Squarespace is a user-friendly website builder for the general public—ranging from businesses and artists to bloggers. However, for the specific needs of academics, scholars, and researchers, Owlstown is a great alternative to showcase your publications, research projects, courses, and academic achievements.
Target Audience
Owlstown is designed primarily for academics. It provides a platform for researchers, professors, and students to create academic portfolios to showcase their research projects, publications, courses, and other academic content.
Squarespace is a general-purpose website builder, designed for a wide range of users, including businesses, bloggers, artists, and more. Its templates cater to a wide variety of industries and purposes.
Features
Owlstown's features are tailored to the needs of academics. This includes sections for publications, academic projects, courses taught, and more. It also integrates with academic databases and can automatically import publication details.
Squarespace offers more generic features suited to different kinds of websites, such as e-commerce functionality, blogging tools, appointment scheduling, and a range of integrations with third-party services.
Customization
Owlstown: While it provides customization options to match the user's branding and preferences, its focus is on presenting academic information in a clear and structured manner.
Squarespace offers a broader range of design templates and customization options, allowing users to create a unique look and feel for their website, regardless of its purpose.
Ease of Use
Owlstown is designed to be user-friendly, especially for those who might not have experience in web design. It has themes tailored for academics, so you don't have to tweak generic templates to fit your needs. You can focus on sharing your research content rather than fiddling with templates.
Squarespace is known for its intuitive drag-and-drop editor and user-friendly interface. Users can easily select and customize templates without any coding knowledge.
Price
Owlstown has a free version, while Squarespace doesn't. If you're just starting to share your research online, Owlstown is a great way to start. Owlstown makes it easy to update your website, so you can grow your online presence easily. Owlstown offers discounts with the Owlstown Ace Awards.
Squarespace is more pricey than Owlstown. Squarespace's cheapest subscription is $16/month, while Owlstown's is only $4/month.
SEO & Marketing
Owlstown has SEO features that helps websites appear in search engines. Owlstown websites appear in the Academic Gallery, so other academics can find your website easily.
Squarespace offers SEO tools and marketing features, including email campaigns, that are focused on businesses and enterprises to improve their online presence.