5 Squarespace Tips Every Yoga / Pilates Teacher Should Know
Your website can be a source of pride… or a source of dismay! Usually most teachers come to me for the latter. But there are so many tips I can give you to help improve your website. These are some of the features / elements I use myself every day that I hope will be helpful to you.
#1 Your Branding
It’s really important to give yourself the best chance. Squarespace allows you to include 5 colours into the template of your site (you can use more but these are your presets).
Branding Site Styles
I would always go with:
One off white
One light version of your dominant colour/s
One bright version of your dominant colour/s
One darker version of your dominant colour/s
One very dark - deep grey/green/off black
You can also customer your buttons, this really helps your site be cohesive.
All of this can be found in site styles (the little paint brush)
You can also change the size of your headings and paragraphs, make sure there’s a difference between them and it’s not too small/big.
#2 Saving useful blocks
You can save sections to your website, which you can then use again. With a pen and paper, map out the structure of your page. What will you need:
a header - this will include something like
Welcome to Santosha Yoga [heading 1]
Welcoming classes in tar valon [heading 2/3]
Next you’ll need text explanation - eg about the classes you offer / about you — and an image
Then you’ll need practical information - eg what are the benefits, who is it for, when is it?
You might want a testimonial block
And a newsletter sign up?
A contact form?
Work out the structure of the page into separate boxes. Then when you create them in Squarespace click the little heart, save section. It will now show in your dashboard.
#3 Image best practice
If you are using stock images, or you’ve done a photoshoot, make sure your images aren’t too big. I run all my images through Tinypng — this is a tool to optimise them for websites as you can get penalised if your load speed is too slow. It’s a good habit to get into and is only one extra step.
Make sure you popular the Image Alt description
Laura, founder of Santosha Marketing works with a client on their website, she has long brown hair and is wearing a white top.
Make sure it’s descriptive but also has your keywords in it.
#4 Anchor links, signposting and clear steps
After every section you’ve made, as what is the next step I want a customer to take? Sometimes you might want to give more than one option…. eg if you have a section about classes, maybe someone would want to read FAQs or maybe they would be ready to book. You can easily have two buttons outlined what people might want to do. If you want to link to a section on the page you’re on, eg you have a contact form or a booking form, and you want to jump to this section, that is called an anchor link and is very easy in Squarespace.
Try not to end the pages with deadends… keep asking, what else would they want to do, eg at the bottom of your group classes page you could say, hey did you know I also offer one-to-ones? Link to that page.
So you would just click copy here at the anchor link once you’ve added your word. Then when you make a button you use this link.
#5 Don’t be mobile second
If you look at your analytics, I’m betting you are 70-90% mobile.
So have this at the front of your head that those snazzy features on desktop that look a bit poop on mobile…. these are not good for your business. Remember on mobile most items will be forced into one column so overlapping elements tend to lose a bit of their impact.
Make sure you spend some time looking at the mobile version, adjusting spacing and checking you’ve left enough space and everything is readable.
#6 Use the announcement bar
This is a nifty little feature where you can share news and updates eg Summer Events Just Launched! — and then link to your page. Don’t forget about this and leave outdated info, keep it relevant. You can find the announcement bar by search on the left hand side in your web panel.
#7 Add focus onto key words on your website
You can inject a bit of personality into your site by using the ‘highlight’ option which allows you to underline, circle, cross out, highlight certain words in different colours. This can be a great way to add additional colour and also put emphasis onto different words. Just make sure you’re not obscuring the words and it’s all still easy to read.
Final Thought: Keep It Simple and Honest
Your website doesn’t need to be complicated to work well. Clear information, think about your keywords, a good structure, no dead-ends, some personality and a few lovely photos, and a way to book or get in touch is enough. The great thing about Squarespace is that it grows with you—you can add more features as your yoga business evolves.
Need help getting your Squarespace website set up or tidied up? I offer support for yoga teachers who want a website they actually feel proud of!
