.
Timestamps
1:56 - Getting Started
4:01 - Squarespace Trials/Discounts
4:31 - Template Library Access
5:07 - Customizing Your Domain
5:56 - Customizing Branding
9:34 - Customizing Your Header
11:56 - Replacing Template Content
26:40 - Editing Remaining Pages
35:25 - Launching Your Site
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How To Get Started With the Clove Template
Before you get started, you’re going to want to go to designingtherow.com/squarespace and sign up for your extended trial and discount for your website!
Once you’ve gotten that set up, go to squarespace.com/templates to get your site started. At the time of writing, the template we’ll be working with today, the Clove template, is one of the ‘Popular Design Templates’. If you can’t find Clove in this section, search for it to start your website process.
Customizing Your Domain
Once you’ve chosen your template to build into your website, go to the settings gear on the sidebar, click into the section ‘Domains and Email’, and into ‘Domain’. Delete the auto-generated domain name provided by Squarespace and type in your preferred built-in domain. This is currently just for you when you’re in edit mode; taking care of your domain with a live site is a little more work, and you can learn about that in my launch tutorial.
Customizing Branding
Now it’s time to start the fun part, which is bringing your template to life with the branding assets for your business. Once you’re in edit mode on your home page, click on the paintbrush icon on the top right of the page, and open up ‘site styles’. Here you can:
Add fonts or choose from existing fonts
Customize the color palette to connect to your primary images
For more information on how to add your own fonts and colors to branding.
Customizing Your Header
The header, at the top of your home page and every page on your website, is the first thing your audience will see when they boot up your website, so it’s important to take the time to get it exactly how you like it. In edit mode, with your mouse hovering over the header, click to get started. Here you can:
Click ‘Your Site Title’ to replace the image with your logo. Drag the logo in from your internal files, and adjust the height on desktop and mobile.
To check mobile view, click the cell phone icon on the top right of the edit mode
You’ll also want to type in your brand name in the alt text for your logo so search engines can learn that your logo connects to your business
On the left side of the header, click the ‘Add Elements’ button to toggle on or off header button options.
Button - A primary CTA such as ‘Book a Call’
Social - Links to social media platforms like Instagram
Cart - For sites that have eCommerce options
Account - So users can log in to their profiles on the site
Language Options - For multilingual websites
On the right side of the header, the ‘Edit Design’ button will allow you to choose between header templates, and make further adjustments to the design like changing the spacing, adding shadows, or changing the colors used.
Don’t forget to hit save after making any change to your header.
Replacing Template Content
Today, we’ll be focusing mostly on how to replace the template content on the homepage of the Clove template, but the process is very similar for all the other pages on your website. Squarespace operates within content blocks, and once you know how to edit the types of content blocks that make up a great Squarespace website, you’ll be able to use these skills on much more than just your home page. We’ll go over a few things that are good reminders for home pages in particular.
Optimizing your homepage to be easily searched by Google and other search engines is extremely important, and one of the easiest ways to improve your SEO score is to get your Header 1 tags correctly.
Once you’ve clicked into the text box in the hero section of your home page, highlight the text you want to use as an H1, change it to the correct tag (the Clove template by default does not have a Header 1) and type in what you want your H1 tag to be (50-60 characters that describe your business is recommended).
For more information on how to improve your Squarespace SEO score, click here.
To adjust the images on your home page, once you’ve gone into ‘edit section’ for whichever section you want to update the image, go into ‘background’ and then ‘image’. You can upload a new image into the space, change the overlay opacity of your image, or adjust the white circle on the image in the editor to change the focal point of the image. If you want to use some of the stock image offerings that Squarespace has, delete the image within the editor, and click add, then ‘browse stock images’. Whenever you add a new image into your Squarespace website, add a description to the image by clicking on it to let search engines know what the image entails.
Lastly, to customize buttons on your page, click on the buttons, adjust the content (displayed text) and link (where the button will send people). Now that you know how to adjust content, images, buttons, and links, you’ve got the tools to edit your entire Squarespace home page and every other page on your site.
Launching Your Therapy Website
Once you’ve finished editing your website, click on the settings gear, go to ‘domains & email’, connect your domain (either getting a new domain or using an existing domain that you own), and get ready to launch. Subscribe with Squarespace to get your website plan started (the Core plan is recommended unless you have special requirements with your website goals), and if you’ve gotten the code from DesigningTheRow, you can get that 25% off coupon built in as you get your website launched and thriving.
Congrats on building out a therapy website with the Squarespace Clove template, and if you have any other Squarespace tutorial or template needs, check out DesigningTheRow to find the answers you’re looking for.
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