How to Choose the Right Squarespace Template for Your Business Type
Template choice paralysis is real. Here's how to break through the overwhelm and find the perfect starting point for your website.
Choosing a Squarespace template should be exciting (maybe that’s just the inner geek talking) or, at the very least, interesting.
You're building your online presence, and there are hundreds of beautiful options to pick from. But if you've ever spent hours clicking through template after template, feeling more confused than inspired, you're not alone. The abundance of choice can quickly turn from exciting to overwhelming, especially when you realise you can't easily change your mind later.
The template you choose will shape your entire website experience, from how easy it is to add content to how professional your finished site looks.
Get it right, and you'll have a solid foundation that grows with your business.
Get it wrong, and you might find yourself wrestling with layouts that don't fit your content or starting over completely.
Understanding the template trap that catches most beginners
An example of a Squarespace Template for interior designers by Square Forge.
The biggest mistake I see people make is approaching template selection like they're shopping for clothes. They browse through the gallery, fall in love with a beautiful design, and click "Start with this template" without considering whether it actually suits their business needs.
Here's what happens next: you start adding your content and realise the template was designed for a completely different type of business. That gorgeous photography template you chose doesn't work well for your consulting services. The restaurant template's menu layouts are useless for your online course business. You're essentially trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.
This mismatch becomes particularly frustrating because Squarespace 7.1 doesn't allow you to switch templates after you've started customising. You can change fonts, colours, and layouts to some degree, but the fundamental structure of your chosen template becomes your foundation. If that foundation doesn't match your content and business goals, you'll spend far more time fighting against the template than building your website.
The template selection process is further complicated by the way Squarespace presents their options. Templates are beautifully showcased with professional photography and perfectly crafted demo content. It's easy to be seduced by a template's aesthetic without considering whether it will work with your actual content, images, and business structure.
The Content Mismatch Problem
Think about it this way: templates are designed with specific content structures in mind. A template built for a restaurant will have sections for menus, opening hours, and reservation systems. A photography template will prioritise large image galleries and minimal text. A business services template will focus on explaining complex services and building trust through testimonials.
When you choose a template that doesn't match your content type, you end up trying to squeeze your business into someone else's structure. Your detailed service descriptions get lost in a template designed for minimal text. Your important testimonials are buried in a template that prioritises large images. Your pricing information doesn't fit the template's content flow.
I've seen business owners spend weeks trying to make their content work with the wrong template, getting increasingly frustrated as nothing seems to fit properly. The template looks beautiful in the demo, but with their content, it feels clunky and unprofessional.
The Blank Canvas Challenge
On the flip side, some people try to avoid the template trap by starting with a blank canvas or the most minimal template possible. The thinking is logical: if you start with nothing, you can build exactly what you need without being constrained by someone else's design decisions.
But this approach has its own pitfalls. Unless you're an experienced designer, starting from scratch can be overwhelming and time-consuming. You'll spend months figuring out basic layout principles, struggling with spacing and hierarchy, and often ending up with something that looks amateurish compared to professionally designed templates.
The blank canvas approach also tends to lead to feature creep. Without the constraints of a pre-designed structure, it's easy to keep adding "just one more section" until your website becomes a sprawling mess without clear focus or user flow.
Most small business owners don't have the time or design expertise to create a cohesive, professional-looking website from scratch. They need the structure and guidance that templates provide, but they also need flexibility to adapt that structure to their specific content and business goals.
The Customisation Compromise
An example of a Square Forge Wireframe for Squarespace, using 5 separate section designs.
Between these two extremes, there's a middle ground that most Squarespace users eventually discover: heavy customisation of existing templates. You choose a template that's close to what you need, then spend considerable time and effort modifying it to better fit your content.
This approach can work, but it requires significant design knowledge and time investment. You need to understand how to modify layouts, adjust content hierarchy, and maintain visual consistency while making substantial changes to the template's original design.
For many small business owners, this level of customisation is beyond their comfort zone or available time. They end up with websites that feel like compromises: not quite fitting their content, not quite achieving their design goals, but functional enough to launch.
Making Peace with Imperfection
The reality is that no pre-made template will perfectly match your business needs straight out of the box. Every template requires some level of customisation and content adaptation. The question isn't whether you'll need to make changes, but how much compromise you're willing to accept and how much time you want to spend on customisation.
Understanding this helps set realistic expectations for the template selection process. You're not looking for perfection; you're looking for the best possible starting point that requires the least amount of fighting against the template's natural structure.
"The perfect template doesn't exist, but the right template for your business does. It's the one that makes your content shine rather than forcing your content to fit a predetermined mould."
- Elwyn Davies
A Better Approach to Template Selection
Rather than choosing based on visual appeal alone, successful template selection starts with understanding your content and business goals. Before you even look at template options, you need clarity on what your website actually needs to accomplish.
Start by listing your essential content: What pages do you need? What types of content will you be publishing? How do you want visitors to move through your site? What actions do you want them to take? This content audit helps you understand what kind of template structure will support your goals rather than hinder them.
Next, consider your business type and industry expectations. Your audience will have certain expectations based on your industry. A law firm's website should feel trustworthy and professional. A creative agency's site can be more experimental and bold. A local restaurant needs to make it easy to find location and contact information.
Finally, think about your long-term goals. Will you be adding a blog? Do you plan to sell products online? Will you need to showcase a portfolio? Your template needs to accommodate not just your current content, but your future plans as well.
The Section-by-Section Solution
This is where a different approach to website building becomes valuable. Instead of trying to find one template that does everything perfectly, what if you could build your website section by section, choosing the best layout for each specific piece of content?
Think of it like a pick 'n mix approach: you select the hero section that works best for your homepage message, the about section that tells your story effectively, the services section that explains your offerings clearly, and the contact section that makes it easy for people to reach you. Each section is designed to do one job really well, rather than being part of a template that tries to do everything adequately.
This modular approach means you're not fighting against a template's predetermined structure. Instead, you're building a website that's tailored to your specific content and business goals. Your content drives the design decisions, not the other way around.
Building with Flexibility in Mind
The section-based approach also provides flexibility that traditional templates can't match. If your business evolves, you can add new sections or modify existing ones without having to rebuild your entire website. If you decide to add a blog, you add a blog section. If you want to showcase client testimonials, you add a testimonials section.
This flexibility is particularly valuable for small businesses that are still evolving. Your website can grow and change with your business rather than being locked into decisions you made when you were just starting out.
The key is having access to well-designed, professional section templates that work together cohesively. Each section needs to be designed to high standards while remaining flexible enough to work with different content types and business needs.
Why Square Forge Changes the Game
This is exactly why we created Square Forge. After working with thousands of Squarespace websites over the years, I kept seeing the same problems: beautiful templates that didn't fit the content, or blank canvas approaches that led to design disasters.
Square Forge solves the template dilemma by providing over 300 professionally designed section templates that you can mix and match to build your perfect website. Instead of being locked into one template's structure, you can choose the hero section that works for your business, the services section that explains your offerings clearly, and the contact section that converts visitors into customers.
It's like having a professional design team create custom sections for your specific needs, but without the custom design price tag or timeline. Each section is designed to work beautifully on both desktop and mobile, follows current design trends, and can be customised with your content, colours, and branding.
For Different Types of Users
Square Forge works for different types of users in different ways. If you're a business owner who knows what you want but doesn't have design experience, you can quickly build a professional website by selecting sections that match your content needs. No more struggling with blank canvases or fighting against template structures.
If you're a marketer managing multiple websites or campaigns, Square Forge provides the flexibility to create landing pages and websites quickly without starting from scratch each time. You can maintain brand consistency while adapting layouts to different campaigns and content types.
If you're a professional designer working with clients, Square Forge acts as a sophisticated wireframing and prototyping tool. You can quickly mock up different layout options for client review, then build the final design using the approved sections as your foundation.
The Pick 'n Mix Philosophy
The beauty of the Square Forge approach is that it mirrors how professional web designers actually work. We don't start with a single template and force all content to fit. Instead, we design each section to serve a specific purpose, then combine these sections to create cohesive, effective websites.
This pick 'n mix philosophy means you're not limited by template constraints. Need a different layout for your services page? Choose a different services section. Want to test different approaches to your homepage? Try different hero sections and see what works best.
The sections are designed to work together harmoniously while giving you the flexibility to create something unique. You get the professional design quality of premium templates with the customisation flexibility of building from scratch.
When Square Forge Might Be Overkill
It's worth noting that Square Forge isn't the right solution for everyone. If your business is very simple and fits neatly into an existing template structure, using a standard Squarespace template might be more straightforward. Some businesses genuinely do fit well into template moulds and don't need the additional flexibility.
Square Forge also requires more decision-making than simply choosing a template. Some people prefer the simplicity of having design decisions made for them, even if those decisions aren't perfect for their content. If you struggle with too many choices, having 300+ sections to choose from might feel overwhelming rather than empowering.
The Finished Template Option
Recognising that not everyone wants to build section by section, we also offer finished templates that showcase the dream outcome. These templates demonstrate how Square Forge sections work together to create cohesive, professional websites. They serve as inspiration and starting points for people who prefer to see the complete vision before customising.
These finished templates are particularly useful for understanding how different sections complement each other and for getting a sense of what's possible with the Square Forge system. They bridge the gap between traditional templates and the modular approach, giving you a complete design that you can then modify using individual sections.
Keeping Current with Design Trends
One of the challenges with traditional templates is that they can become outdated. Design trends evolve, and a template that looked cutting-edge two years ago might feel stale today. Square Forge addresses this by continuously adding new sections that reflect current design trends.
This means your website can stay current without requiring a complete rebuild. As new section designs are added to the collection, you can incorporate them into your existing website to keep your design fresh and contemporary.
Making the Right Choice for Your Business
The choice between traditional templates, blank canvas building, and Square Forge comes down to your specific needs, skills, and preferences. Traditional templates work well for straightforward businesses with content that fits standard structures. Blank canvas building works for experienced designers with time to invest. Square Forge works for businesses that need professional design quality with the flexibility to adapt to their specific content and goals.
"It's horses for courses, as they say. Some businesses genuinely do fit template moulds perfectly, and that's fine. But for businesses that need more flexibility without losing professional design quality, Square Forge provides the perfect middle ground." - Elwyn Davies
The most important thing is choosing an approach that serves your business goals rather than creating obstacles. Your website should make it easy for customers to understand what you offer and take action, not showcase how well you can make your content fit a predetermined template structure.
Takeaway Notes
Template selection shouldn't be based on visual appeal alone: consider your content structure and business goals first
The biggest mistake is trying to force your content into a template designed for a different business type
Squarespace 7.1 doesn't allow template switching, making your initial choice more critical
Starting with a blank canvas often leads to amateur-looking results unless you have design experience
Traditional templates work well for businesses with standard content structures
Section-based building provides flexibility to create websites tailored to your specific needs
Square Forge offers 300+ professional section templates for modular website building
The pick 'n mix approach mirrors how professional designers actually work
Consider your long-term goals and content evolution when making template decisions
Some businesses genuinely do fit standard templates perfectly, and that's perfectly fine
Wrap-up
Choosing the right approach to building your Squarespace website comes down to understanding your content, business goals, and personal preferences. Traditional templates work brilliantly for businesses with straightforward content structures. Square Forge provides flexibility for businesses that need something more tailored without the complexity of building from scratch.
The key is being honest about what you actually need rather than being swayed by what looks impressive in template galleries. Your website should serve your business goals and make your content shine, regardless of which approach you choose to get there.
Ready to explore how Square Forge can solve your template selection challenges? Visit Square Forge to see our collection of professional section templates and finished website examples. For additional Squarespace guidance and tutorials, join our free Pixelhaze Academy membership and connect with our supportive community of business owners and designers.
