How to Backup Your Squarespace Website: Step-by-Step Guide
When contemplating a Squarespace subscription, many individuals express significant concerns about website backups.
Website security is of paramount importance! A prevailing myth, particularly among WordPress users, suggests that hosting your site on Squarespace relinquishes control over your content. There's an unfounded fear that any issues with Squarespace could result in data loss.
In this Blog, I aim to dispel these misconceptions and guide you on how to effectively back up your Squarespace website. You'll gain the knowledge needed to protect your content and maintain peace of mind.
Duplicate your website
Selecting this feature allows you to create an exact replica of your existing Squarespace website, which will be stored within your account dashboard. It's important to note that duplicating your website is not a solution for migrating to a different platform, and it's not applicable for sites with more than 100 pages. However, it serves as a valuable option for situations like accidentally deleting a section of your site and needing a swift recovery.
To initiate the duplication process, access your account dashboard, and locate the site you wish to duplicate. Click on the ellipsis (…) icon and choose "Duplicate website." Your duplicated site will then be accessible from your account dashboard.a
Create A Site Map
Before you dive into constructing your Squarespace website, I strongly advise starting with a visual sitemap. This initial step provides a clear outline of the necessary pages and ensures a smooth user experience as visitors navigate through your site.
As your website evolves, periodic updates to your sitemap every 3-6 months will maintain an up-to-date layout reference.
Several tools are at your disposal to assist in sitemap creation, and the best part is that some of these tools are entirely free:
Mindmeister
FlowMapp
Bubble.us
Utilize these resources to design your sitemap effectively.
Download Your XML File
The XML file plays a crucial role in moving your Squarespace content to WordPress, but it's important to note that this process has some limitations. If you're migrating to a self-hosted WordPress site, only the text will be transferred. However, if you opt for a WordPress.com website, both text and images will make the journey.
Here's a breakdown of what your XML file includes:
Layout pages
Gallery pages
Project pages
A single blog with all its posts
Blog comments
Text blocks
Image blocks (compatible with WordPress.com)
However, certain content types won't make the transition, such as:
Product pages
Folders
Index pages
Event pages
Album pages
Cover pages
Extra blogs or their posts
Audio and video blocks
Product blocks
Drafts
It's important to keep in mind that migrating from Squarespace to WordPress can be a complex process. Additionally, Squarespace 7.1 does not offer the option to export an XML file. To obtain your XML file, navigate to Settings > Advanced > Import/Export and select Export.
Back Up Your Website's Content
Utilize Google Drive or Dropbox to centralize all your website assets, including content, images, and videos. Organizing your digital content into a structured hierarchy ensures you always have a comprehensive backup. Here's a glimpse of my process:
Folder Structure:
Website
Subfolders: Home Page, About, Hire Me, Store.
Each subfolder contains:
Google Docs with structured website content.
Meta Descriptions.
Images/Videos.
For blog posts, an integral part of my marketing strategy, I maintain a dedicated 'Blog Posts' folder. Each blog post has its own subfolders that encompass:
Written content in Google Docs (complete with meta descriptions).
Multimedia elements like images, videos, or GIFs embedded within the blog post.
Supplementary images tailored for social media promotion.
By crafting blog posts within Google Drive and subsequently publishing them on Squarespace, you inherently safeguard your website with minimal additional effort. This process adds an extra layer of security to your valuable web content.
Store Your Visual Elements
As you can't directly transfer images from Squarespace to a self-hosted WordPress site, it's advisable to maintain an additional copy of your images. You have the flexibility to store them on your local hard drive or in your preferred cloud storage location, such as Google Drive.
Save a Copy of Your Code Injections and CSS
In the event that you've incorporated custom code injections or CSS into your Squarespace site, it's prudent to maintain a spare copy to prevent accidental deletion or alterations. I personally employ Sublime Text for code writing and preservation, but Mac users can also utilize TextEdit, and nearly any plain text editor will suffice for this purpose.
Capture Screenshots of Every Page
Finally, capture full-page screenshots for every webpage on your site, excluding blog posts to save time and effort. This visual reference can be invaluable if you ever need to recreate your website. I personally use the Full Page Screen Capture Chrome extension for this purpose.
I understand that safeguarding your Squarespace website can be quite a task. I genuinely wish for Squarespace to streamline the process and make it less complicated. However, this is the current reality.
In the unfortunate event of a catastrophic incident affecting your site, having this comprehensive data would facilitate its reconstruction on Squarespace or any other platform. While it may not be a straightforward or quick fix, it's a precaution that prepares you for the more likely scenario of human error causing unintentional issues on your site.