Squarespace and WordPress are both great services to get a website started; however, WordPress is open source so the customization options are essentially unlimited. Unlike WordPress, Squarespace relies on its own prewritten code.
If your website is on Squarespace and you’re ready to upgrade to a self hosted WordPress website, it won’t take long to make the switch. First off, you will need to find a hosting company. Websults offers several web hosting options along with add-ons for CloudFlare and Sucuri. Once the hosting account is set up, WordPress must be installed by free download from the WordPress website.
The next step is to export your content from Squarespace so it can be uploaded to your new WordPress website. Note: not all content will be exported. Product, album, event, photo, audio and video pages/blocks will not be exported into the .xml file. (Also if you have more than one blog, only one will export) After you upload the file to your new website, go back and see what’s missing. You can find the export tool under the Advance Settings menu in Squarespace.
As the file downloads, it’s important to install the WordPress Importer plugin on your new website. You can find this under Tools -> Import. After activation is complete, select and upload the .xml website file. Once the content is uploaded to your new website, you will need to download your pictures from Squarespace so they can be uploaded to WordPress.
Lastly, all the links on your website need to be updated with their respected WordPress links. To adjust the link format, go to Settings -> Permalinks. If you want to keep the same look of the old website, ThemeForest.net as an option to find a WordPress template that would be similar to your old Squarespace website.
Get to know WordPress by heading to the Documentation section.
