{"id":41768,"date":"2024-11-29T03:47:58","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T01:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/2024\/11\/29\/how-to-properly-move-from-squarespace-to-wordpress\/"},"modified":"2024-11-29T03:47:58","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T01:47:58","slug":"how-to-properly-move-from-squarespace-to-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/2024\/11\/29\/how-to-properly-move-from-squarespace-to-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Properly Move from Squarespace to WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many users build sites on various platforms, but with experience they discover the shortcomings and limitations of these platforms and want to move to more flexible options like WordPress. In this article we will show you how to properly move from Squarespace<\/a> to WordPress.<\/p>\n

Why Move from Squarespace to WordPress?<\/h4>\n

Squarespace is an easy-to-use platform for building websites. However, it is also quite limited. WordPress is a much more flexible open-source system that lets you do whatever you like with your site. Also note that by WordPress we mean a self-hosted site, not the WordPress.com blogging service.<\/p>\n

Step Zero: Getting Started<\/h4>\n

Squarespace keeps your sites on its own servers, so if you migrate to WordPress, you will need to host your own site. First you will need WordPress hosting, and we recommend Bluehost<\/a>, which is an official WordPress partner. If your Squarespace site has a domain, you will probably want to transfer it to the new host as well. While the domain is being transferred, you will still be able to access your Squarespace site, since it will use the built-in subdomain.<\/p>\n

Step One: Install WordPress<\/h4>\n

After signing up for hosting, you need to install WordPress<\/a>. As one of the most widely used website management systems in the world, WordPress is known for its five-minute installation. Many hosts such as Bluehost, SiteGround, HostGator and others also offer one-click installation.<\/p>\n

Step Two: Export Content from Squarespace<\/h4>\n

After installing WordPress on your new hosting, you need to export the content from your Squarespace site. Squarespace has limited export functionality. Depending on the content, you will be able to export some things while others will have to be copied manually.<\/p>\n

Here is the content that will be exported:<\/p>\n

– all your main pages
\n– one page that will appear in WordPress pages as Blog
\n– all your blog posts under this page
\n– all your gallery pages
\n– text, images and blocks with embedded content<\/p>\n

And here is the content that will NOT be exported:<\/p>\n

– product, album and event pages
\n– audio, video and product blocks
\n– styles and CSS
\n– folders and index pages
\n– if you have more than one blog page, only one of them will be exported<\/p>\n

Now that you know Squarespace’s limitations, let’s start exporting the content so that you can start with a clean slate in WordPress, where you will have much more freedom. Log in to your Squarespace account and visit the Settings > Advanced > Import \/ Export menu.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

The import\/export settings will appear. You need to click the export button to continue.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Squarespace will now show you a pop-up window with the WordPress logo on it. Click it to start the export process.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

You will see the export progress on the left under the import and export buttons. Once the export is complete, you will see a button to download your exported file.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Download this file to your computer. You will need it in the next step, when you import the content to your new WordPress site.<\/p>\n

Step Three: Import the Content from Squarespace into WordPress<\/h4>\n

The next step is to import the content you downloaded from Squarespace into your WordPress site. To do this, go to the WordPress admin panel and visit the Tools > Import page. You will see a list of platforms to choose from. Squarespace will not be in it, because it exports content in an XML format compatible with WordPress. Click WordPress to continue.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

A pop-up window will appear asking you to install the WordPress Importer plugin. Click the Install Now button.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

WordPress will download and install the plugin. After installation you need to click Activate Plugin & Run Importer.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

On the next screen you need to click the file selection button and then choose the Squarespace export file you downloaded earlier. Then click the file upload button.<\/p>\n

WordPress will upload and process your file and, if everything is fine, show you the import settings page. Here you will be able to choose the author name for the imported content. WordPress can also import a Squarespace user and add them as a subscriber on your WordPress site. You can also choose an administrator as the author or even create a new user. There is also an option to import attached images. This option does not work with all pictures. Perhaps Squarespace just does not want to let its customers go. In any case, leave the box ticked just in case.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Click the submit button and WordPress will start importing content from your Squarespace export file. Once it is finished, you will see a success message. Now you can go to your WordPress pages and posts to check the imported content.<\/p>\n

Step Four: Importing Images from Squarespace<\/h4>\n

Unfortunately, the WordPress importer cannot import images from your Squarespace site and you will have to do it manually. First install and activate the Import External Images plugin. After activating it, go to the Media > Import Images page to run the plugin.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Step Five: Fixing Permalinks<\/h4>\n

You need to make sure you do not lose traffic coming through the links of your old Squarespace site. WordPress uses an SEO-friendly URL structure that lets you configure the link structure in a wide variety of ways. The task here is to create a link structure similar to your Squarespace site’s. The latter uses the year\/month\/day\/post title format for blog post links. It also uses a prefix such as blog or blog-1 in post URLs. A typical blog post URL using the standard Squarespace domain looks like this:<\/p>\n

https:\/\/example-website.squarespace.com\/blog-1\/2016\/3\/6\/post-title<\/em><\/p>\n

In the WordPress admin panel you need to go to the Settings > Permalinks page. There you will see a list of URL structure options. The closest equivalent to your old Squarespace URL is the Day and Name URL.<\/p>\n

\"WordPress\"<\/p>\n

Click the Day and Name option and then switch to the custom structure. You will see that the custom structure is automatically filled in with the year, month, day and title tags. You only need to add the blog-1 prefix. For example:<\/p>\n

\/blog-1\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/%postname%\/<\/em><\/p>\n

Click the save settings button. This step is intended to make sure that visitors who come to your site from search engines and other sources are redirected to the corresponding posts on your new WordPress site. However, there is a chance that some links may lead to 404 errors.<\/p>\n

Step Six: Import Other Content from Squarespace into WordPress<\/h4>\n

Squarespace limits content import and, if you used its events feature or hosted audio and video files there, you will have to add them to your WordPress site manually. Depending on the volume of content, this process may take some time. For some products you will need a WordPress eCommerce plugin such as WooCommerce. As for video files, we advise you to host them on dedicated services such as YouTube and Vimeo.<\/p>\n

Step Seven: Getting to Know WordPress<\/h4>\n

WordPress is truly a powerful platform with incredible flexibility. The system has thousands of themes developed by professional designers, as well as a huge number of plugins that add extra functionality to your site, which is where all the power of WordPress lies.<\/p>\n

\n

Our specialization is WordPress website development and maintenance. Contact us for a free consultation \u2014 vadim@coma.lv<\/a>, +371 29394520<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Many users build sites on various platforms, but with experience they discover the shortcomings and limitations of these platforms and want to move to more flexible options like WordPress. In this article we will show you how to properly move from Squarespace to WordPress. Why Move from Squarespace to WordPress? Squarespace is an easy-to-use platform […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1225,1407],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wordpress","category-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coma.lv\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}