Squarespace Store Setup: The Ultimate Step by Step Tutorial
Thinking about adding a store to your Squarespace website? Whether you're on Squarespace 7.0 or Squarespace 7.1, this step by step video tutorial series will help you setup and launch your online store!
There’s a lot to cover, so let’s dive right in.
PS. If you’re wondering, it does NOT cost extra to add a store to your Squarespace website. There ARE Squarespace Commerce plans, but unless the sole purpose of your site is to be a store, you’ll be just fine using the Business plan. Commerce plans are for websites operating as a store that need additional analytics, customer alerts, etc.
Step 1: Adding a Store to your Squarespace template
In this video let’s figure out if you’re on Squarespace 7 or Squarespace 7.1. Either way, I’ll show you how to add a store to the Not Linked section of your site so you can build it without it living in your main navigation for everyone to see your work in progress.
Step 2: Adding physical products on Squarespace
On Squarespace you can add physical products, digital products, and service "products." In this video I'll walk you through the steps of creating a physical product to sell through your Squarespace website... in less than 5 minutes! (Yes, it’s really that easy).
Step 3: Squarespace Store and Product Page URLs
One of the easiest ways for me to tell when someone has done their website themselves (or sometimes, hired someone maybe a little less qualified) is to check their URLs. What does this mean? Well, Squarespace automatically “assigns” pages URLs when you create a new page. If you are busy creating a new Store page but already have one in the mix of your pages, your URL will become /store-1. That’s not a cute look… so I’ll show you how to check and change those. I’ll also go over checking/customizing URLs for each individual product too.
Step 4: Squarespace product custom SKU
Squarespace product custom SKUs are a minor detail but I think this quick edit helps take your Squarespace store from Squarespace defaults to a more professional ecommerce setup.
Not only are your product SKUs are shown to customers on their email receipts, but they can also be an extra checkpoint for you as you're fulfilling orders!
Step 5: Squarespace product weight, pricing, and stock
I shared a video on my personal channel last year all about adding shipping rates to your Squarespace website... this video goes a into a little bit more detail about how I recommend setting Squarespace product weight, pricing, and stock/inventory BEFORE you get to the shipping settings part of setting up your Squarespace Store (more on this in Step 13). In this video I’ll cover how to set Squarespace product pricing, how to set your products on sale, how to set stock numbers so your website tracks product inventory (it sends you an email when you’re running low on inventory and automatically marks your products as sold out when appropriate), and finally how and why to add product weight.
Step 6: Squarespace product variants (colors, sizes, & more)
This video will be helpful if you want to add a product to your website that you sell in various sizes, colors, etc. It's actually a super simple process to get setup, just a little tedious! In the video I go through the Squarespace Product Variants tab to show you exactly how to make it work.
Step 7: Squarespace product SEO
Squarespace SEO often gets a bad rap... but honestly, I'm calling BS and saying it's user error. Sorry! As Squarespace is a very user-friendly DIY platform, SEO isn't implemented because if you're a DIYer, you don't know any better... and that's ok, because I'm here to help you make sure you implement best SEO practices on your Squarespace website.
When it comes to your Squarespace store, one way you can boost your SEO is to make sure you complete the SEO tab of each individual product. This video will show you exactly how to do that and explain what you do/don't need to include.
Step 8: Squarespace Product Social Sharing Image
The Squarespace Product Social Sharing Image is important because you want the product image to show up as the preview image when you share your product link on social media, right? If you don't set this the image preview of your product might default to your main website social share image - and that doesn't help when you're trying to promote and show off your products online! This social share image is a super quick update - you can see this video is less than 2 minutes - but it's an important step that will definitely help you stand out online.
Step 10: Squarespace Add to Cart Button
Trying to change the Squarespace "Add to Cart" button text? It's super simple and in this video I'm going to show you exactly how as well as explain how and why this customization feature might be helpful for you and your Squarespace store.
Sidenote: I use this feature when I’m working with artists on selling pre-orders! Becuase… when you want to sell your new album but don’t actually have the physical copies (or it’s just not release time yet), you don’t want the button to say “add-to-cart” because that’s confusing. Changing it to say “pre-order” instead lets the person know they’re buying it, but it’s not going to ship immediately.
Step 11: Schedule Squarespace Product Launch
Once you create your product in your Squarespace store, you can either "save and publish" it to launch the product immediately... OR you can schedule it to go live at a later date and time. In this video I'll show you how to do both. Plus, we’ll set your product thumbnail, double check that URL, and test the live view of your new product!
Step 12.1: Squarespace 7.0 Product Page Styling
In this Squarespace 7.0 product page styling video I'll show you how to customize your Squarespace product page colors, fonts, button styles, image sizing and layout, and more!
Step 12.2: Squarespace 7.1 Store and Product Page Styling
In this Squarespace 7.1 Store and Product Page Styling tutorial I'll show you how to edit the look and layout of your Squarespace Store's product pages.
Step 13: How to add shipping costs on your Squarespace website (flat rate vs depending on weight)
This is that video I mentioned earlier about sharing on my personal channel. The popularity of it is what sparked this whole series of videos and inspired me to create a separate Designing the Row YouTube channel!
In this video I'll show you how to set up your shipping costs. I'll also explain the difference between flat rate shipping and shipping that depends on weight (and which one I think you should use).
Step 14: Go live with your Squarespace store
Once you've added all your Squarespace products, connected Stripe and/or PayPal, and have set your shipping rates... you're ready to go live with your Squarespace store! In this video I'll show you how to quickly "turn on" your store so that your website viewers can find it and shop your products!
Step 15: Increase your Squarespace store visibility
You've launched your Squarespace store... now what? In this video I'll show you a few ways to increase your Squarespace store visibility so once a viewer lands on your site, you can easily direct them to your store page!
Remember, you can't just "build it and they will come" - you also have to promote your new store!
So, we’ll talk about how to lead site viewers to store, what edits you can make on your homepage to feature your new store, and then we’ll talk about the announcement bar and promotional pop-up features and how to enable those!
If you’ve made it all the way to the end of this post and haven’t already subscribed to the Designing the Row YouTube channel… what are you waiting for? Click here to subscribe for more Squarespace and online marketing tutorials.
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