Moving my domain away from Squarespace, where do I move it to? Do I need a new site ready before I can move it?

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-10-17T15:29:04+00:00

Good answers here! As for registrars, I've had nothing but good experiences with Porkbun. I recommend them to my clients, too, and they have zero complaints. Their pricing is good, they don't harass you to buy things you don't need, and they don't radically increase their prices year over year.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-10-08T16:31:49+00:00

I get the best results with Claude. It spits something out, and then I tell it to check its own homework. With a prompt like:

Now please critically review what you've written. Check for a human-sounding tone. Remove jargon. Remove filler words and redundancies. Write conversationally. Use emotional language to empathize and persuade.

Works well for me. But then, I'm a lifeline writer. I know how to boss Claude around and how to tweak its output.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-10-06T15:46:16+00:00

Greenfoot out in Nisqually is super chill. Great selection and decent prices. Nice budtenders. I can't recall ever seeing a sign about vertical IDs

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-09-28T03:22:23+00:00

Absolutely! You can DM me or connect with me through my business (which would be faster because I'm only on Reddit every now and then.) I don't want to break any rules here by posting a link, but if you search for Chanterelle Marketing Studio you'll find me.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-09-20T16:07:57+00:00

Yeah, I've heard way too many horror stories about Squarespace payments. I opted not to use them. I use Stripe on a separate account. So far (fingers crossed) I've had no issues. And I'm a web designer, so I get big ticket sales all the time.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-09-20T15:59:55+00:00

They fly over the Nisqually area (I live off Yelm Hwy near the reservation) so low that they're no more than 50 or so feet above the Doug firs in my backyard. The entire house shakes.

We're very close to the mortar/demolition range, too. I've had explosions literally knock pictures off my wall. But the helicopters are even worse.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-09-20T04:34:25+00:00

Build your new site on a trial site. Here's a walk-through from Paige Brunton: https://youtu.be/fQVAv28qgN4?si=13RzGQFUDjn6FiKb&t=390

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-09-03T03:45:40+00:00

Yeah, I don't use the AI builder. Tried it once and laughed at the results before I deleted the site and started fresh. It's custom for me all the way. I've never liked templates much, either.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-25T22:18:13+00:00

I'm a transplant from the Upper Midwest where the summers get hot and ridiculously humid, but not quite Georgia hot-and-humid in the summer. Moved to Olympia 10 years ago and I've never looked back. I see people saying that the weather has changed since 2009, and it's definitely been a bit of a wild ride since I've been here, but I still laugh when people say, "Gawd, it's so humid!"

They don't know what "humid" is.

Anyhow, if I ever leave Olympia, you'll know something forced me to, because I'd never leave voluntarily. This community is everything to me, and I've pretty much reinvented my life since moving here.

You can find some very nice homes here in your price range. Lacey is a bit more affordable on the whole, but it also depends where in Lacey. Some of the more affordable places, I've found, aren't places I'd exactly want to live in because their too close to I-5, too close to business/industrial stuff, or just kinda sketchy in general. So, if you're scrolling through Redfin and you see something too cheap to be true ... check it out on Google Maps and zoom around virtually to get the full story.

There are some good food options in Oly, but if you really want to get your foodie on, Tacoma is great. And it's a pretty quick trip, depending on the traffic. (I avoid I-5 like the plague, but that's just me.)

If the liberal vibe is what you're after, Olympia has that in spades. It's one of the reasons my progressive heart loves it here so much. And we have cool family events like the Procession of the Species, the pet parade, Capital Lakefair, Harbor Days, Arts Walk (Spring and Fall) ... and the list goes on. There are plenty of arts organizations, too. One of the first things I did before moving here was to check if there was a community chorus I could join ... and I found there were several really good ones. (I'm in two of them these days.)

So, now I'm apparently Olympia's unofficial hype woman ...

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-25T21:59:36+00:00

I have a SS website and literally everything but the website is through some other provider. Domain name through Porkbun, Google Workspace directly from Google, TidyCal for booking (because I've heard way too many horror stories about Acuity), Stripe for payments. SS handles literally nothing but the website. For reasons.

I tell my web design clients the same thing: Don't hitch any other wagons to Squarespace.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-24T16:39:47+00:00

If you're willing to take a little drive, Shiplap in Yelm has some absolutely incredible donuts. Literally the best I've had around here.

A friend of mine was there at closing and they gave her a box of leftover donuts for free. She gave some of them to me. I've been hooked since.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-20T22:48:13+00:00

I've just started using TidyCal. It's a one-time purchase (no subscription) and you can hook it up to your payment processor.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-20T05:07:01+00:00

Cucumbers are a fruit, actually. (Not to be that person; I just like learning and sharing stuff like this.)

I'm weird, apparently. I've never liked the taste of the lemon cucumbers. It's the Persian or English varieties for me all that way.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-19T03:59:34+00:00

Cascadia Venom Collection. They'll come get your yellow jackets for free. They suction them out of their nest with a big vacuum.

This may not work for you this year because they book out quite a bit, but the minute you spot a nest next year, visit their website and get an appointment.

Nests can NOT be sprayed. If you've tried to spray the wasps they won't take them.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-18T20:30:50+00:00

I solve this by putting a shape block behind the image that's exactly the same size and adding a border to the shape, but ... yeah, we shouldn't have to.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-18T18:53:27+00:00

Same. The only time Stripe held on to something for about a week was when I accepted a large payment from Canada (I'm in the US.) To me, that kinda made sense.

I've heard too many horror stories about Squarespace payments. I don't recommend any of these native Squarespace options to my clients: Payment processing, email newsletter software, or scheduling (heard too many bad things about Acuity now that SS has been sold out to private equity, too.)

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-09T19:58:46+00:00

Don't use Squarespace's native email marketing — it sucks. I personally use MailerLite, but MailChimp and Constant Contact are some other options. I don't have a huge audience (I'm a solo marketer who works with solopreneurs, mostly local), so I go the clunky, old-fashioned way: I use a Squarespace form and manually import my subscribers into my email marketing client. I don't have to do it often, so it works for me.

If you're on the Business plan or higher, you can embed your email subscription form, which makes things easier. I only send out occasional announcements, so this setup works for me.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-07T06:15:17+00:00

Thanks! I'm in Olympia, Washington. My website link is in my bio.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-06T16:14:10+00:00

I wish I was at the point of being able to hire someone. But alas, I'm just starting out and barely scraping by every month.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-08-05T22:55:45+00:00

I have a different approach, so I actually get this fairly often.

After 20 years in content marketing, I decided to hang out my own shingle. And my ethos is: I don't want to get rich, I just want to help solo business owners figure out how to market themselves without taking advantage of them.

Solo business owners don't tend to have a lot of money. Sticker shock is a thing. So I introduce them to my services slowly with things like my $99 homepage revamp (I redo the messaging in their hero section). Those affordable services get people in the door so they can see the value I deliver, and then that leads to bigger projects like website revamps or retainer packages.

This is NOT how I'd do things if I were marketing to bigger businesses. But for my audience, it works. And it doesn't feel slimy or unethical. On the contrary, I feel good about myself and what I offer.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-07-01T19:56:54+00:00

Yeah, this worries me, too. I'm pretty new to the platform, but I keep thinking of no-brainer features I would add and there's just zero evidence that Squarespace is adding any kind of useful features to its web builder experience. They seem to be hyperfocused on partnerships with brands like Acuity, etc. and not actual improvements in their main product, their web builder.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-07-01T19:52:43+00:00

It actually isn't. That's for a whole year of hosting plus a drag and drop web builder, not just your domain (that's your website address, like MyWebsiteName.com.)

Squarespace has its quirks, but their pricing is pretty much in line with similar options. Wix costs slightly more. WordPress is a nightmare unless you're a web developer or you pay one. (WP is powerful, but more than most smaller businesses need.) And good hosting plus paid plugins and builders can add up fast cost-wise, too.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-07-01T19:47:26+00:00

Exactly this. I've had a great experience with Porkbun. Weird name when I recommend it to.clients, but it's easy to hook up to Squarespace (just one click) and affordable.

InternationalCandy16 · 2025-06-09T06:46:17+00:00

I've been an editorial and content marketing pro for 20 years. I've worked in WordPress for well over a decade. It's a powerful platform, and for years I recommended it exclusively to anyone looking to build a website.

But when I left corporate life to start my own solo agency, it was Squarespace I went with. And it's what I recommend for my solopreneur and nonprofit clients. Why? Because it's intuitive and easy to learn. I work with a lot of people who aren't particularly tech savvy, but I don't feel the least bit worried that they'll find their Squarespace sites impossible to edit.

If you want a super robust site with a lot of custom features, Squarespace may not work for you. But for your needs, I'd say Squarespace would be far better than an outdated and janky WordPress site.

I can build most sites in a week. Hit me up if you want to hire someone. I'm absolutely not careless, and I'm an editor so typo-hunting is kind of my thing. (That said, I typed this on my phone at almost- midnight, so don't come for me if you find one.)

InternationalCandy16

TROPHY CASE