Build a Website with Squarespace: What to Do First
Building your health or wellness website isn’t just a task. It’s a strategy. If you wish to create a site that books clients while you’re treating clients, teaching a class, or off the grid, you’re already ahead. Your website should do more than just “exist”; it should educate, convert, and confidently represent your brand 24/7.
Whether you’re a Pilates instructor, a skin therapist, a chiropractor, a naturopath or a personal trainer, your wellness business deserves more than a sad little Instagram linktree. A website is essential for getting found and booked. Your website isn’t just a digital business card—it’s your 24/7 sales machine, working around the clock to attract clients, answer their questions, and showcase what makes you their ideal choice. Converting them effortlessly.
Whoever you are, your online space should feel like you, work like you, and sell like you… even while you sleep. But here’s the thing: building a website without a plan is like constructing your clinic or studio without blueprints. It might operate ok for a while, but it won’t function the way you need it to. Remember always: strategy first, design, fonts and colour schemes second.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don’t worry. By the time you finish this post, you’ll have a solid plan in place and be ready to create a website that not only looks good but actually works for your business.
This guide will walk you through the must-dos before building your website with Squarespace, covering everything from planning your pages to budgeting, choosing a template, writing engaging copy, and getting the right visuals.
Step 1: Define Your Brand Before You Build
Before diving into website creation, take a step back and solidify your brand identity. A well-defined brand will guide everything from your website’s design to its copy, ensuring consistency and clarity that attracts the right clients.
Think of it like selecting the ideal business location — you wouldn’t set up a vegan smoothie bar… in a butcher shop. You might have all the right ingredients, but the vibe (and audience) are totally off?
Nailing your brand first means your website will resonate and speak to the right people, in the right way, from the very start.
Create Your Brand Aesthetics: More Than Just a Pretty Logo
Your brand’s visual identity should be cohesive and intentional. This includes:
Logo: A simple, memorable design that represents your business. If you don’t have one yet, consider working with a brand designer to create something unique that will grow with your brand.
Colours: Your colour palette should reflect your brand’s personality. A soft, earthy palette might suit a wellness coach, naturopath or nutritionist, while a sleek monochrome scheme (various tones of the same colour) could work for a high-end skin clinic. Or perhaps you’re all about breaking the mould and want to go for something bright and bold. Just remember to make sure your colours follow website accessibility standards, primarily defined by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Fonts: Select fonts that match your brand’s tone (e.g., modern and bold for a personal trainer, elegant and refined for a spa). Your fonts should be readable and suitable for web use. As a general rule, we design brands with a minimum of three fonts for web use: a Heading font, a Paragraph font and a Feature font.
Hot Tip: You must hold an individual licence for each font within your brand. Even if a designer has created the font for you.
Icons, Graphics & Textural Elements: Elements like patterns, textures, and illustrations can elevate your website’s appearance and give your brand cohesiveness across platforms, such as print, social and eMail.
Photography Style: Will you go for bright, natural-light images, moody and editorial shots, or warm and inviting tones? Your brand will influence your photography style choices, and your photography will affect the overall feel of your site. Therefore, it’s important to ensure you’ve got your brand created before booking that photoshoot.
Define Your Brand Voice: What You Say & How You Say It
Your brand isn’t just about looks—it’s also about how you express yourself. Your brand’s verbal expression shapes the way you communicate with your audience. Are you warm and nurturing? Professional and educational? Fun and energetic?
If you're a Pilates studio, your tone might be supportive and encouraging. If you're a skin clinic, it might be more authoritative yet friendly. Whatever it is, defining your tone, keep it consistent across your website and marketing materials.
Who Are You Talking To? Define Your Ideal Client
Not every website visitor is your ideal client. Defining your audience helps you create a website that speaks directly to those who need your services most. Ask yourself:
What problem does my business solve?
Who benefits most from my services? (E.g., busy professionals needing stress relief, new mums looking for postnatal Pilates, people struggling with chronic pain or illness seeking a holistic or allied health practitioner.)
What are their biggest concerns or desires?
What makes me different that would attract/repel certain clients?
A clear understanding of your audience will shape your website’s messaging, visuals, and structure, making it more compelling and effective in engaging, educating, and converting your visitors into clients.
💡 Need help refining your brand before you start your website? Our Brand Strategy Session helps you get crystal clear on your message, visuals, and structure before you begin.
Step 2: Plan Your Website Pages
Before you even think about building your website, the first step is to decide what pages your website needs. Every business is unique, but some pages are non-negotiable. Think of your website as a structured journey—each page should serve a purpose, guiding visitors towards taking action, whether that’s booking a session, signing up for a newsletter, or learning more about your services.
The Essential Pages for Your Health & Wellness Website
Homepage
Your homepage is the digital equivalent of your front door. It’s where visitors land first, so it needs to make an immediate impact. Within seconds, they should understand who you are, what you offer, and why they should care. Your homepage should be clean, clear, and conversion-focused, directing people to the next step, whether that’s checking out your services, reading your blog, or booking an appointment.
About page
The about page is where you tell your story, but here’s the catch—it’s not actually about you. Your potential clients want to know how your expertise benefits them. Instead of listing qualifications and achievements (which are important but should be secondary), use this page to build trust and connection. Talk about how you help people, your values and why you do what you do for others. After all, you want people to know and feel your business is more about them than it is you.
Services page
Your services page is where you clearly outline how people can work with you. If you offer different services, consider creating individual pages for each one to provide more detailed information. A nutritionist might have separate pages for meal planning, weight loss coaching, and gut health consultations, while a chiropractor could focus their ‘services’ pages more on each of the types of problems they help solve, even if the actual service is the same (ps. This is a great approach for SEO!).
Hot Tip: Each page should explain what the service involves, who it’s for, and what clients can expect. Make sure to include clear calls to action, such as “Book a Free Consultation” or “Schedule Your First Session.”
A Blog
Your blog might not seem essential at first, but blog content is a powerful tool for SEO and client engagement. Posting valuable content—like "The Benefits of Reformer Pilates for Back Pain" or "How to Choose the Right Skincare Routine for Your Skin Type"—can position you as an expert in your industry while attracting potential clients through search engines.
Contact page
Finally, the contact page needs to be simple yet effective. People shouldn’t have to dig around to find out how to reach you. Include a contact form, phone number, email address, social media links, and, if you have a physical location, embed a Google Map to make it easy for people to find you.
Step 2: Set Your Budget
Creating a website without a budget is like hiring a new staff member without knowing if you can afford them or if they are a good fit for the job — you risk overspending on unnecessary extras or cutting corners in the wrong places. Understanding the costs and outlining a clear website budget ensures that you allocate your resources effectively, whether you go the DIY route or hire professionals.
Website Costs to Consider
💰 Domain Name – Your website address (e.g., www.yourbusiness.com). Expect to pay around $20–$50 per year.
💰 Website Platform – With Squarespace, pricing starts at $16/month, including hosting, security, and templates.
💰 Template or Custom Design? – A premium Squarespace template can cost between $200–$500. A custom-designed website can range from $2,000–$10,000+.
💰 Photography – Hiring a brand photographer can cost anywhere from $300–$1,500, but stock photos are a budget-friendly alternative. (More on this below!)
💰 Copywriting – If writing isn’t your thing, a professional website copywriter might charge $500–$3,000+, depending on the number of pages.
💰 Marketing Tools – If you plan to grow an eMail list (which we highly recommend you do), then you’ll need to invest in an eMail Marketing platform that works with your website.
Need a further in-depth cost breakdown? Read our blog post: How Much Does a Website Cost?
Step 3: Choose Your Platform
When it comes to website builders, WordPress, Wix, Shopify, Showit, and Squarespace all have their pros and cons. But for health and wellness businesses, Squarespace is often the best choice, especially if you want the flexibility of being able to update and maintain your website in-house, and keep your beautiful aesthetic.
✔ All-in-One Solution – Hosting, SEO, booking systems, eMail marketing and e-Commerce all in one place—no need to juggle multiple providers.
✔ Beautiful, Mobile-Friendly Designs – Your site will look sleek, whether clients view it on a desktop, tablet, or phone.
✔ SEO-Optimised – Built-in tools help boost your ranking on Google without needing a degree in tech.
✔ Easy to Update – You won’t need a web developer to change text or add new services. Squarespace is user-friendly, making it perfect for business owners who want a beautiful, functional website without coding skills.
Want to know if Squarespace is right for your beauty, fitness or health business? Read our blog post: Squarespace Explained.
Step 4: Invest in Professional Photos (or Use Stock Images Wisely)
Nothing screams “DIY website” like low-quality, outdated images. Investing in quality photography can instantly elevate your website, making it look polished and trustworthy.
Your Options:
📸 Option 1: Brand Photoshoot
Custom images help you stand out, create trust, and reinforce your brand. Ideal for showcasing you, your space, and your client experience.
If you’re a beauty therapist, professional photos of you working with clients can help potential customers feel comfortable booking an appointment. If you run a pilates studio, images of your space, equipment and classes can make your website more inviting. For chiropractors and physiotherapists, images of you engaging with and treating clients help them feel at ease with you and your business, making booking and working with you more welcoming.
Planning a brand photoshoot for your website? Read our full guide on planning your photoshoot, and download our free photoshoot planner.
📸 Option 2: Stock Photos
If hiring a photographer isn’t in your budget, sites like Unsplash, Pexels, and Canva offer high-quality images. Avoid overly generic, corporate-looking photos that don’t reflect your brand’s personality. Instead, look for images that look and feel naturally and authentically aligned with your aesthetic. Read our blog: The Power of Authentic Brand Photography to ensure you’re choosing the right images.
Step 5: Write Your Website Copy
A beautiful website without compelling copy is like a luxury spa with terrible customer service—clients will walk straight out. Your words are just as important as your visuals, and they need to engage, inform, and convert visitors into paying clients.
How to Approach Website Copywriting
Many business owners assume they can write their website copy because, well, they know their business best. However, writing clear, persuasive, and SEO-friendly copy is a skill in its own right. A poorly written website can leave visitors confused, uninterested, or, in the worst case, make them doubt your professionalism.
If writing isn’t your strength, do yourself (and your business) a favour and consider hiring a professional copywriter. A skilled copywriter will translate your ideas into words that capture your brand's voice, connect with your ideal clients, and drive bookings and sales. They will structure your site content for clarity and flow, guiding visitors to take action. Making sure your message is easy to understand, speaks directly to ideal clients, highlighting benefits over features, and gets your business seen on Google with a smart SEO strategy.
If you decide to DIY your copy, here’s our top-tips:
Keep It Client-Focused
Your website isn’t about you—it’s about how you help your clients. Too often, businesses make the mistake of focusing too much on their own achievements and experience instead of what the client actually cares about (solving their pain points and achieving their desires). For example:
❌ "I am a certified nutritionist with 15 years of experience."
✅ "Struggling with bloating and fatigue? I help you regain energy and balance through personalised nutrition plans."
Keep it Easy to Read
Online readers have short attention spans. They don’t want to wade through big blocks of text to find what they need. Use:
✔ Short paragraphs
✔ Bullet points
✔ Clear headings
✔ Call-to-action buttons
Keep it Compelling with CTAs
If you don’t tell your website visitors what to do next, they won’t take action. Every page should have a clear CTA, whether that’s booking a consultation, signing up for a newsletter, or purchasing a product. Skip the ‘sign up now’ and opt-for compelling CTA’s such as:
"Book a Free Consultation Today"
"Download Your Free Skincare Guide"
"Join Our 6-Week Beginner Pilates Program"
Want to write your own website copy, that gets clients to take action? Our Copy that Converts guide shows you how.
Keep SEO In Mind
We always want to write website copy with humans in mind first and foremost. But that doesn’t mean you can’t make it easier for search engines to send traffic to your site too! Squarespace has built-in SEO tools, but you still need to use the right keywords in your copy. If you’re a personal trainer in Sydney, make sure phrases like "Sydney personal trainer" or "strength training in Sydney" appear naturally in your text. Need help optimising your website copy for SEO? Get our on-demand SEO workshop here.
Step 6: Buy a Template or Work with a Web Designer?
Now that you’ve planned your pages, budgeted, got the perfect brand photography and written your copy, it’s time to decide how to bring your website to life. Phew! It’s been a journey so far hasn’t it, but now the fun truly begins.
You have three main options for building your Squarespace website:
Buy a pre-designed Squarespace template and customise it yourself.
Hire a web designer to create a custom website that precisely meets your needs.
Purchase a template and work with a web designer to customise your template to your brand, business and goals, giving you a semi-DIY option with professional polish.
Option 1: Buying a Squarespace Template
A pre-designed Squarespace template is the fastest and most affordable way to launch your website. These templates are professionally designed, meaning you don’t have to worry about layout, functionality, or responsiveness.
All you need to do is swap out the placeholder text and images for your own, and you’re good to go.
Pros of Using a Template:
✔ More affordable – Prices typically range from $200–$500.
✔ Quick setup – You could have your website live in a weekend.
✔ Professionally designed – Looks polished without hiring a designer.
✔ Beginner-friendly – No coding or design experience needed.
Cons of Using a Template:
❌ Less unique – Other businesses may have the same template
❌ Limited customisation – You may not be able to modify everything (although you could always join Style School membership and learn how to customise your site to your liking!)
Option 2: Hiring a Web Designer
If you have specific design needs, want a fully custom website, or don’t have the time to DIY, working with a professional web designer is the way to go.
A custom Squarespace website can cost anywhere from $2,000–$10,000+, depending on the complexity of the design, the number of pages, and the experience of the designer.
Pros of Hiring a Web Designer:
✔ Completely unique – Your website will stand out
✔ More strategic – A designer can optimise the layout for conversions
✔ Saves time – No need to spend hours figuring out the platform
Cons of Hiring a Web Designer:
❌ More expensive – Custom websites come with a higher price tag
❌ Longer turnaround – It may take several weeks or months to complete. If you’re on a tight timeframe, though, check out our Website in a Week program to get launched ASAP!
Option 3: Customising a Template with a Web Designer
If you want a professional-looking site without the full custom price tag, this option strikes the perfect balance. You’ll start with a high-quality template and collaborate with a web designer to customise it to suit your brand, business, and goals.
This approach typically costs between $ 1,650 and $3,300, depending on the amount of customisation you need and the time required to complete the changes. Work like this is generally categorised as VIP Design Days
Pros of Customising a Template with a Web Designer:
✔ More affordable – Get a pro look without the full custom price.
✔ Brand-aligned – Your designer will tailor the layout, colours, and fonts to your vibe.
✔ Faster turnaround – Quicker than a fully custom build.
Cons of Customising a Template with a Web Designer:
❌ Limited layout changes – You’re still working within the structure of a template.
❌ Less unique – Others might use the same template (but a designer will still make it feel like yours!).
Final Thoughts: Your Website, Your Rules
Building a website for your health or wellness business is an investment, but with the right planning, it can be one of the most powerful tools you have.
Need help planning your website refresh or launch? Book a Website Strategy Session and let’s map out your perfect site. 🎉
