Squarespace is a great website platform that offers easy-to-use and user-friendly interface. It’s so easy that you don’t need coding knowledge to create a good looking website for your business or blog.

The downside, however, is that you have limited options with what you can do or add on your Squarespace website. Squarespace websites have a wide variety of templates you can choose from and their great on their own. However, with the increasing number of Squarespace users, websites using the templates become more common.

That’s not a problem if you’re fine with a simple website for your business or if you just want a simple blog site, but there’s already a sea of simple websites out there that people don’t care about nor even bother checking out. And that’s not a place you want your website to be lumped with.

A Rule of Thumb

A rule of thumb for online stores and businesses is to “Treat your website as your store front”. If this is your first time reading about this rule, then think about it as a paradigm shift. Websites are not just computer pages anymore, a website is now your digital store front – a window to your business; a showroom for your products, a marketplace for your services. And just like any physical store front, the more your store front stands out, the more customers you will attract.

So What’s the Problem?

As mentioned earlier, the challenge with Squarespace is that there’s only a limited tools you can use to make your website stand out which means there’s only limited ways to make your digital store front attractive to your customers. And to solve this problem, Squarespace plugins were created.

Squarespace Plugins to the Rescue

Squarespace plugins are ready-to-use enhancements for your Squarespace website. It’s an off-the-shelf solution you can apply to instantly transform your website from boring to amazing in a matter of minutes. Literally, you just have to plug it in to your website and voila! It’s like a make-up for your Squarespace website , it enhances the look of your website to make it more attractive and stand out. Some plugins even do more than just make your website look cooler. There are a lot of different plugins for different uses.

But in this blog, we looked for the Top 10 Squarespace plugins that will give your Squarespace website an instant make-over.

The List of Top 10 Squarespace Plugins

This is not a curation of the best Squarespace Plugins available but a recommendation of the top 10 Squarespace plugins we found that could give your website an upgrade in the looks department.

1. Mobile View Plugin

This might not come as a surprise to you but there are 3.5 billion smartphone users in the world since 2019 according to this statistic. Think about it, there are 3.5 billion people out there that could potentially be your customers in a single tap on their smartphones. I know, 3.5 billion may seem unrealistic but a fraction of that certainly is.

However, the problem here is not how many people will visit your website on their smartphone, rather how will your website look on their smartphone.

Yes, there’s a difference, notice how small the screen of smartphone compared to a regular computer?

Your website might look good on a computer but can be completely botched (worst unusable) on a smartphone. And unless you know how to use CSS and HTML to turn your website into mobile-friendly or working on smartphone, you’re throwing away such a big opportunity. And that’s where you’ll need this Squarespace plugin.

2. Lightbox Plugin

A very effective way to highlight and display special information (such as a sale, promo, schedule, event, etc.), is to use a pop-up window.

How so? It’s because a pop-up grabs the attention of your website’s visitors while putting forward the information you want them to see - a great way to direct the focus of your customers to certain news, update or info you think is important.

It’s a very powerful and useful Squarespace plugin if you’re selling goods or services online.

3. Dropdown Plugin

Update:

As of 2022, Squarespace have added an Accordion Block. Though as the Accordion is still new, there are still some functions missing especially with customizing your Accordion so you might still want to refer to the Squarespace Accordion plugins below if you’re looking for more customizable Accordion.

A long page full of plain texts is not only boring and difficult to read but also unappealing to your website’s visitors. So a better way to organize the texts on your page is to section them based on the topic. And one of the most effective ways to put sections on your page is to use a dropdown.

Because a dropdown allows you to hide the long details and only display the head topic or section name. And only when the topic is clicked that the details are displayed which gives your webpage a clean and organized look. It’s similar to an accordion that stretches when pulled and shortens back when contracted.

This is perfect for your FAQ, Blog, About Us or other pages with lots of text. But you can also use a dropdown for other lengthy sections you want to shorten.

4. Slideshow Plugin

This may not be news to you but videos engage customers substantially more than still images. Videos engage customers so much that a statistics from 2020 reported that 88% of businesses that use video made a positive ROI.

The problem however, is that videos are great if you know how to make one or you have the budget to pay someone to make them for you because simple and candid videos are great for social media but not for your website. So what do you do if you don’t have an expensive and professional-looking video?

Use the next best thing - a slideshow.

A slideshow, just like a video, is a collection of images played in sequence one after another except that a slideshow only plays very limited number of images and in a much slower rate compared to a video. So if videos are like smartphones, slideshows are like the cellphones.

One is fancier but both can get the job done ‘cause when it comes down to it, a slideshow can make your website look as lively and engaging as a video.

Another place you can get this slideshow plugin is in TheCustomSquare.com and it’s called Autoplay Carousel Block Plugin.

5. Loading Page Plugin

Waiting for a transaction to finish isn’t particularly fun. And this is even magnified in the internet, so much that one ad puts it this way, “If it’s not fast, it’s broken”.

This is because on the internet it only takes about 2-3 seconds before a visitor leaves your website if your webpages are not loading or in an endless state of loading, and by endless, I mean more than 3 seconds. Obviously, you should make your website faster but that will take some time and money.

In the meantime, you can use a proven technique to deal with this problem - use a diversion. Instead of showing a blank page to your visitors while your website is loading, show them something else – a logo.

A logo works well because it keeps your visitors’ interest on your website, flashing your logo makes your customers think, “Something is happening so let’s be a little patient”.

Not only that but it also does marketing for you, showing your logo to your customers as they wait gives them the time to be familiar with your logo – thus promoting the brand of your business.

6. Table Block Plugin

Tables are classic tools used to effectively organize and display objects or information on your website. They may be old but definitely not obsolete.  

The usual complaint with tables is that it looks plain and simple. Plain and simple works for certain purposes such as reports, schedules, comparisons, products, etc. But plain and simple also limits the use of table for designing. To make it worse, the table block is not even available on Squarespace.

Using this Custom Table Block plugin will not only make the Table block available for you but will also allow you to customize the table (such as change the color, size, width, spaces, etc.) allowing you to display your products, reports or data comparisons in an organized way while giving you without making your website look dull and boring.

7. Summary Block Animations

Another great way to create interaction with your Squarespace website visitors is to give them something to click. This strategy does not only make them stay on your website longer but it also allows you to lead them to discover what other great contents you have.

You can use the Inset Summary Block or the Card Summary Block design of the Spark Plugin from SparkPlugin.com which creates a pop-out effect on hover to highlight your blog or images.

Another summary block animation you can use is the Slide-up Summary Card Plugin from TheCustomSquare.com which transforms the static summary block into interactive cards with slide-up animation.

These plugins helps you implement this strategy by making the summary block interactive and engaging making it hard for your visitors to resist - great tools for showcasing your blogs, product, org chart or events sections.

8. Counter Plugin

Counters are great additions to your website because it creates the impression of change because the number in the counter keeps changing over time. And what’s even better, is that you could use a counter both ways - whether the counter is increasing or decreasing.

Here’s why, an increasing counter indicates growth not only to your business but also in your customer’s mind. You could use the increasing counter for counting the number of positive feedbacks, customers served, orders, etc. An increasing counter give your website validation from existing customers, and this social proof from existing customers entices new customers. After all, it’s gotta be good if a lot of people are buying it, right?

On the other hand a decreasing counter or countdown timer creates scarcity. And scarcity is a proven strategy to create urgency in your customers – an urgency to take action now. Because as the numbers go down, your message gets stronger, “What are you waiting for? There’s not much left”. You can use the countdown timer for limited offers, limited products or limited time promotions.

9. Advanced Map Block

If you have a physical store or a shop, this plugin is very helpful to you. There’s no easier way to give people directions to your store than a map. But giving directions isn’t the only purpose that a map serves on your Squarespace website.

A map also invites your customers to visit your shop because by giving out clear directions to your shop, you’re making it easier for your customers to find you thus getting rid of a reason not to visit. Another benefit a map gives your business is credibility - a map tells your customers that you are legit because there’s an actual place they can go to should they run into some problem with your product or if they need help.

Using maps on your Squarespace website creates trust in your customers.

10. Social Media Plugin

Adding your social media channels on your website is now a must. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, Reddit - these are all sources of traffic for your Squarespace website but they can also work the other way. Because like it or not, most people online are on social media and what you want is for people who likes your business to tell people they know about your business.

Now, adding social media buttons on your website is simple and easy but what you want to make it more enticing for your visitors to click your social media buttons and that’s where you add some pizzazz on those buttons. And there’s a few great options you can choose besides adding colors on your social media tabs.

Final Advice

These are all great plugins for Squarespace website. They’re great tools to make your website stand-out, make a great impression on your customers or even help you sell your product or service. But these Squarespace plugins can only do so much. In the end, the success of your business still depends on you to deliver your promise to your customers.

An attractive store front will get you customers but a business that delivers on its promise will get you more.

Haven’t found the Squarespace plugin you need? Check out this list:

• Best Squarespace Plugin in 2022