Who Offers the Best Custom Squarespace Website Design Packages in Canada?
If you've started shopping for a Squarespace web designer in Canada, you've probably noticed the range is all over the place. Prices vary wildly. Everyone calls their work custom. And from the outside, it's genuinely hard to tell what separates one option from another.
This post is going to help you compare properly, because most people are comparing the wrong things.
What Custom Squarespace Design usually means
When most designers say custom, they mean they're not handing you a template and walking away. They'll adjust the layout, choose fonts and colours that match your brand, and build out your pages from scratch rather than using a pre-made theme.
That's a real service and it's worth paying for. But it's also the baseline. It's what almost every designer in this space is offering when they use the word custom.
So if that's the floor, what's above it?
The part most packages don't include
Here's what typically isn't included in a standard custom Squarespace package, even at higher price points.
Strategy. Before a single page gets designed, someone should be thinking through who this website is actually for, what that person needs to see and believe before they'll reach out, and how the website should guide them from landing on your homepage to booking a call. Most designers skip this entirely. They go straight to "send me your brand kit" and start building. The result looks custom. It just wasn't built around anything strategic.
Copywriting. This is the one that surprises people most. The standard model in web design is that the designer handles how the website looks, and you handle what it says. That means when you hire most designers, you're also signing up to write your own homepage, your own about page, your own service descriptions, all of it, usually on a deadline, while running your business or hiring a copywriter.
For a lot of people, that's where the project stalls. Not because the designer is slow, but because writing about yourself and your business in a way that actually converts is hard. It takes knowing how to position your offer, speak to the right person, and move someone from "this looks interesting" to "I need to reach out."
Most business owners aren't copywriters. They're consultants, practitioners, accountants, designers, coaches. They're exceptional at what they do. Translating that into website copy that brings clients in is a different skill, and it's usually left entirely on your plate.
SEO and AI search optimization. A site can look beautiful and still be completely invisible. Basic SEO, things like page titles, meta descriptions, header structure, and image alt text, should be built in from the start, not tacked on after. But beyond traditional SEO, there's a newer layer that most designers aren't thinking about yet: AI search optimization.
Tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google's AI overviews are now how a lot of people find and vet service providers. They pull from websites that are structured clearly, answer specific questions directly, and use language that matches how people actually search. If your site isn't built with that in mind, you're invisible in a channel that's only growing. A strong designer should be thinking about this when they structure your pages and write your copy, not leaving it for you to figure out later.
Training and handoff. Once your site is live, you need to be able to use it. Update a service, swap out a photo, add a new offering, change a price. A lot of designers launch and disappear.
Not everyone needs ongoing support, and that's completely fine. But there's a big difference between choosing not to use it and not knowing it was ever an option. For small businesses who are actively managing their operating costs, knowing how to run your own site after launch isn't a nice-to-have. It's a real financial decision.
A proper handoff means you walk away knowing exactly how to manage what you've paid for. No surprise invoices every time something needs updating. No waiting on someone else to make a simple change. Just a site you own and actually know how to use.
If you eventually want someone in your corner for bigger updates or strategic changes down the road, that option should be available too. But the goal of a good handoff is to make sure you never need it for the small stuff.
Ongoing strategic support. Your business evolves. Your website should too. The best designers aren't just thinking about launch day. They're thinking about what happens six months later when your offer changes, you want to add a new service page, or you need to update your positioning. Some designers offer ongoing support for exactly this reason, so your site stays current and keeps working without you starting from scratch every time.
Why this changes how you should compare packages
When you're looking at two Squarespace designers in Canada at similar price points, you might think you're comparing the same thing. You're probably not.
One is delivering a designed container. You fill it.
The other is delivering a designed website that was built on a strategy, with copy that was created specifically for your offer and your ideal client.
The finished websites can look almost identical. What they do for your business is not.
If your goal is more client inquiries, a website you can send people to with confidence, or a web presence that justifies your rates, then you need to know whether strategy and copy are part of what you're buying before you say yes to anyone.
What to ask every designer before you hire
Most people ask about price, timeline, and revisions. Those things matter. But these questions will tell you more:
Is there a strategy component before design starts?
Do you write the copy, or do I provide it?
If I provide the copy, what guidance do I get?
What do you need from me and when?
Have you worked with service-based businesses or consultants before?
If the copy is on you, that's not automatically a dealbreaker. But now you know the full picture of what you're taking on, and you can factor in the real cost of your time or a separate copywriter.
The best Squarespace design packages include more than design
The designers worth investing in are the ones who treat your website as a business tool, not a design project. That means coming in with a strategy, being involved in the words, and building something that has a job to do once it's live.
That's a harder service to find. But it's the one that actually moves the needle.
Who is Erin Clayton Web Design?
I'm Erin, a strategic web designer and copywriter based in Canada. I work with high-fee consultants and service-based businesses who want a Squarespace site that converts their expertise into consistent client inquiries.
Strategy and copy are built into every project. That's not an add-on. It's where the work starts. My background is in corporate communications and marketing, which means I approach every website as a business problem first and a design project second.
If you want to see examples or talk through your project, contact me.
