Why We're Moving Off Squarespace

Arta's First Pivot

Hey Fieldnotes Crew,

Today we're documenting Arta's first major pivot.

As promised from day one of this series, we're here to share the wins and the lessons. This is one of those lessons I'm glad surfaced now instead of six months from now. After a little over a month building the Arta website on Squarespace, I've decided to pivot to Lovable.

As I've gotten deeper into the technical side of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), I've realized Squarespace doesn't provide the level of technical flexibility I want for Arta's long term growth. Things like llms.txt implementation, advanced schema customization, and deeper control over site architecture are either limited or require workarounds that don't align with how I want to build.

These aren't just technical details. They're part of the foundation we're building for AI visibility.

There's a gap between what we teach and what our site can do, and we're not willing to leave it open. Before helping clients improve their AI visibility, we need to prove the process on ourselves.

This pivot puts me a little behind my original launch timeline, and it means rebuilding the site from scratch. But that's exactly why I'm glad the lesson surfaced now. It's much easier to strengthen a foundation before launch than rebuild one after.

More importantly, it allows me to learn how to build and manage a website using AI. That's a skill that benefits Arta, strengthens our client work, and makes us better marketers in the long run.

So let's break down how I'm making this transition as smooth as possible.

Why Did We Decide to Leave Squarespace?

The decision wasn't because Squarespace is a bad platform.

It's because the more I learned about AEO, the clearer Arta's technical requirements became.

Squarespace can be a great fit for businesses prioritizing beautiful design, ease of use, and quick deployment. But Arta is also becoming a live testing ground for the strategies we're learning and eventually implementing for clients.

That means I want more control over things like structured data, site architecture, technical files, metadata, and whatever new AEO considerations emerge as AI search continues evolving.

The lesson wasn't that we chose the wrong platform. It's that our requirements changed as our knowledge grew.

And honestly, I think that's an important distinction.

Sometimes making progress means realizing the tool that got you started isn't necessarily the tool you want for the next stage.

Step 1: Pause and Gather

I've officially stopped development on Squarespace.

At this point, there's no value in polishing a site that's about to be rebuilt. Instead, I'm focusing on gathering everything I'll need for the migration: screenshots of the current site, all existing copy, brand assets, links, and content.

To be clear, this isn't a rebrand.

Arta's voice, mission, positioning, and visual identity aren't changing. The platform underneath it is.

The goal is to move to a platform that gives us more control, more flexibility, and more room to grow as AI search continues to evolve.

And honestly, building an AI visibility business on a platform that uses AI to help build websites feels pretty fitting.

Step 2: Go Slow on Purpose

I could try to force this migration in a week.

I'm not going to.

The current website remains live while I work through the transition, which gives me the freedom to prioritize quality over speed.

The goal isn't to launch as fast as possible. The goal is to launch a site that's technically sound, conversion focused, and built for long term growth.

A rushed launch only creates more work later.

Progress over perfection still applies, even when progress means starting a section over.

Step 3: Lean on My Network

One of my longest and closest friends has experience with vibe coding in Lovable and is looking to continue developing that skill set. We've scheduled a working session into our busy schedules to learn together.

I get guidance from someone who's already spent time in Lovable. She gets another chance to deepen her experience with the platform.

It's a win-win situation and a reminder that sometimes the fastest way forward isn't doing everything yourself.

It's learning alongside people you trust.

Step 4: Get Specific, Then Get Moving

One lesson I've learned quickly is that AI tools perform best when they're given clear direction.

So before jumping into the build, I'm getting extremely specific about what the new website needs to accomplish.

That includes:

• Maintaining brand consistency
• Improving user experience and navigation
• Strengthening conversion pathways
• Supporting future AEO initiatives
• Allowing for technical enhancements like llms.txt and schema implementation
• Creating a structure that can evolve as we learn more about AI search

Once I know exactly what I want, I can use Claude and ChatGPT to create detailed prompts for Lovable that guide the build instead of leaving things to chance.

The goal isn't to guess my way through the process. The goal is to direct it intentionally.

And I'm realizing that's another skill in itself.

Using AI to build something doesn't eliminate strategy. If anything, it makes clear strategy more important. The quality of what you build still depends heavily on how clearly you can define the problem, communicate your requirements, review the output, and recognize when something isn't working.

AI can help execute the vision. You still need to know what the vision is.

What Should Small Businesses Look for in a Website Platform?

This experience has changed the way I think about choosing a website platform altogether.

For a small business, the "best" website platform isn't necessarily the one with the longest feature list or the newest technology. It's the one that gives your business the right balance of usability, flexibility, and control.

Before choosing a platform today, I'd think about questions like:

• Can I clearly control page titles, descriptions, headings, and URLs?
• Can I add structured data or schema when needed?
• Can I manage redirects and internal links?
• Can search and AI crawlers access the content I want them to access?
• Can I add or modify technical files if search practices change?
• Can the platform grow with my content and services?
• Will I have enough control to make changes without rebuilding everything?
• Am I comfortable actually maintaining this platform?

Not every business needs the same level of technical control that Arta does.

A local business that needs a beautiful five page website may have completely different requirements from an ecommerce brand, publication, or AEO agency.

The important thing is understanding those requirements before choosing the tool.

What I Wish I'd Known Before Choosing Squarespace

If you're a small business owner evaluating website platforms right now, here's something I didn't fully understand a month ago:

Not every website platform gives you the same level of technical control.

Squarespace is genuinely great for beautiful design, quick deployment, and ease of use. For many businesses, it can be an excellent choice.

But as I've learned more about AI visibility, I've realized that technical flexibility matters more for Arta than I initially thought.

A few questions I'd ask before committing to any platform:

• Can you add or manage an llms.txt file?
• Can you implement custom schema markup for things like services, FAQs, and organizational information?
• How much control do you have over the site's technical structure?
• Can you easily update metadata and internal linking?
• Can you control what search and AI crawlers can access?
• Will the platform give you enough flexibility as AI search evolves?

I didn't ask those questions when I started building Arta because, honestly, I didn't know enough yet.

And that's probably the biggest lesson from this pivot.

The deeper you go into any specialty, the longer your "wish I'd known that sooner" list becomes.

That's not necessarily a failure. It's evidence that you're learning.

Does Your Website Platform Determine Your AI Visibility?

No. And I think this distinction is important.

Switching platforms alone isn't going to suddenly make a business visible in AI search.

Your content, authority, clarity, technical accessibility, brand presence, and overall digital footprint still matter. A flexible website platform simply gives you more control over the parts of that foundation that live on your website.

For Arta, moving platforms is about removing technical limitations before they become bigger problems.

It's one piece of a much larger AI visibility strategy, not a magic AEO switch.

That's also why I wouldn't tell every small business reading this to immediately leave Squarespace.

The better question is:

Does your current platform allow you to do what your strategy requires?

If the answer is yes, great.

If the answer starts becoming no, that's when it's worth evaluating your options.

Why Does This Matter for AEO?

The biggest lesson from this pivot is that AI visibility starts long before content creation.

It also involves infrastructure.

The platform you choose can influence what technical optimizations are possible, how easily you can implement them, and how much control you have as search continues to evolve.

But a strong technical foundation is only one part of AEO.

You still need useful content, clear information about your business, relevant authority signals, and a website that genuinely helps the people visiting it.

That's why this decision matters beyond Arta.

If we're asking clients to take AEO seriously, our own website should become a place where we can test these ideas, measure what happens, learn from the results, and share those lessons honestly.

Before helping clients improve their AI visibility, I want Arta to be its own case study.

What Has This Pivot Taught Me So Far?

More than anything, this process has reminded me that building a business rarely happens in a perfectly straight line.

You make the best decision you can with the information you have, learn something new, and change direction when you need to.

That's exactly what happened here.

A month ago, I didn't understand Arta's technical requirements as deeply as I do today. And six months from now, I'm sure I'll know things I wish I knew today.

That's part of building in an emerging space.

What matters isn't avoiding every mistake or failure. It's being flexible enough to adapt and becoming an efficient problem solver when something doesn't go according to plan.

Problems are inevitable when you're building something new. What matters is how you respond to them, what you learn from them, and how effectively you move forward.

That's the version of building in public I want Fieldnotes to document.

Not just what worked.

What changed our minds, too.

Looking Ahead

The plan: three weeks, one new platform, one new skill, and a stronger technical foundation for everything Arta builds moving forward.

The goal of this case study has never been to show a perfect path.

It's to document the real process of learning AEO, making decisions with incomplete information, adjusting when necessary, and building a business in public.

And this pivot is officially part of that story.

Once the migration is complete, we'll be able to look at what actually changed, what worked, what didn't, and whether the technical improvements we're making translate into measurable improvements in Arta's AI visibility.

We'll keep sharing the wins, the pivots, and the lessons as they happen.

See you in the next Fieldnotes update!