Moving Website From Squarespace To Shopify Is It Worth It
If you are currently looking for website transfer options, then there is definitely something you are not satisfied with. This also depends a lot upon the type of project you run. If you have an ordinary personal/business website, then its ok to keep working with Squarespace as this is a really great website builder that is rightfully included into the list of the most trusted and feature-laden systems. The platform abounds in features and design customization tools that can give your project high end look and advanced performance.
But what about eCommerce projects? Is Squarespace functionality enough to cater to the increasing needs of your web store? If you already own a web store and notice that its size, product assortment or sales volume have increased, you will sooner or later realize the need to switch to a more niche-focused website builder.
This is where Shopify will be the most suitable solution. The software works great, if you intend to create a web store from scratch or promote the existing eCommerce projects that have moved from other platforms like Squarespace. The platform is a nice pick for building all types and kinds of online stores, irrespective of their specialization, product assortment and bulk, variety of management and promotion options implied. Shopify is currently the best web store creation platform and its definitely worth switching to, if you intend to grow your eCommerce business.
Connect Your Domain To Shopify
To avoid any interruption in service, you need to connect your domain to Shopify. If you don’t connect your domain before you transfer it, then visitors to your domain might experience connection errors during the transfer process.
Note
Changes to a domain can take up to 48 hours to complete. Make sure that the connection process is complete before you begin the transfer.
Interface / Ease Of Use
Shopify and Squarespaces interfaces arent a million miles apart in terms of layout both give you a menu on the left hand side of the screen that you use to get to different parts of the content management system .
The right hand side of the screen can be used to edit content, view data, add products and so on.
On the whole I would say that Squarespaces interface is currently the more elegant of the two, and is a bit easier to use than Shopifys, especially where general content management is concerned.
Its approach to setting up site navigation and its superb layout engine which allows you to drag and drop content into pages in a very user-friendly way make it extremely straightforward to use.
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Manual Squarespace To Shopify Migration
The name itself is self-explanatory. It simply means physically transferring your online store data from Squarespace to Shopify.
And since basic copying-and-pasting is not particularly advisable, you might have to export the data from Squarespace, repackage it accordingly, and then paste the entities into your Shopify store.
Certainly not an easy thing to do, especially if youre not technically skilled. Only well-experienced web developers who know their way around Shopify and Squarespace can comfortably transfer the data manually.
But, get this. Even if you happen to possess the skills, the procedure itself is anything but simple. You have to dive deep into your Squarespace database and intricately map out each store entity into its rightful position on the corresponding Shopify platform.
That could take an entire day. And possibly more if youre dealing with a large online store.
Then to matters worse, its arguably the riskiest method to migrate Squarespace to Shopify. The chances of committing potentially detrimental errors are very high.
So, you might want to countercheck every piece of data before importing and after exporting.
How Do I Transfer My Domain To Square Online Store Seller
I have my domain registration with Shopify though, how do I move that over? I was set up on Squarespace to find out they are not part of Square.
Note: Transferring a domain moves domain hosting and billing from your current host over to Square. When a domain is transferred, it means you handle everything
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Integrating An Email Marketing Tool With Squarespace And Shopify
Both Squarespace and Shopify allow you to capture email addresses to a third-party email marketing solution of your choosing GetResponse, Campaign Monitor, Mailchimp or AWeber etc.
With the exception of Mailchimp, which is easy to integrate with Squarespace, connecting these email marketing solutions is generally easier in Shopify due to official integrations for them in its app store.
In most cases, to use an email marketing tool with Squarespace forms, youll usually have to use Zapier to create an integration between the app and your Squarespace site this can result in additional costs and set up time.
Alternatively, you can use HTML code to embed forms from other email marketing providers onto Squarespace site pages.
The other alternative is to use Squarespace or Shopifys new built-in email marketing features both tools now offer a way to create and send newsletters out of the box.
Lets take a look at these.
There Are Times When You Must Connect Rather Than Transfer A Domain
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If you’ve purchased your domain or changed your domain contact information in the last 60 days, you can only connect the domain. You can choose to transfer it to Squarespace or Weebly later after 60 days have elapsed with no changes.
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If you have a Weebly website and a domain other than .com, .net, or .org, you must connect the website to your domain. Weebly can only accept transfers for .com, .net, and .org domains. Squarespace allows the transfer of more domains, but it too has limitations on the domains it accepts, as listed here.
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Migration Step : Create A Cart2cart Account
With your Shopify store up and running, you can go ahead and install the Cart2Cart Store Migration App from the Shopify App Store.
Just run a quick search and add the module. The whole process should only take a couple of seconds, and the app will automatically embed itself onto your Shopify system.
Alternatively, you could as well access Cart2Cart directly from its main site. Simply go to Shopping-cart-migration.com, and on the home page, specify that youll be migrating from Squarespace to Shopify.
Whichever approach you choose to get started, hitting the Start Free Demo will redirect you to the account registration page.
This is where you create an account by entering your personal details or simply proceeding with either your Facebook or Google account.
Plain, simple, and completely free of charge.
With that, Cart2Cart will automatically direct you to its simple, minimalistic layout.
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Transferring Domain Vs Connecting The Domain
Transferring the domainmeanstomove the entire domain to Squarespace. You can then renew and manage the domain name directly from Squarespace. Godaddy will no longer be in the picture. Whereas, connecting a domain means you will keep the domain in Godaddy but the domain name will point to Squarespace.
Now that you can know the basic difference, we can talk about it more.
Transferring the domain name from Godaddy to Squarespace or just connecting godaddy domain to squarespace, what you should do?
Honestly, if you are new to Squarespace, you can just connect your domain instead of transferring it. Once you are familiar with Squarespace and you have made your mind to use Squarespace, you can then transfer your domain from Godaddy to Squarespace.
If you transfer it to Squarespace, many things get easier and less time-consuming. For example, you can point the domain name with just one click. You can renew the domain from the same dashboard.
So, there are many similar advantages. Therefore, if you want to use Squarespace, you should surely transfer the domain name too.
Enough with the difference, now we will see how Squarespaces domain management works.
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Requirements And Considerations For Transferring A Domain To Shopify
Before you start, review the following requirements and considerations:
- You need to own the domain that you want to transfer. If you don’t own it and it’s available for registration, then you can buy it.
- Before you can transfer your domain, you need to wait 60 days after registering your domain, transferring your domain to a different domain provider, or making changes to your registrar information. For more information, refer to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers .
- You need to pay the registration fee to renew your domain for an additional 12 months. The 12 months are added to your domain’s current expiry date.
- There might be additional costs associated with transferring your domain. Contact your domain provider for information about transfer costs.
- You need to have access to your original domain provider account and the email account that you use to log in to it.
- You need to monitor and respond to confirmation emails to complete the transfer process.
- You need to use a third-party email hosting service with email forwarding from Shopify. Shopify doesn’t provide email hosting services, but does provide unlimited email forwarding accounts.
- It can take up to 20 days to transfer your domain. Your domain continues working during the transfer process.
Assisted Squarespace To Shopify Migration
If the manual method is a bit too technical for your liking, assisted Squarespace to Shopify migration could be a worthwhile alternative.
But, make no mistake about it. Assisted Squarespace to Shopify data transfer is still a human-controlled procedure.
However, unlike the previous method, this one is performed by third parties. Basically, site owners seek assistance from migration professionals or data import tools.
You could, for instance, hire a web development agency to migrate Squarespace to Shopify. Having a team of experienced professionals transferring your store data doesnt sound too bad. Besides, theyre bound to take much less time than you.
On the flip side though, that doesnt come cheap. For all the hours they spend on such projects, professional agencies typically charge hundreds to thousands of dollars per store.
That leaves small businesses with just one other assisted option- leveraging data import tools.
Now, if youve taken the time to research about Squarespace to Shopify migration options, you might have picked up a couple of such apps.
Shopify itself features an app that allows you to upload store entities after downloading them from your Squarespace store. This procedure entails exporting stuff from your Squarespace store to a CSV file, and then re-uploading everything to Shopify.
So, in the end, you might be forced to manually re-enter some of the info, which could take you hours or days.
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Moving Website From Squarespace To Wix Is It Worth It
The reasons of moving from Squarespace may be numerous and quite versatile this mainly depends upon the type of web project you run, its size, characteristics, implication, web design goals and your expectations. Here is the list of the most popular causes to move from Squarespace to Wix:
- As the all-in-one website builder, Wix unveils more freedom of actions and deeper flexibility that lets you grow your business, expand to new markets and target diverse user categories
- If you frequently update your website on your own, Wix might be a more preferable solution to work with as it is simpler, more convenient and more full-featured as compared to Squarespace this will eventually help save your effort and time
- As you business grows, you might encounter the need to manage it on a more powerful platform that can additionally provide you with multiple blogging, eCommerce and business management features this is where Wix will come in handy.
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Transfer Shopify Domain To WordPress
WordPress is a PHP-based open-source CMS used in conjunction with a MySQL or MariaDB database. WordPress offers a simplified website design requiring minimal coding. Heres how to transfer your Shopify domain to WordPress:
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Importing And Exporting Content
Squarespace
Its easy enough to get content and products into Squarespace.
Helpful wizards are provided to help you import pages, posts and other content from WordPress, Blogger and Tumblr and, so long as you are on a Commerce Basic or Commerce Advanced plan, you can import products via CSV or, using an import tool, from Shopify, Etsy or Big Cartel.
When it comes to exports, you can export pages, posts and images to WordPress format, and this gives you a bit of flexibility should you ever wish to migrate your site.
There are limitations to watch out for when it comes to exporting products, however. Only physical and service products can be exported a limit of three variants per product applies and you can only export up to 10,000 products.
This product export limit is fairly large and will be fine for many users but if youre planning on hosting a huge product inventory, or if you are dealing with products that come in a lot of shapes and sizes, you may find that Shopify is a better option for you.
Shopify
Shopify lets you import and export products easily enough via CSV .
For more extensive importing functionality for example, bulk upload of digital products third-party apps like FetchApp can be used.
Importing and exporting pages and blog posts isnt really doable out of the box with Shopify .
But again, third-party apps can help here .