Moving to Ghost from Squarespace

Introduction

I have switched from Squarespace to Ghost. I should be honest that switching platforms may just be procrastination. It's also embarrassing, as I wrote an earlier post in this series about trying to ignore the technology and just get on with writing better content.

But, even if it was procrastination, the switch has worked for me. I have started to write more, and I think slightly better posts. Ghost's advantages are at least in part responsible.

I switched several months ago after running a mini-trial and deciding that Ghost was better for me. The reasons were both push and pull.

I had initially started the blog on Squarespace as it is a full-fledged website builder with everything built in. But ultimately, that was one of the reasons I decided to leave. Squarespace is great, and it did what I needed in many ways. But there are several drawbacks, including speed, focus and, to an extent, look. I have tried to explain my reasoning below and my experience of Ghost. I hope it is helpful.

There are some much better and more technical articles about this subject; I have put links at the bottom of the post.

Why I chose Squarespace in the first place

If you have used the Internet or watched Youtube for more than 10 minutes, it's hard not to have heard about Squarespace; their advertising is ubiquitous.

Squarespace is a comprehensive website builder. If you have no experience in coding and want to start a good-looking website quickly, it's perfect. Everything is built in, from domain registration to hosting, design, and analytics. The support is excellent, and you can clearly expand your site into e-commerce etc. The sites look beautiful, and the drag-and-drop website builder is easy to use.

What I didn't like about Squarespace

But the all-in-one offering is also a weakness if you want to write posts and possibly run a newsletter. It is a bit bloated and slow in terms of writing a post and the website speed itself. Which I have subsequently found out impacts SEO.

Squarespace is very design-oriented, which isn't a negative, especially if you are a photographer or run a small trendy shop. Still, for someone like me, the entire feel was slightly wrong. At a very basic level, it's hard to do a post with no image on Squarespace.

There are numberous themes, most of which are great. But there does seem to be a similar look or feel. Which isn't really about a written blog.

But the most critical issue was actually writing posts. I found the interface uncomfortable and slightly cramped. I also couldn't get Grammarly to work natively.

Why I moved to Ghost

Honestly, I decided to switch as I wasn't enjoying Squarespace, and the website didn't look right. I didn't give much thought to other options. I used WordPress (WP) extensively for my 'real' job. And I did very briefly look at substack. Neither of which seemed right. Although WP is substantially cheaper.

Ghost is a very light CMS designed pretty much exclusively for writers. However, they seem to be shifting a little towards other content creators such as YouTubers. It is open source, and there is a dedicated community of experts who are self-hosting and doing clever coding...I am not one of these.

I am using the Ghost Pro version, which is easy, if a slightly expensive option, offered by the company. You don't have to worry about hosting, SSL certificate, CDN, and other technical backend services.

What is good about Ghost:

So far, it has been great. I have tried to list what I have found to be good with using Ghost (Pro) to run a small personal blog:

• Setup - Setting up the blog was straightforward; the feature set is limited but perfect for what I needed, at least so far. I manually imported earlier posts, so I can't comment on the process of migrating to a more complex blog (see resources at the bottom of post)
• Themes - There are well-designed themes. At the moment, I am sticking with, Headline, one of the default themes. But the Marketplace has themes that would suit various types of sites (blog, newsletter etc.). If you can code, these can, of course, be adjusted and modified; so far, I haven't found the need (but see below)
• Fiddle free - If you need to, you aren't forced to customise anything other than the absolute basic, like the navigation. This is one of its great strengths for me as there is less to fiddle with and cause a distraction.
• Faster - The website you build is very fast; you can see this easily when you open the site on a laptop or phone. It just pops.
• Writing experience -  The writing experience is excellent. It is far easier to write directly into Ghost. Grammarly works much better with the editor. The editor is pretty limited but includes all the basics you need.
• Scalable (if ever needed) - Despite the points above, it is scalable for those blogs that take off. Ghost supports loads of integrations. So far, all I have done is to set up Analytics,
• Membership - Built-in membership functionality. I have set this up, which was incredibly easy, but I haven't really progressed due to the nature of my blog. I did some test emails, and it works perfectly.
• Coding - If you know how to code, it's relatively easy to change the templates. However, that is not available on the entry-level price plan.
• Community / Forum -  My experience has been kept very basic. But there is an active community of enthusiasts. The Forum is an excellent place to solve your problems.

What I don't like about Ghost

Despite my evident enthusiasm for Ghost, there are some negatives. These are based on my experience as a pretty basic user using Ghost Pro:

• Search - There is no built-in search feature. This was a bit of a shock. Apparently, you can add this without the need for lots of coding. So far, I haven't tried - Partly because the site isn't that big. But I could see it could be a deal breaker for some people.
• Comments - Another odd one, there is no built-in commenting on posts. That is okay for me at the moment, but it does seem strange when most people are trying to build up an engaged readership and community. You can add comments through third-party applications like Disqus, Cove or Commento. But you will need to be able to code, and you don't seem to be able to add this functionality when you are using the Starter Price plan.
• Bulk editing of posts - Maybe not essential when you are just starting, but you can't bulk edit posts, for instance, to change tags. This functionality exists in WP and would be very helpful. I suspect you can do it if you are self-hosting or can code.
• Images - It is primarily a text-based tool. So probably unfair to judge it on images, but there are two areas I find annoying. It does not store images you have used (like WP does), so if you want to use a separate post, you need to upload it again. There doesn't seem to be a way to move an image from one post to another if you decide to combine two drafts. Only small things, but a little annoying.
• Coding - Any changes to the theme require coding. That means you cannot edit anything if you don't know how to code.
• Links - Probably my ignorance, but I can not find a way to set it up, so external links open in a new tab.
• Price - Limitation of Starter level package
• No app - There is no native app for editing on your phone. Although it is relatively good on safari on a mobile

My move to Ghost - am I happy.

Yes, it's brilliant. I don't want to sound like a crazy convert, but so far, Ghost has been a joy to use. Its simplicity and ease mean I have started writing more. My website is faster and looks more professional whilst still obviously a personal blog.

I know that when I and my blog are ready, we can expand and use more advanced features. I am looking forward to engaging more actively with readers through membership and introducing comments. Still, I am happy to keep it simple and focus on writing better articles.

If you are looking for a blogging platform, it's great. If you want to show amazing images or run a cool shop, Squarespace is also lovely

Resources:

Why I Moved from Squarespace to Ghost | appsntips

Last month I moved my website from Squarespace to Ghost. In this article, I am going to give you the reasons behind the move, and the challenges that I faced.

appsntipsEditor

Writing a blog - The above post is part of a series I am trying to write, recording the progress (or lack of) of setting up and writing the blog itself. Maybe that is a little self-indulgent. But it might help someone else, and I have actually been enjoying the process.