Can Squarespace AI Build Your Author Website For You?

Sep 4

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There are few corners of our lives that are not yet touched in some way by Artificial Intelligence.

For the most part, I take the view that AI for creative endeavors can be a handy helper, but is not a silver bullet. While I might occasionally use it to brainstorm ideas, summarize long research conversations, or suggest pithy phrases, AI has not found a regular place in my work. And at the time of writing (2024), I’m still building every client website from scratch, crafting each detail to meet that author’s business strategy, preferences, and specific needs.

Nonetheless, there is a lively ongoing conversation about AI, and many online marketing tools appear to be racing to offer us something in this field.

Squarespace is no different. Their AI offerings currently include:

Squarespace Blueprint, a helper to get you started with a website template suited to your project
AI assistance in writing product descriptions for your online store
AI website copy help

Today, I’m taking the Squarespace Blueprint template tool for a quick test drive

When checking out website builder tools, I always like to have a goal in mind, so I used one of my favorite “portfolio projects” (a website created for a pretend client called Becky Bridge) to see how the Squarespace guided method would measure up.

Here is the original page that I made. As you can see, Becky is a children’s author with several adorable books:

Squarespace author website designed by me — *My original website Home page for this fictional client*

While I wasn’t aiming to replicate this page exactly, I wanted to see what guidance the Squarespace tool would give, and how much work would remain to be able to publish the home page of an author website that meets my (admittedly high) standards.

Part 1, 5 minutes

I used the Squarespace Blueprint wizard, answered some easy questions, and chose from a limited set of options.

Step 1: I gave the website a title. Then, for Becky’s author brand, I considered friendly but settled on playful.
Step 2: I chose the sections I wanted to appear on the home page. There was no guidance here, and I could already see that for an author, the options aren’t stellar. Most beginners would think that products is a good way to get books to show up, but in fact, this only works if you have your books inside a Squarespace store, not if you want to link to other retailers like Amazon. Still, I did the best I could, for sections I thought I might need, or ones that could be easily adapted. It’s actually easy in Squarespace to delete sections and add new ones later.

Step 1: choosing site title and brand personality

Step 2: choices for page sections — *Step 2: choosing sections for the home page*

Step 3: I selected a color palette, from a very limited set of options. This is one of my pet peeves about “easy” website builders: I consider it a huge missed opportunity, if your website colors don’t tie in with your author branding and book covers. In fairness, Squarespace colors can be changed later: but why not offer a decent color picker here? I ended up with a muted color scheme, instead of the kid-friendly teal and peach I was hoping for.
Step 4: I chose fonts, again, from a depressingly small set of options. That said, although the fonts I ended up with are not Becky’s brand fonts, they’re not terrible. Once again, I should note, your fonts can be changed later and Squarespace will update all the font styles on your site for you.

Step 3: underwhelming choice of colors — *Step 3: selecting from a very limited set of color palettes*

*Step 4: Selecting from a limited number of curated fonts*

In fairness to this wizard, it was quick. In less than 5 minutes, I had my website template, supposedly using the power of AI to set me up for fast and easy author success. Here is what I got:

*The original starting template, after AI*

Err, yeah, underwhelming, right?

Let’s take another look at this, side by side with my original. There’s still a MASSIVE amount of work to do.

The original starting point, after AI

My own design for this author

Part 2, 15 minutes - 1 hour

Although I was disappointed with the template that came out of this process, I decided to spend a bit of time to change colors, remove redundant sections, start to set up better sections, and add some of Becky’s lovely images. I took about 15 minutes for this, but I’d like to point out, I work in Squarespace almost every day and I’m now lightning fast! My 15 minutes of effort could easily take you 1-2 hours, especially if you don’t have adorable gnomes and mock-up book covers ready to go.

After spending that time, here’s the new side-by-side:

The AI template, starting to take shape

My own design for this author

Better, right? But, clearly, there’s still a long way to go. I would still want to adjust more colors, add beautiful textures, create working buttons, book purchase links, and Calls To Action, and replace the contact form with a newsletter sign up form. The footer needs to be sorted out, and there are not yet any social media links.

This page still looks homemade; it lacks the wow factor of my professional design

And of course, all the other pages still need to be created!

Not only that, but at this point, you’ve had no expert guidance on the features and pieces that your author website needs and how it will play its part in the rest of your book marketing strategy: the onus is on you to know what’s going to get you business results.

But it does, at least, look like it might have potential as a tolerably acceptable author website.

Conclusion: should you use the AI tool to start your Squarespace author website?

If you’re determined to build your author website on your own, and you’re daunted by beginning with a blank page, this AI wizard might save you a bit of time and get some sections in place to start. And it’s easy to start multiple trial websites in Squarespace, so you can easily run this tool a few times and experiment. In each case, you’ll get a 2 week free trial, before you need to pay to keep your efforts.

However, you certainly shouldn’t expect that AI can do it all for you. Not only is strategic marketing guidance entirely lacking, but the design help is pretty basic too. You’ll still need to get to grips with how to build in Squarespace, and my bet is, you’ll spend dozens of hours before you achieve a website that shows your book(s) in a professional light and grows your audience.

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Would you like me to design and build your Squarespace website?

Prefer not to spend your time and energy grappling with making author web pages that are both beautiful and effective?

As a professional specializing in strategic websites for authors and solopreneurs with books, I’m an expert in the features you need for a website that delights your audience and gets business results. If you’d like niche expertise, top quality design, and your technical headaches solved, consider hiring me.

After careful preparation together, I’ll design, build and launch your site in (usually) 2-3 weeks. Learn more, and then schedule a complimentary chat!

Author Website Design