Bringing Your Squarespace Website Live: A Comprehensive Guide

Welcome to Wildflower Design Studio's step-by-step guide to launching your Squarespace website! We've crafted this tutorial to help you navigate the final stages of website creation, ensuring a smooth transition from development to live. Let's dive in!

Step 1: Choosing and Paying for Your Squarespace Plan

Before your website can go live, you'll need to select and pay for a Squarespace plan that suits your needs.

1. Log in to your Squarespace account.

2. Click on 'Settings' and then 'Billing & Account.'

3. Choose 'Billing', then ‘Subscriptions’ and then ‘Upgrade.'

4. Select the plan that fits your needs and follow the prompts to enter your payment information.

• Click HERE for a comparison of each different plan. (*If you utilize a Wildflower Design Studio template or have us custom design your new site, you will get 20% off your 1st year )

Step 2: Making Your Website Go Live

Set Up Your Domain: Now it's time to connect a domain:

1. Click on 'Settings' and then 'Domains.'

2. Choose 'Connect a Domain' if you have an existing domain or 'Get a Domain' if you need to purchase one.

3. Follow the prompts to complete the process.

Step 3: Connecting to Google Search Console (Wait 24-48 hrs after your domain is connected to ensure everything has propagated)

1. Go to Google Search Console and log in with your Google account.

2. Click 'Add Property' and enter your website's URL.

3. Verify ownership by adding a meta tag to your Squarespace site's code injection (Google will provide instructions).

4. Click 'Verify' in Google Search Console.

Step 4: Submitting Your Sitemap

1. In Google Search Console, click 'Sitemaps.'

2. Enter your sitemap URL (usually `www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml`).

3. Click 'Submit.'

Step 5: Connecting Google Analytics

1. Create a Google Analytics account and set up a property for your website.

2. Copy the Tracking ID.

3. In Squarespace, click 'Settings' > ‘Developer Tools’ > ‘External API Keys

4. Paste the Tracking ID into the Google Analytics Account Number field.

Step 6: Adding Bing Sitemap

1. Go to Bing Webmaster Tools

2. Click "Get Started" Click "Google"

3. Click "Import from Google" on the left and go through the steps.

4. It might say the import was unsuccessful, but when you close that dialogue box, it takes you right to the website/account dashboard. It did work!

   1. If it doesn't take you to the dashboard, try again by choosing to input the URL manually rather than importing from Google

5. Click on "Sitemaps" on the left. Click "Submit Sitemap"Enter the sitemap URLRefresh and you should see the status change to "Success"

6. Sign out of Bing Webmaster Tools

Congratulations! Your Squarespace website is now live and connected to essential tools that will help you track and optimize its performance. If you have any questions or need further assistance, don't hesitate to reach out to us at Wildflower Design Studio. Happy website launching!