Embedding Tweets on Your Squarespace Website

At the end of 2011, Twitter quietly announced the capability to embed tweets on blogs and websites. Embedding the new Twitter tweets in Squarespace is a relatively simple process, and enhances the experience of your blog's readers. Today's post will enable you to embed these new interactive tweets on your Squarespace website (or any other site, really).

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 6 Update from Founder and CEO Anthony Casalena

If you've been looking for an official update on Squarespace 6, look no further. Friend and Squarespace designer Jason Barone tweeted last week a link to a post on the Squarespace Developer Forum by Squarespace Founder and CEO Anthony Casalena. Since the dev forums aren't exactly seen by everyone, I thought you might like to see some of the highlights.

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.

Share Your Squarespace Tips for New Business and Profit

Squarespace designers and developers: how would you like to get paid to share your knowledge while advertising your services? Turns out, my readers want to see more Squarespace design and code-related tips, but it's not something I can provide at scale. As a result, today I'm calling for guest authors within the Squarespace design community, and I'm willing to pay.

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?

Tracking Clicks on Your Squarespace Website with Google Analytics Events

Squarespace's anayltics reporting are nice for high-level stats, but often you'll need Google Analytics to answer deeper questions about what people do on your website. For example, have you ever wondered how many people have clicked on a link on your web page or within your blog posts? Using Google Analytics event tracking, you can track clicks on your Squarespace website.

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!

Squarespace and SOPA: What You Need to Know

SOPA could mean the end of this blog. The Stop Online Piracy Act is meant to do just that, but instead creates a legal framework to shut down much of the Internet, including Squarespace websites everywhere... potentially even yours. Learn a few frightening facts about Squarespace and SOPA before this bill passes and it's too late.

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.