Squarespace 7.0 merge to 7.1 - Case Study Rachel Shenton Video Editor
“I'm really, truly thrilled with everything! It's gorgeous, and seeing all my webpages refreshed I’m feeling a bit more confident in my business - I really love the additional graphic elements you've created and added in, the extra watercolour elements and banners are so lovely and really fit with the 'vibe' I'm going for - you got it straight away!” - Rachel Shenton
The Customer
Rachel Shenton - Video Editor.
Rachel is a professional UK based video editor. Providing a variety of bespoke editing service across a range of industries, including wedding video editing, drama video editing and commercial editing. I had been recommended to Rachel from a current happy customer :)
The Project
To migrate a Squarespace 7.0 website to 7.1.
Rachel was looking for help to upgrade her 7.0 Squarespace website to a sparkling new 7.1 Squarespace website. The most important focus for Rachel’s website was the need to keep all of her current organic SEO unaffected through the migration to 7.1. As well as bringing a fresh eye to the design style of the overall website.
So, I jumped at the chance to work on Rachel’s website upgrade! I love nothing more than making a good website into something a little more ‘special’ and with all the bells and whistles of-course!
In-short every single page from Rachels old website was pulled over into a 7.1 standard template, from there I began to build a page layout structure and brand theme that would work across every page. Monitoring every single page along the way for exact replications of copy, url’s and SEO descriptions was an absolute must to make sure that Google didn’t freak out!
Here’s a preview of the before and after versions of Rachel’s website…
Before
After
The Brand Theme
Rachel already had a logo design and a colour pallet. However the website didn’t really reflect a strong personal brand. So I came up with some new graphical designs based on some of the aspects from the previous website such as a ‘painted’ style which was used on her testimonial page. I expanded on this approach with the existing soft colour pallet and created a watercolour theme which flows across every page. Along with this I created a selection of upgraded icons which now use the same colour pallet and water colour theme approach.
Squarespace Migration from 7.0 to 7.1
Once the branding theme and page layouts were fully populated and optimised, I then got to work on finalising all the detailed checks for the migration, which included:
✔︎ URL remapping (Redirecting redundant/old or deleted pages to new live pages
✔︎ SEO checks - Making sure every page title & meta description matched the old website pages
✔︎ Alt Tags - Adding images alt tags to improve SEO
✔︎ 404 - Creating branded 404 error page
✔︎ Site indexing with Google Search Console - Updating the sitemap and reindexing all pages
Launched!
Moving the domain over from the old site to the new site completed the full project of merging from a Squarespace 7.0 website to 7.1. It’s always a good idea to keep the old site running for a few months, so that if any issues arise the old site can be used as a back up or just simply as a reference for further checks. I will continue to monitor the website’s performance across multiple channels.
Kind words from Rachel ☺️
‘I was really daunted by the idea of upgrading my website and moving it from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1. For those who don't know, this is actually a huge job and involves re-building the whole website on the new platform. Up to this point, I had done a lot of work to improve my SEO, so the thought of doing this and potentially affecting my ranking on Google really worried me.
Thankfully, Toni was recommended to me by someone in an industry group and I got in touch with her. We had a lovely Zoom chat, where she took on board everything I wanted to achieve, as well as getting a sense of my personality and the type of clients I like to attract. We agreed on a package that included merging the website over to 7.1 and giving the whole thing a refresh.
Within a few days, she began sending me the first pages of my new website. I was completely blown away from the first sight of my new homepage. Every element I liked from my old site was there, as well as beautiful new features and brand new complimentary graphic elements. Everything blended seamlessly with my existing brand messaging and the entire website immediately felt more comfortable, smooth and professional. As more pages were built and finalised, I became increasingly aware of just how much thought, creativity and care Toni puts into her work.
My new website is a true reflection of me and my business, and is something I never could have achieved by myself. I had quite a few pages to go through, but the whole process took only a few weeks and every interaction with her was a pleasure.
As a business owner, I can't express enough how working with Toni has improved my confidence in my own work. She has gone above and beyond to give my website the boost it needed in terms of look, feel and messaging.
From the very first meeting, Toni makes you feel seen, understood and supported every step of the way. She is an excellent communicator and a fantastic designer. I will no doubt be reaching out to her for future web design and branding updates. I just wish I had more businesses and websites so I could work with her again on another one!‘
Migrating a 7.0 Squarespace website to 7.1 can be a challenging task for DIY website builders, and the thought of losing all your initial hard work and the all important SEO is a frightening thought. If you are struggling with a website merge or simply don’t have a clue where to begin! Feel free to get in touch for a chat.
