Squarespace Websites for Wineries

Squarespace is a third party company that has a proprietary software solution to build websites. They are both the website creation platform as well as the host of the website, for which you pay a monthly fee. Squarespace also has its own optional ecommerce solution, Squarespace Commerce.

WordPress is open-source code that powers 25% of all websites on the internet (including this one). It requires a hosting company to host the files but is not technology owned by any one specific company. Some eCommerce options require a WordPress website to run best, including Commerce7. You can view Vinbound’s WordPress packages here.

The Squarespace editor has some editing constraints that limit functionality/design, while WordPress can be more customizable. WordPress can also handle much larger websites (great for established wineries or AVAs) and comes equipped with powerful plugins to boost search engine rankings.

A custom Squarespace website takes an average 4 weeks to build after receiving your signed contract, deposit (50% of quoted total), and content. Smaller sites will be ready sooner and larger sites will be on the later end of the spectrum. Your ability to promptly provide content and input on each revision round will vastly speed up the process.

Clients will need to pay for a Squarespace account on a monthly or annual basis. This covers the Squarespace website hosting and all features of the software. These costs average $16-23/month and are outlined above. There is also an optional $75/month retainer with Vinbound that includes the Squarespace fee as well as ongoing edits and support from Vinbound.

You will continue to pay your domain name registrar to renew your domain name (~ $12/year), and you will continue to pay for external email services at G Suite, GoDaddy or similar.

Transaction costs will be paid on sales of your wines based on the ecommerce solution you choose (ranges from 2.9% Squarespace to 9% Vinoshipper on margin)

Vinbound charges $125/hour for ongoing edits and development. You may elect for our Squarespace management plan ($75/month) which includes 1 hour of edits to the site per month, as well as analytics, 12 bottle shots per year, SEO optimization and twice-yearly consulting meetings. 

We will provide a checklist at the beginning of the process so you know what to provide. You will be an active participant in the design process by providing images, text, bottle shots, videos, thoughts on website structure, etc. Access to your existing domain, server, and analytics programs will be requested.

1. Fill out the form below or on our Contact Page to signal interest in working with Vinbound
2. We will jump on a call to talk through your specific needs and identify a solution. We often email you a list of questions to consider prior to the call.
3. After our call, we will provide a comprehensive proposal including all deliverables and costs
4. If you want to move forward after reviewing the proposal, a contract and checklist of needed items will be provided
5. A signed contract and 50% deposit on project total are required for work to begin
6. You will be responsible for providing the majority of items from the checklist (images, text, etc) before build can begin
7. We will build a complete first round of the website in a private environment. This will be a fully functional website that you can review on all devices. We do not provide wireframes/PDF mockups of the build ahead of your first round, as we have found these to significantly slow down the build process
8. You will review the first round of your website and provide a full list of desired revisions. Everything is on the table.
9. We will build all revisions into the next round and provide that to you. This process will continue for several more rounds until you are thrilled with your new website
10. When the site is ready to go live, we will connect it to your domain name and create 301 redirects so your old site connects seamlessly to the new one
11. We will thoroughly test the site post-launch and provide your team training videos on how to edit the site yourself
12. You will be invoiced the final 50% and set up on an optional tech support retainer
13. Vinbound will be your ongoing partner for everything related to your website!