Squarespace 6 and Responsive Design

Squarespace 6 utilizes responsive design, a progressive development approach where the content and presentation of the website change automatically based on the device being used. You won't have to build different mobile versions of your website for each device. Squarespace will adjust seemlessly to look great across computers, tablets and smartphones alike. This cuts down on time and effort for you, and improves the experience for your visitors.

Squarespace on Desktops, Tablets, and Smartphones

Let's take a look at responsive design in action. Below are three screenshots from the same URL, a blog post on ContentScientists.com, my Squarespace 6 beta site. Each screenshot is taken from a different device: a laptop, an iPad, and an iPhone. Notice how the content automatically changes to fit the device. This is responsive design in action, and why Squarespace 6 mobile sites will be amazing.

Squarespace 6 on a Laptop:

Squarespace 6 on an iPad:

Squarespace 6 on an iPhone:

Each device displays the content brilliantly, and with no additional effort on my part. I love responsive design, and I can't wait for Squarespace 6 and mobile sites powered by it. Hats off to the template designers at Squarespace!

Squarespace 6 is still in beta, but as you can see from the screenshots, the new platform is well on its way. This level of sophistication shows that the Squarespace development team is aiming for perfection with Squarespace 6. 

What do you think of the screenshots from ContentScientists.com and Squarespace 6? What questions do you have about Squarespace mobile sites on v5 and/or Squarespace 6? Let's chat mobile in the comments.

Installing New Twitter Tweets in Your Squarespace Blog or Website

I first used the new embedded Twitter tweets on a recent post about Squarespace and SOPA to highlight questions to Squarespace on the company's stance on the now-shelved anti-piracy bill:

@squarespace Does Squarespace support SOPA? Can we get a statement on where the company stands on this important issue?

Josh Braaten (@jlbraaten) December26, 2011

This new embed code featured reply, retweet and favorite functionality, as well as the ability to follow the author of the tweet, all from within the page on which the tweet is embedded. But when I went to follow the instructions on how to embed tweets, I found it didn't work as advertised, so I had to do it by hand. To embed tweets on your own site, start with this embed code.

Sample Code for an Embedded Tweet:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>@squarespace Does Squarespace support SOPA? Can we get a statement on where the company stands on this important issue?</p>Josh Braaten (@jlbraaten) <a href="https://twitter.com/#!/JLBraaten/status/151341195191259136">December26, 2011</a></blockquote>

You'll notice there are a several parts to this embed code. You'll need to find the URL of your tweet by viewing it directly on Twitter.com, and then copy/paste parts of the tweet according to the following screenshot. 

The Anatomy of an embedded Tweet on Squarespace:

It's a pretty simple process. Carefully contruct your embed code by copying/pasting information from the tweet you want to embed. Double check for accuracy and then copy the entire chunk of HTML embed code.

From there it's just a matter of cracking open your Squarespace web page or blog post, and using the Insert Code Block feature from the WYSIWYG editing interface.

The new Twitter tweets are an easy way to add an interactive element to your Squarespace blog or website. These types of embedded tweets allow your website visitors to complete their Twitter-related tasks without having to leave your site.  Consider using one the next time you want to highlight tweets on Squarespace!

Squarespace Founder Anthony Casalena Speaks on Squarespace 6

In his update, Casalena goes into the progress of Squarespace 6, the ongoing beta efforts, and a response to those looking for a date when they'd close the beta and release Squarespace 6. Here are some of the highlights.

Do you have a schedule for the beta ending?

No. We will know when it is ready when we see the right level of customer responses and we are internally proud of it. [...] Squarespace 6 is not late either, it is simply still under development. - Anthony Casalena, Squarespace Founder/CEO

Should I wait for X (where X is a feature, Squarespace 6, or anything else)?

"No. Please do not. [...] For those of you following us for some time, we will always be the sort of company that attempts to release products of quality, and that naturally means things take more time for us." - Anthony Casalena

How's the beta going?

We're pleased with it so far. We've got a lot of invites out (though not as many as we hoped to have at this point), and are getting many more out shortly. - Anthony Casalena

Why is there a Squarespace 6 Beta? Why even talk about it?

The purpose of the Squarespace 6 beta is to help us test and prepare a monumental product release for public launch and get real customers into the R&D process. [...]

Squarespace 5 is an excellent platform, 6 will be even better, and we will continue to put all of our efforts into getting this right. - Anthony Casalena

How Will Customers Respond to the Squarespace 6 Update?

It's hard to say how customers will take the news that there remains no specific goal for when Squarespace 6 will be released. Personally, I think people just want to know where Squarespace is in the process. Customer experience is more about dialogue and acknowledgement than it is about a constant stream of new features.

Casalena's post will go a long way to contribute to that communication - I just wish he'd do it more often. On the topic of more frequent Squarespace 6 updates, Casalena says:

Squarespace has tens of thousands of customers. A percentage of them are waiting for Squarespace 6 [...] We will continue to publish to our blog and talk about things happening at the company -- because the topic you were looking for wasn't addressed in a particular post doesn't mean we don't care or it's off our radar, there are simply many things happening at once.

Here's where I think Casalena is a bit off. I can only imagine how much he has to be aware of as the Founder and CEO of the company, but if you look at all blog posts published on the Squarespace Blog in the last year, the most popular articles by far have been about either Squarespace 6, or new releases of Squarespace v5 features. As a scientist of web content, I put together this basic blog audit to demonstrate popularity of Squarespace's own blog by way of comments, links, and social media activty:

It looks like Squarespace 6 and new v5 features dominate what's popular on the Squarespace blog. I say give the people what they want.

What did you think about Squarespace founder and CEO Anthony Casalena's Squarespace 6 update? Are you content to wait for perfection or have you been putting of a big project(s) until Squarespace releases their next generation platform? Your thoughts are most welcome in the comments section below.

BigPictureWeb.com and the Squarespace Community

I didn't initially start this blog to cater to Squarespace users. At first it was more of a hodgepodge of Internet marketing tips. But over time, Squarespace users kept coming back looking to connect and for tips on the platform. At this point, nearly three-quarters of my vistors each month are looking for Squarespace tutorials, tips and content. 

What Type of Squarespace Tips do People Want?

I'm a marketing guy by trade. I know enough code to be dangerous, and know enough about design to know I'm not really good at it (case in point: the modified stock image that intros this post). That said, when asked, the Squarespace community told me that they wanted to see more design tutorials and examples, as well as tips on how to implement code snippets on Squarespace.

Great. Squarespace podcasts and marketing/business tutorials are only somewhat useful, but it's the designer/developer tips that people really want.

So what do you do when you have over 6,000 monthly Squarespacers looking for content that you can't personally produce? You recruit!

Customers and Dollars for Squarespace Tutorials

In order to give the Squarespace readers what they want, I'm looking for Squarespace designers to contribute guest posts on this blog. In return, you'll receive three unique benefits for becoming an author on BigPictureWeb.com:

1. Authors will receive monetary compensation for each blog post published
2. Authors are allowed to plug their design services within each blog post published
3. Top contributors will receive a featured listing in the Squarespace Designer Directory, worth between 50-100 clicks to your site each month from Squarespace customers looking for designers

Where else can you get paid to advertise, just for simply talking about projects and techniques you've already mastered? And just think of all the Squarespacers you'll be helping who read this blog. 

If you're interested, head on over to the sign-up form, and we'll be on our way to Squarespace design tip goodness together in no time. You get new customers and a little cash, I get content for my blog, and the Squarespace community gets new ideas and tips for their sites. What's not to love?

Using Google Analytics Event Tracking to Track Squarespace Clicks

Google Analytics event tracking is a way to record when things happen on a web page that GA wouldn't otherwise capture. These custom events can be set up to track all sorts of interactions, such as when people click on a link, operate the controls of a Flash video player, or hover over an image.

For example, I use GA's events to track when people click on the links featured in the Squarespace Designer Directory. Here's the listing for my pal, Alan Houser of Creative Component, LLC.

With event tracking, I can track the traffic (and potential new business) I'm sending to Alan through the links to his website and sample websites featured in his listing.

Setting Up Google Analytics Events in Squarespace

Configuring Google Analytics events requires dabbling with a little code. To start, edit an page on your Squarespace website that contains a link you want to track, and switch over to Raw HTML mode. 

Find the link you want to track within the HTML of the page. It should look something like this:

To add Google Analyltics event tracking, I integrate the following line of code with my existing link:

After integrating the GA code with the link, it looks like this:

It may not look like much, but this little snippet of code can be modified to track just about anything on your site that Google doesn't track out-of-the-box. The parts of the graphic below in gray never change, but you can modify the Category, Action, and Label each time you track a new link.

In the case of the Squarespace Designer Directory, my Category is "Outgoing Links," my Action is a "Click," and my Label is the URL of each link I track. See Google's official Event Tracking Guide for complete details. 

Accessing Event Reporting in Google Analytics

Once you've set up your events, you can access them in Google Analytics through several standard reports. The Events Overview report is available through the navigation by selecting Content -> Events -> Overview. 

Drilling down into the Top Events reports to individual Event Labels allows you to see the most popular events. In my case, it's the most popular links within the Squarespace Designer Directory. Turns out, Alan was the most popular designer in the last month, receiving 43 clicks to his site from the directory.

If there's a reason to track clicks on your Squarespace website, chances are Google Analytics events tracking can help you do it.

What types of things are you looking to track on your website? Try setting up custom events on your site using the tips above. Leave your questions and/or success stories in the comments. I'd love to hear them!

A Brief SOPA History

Copyright holders have legal avenues to pursue U.S.-based online pirates, but don't have legal recourse against piracy occurring in other countries. SOPA was introduced in the House of Representatives in October 2011 as a means to give U.S. copyright holders a way to shut down foreign websites that infringe upon their intellectual property.

On the surface, SOPA sounds like a noble bill. But if you look into the details, it seems like Squarespace users should be afraid of SOPA and the unintended side-effects of this proposed bill.

A Closer Look at SOPA and Squarespace

Now, I'm by no means a legal expert, so take the following with a grain of salt. Reading through the text of SOPA, I can see why so many online companies are against the bill. While SOPA is meant to target foreign websites that engage in online piracy, it could end up taking down your Squarespace site, too. Consider the following taken from the Lanham Act and proposed SOPA bill:

The term `Internet site' means the collection of digital assets, including links, indexes, or pointers to digital assets, accessible through the Internet that are addressed relative to a common domain name...

The term "domain name" means any alphanumeric designation which is registered with or assigned by any domain name registrar ... as part of an electronic address on the Internet.

The term `domain name' ... includes any subdomain designation using such domain name.

Your Squarespace website may have a custom domain (e.g., BigPictureWeb.com), but it's also a subdomain of Squarespace.com.  You can read this blog by going to either BigPictureWeb.com or JLBraaten.Squarespace.com. In fact, every Squarespace website is a subdomain of Squarespace.com.  The horror of SOPA (and its U.S. Senate cousin, PIPA) begins to take shape when you consider that all Squarespace websites may be connected using the definitions in SOPA.

The Implosion of Squarespace and the Internet

If SOPA passes, imagine this scenario: A Squarespace user in the United Kingdom finds a clip of their favorite movie on YouTube and embeds it in their Squarespace blog, UKonlinepirate.Squarespace.com. The rights owner of the movie finds out and pursues legal action. The U.S. Attorney General orders Internet service providers to stop delivering web traffic to UKonlinepirate.Squarespace.com, and "any subdomain using such domain name." By definition, that would include every other Squarespace website too.

This is the fear of Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and nearly every other online giant. Google's Sergey Brin said SOPA would put the U.S. "on par with most oppressive nations of the world."

Squarespace's Official Stance on SOPA

Squarespace must share an equally pessimistic viewpoint of SOPA, as is evidenced by this recent Twitter conversation:

@squarespace Does Squarespace support SOPA? Can we get a statement on where the company stands on this important issue?

— Josh Braaten (@jlbraaten) December26, 2011

@JLBraaten we do not.

— Squarespace (@squarespace) December31, 2011

@JLBraaten Hey Josh, there has not been official stance posted as of yet, but we are in opposition to the SOPA legislation.

— Matt Haggerty (@matthaggerty) December26, 2011

@jamiebrittain @JLBraaten, we're very much opposed to SOPA. HTH ^sd

— Squarespace Help (@squarespacehelp) December26, 2011

It's clear Squarespace is not a fan of SOPA. I'd take that as a cue that Squarespace users shouldn't be a fan of SOPA either.

Squarespacers Unite Against SOPA

Act before it's too late. Congress is expected to begin debating on SOPA in late January and vote on it shortly thereafter. Don't let your voice be unheard. Write your Representative and Senator  and tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA.

As a proponent for Internet freedom, I oppose SOPA. As Squarespace users, the future of our websites may depend on SOPA's defeat.

How to Set Up a LinkedIn Ad for Recruiting Referrals

When I heard about some new openings in my department recently, I had an idea to use LinkedIn Ads to help me recruit for the new gigs. The goal was to scale my efforts in finding qualified candidates so that I could invite them to apply for these new jobs. If I could get someone hired through this process, I'd be eligible for a referral bonus. The setup consisted of three steps:

Step 1: Create a LinkedIn Ad Campaign

First I signed up for LinkedIn Ads and created ads targeting candidates based on the positions available. I created two cost-per-click ads with the goal of learning what I could from the differences in the ads.

Ad 1 "Broad" - This ad cast a wide net across all marketers in the Twin Cities with a few years of experience. I used geography, experience (via age as a proxy), and industry in my ad targeting.

Ad 2 "Narrow" - This ad honed in on just marketers with experience in higher education. It contained all the parameters of the first ad, as well as some specific company-level targeting to restrict the ads to showing only within the higher education market.

After creating my ads, I created a budget, pointed them at a special landing page I created on my blog, and launched my campaign.

Step 2: Sending LinkedIn Ads to a Landing Page

The ads began receiving impressions and even sending a few folks to the landing page I created to promote the openings via clicks. This landing page wasn't anything special. It contained some basic information about working for Rasmussen College, a list of links to all the open jobs, and a contact form where I instructed interested parties to direct their queries.

Step 3: Screen and Submit Referral Candidates

Once candidates contacted me, we'd exchanged a few emails to see which positions appealed to them the most, and where their experience might fit in best with the company. I gathered a resume and cover letter from candidates who were a good fit and submitted them through our company's referral submission process. If there wasn't a good fit, I reached out to my LinkedIn network to see if anyone was looking for someone like my candidate.

The Results of the LinkedIn Ad Experiment

At this point, I have some very encouraging results, but I haven't hit a home run. The ad with a narrow focus has received 1700+ impressions, but hasn't yet earned any clicks despite several changes to the image, headline and ad copy. On the bright side, this ad hasn't cost my any money, so it's been a free learning exercise.

On the other hand, the more broadly targeted ad has received over 19,000 impressions, 18 clicks, and 2 contacts. One candidate was qualified, while one wasn't suited for the positions we had available. What did we learn?

• With 18 visits and $56.38 spent, I averaged $3.13 per click
• Of the 18 visits, 2 contacted me, for a visit-to-lead conversion rate of 11%
• With 2 contacts, I averaged $28.19 per candidate
• With 1 qualified candidate, I'm averaging $56.38 per qualified candidate
• Hypothetical: I may have to recruit five qualified candidates before someone lands a job. In that case, I'd average a cost-per-hire of $281.90

If the qualified candidate lands the job, I have found a rock star for my team and have earned $1,000 (referral bonus) on an investment of $53.16 (at a humble ROI of 1,781%). Even if I have to recruit a total of 5 candidates before someone gets hired, I'll still be looking at an ROI of 255%. In fact, at this point I would only need one candidate out of 19 to land a job in order to break even on the investment. 

Taking LinkedIn Ads to the Next Level

Given the preliminary results from my campaign, the outlook is promising. Yes, there are multiple areas for improvement as I look ahead. I'm going to continually tweak my ad campaigns for both targeting and ad creative. I also want to refine my landing page to increase my visit-to-lead conversion rates. But overall, I may have just stumbled upon a great way to hand-pick my new co-workers and get paid a like a professional recruiter in the process.

What do you think of the LinkedIn Ads approach to recruiting through referral bonus programs?

And now that I've gotten into the habit of regular reading, 2012 will be no different. Will you join me next year? Here's a few tips and 28 marketing and business books to encourage you to join me in the 2012 26 Book Challenge.

How to Read a Book Every Other Week

Getting through 26 books in a year doesn't just happen. It's the type of thing you have to plan for, both in terms of the time it will take and medium that will work best for you.

First, where do you find yourself having chunks of time where your brain isn't engaged? Nearly everyone has that half an hour or more per day where they're stuck in traffic, on the bus/train, walking on a treadmill, etc. 

Next, what's the best medium for you to consume books during this free time? Between good old-fashioned paper books, electronic books (e.g., Kindle) and audio books (e.g., Audible), there's a way for nearly everyone to find time in your existing schedule where you could be reading and learning new things. Personally, I listen to books via Audible to and from work during my half-hour commute. That alone is responsible for most of the books I read this year.

28 Marketing and Business Books to Read in 2012

Some folks read for pleasure or simply to escape. I use my reading time to get through books on marketing and business. If you're looking to take the 26 Book Challenge in 2012, consider some of the gems* I read this year (you can also read my ever-growing list of Internet marketing book reviews):

General Online Marketing and Marketing Books:

• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind - by Al Ries and Jack Trout - Rating: 4/5
• The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Blogs, News Releases, Online Video, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly, 2nd Edition - by David Meerman Scott - Rating: 5/5
• Engage, Revised and Updated: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web - by Brian Solis - Rating: 5/5
• Attention! This Book Will Make You Money: How to Use Attention-Getting Online Marketing to Increase Your Revenue - by Jim Kukral  - Rating 3/5

 Content Marketing, SEO, and Social Media Books:

• Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business - by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman - Rating: 4/5
• Content Strategy for the Web - by Kristina Halvorson - Rating: 5/5
• Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions - by Guy Kawasaki - Rating: 4/5
• The Facebook Effect - by David Kirkpatrick - Rating: 4/5
• I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59 - by Douglas Edwards - Rating: 4/5
• In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives - by Steven Levy - Rating: 5/5

Marketing and Business Psychology Books:

• Brandwashed: Tricks Companies Use to Manipulate Our Minds and Persuade Us to Buy - by Martin Lindstrom - Rating: 4/5
• Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long - by David Rock - Rating: 5/5
• The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work - by Shawn Achor - Rating: 5/5
• The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic - by Dan Ariely - Rating: 4/5
• Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard - by Chip and Dan Heath - Rating: 5/5
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die - by Chip and Dan Heath - Rating: 5/5
• Unthinking: The Surprising Forces Behind What We Buy - by Harry Beckwith - Rating 3/5
• Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions - by Dan Ariely - Rating: 5/5

Personal Branding and Business Philosophy Books:

• The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) - by Chris Hardwick - Rating: 4/5
• How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age - by Dale Carnegie & Associates - Rating: 3/5
• Anything You Want - by Derek Sivers - Rating: 4/5
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't - by Jim Collins - Rating: 4/5
• The Thank You Economy - by Gary Vaynerchuk - Rating: 5/5
• The Steve Jobs Way: iLeadership for a New Generation - by Jay Elliot and William L. Simon - Rating: 4/5
• StrengthsFinder 2.0 - by Tom Rath - Rating: 5/5
• Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time - by Keith Ferazzi and Tahl Raz - Rating: 4/5
• Atlas Shrugged: (Centennial Edition) - by Ayn Rand - Rating: 5/5
• Poke the Box - by Seth Godin - Rating 4/5

*Note: there are Amazon Affiliate links contained in this list. Please buy something to subsidize my own reading habit. :)

A Complete List of 2012 Marketing and Business Books

What do you think of the books on this list?  I need your help to figure out what's missing, what deserves to be there, and what people should avoid. What great marketing and business books can you recommend? Leave a suggestion (or a few) in the comments to help my readers and me as we set our sites on the 2012 26 Book Challenge. Be sure to also leave a comment if you plan on being a part of the challenge in 2012.

Image credit: Flickr 

What's so Big About Squarespace Version Six?

Squarespace recently launched beta testing on the long-awaited next version of acclaimed hosted website and blog building solution, which comes after a huge round of funding worth nearly $40M back in 2010. Squarespace has always been known for their intuitive web building tools, and now they've gone a step further. 

Squarespace v6 will feature, among other things, a new grid design interface, allowing web designers (and marketers!) to quickly build pages with custom layouts without using custom CSS stylesheets. Watch this video to see how building any page layout for a landing page in Squarespace will soon be a matter of drag-and-drop (about 28 seconds in).

Squarespace 6 from Squarespace on Vimeo.

Building Landing Pages Quickly in Squarespace V6

The key to landing page testing is the ability to quickly build two or more versions of the same page and see which one leads to the best outcomes on your site. You can use software such as Google Website Optimizer to test pages against each other and determine which one produces more sales, leads, whatever it is that's important to you with scientific evidence and facts to know for sure. For example, which of these pages do you think would lead to the most amount of new Squarespace sign-ups?

(This is a common layout for landing pages.)(Squarespace v6 will provide easy options to make major layout changes.)(Squarespace v6 can help test whether videos or images are more effective on your site.)

Conversion Rate Optimization Made Easy With Squarespace V6

The tough thing about landing page optimization has traditionally been that very few tools allow you to 1) build the pages, 2) split up the traffic a page receives and divvy it up to the various landing pages and 3) keep track of all the math in order to tell you which page won. Tools like LiveBall and Unbounce support these tasks, but they can require an additional investment that many don't have.

Squarepace v6 and free landing pages like Google Website Optimizer (GWO) could be used together to build and launch tests quickly and with minimal effort. All Squarespace has to do at this point is to pair their new grid-based page design tools with the ability to embed some simple page-level GWO JavaScript into the HTML page head.

If the Squarespace team is wise, they'll see the power of this untapped market and act accordingly. A simple tweak to what can be embedded on each landing page (i.e., the GWO JavaScript) and Squarespace v6 becomes a powerful option and one of the cheapest tools for conversion rate optimization and landing page testing on the web.

Have you looked at Squarespace in the past for landing page testing? What was your experience?