Tips for Architects | How To Build a Portfolio Website on Squarespace

For many architects, the traditional approach to marketing and brand development has been the glossy magazines like Boston Home, Chicago Home & Garden, Florida Design Magazine or if your advertising budget was just a bit bigger, Dwell, eVolo Magazine, Luxe Interior & Design or Architectural Digest. These are the magazines that traditionally wielded power. A single article in one issue could seal your success in the industry.

Marketing Has Changed the Effectiveness of Print Advertising

While those magazines still carry weight in the industry, as is illustrated in this Harvard Business Review article, online marketing has changed the way we reach consumers and put the power back into the hands of firms with less than a $200K marketing budget. Architectural firms have not yet reached critical mass in terms of the web. While much of the industry has migrated towards a greater online presence, there are still many opportunities to stake your claim, establish your brand identity, become a thought leader and drive new leads and sales with your online tactics. 

It's no longer about being published in a single magazine. Today it's about being a part of the flow of shared information online. Social media sites like Instagram and LinkedIn are the new drivers. You need to have a website and drive traffic through social to generate interest, leads and sales. 

Getting Started With a Keyword-Rich Squarespace Website

While you might be a world-class architect, you're probably not an award winning website designer! For many firms, this has been the stumbling block to migrating online. A professionally designed website can cost many thousands of dollars and take months to build. Squarespace is an online content management platform that consists of a website building tool, blogging platform and hosting service. They eliminate the need for code by offering a high-end drag and drop interface that makes building a professional website easy and even fun! Using Squarespace to build a visually stunning portfolio website including photography and relevant content is fast, easy and can help you to establish your brand identity and generate qualified leads for your business.

Here are some tips for building and maximizing your Squarespace website. 

Select A Template, Create A Gallery

Squarespace is a template based platform that features pre-designed website templates that are all mobile ready and feature artful galleries perfect for a visually oriented website design. Templates allow you to easily and professionally show off your work while keeping your website design unobtrusive and easily navigable. 

A common mistake, especially among architectural websites, is that because they are cutting-edge designers by nature, their websites while visually stimulating tend to be complex and difficult to navigate. Squarespace templates offer pre-designed navigation that is elegant and functional, giving users an enjoyable experience.

Each template can display photography, illustrations, designs and text. There are three primary ways of displaying visual images sets:

    • Index Pages - offer multiple options for displaying text and images. Templates offer various gallery options such as thumbnails to organize your images into a cohesive portfolio.

    • Gallery Pages - variations are available in every template. Gallery Pages can be used separately or in index pages. Gallery pages are perfect for displaying larger photo sets.

    • Gallery Blocks - four variations; slideshow, carousel, grid and stack can be used on any page, blog post or content area. Transition photos, etc., can be used to show highlights from your portfolio.

Adding Keywords Within Your Text Will Get You Found Online

Architectural websites often focus strongly on the visual element of their work. Yes visual images are important, but they can also make a website slow to load and difficult to navigate. Adding text not only allows you to explain your images and develop your brand on your site, text also gives Google a means to index and rank your site. 

Squarespace makes adding text to any page easy. Simply insert a text block. You can use headers and drop down menus to organize your content and improve your SEO. Headers can feature searchable keywords which is how Google and visitors find your site. 

Creating a portfolio website on Squarespace is a perfect solution to migrate your architecture firm online. It gives you an easy platform to create the perfect professional website design as well as a blogging platform to build your brand and help you get found online. A complete set of analytics allows you to determine the effectiveness of your approach and track leads for new business. If you're firm is not yet online, or if you're looking for a cost effective solution that will help drive traffic and generate sales, consider creating a portfolio website on Squarespace. We build Squarespace websites for architects. We've been doing it for years and we know the tricks that will help your firm get found. Our pricing is highly competitive. Take a look at our process and contact us if you have questions. We'd love to work with you.